Page 92 of Surviving Lies

I turned my head to look at her. “He’s only half of what’s known as the ruin of my life, Lane. A lot happened since I saw you last.” Turning myself to face her completely, deciding I was ready to tell her, I took a deep breath. “Gage’s been lying to me, too. More than we originally thought.”

Her eyes widened before the sadness set in. She reached out and clenched my arm, holding me, trying to steady my nerves with her grip. “Becca,” she whispered.

“He’s married.”

“What!” she yelled. “What the fuck? Are you kidding me?”

Her reaction mirrored mine, which I knew it would. That was why I loved her.

“Completely not kidding. He told me himself, yesterday. I went over there to, um, take my mind off things. And instead had that shit land in my lap. I should have known he was too good to be true. You knew he was trouble right from the start. You tried to warn me.” We were both finished with our sandwiches, so I gathered the paper wrap and stuffed it all in the bag it came in. Leaning against my pillows, I found her still staring at me.

“You don’t seem as frantically ‘Becca’ as I would expect,” she said.

“I’ve been in this room since twelve noon yesterday processing the shit both of them put me through. I’ve had plenty of time to wallow; now I’m just pissed.”

Lanie crawled up the length of the bed, lying down on a pillow. I put my head on the same pillow, and we were almost nose to nose, our assumed position when we needed to get to business.

“How did he tell you something like that?” she asked tentatively.

I chuckled before starting. “Well, I went to him, basically begging for sex, to help me forget the lies Ty had been telling me. I guess his conscience won out.” I sat up, uncomfortable with my own story. “It was humiliating. I mean, you guys told me about the other woman, but I never saw this coming. I hightailed it out of there, was practically still half naked when I ran out of his apartment. I needed to dress myself as I ran out the door.”

Thinking back to the prior night, I was getting myself all worked up and mad about what happened all over again.

“Well, you’re doing great, all things considered.” She smiled, and her sparkling blue eyes lit up. She was so gorgeous. I hoped she felt that way – she never did last year. Xander did a great job of always telling her; it had to sink in eventually.

“Thanks, babe,” I told her. “But I’m actually a mess on the inside.” I let out an enormous sigh and rolled onto my back, staring at the ceiling. The eye contact was too much for the next question; I was nervous to hear how things went with her and Ty.

“I wasn’t expecting to be so upset about Gage. I don’t think it’s so much that he was with someone else; I was OK with that. And not even that it was someone that important to him. It was the gravity of the lie.” Turning back toward her, I continued. “Married? I mean, for fuck’s sake, he’s only twenty-five. Why the hell is he already married, and cheating on her?” I suddenly bolted upright with a realization. “Fuck! I’ve been the other woman with both of them!”

Lanie sat up with me and grabbed my hands. “No! Relax, Becca. You were not the other woman with Ty. Don’t worry,” she said. She pulled me back to the pillow, us both getting comfortable again.

“What did Ty say?” I asked her.

“Well,” she started, then paused. That made me turn to look, but her face was neutral, and even a small smile appeared. “I think you need to talk to him yourself. He needs to be the one to tell you this story, but just know this one thing: he was not cheating on you.”

Hmm. I digested that bit of news.

He didn’t cheat on me.

But he had a baby with another woman.

And never told me.

I found out myself.

After over a year.

Not sure that absolved him of his sins.

“So?” I countered.

Lanie scoffed with all of her face, all of her being. She sat up on the bed as her mouth fell open and her eyes were wide with disbelief, staring back at me.

She was on Ty’s side.

“So?” Lanie said back. “That doesn’t mean anything to you? That none of this happened while you and him were together?” Her voice got louder and louder with each question.

“But itwashappening while we were together, Lanie. If what you’re saying is true, the only thing that didn’t happen while we were together was them fucking. Everything else did. You didn’t see them. I did. They have a relationship still. Even if it’s only for the kid, they still do. And it was happening without me knowing.” I sat up with her, eye to eye. “I don’t know if he and I will survive this, I really don’t.”

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