Page 111 of Worth the Risk

“Then please just tell me? I’m thinking all kinds of things because I don’t know what you will say.”

Releasing her hand, I link my hands together in my lap. “I hooked up with Amber about two months after we split up.”

There, it’s out in the open.

Kylie scrunches her face in disgust. “I assumed that when you said she came onto you. I had no claim, but it pisses me off to find out that after what she did to me, the conniving bitch got what she wanted. That’s you, in case you are not following me.”

I’m following all right.“You still had my heart, Kylie. As angry as I was, I hadn’t slept with anybody when I came back to New York. Amber and I didn’t have sex, and I promise it was only one time.”

She appears crestfallen, and I feel worse.

“Why are you only telling me now?”

“Because you have the right to know, and she might have helped the situation along. I don’t remember having sex with her, and when I asked her about it, she admitted we didn’t, but she wanted to the next morning. I’ve never been attracted to her, but that night felt different.” Kylie peers up to the ceiling and takes a few calming breaths. “I understand this is hard to hear, but I need you to hear it so you will understand. Maybe even help me understand.”

She’s upset, but she’s not yelling and leaving, so that’s a good sign. Right?

“Amber came over one night. She had been coming over often, taking care of me.”

Kylie raises her eyebrows at that.

“Not in that way. I was drinking a lot after we broke up and feeling hurt and betrayed. I thought she was being a good friend, but that night, she told me you and Nash were together. I told her I was thinking about talking to you the day before. That must have spurred her on because she went down to see you instead and took some pictures of you and Nash. You were in a restaurant, and he had his hand on top of yours. In another picture, he was hugging you. Once she placed the idea of you and Nash being together in my head, my anger and hurt returned. I really believed you were together, and she helped with that assumption.”

A thought occurs to me.Did she manipulate me that morning I walked in on Kylie and Nash, make me believe something that wasn’t true? If so, she played me for a fool, and I fell for it.How did I not see this before?

“When was this again?” Kylie asks, breaking me out of my internal ramblings.

“About two months after I came back to New York.”

She sits up straight. “That must be the day I told you about. I messaged Nash, and he came to see me. He met me at a restaurant, and I emailed you that same night.”

That triggers another memory. I recall my email notification ping, but I had trouble grabbing my phone. Amber got it, and I remember her looking at it strangely.

Did she intercept that email?

“Amber may have seen your message. There’s a good chance she intercepted it and deleted it permanently.” I explain how Amber had possession of my phone. “She may have seen an opportunity and took it.” Saying it out loud brings that sickness to my stomach again. “I may very well have been drunk, but I had been around her drunk plenty of times prior, and never once had she initiated anything with me. She played me. Nothing else makes sense… it never did. She made me angry at you again because I told her I was going to see you. She had my emotions out of control, and I think she might have given me ecstasy or some drug like it to help things along. The way I felt that night was unusual. She made my drinks, so she had the opportunity. I had never been attracted to her, sober or drunk, and I still wasn’t the next day either.” Hearing me explain it out loud makes this even worse.

“What do you remember, exactly?” she asks hesitantly.

I take a deep breath. “She was sitting next to me on the sofa, rubbing me, then took down the front of my pants, and well… you get the picture.” Having to explain this to her makes my sickness worse. I would never want to hear of her with another man.

Her face scrunches up in the same disgust that I feel. “I woke up the next morning naked with her in my bed.” I rip off the Band-Aid quickly.

Kylie sits in silence, absorbing everything. She still hasn’t left, but I worry she will. There are so many emotions on her face morphing into each other—disgust, anger, bitterness, and finally, sadness.

“That wasn’t easy to hear, but I’m glad you told me.” She sighs. Eventually, she shakes her head as if she is removing the thoughts of Amber. She stands, pulls her phone out of her jeans pocket, and sits back down. She fiddles with it for a moment, then peeks up at me. “I came to you because I wanted to show you something. Well, before your little confession.” She rolls her eyes and frowns. “It shouldn’t hurt, but it does.”

I nod in understanding.

Handing me her phone, I read it, and I see the proof that she had a million dollars deposited into her account from Knight Industries, the money used to open the trust.

“I didn’t deposit that into your account. I would have wanted Riley in my life,” I remind her.

“I believe you now, but with the email and then the deposit, it made me believe you didn’t want her.” She frowns at the thought.God, what must she have thought of me.

I run my hand through my hair. “Fucking hell,” I bellow loudly.

“Shush, Leo. Riley is sleeping.”

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