Page 157 of I Dreamt That You Loved Me
“Did you sleep with him?” I asked between clenched teeth because I swear to God if she’d slept with him that night, what hope did I have for a reconciliation?
Her eyes narrowed on me. “I’m not so sure that a guy who keepscondomsin his kitchen drawer has any right to question me,” she replied hotly.
“So youdidsleep with him.” I pushed my hands through my hair. “And what are you talking about? I don’t have any condoms.”
“Oh no?” She shoved me away and hopped off the counter then yanked open the drawer next to the sink and pulled out a strip of condoms, dangling them in front of my face. “Then what are these?”
She tossed them at me. I caught them in one hand. Shrugged and threw them back into the drawer. “Not mine.”
“Right.” She slammed the drawer shut with her hip and spun to face me, her hands on her hips. “And you expect me to believe that?”
“Why would I lie about that? I don’t have a fucking clue how they got in that drawer, but they’re not mine.”
She gave me a skeptical look. “Yeah, okay,” she said in a tone that implied she didn’t believe me.
I was a lot of things, but a liar wasn’t one of them. Guess my word wasn’t good enough for her though. Got it.You left me and now I can’t trust a single word that comes out of your mouth. Message received.
Just for my own entertainment, I decided to throw some fuel on the fire.
“Why would I leave them in a kitchen drawer when I have a bedside table?” I grabbed the ice cream container and leaned against the counter to eat it. “Mm. Delicious. Want some?” I held out a spoonful, trying to tempt her.
If eyes could shoot daggers, I’d be on the floor writhing and gasping out my last breath. If the circumstances were different, I’d laugh.
I laughed anyway and that did it.
“I can’t believe you,” she gritted out. “First you desert me and then you have the audacity to flaunt your condoms in my face? When did you become such an asshole?”
“What can I say? Guess it just comes naturally. But you were the one who found the condoms so it’s not like I wasflauntingthem. Maybe I should have put a lock on the drawer.”
“God. I’m such an idiot.” She smacked her palm against her forehead. “I was so worried about you. Meanwhile, you were out there doing drugs and sleeping your way through half the female population without giving me a single thought.”
What the fuck? Did she really think so little of me?
“Yep, you’ve got my number. That’s what I was doing.”
Cleo glared at me. “So, how many girls have you slept with?”
It was the accusation in her tone that enraged me. Was this really the hill she’d chosen to die on?
“Half the female population.Obviously.” I should have stopped there but I kept going. “Why shouldn’t I have been having fun? Not like I evenremembermaking those vows. So if you think about it, it didn’t really count as cheating.”
Her face fell and she blinked like crazy. She opened her mouth to speak then closed it again and turned away.
I didn’t mean any of it, but that was the thing about words. They could be used as weapons, and once they were out of your mouth, you couldn’t unsay them.
I threw the spoon in the sink and lobbed the empty ice cream container into the swing bin. Missed. Didn’t pick it up. Headed out the door.
Fucking pissed that we’d even had this conversation. Thatthiswas what our relationship had become.
Where were those two people from her notebook who had loved so fiercely and deeply? I couldn’t imaginethosepeople havingthisargument.
“You are such an asshole,” she called after me. “I loved you so much.” Her voice cracked on the words.
I stopped on the bottom step of the deck and let her words wash over me.
I loved you so much. I loved you so much.They played on a loop in my head.
Cleo’s voice was low and sultry. Sexy, I guess. I don’t know, it just did something to me.
