Page 80 of Turn Up The Heat

Twelve hours ago, she’d have been more likely to believe that Shane was the man in the moon than the son of Philadelphia’s most high-powered attorney, with his name all but stamped on the letterhead right next to dear old dad’s. He was a mechanic with a simple life—hell, he’d been the one encouragingherto be true to herself.

And didn’t that just go to show how gullible shewas. She didn’t have any clue who Shane was, or how much of what he’d told her was true.

“You should get some rest,” Bellamy said, raking a hand through the snarl of curls around her face. She wasn’t going to be able to keep her emotions at bay much longer, and she’d be goddamned if her pride would let Shane see her cry.

“I wanted to tell you,” Shane said, although his hollow tone suggested otherwise. “But it’s complicated. Obviously.”

Bellamy’s eyes fell on the sink full of dirty dishes, the now-cold, murky water a stark contrast to what had happened in front of it just a handful of hours before. She felt her composure start to unravel, her frustration welling up from her chest.

“How do you figure lying to be any less complicated?” she asked, cursing the honesty as it rolled off her tongue.

He flinched, but still didn’t look at her. “I didn’t mean for it to happen this way.”

“Did you mean any of it, period?”

Shane’s eyes flashed to hers, wide and roiling with emotion. But he didn’t say anything, and oh, God, how could she have been so stupid?

“No wonder you hated me at first,” she said, bitterness filling her chest. “I’m a city girl, head to toe, from my freaking Ivy League degree to my cute little sports car you keep turning your nose up at. I’m like the ultimate reminder of everything you can’t stand. And here I was, buying into all of your crap about being true to myself, taking these huge risks and letting you encourage me to change my career when you just didn’t want to see your past every time you turned around.”

“None of that is crap, Bellamy. For fuck sake, it’s why I’mhere. I left my father’s law firm because Ihatedit. You left your job because you hated it. I’m with you even though you come from the city. You can’t be any more true to yourself than that!” he snapped, bracing his palms against the short stretch of kitchen counter.

Bellamy’s pulse hammered. “Right. You were so true to yourself that you lied through your teeth to me about who you were. I don’t even know you, Shane. I don’t know anything about you.”

He winced. “Okay, fine. I let you believe some things about me that weren’t necessarily true, and yes, I kept some things from you. But you know exactly who I am. I never lied about that.”

Bellamy’s heart bottomed out as her next words tumbled from her lips.

“But you didn’t tell me the truth, either. You were never going to come see me in the city, were you?”

Shane exhaled as if the words had punched him in the stomach, and the tears that had been threatening behind her eyelids burned, ready to fall.

“No. I wasn’t.”

A traitorous sob worked its way up from her chest, and Bellamy used every ounce of her willpower to swallow it whole. Shane had intended to let her walk out the door with her head full of delusions. She’d believed him, she’d thought she was inlovewith him, for Chrissake, and the whole thing had been a complete lie.

And didn’t that just make her a sucker.Again.

Bellamy scraped up her pride and straightened. “Well, then, I think it’s time for us to end this little charade.”

“Damn it, Bellamy, you don’t understand—”

Everything that was left of her resolve came crashing down around her. “Really? Then explain it to me, Shane. Explain how you lying to me every step of the way should make me believe you.”

“It’s…complicated,” he said. But he didn’t follow up with anything else, and Bellamy stood, stock-still on the scuffed floorboards, torn between hating Shane for playing her for a fool and wanting him to say something that would make her believe the whole thing was a big misunderstanding.

Or was it more like a big mistake?

A muscle ticked beneath the stubble on Shane’s jaw. “I just…I can’t think about this right now. I need some space.”

Her heart fractured, tears hot in her eyes. “Don’t let me stop you.”

“I’m sorry,” Shane whispered as he made his way to the door. “I really am. It’s not you.”

Bellamy cursed his name until the sound of his truck faded into the dark shadows of the night. Only then did she sit down on the floor and start to cry.

* * *

Shane autopilotedhis way to the garage, thoughts pressing against the sides of his skull like a nasty hangover. Getting elbow-deep in a car was his only hope of getting his head on straight, and he was suddenly grateful for the pain-in-the-ass job of replacing a transmission. He stood in the doorway for a minute, the cold wind and dark night conspiring against him at his back. His heart twisted in his chest as he flicked the fluorescent lights on, and all of the night’s events threatened to flash back over him in vivid detail, making his stomach churn.

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