Page 112 of Boost

“What?”

“After you left? Then what did you do?”

Greer looked me straight in the eye with the resilience I’d encountered when I first arrived at Landon-Michaels PR.

“I moved State, went to college and got my degree.”

“And met Christian?”

“And met Christian,” she confirmed.

“How much does he know?” My fingers flexed in anticipation of her answer, and I had to physically force them to relax.

The truth danced in her irises before she voiced it. “Everything. It took me a long time to open up to him about it, but we were at a point in our lives where we shared everything.”

“Including a bed,” I snapped.

Indignation hit her expression. “Hey, I don’t crucify you for every notch on your belt, so don’t do it to me.”

I raised my hands. “Fuck, you’re right, I’m sorry. Just the thought of you with someone else makes me…” I balled my fists again before schooling the intimidating reaction. “I don’t like it.”

“Nor do I likeyourcatalogue of escapades, but I refuse to focus on that when I know it bothers me.”

I smirked. “It bothers you, huh?”

“Ass,” she hissed, and set her hands on her hips as she paced back and forth.

For the first time since arriving at her condo, I wished she’d yell at me. Scream, cuss, tear at my clothes. Show me exactly how broken she was inside without trying to be so fucking put-together.

Greer suddenly turned and pegged me to the spot with an intense stare. The accusation in her eyes made my blood run cold.

“Did you sleep with anyone last night or the night before?”

I spluttered. “The fuck?” I was angry she’d even ask, and equally as pissed that I willingly sought, not one, buttwowomen last night to do precisely that.

“Did you sleep with anyone else during the last two days,” Greer enunciated as if I was thick.

“I didn’t.”

I steeled myself under her icy glare as it delved into my soul. There was no way in hell I would admit that during a moment of weakness, I actuallywantedto go back to my old ways of fucking whoever was readily available.

“But you ghosted me for two days while I relentlessly tried to contact you?” she pressed.

I worked my jaw on and off and ignored her.

“Why won’t you fight for me, Rafael?”

My fists balled again. “What do you want from me, Greer?” I bit back with exaggerated calm. The kind of calm that came before a storm.

Red tainted her cheeks as she leaned across the counter and yelled into my face. “Jesus, give me some kind of emotion other than closed off! Rant, yell, swear for all I care. I need more from you. I’m sick of pressing for information. Justtellme what’s going on. Confide. Put up a decent argument for fuck’s sake.”

“You want an argument? Fine! Yes, I did want to fuck the last two days away to make me forget, but Teq and Stevie turned me down. Yeah, you heard that right,” I laughed bitterly when horror hit Greer’s face. “I wasthatdesperate to forget how much I fuckingwantyou. I literally wanted to break you and any chance of us ever being together again so you wouldn’t want me anymore. Ihurtyou, Greer. A past like mine fucks with your head. Yes, I ghosted you because I couldn’t face your interrogation, the questions, yourpity,”I spat the word.

“I killed my own fucking father before he beat my mamá to death. Fourteen, Greer. Four-fucking-teen!I was just a fucking kid. And my sister? For all I know, she’s whoring herself out just to make it through each week. So yes, I changed my name to escape from the stigma that a murderer carries around for the rest of his entire fuckinglife!”

The tiled kitchen amplified my shout and screamed it back at me. The deranged echoes reflected exactly what I harbored inside, and I had to close my eyes to focus on fighting off the wave of debilitating anxiety.

Never,ever,had I been so frank about my past, and fuck it cut deep.

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