As he stepped to the door, she intercepted him, anguish squeezing her chest. “Nate, let me explain.”
“Explain what? How you lied about forgiving me? How you came to town with the single-handed purpose of getting revenge?”
His body trembled with anger, and she didn’t blame him one bit. Her body was trembling too, from sorrow and shame and fear. Fear that he would leave her, that he wouldn’t hear her out. But he didn’t move, he just stood there, staring at her in disapproval and bewilderment.
“You’re right,” she said in a choked voice. “I wasn’t over our breakup when I decided to come to the reunion. I wanted to hurt you the way you’d hurt me. But—” She sucked in a breath. “But after we slept together again, revenge wasn’t on my mind. And after we spent time together, and you told me the real reason you broke up with me, I realized how much I still love you.”
He didn’t look convinced. “Right. You love me.”
“I do,” she murmured. “I never stopped loving you, even after the way things ended. And I’m sorry, Nate. I’m sorry for being such a bitter idiot and thinking that revenge would give me some closure. Truth is I didn’t want closure. I wanted you. It’s always been you.”
A laugh barked out of his throat. “Sorry, Charlie, but I don’t believe you.” He slanted his head. “You know, I never pegged you as cruel.”
“And you weren’t cruel?” she couldn’t help but burst out. “You broke my heart, told me that you never loved me, that I was bad in bed! Did you really believe I could just get over it, that I wouldn’t still be angry?”
“I believed it because you said it was true,” he said in a hoarse voice. “I believed it because I didn’t think you would lie to me. But you did lie, didn’t you? You fucked me, all the while biding your time, waiting to get, what was the word, oh, right, retribution.”
Her heart cracked in two. Nate’s expression had turned feral. And he was heading to the door again, sidestepping her while making sure their arms didn’t brush, as if he couldn’t stand to touch her.
“Nate,” she called after him. “Please don’t go like this. I love you, I’m not lying about that.”
He halted in the doorway, turning to shoot her a look loaded with disbelief. “You know, if you’d just been upfront with me from the start, told me how hurt and angry you still were, maybe we could have overcome that, worked through it together. But instead, you lied. You fucking lied, Charlotte.” He shook his head. “I’m such a fucking moron.”
“Nate—”
But it was too late. He was already out the door, his heavy footsteps thudding on the wooden stairs.
The tears spilled over, streaming down her cheeks. She wanted to run after him, beg him to forgive her, but her feet were rooted in place. What more could she say? He wouldn’t believe her anyway. Wouldn’t believe that she loved him or that she truly regretted her initial decision to hurt him.
Her legs shook wildly as she moved to the bed, sitting down in the exact spot Nate had just occupied. His lingering heat warmed her now-freezing body, bringing a deep ache to her chest. Nate was wrong. She was the moron.
She’d thought she could come here and destroy Nate for the way he’d treated her.
But in the end, she’d only destroyed them both.
Chapter Eight
Nate had just opened a bottle of tequila—his dad’s favorite brand—when the doorbell rang, promptly interrupting him from his much-needed pity party. Almost instantly, a wave of fury swelled in his gut, and his stride was stiffer than a block of cement as he marched toward the door. If that was Charlotte coming to apologize again, to lie to him again—well, he would have no qualms about slamming the door in her pretty face.
He still couldn’t believe what she’d done—no, what she’d set out to do. The girl he remembered, no matter how insecure or angry she’d been, would never have planned to hurt somebody.
Fuck, he was such an idiot. Here he was, thinking himself the luckiest bastard in the world for getting a second chance, when all along she’d only come here for revenge. Talk about the ultimate ego deflation. He felt like a total fool. Only hours ago he’d defended Charlotte to Lexie, spouting about love and forever, proud that he’d gotten Charlotte’s forgiveness and found a way back into her life. That pride had flown out the window, though. He didn’t even want to know what people would say if they learned why Charlotte had really come back to town. Everyone had seen him leave the reunion with Charlotte, who they’d believed had dumped him fifteen years ago, and he didn’t doubt that people were snickering behind his back for being a stupid dope.
Stupid dope was right. He’d actually believed that Charlotte had forgiven him.
He was a total idiot, wasn’t he?
The doorbell rang a second time, and he threw the door open with a scowl on his face. Fortunately, the person standing on his porch wasn’t Charlotte. It was Lexie.