Page 129 of Your Fault

My mother tried to come near me, but I stepped back, keeping a distance.

“Noah, I never thought that could happen. You have to believe me. I always…I always felt so guilty for what happened, but…”

“How could you?” I shouted, wiping my tears away violently. “How could you leave me alone with him?”

William walked up beside her. I hated him with all my strength just then. I hated him so much, I thought I’d never be capable of forgiving him. “Noah, calm down. None of us wanted that to happen. None of us could ever have imagined that…”

I covered my face with my hands, unable to believe what they were saying. The fog that had settled on my life was finally lifting, and it revealed things were far, far worse than they’d seemed.

“I never thought I would say this, but Anabel Grason is right: you are worse than her, and I will never forgive you. You’ve ruined my life. You’ve ruined me.”

I didn’t let them respond. I just turned around and headed for the door, ready to escape. I slammed it behind me, wiped away my tears again, probably smearing my makeup all over… and I realized I had no way of getting home, no one to pick me up. I didn’t want to call Steve.

A bundle of nerves, I took my phone out of my clutch and saw four missed calls from Briar.

I didn’t even know if I would be able to get outside, let alone explain to her what had happened, but I tried to calm myself because there was no point in continuing to dwell on what I’d just found out. My mother would get the prize for the worst mother of all time. Fine. I just needed to go, needed to hold the one person who could console me just then, the person who had walked out looking at me with the same hatred he’d felt for his mother.

My heart in my throat, I called Nick. His phone was off—that was unusual. He always complained that I never picked up the phone. I realized then that he wasn’t just angry: he saw my meeting with his mother as a betrayal.

I couldn’t believe how complicated things had become in such a short time. I couldn’t believe what my mother had done, the way she’d lied to me for years, about leaving me alone, about her relationship with William, about everything. And now it turned out Madison was Will’s daughter. How would Nick take that?

I was so stressed that I felt grateful when I saw Briar come through the door. She found me there, froze, then ran over to hug me. “Morgan?”

I collapsed onto a sofa, and she sat down beside me.

“I’m so sorry, Noah…” Briar said, wrapping an arm around me.

“I can’t believe what happened,” I started saying, but I couldn’t choose the right words. I couldn’t even tell her what was going on because she had no idea about me or my family’s history.

“I wanted to warn you, I really did…but he’s like that. He wasthat way with me, and he will be with you… Nicholas is incapable of loving anyone.”

My thoughts froze, and I looked up until my eyes met hers. I knitted my brows. I didn’t understand. Briar reached up and wiped off the tears still rolling down my cheeks.

“I hoped you hadn’t seen it, but…it’s obvious you have.”

I grabbed her hand to pull it away and scrutinized her face, trying to understand what she was saying.

“What are you talking about?” I asked as a horrible new fear rose in the center of my chest.

“I wanted to tell you…but then I saw how much you loved him, so I decided not to say anything. But then I saw him leave with her, and Morgan, I can’t let him do the same thing to you that he did to me. He doesn’t have the right to cheat on you right in front of everybody’s nose like that.”

I shook my head. My hands were starting to tremble.

“He’s a son of a bitch, Morgan. He always has been. He told me to keep quiet, to not tell you anything, and I agreed to because I thought he really was in love with you, but after seeing him make out with her, I can’t go on lying…”

I could almost hear my heart cracking. If what she was saying was true…

“He left with Sophia?” My voice broke as I uttered her name, and Briar gave me a pitying look, as if trying to understand how I could be so lost.

She must not have known I’d just had two bombs dropped on me: I was mourning Nick, but I was mourning my mother, too…

I stood, and Briar did the same.

“You slept with him, too?”

She remained silent for several seconds. That was all I needed to know the truth.

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