I blinked hard, my eyes burning from the near-constant tears, as I settled against the couch cushions with a groan.
I shot a glance toward Ashlynn's bedroom door and considered calling her into the living room again. She'd gone to tell Robbie off, but when she'd come back, it was like all the anger had been sucked out of her and she was acting strange. She wouldn’t meet my gaze as she offered to cancel her day plans with Gil to stay home and take care of me, but I declined. The last thing she needed was to be hanging around with me right now. Gil was good for her, and I wasn't about to ruin another second of her vacation.
It was that thought that kept me from making tracks to her room and grilling her about what she'd said to Robbie. Clearly, it hadn't been much, because she'd been gone all of ten minutes.
A low knock sounded on the door and I called in to her, "Gil's back."
I'd already freaked the poor guy out, so I wasn't about to answer the door still in tears. I rolled to my feet and made my way into my bedroom so as to spare him the drama, passing Ash as she crossed the room to the door.
"It's going to be okay, Melis. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but I swear it will," she whispered, reaching out to squeeze my hand before answering the door.
My throat felt tight as I shut myself in my bedroom and took a running dive onto the bed. The move sent a waft of Robbie's scent from his t-shirt straight up my nose and I groaned.
The clothes had to go. I needed to find the hottest fire in town and burn them to ashes.
I covered my face with a pillow to block out the low murmur of voices as Ash and her new man chatted. Probably making plans to enjoy the paradise of Monaco as they explored it all, hand in hand. I was so thrilled that she had that. She deserved it so much. But thinking of what that could've been like for me and Robbie only sank the knife deeper, and twisted.
A low knock sounded on my door. "Melis? You, uh, have some company."
Footsteps trailed off as I tore the pillow away from my face just in time to see Ashlynn creeping out of the hotel room and Robbie's massive form filling the doorway.
My pulse tripped and my skin went cold and clammy.
"W-what are you doing here?" I asked, wetting my suddenly bone-dry lips. I felt small and vulnerable so I scooted backward until I was sitting against the headboard as he crossed the room to sit in the armchair beside the bed.
"I needed to talk to you," he said. Now that the shock of him showing up had started to wear off, I noticed that he looked different somehow. His eyes were bright with determination. His jaw was set. Every muscle tensed and at the ready.
He looked like the Robbie I'd seen the night before in the ring. Robbie "Sledgehammer" Stevens, about to fight. My senses immediately went into overdrive.
Was he mad at me for something? What the hell was going on here?
"I have some things to say, and you're not going to like them. You're going to try to stop me, and ask questions, but I need you to let me get it all out first, all right?"
The words came rapid-fire, with an urgency that had me reeling.
"Yes. Okay," I said, unable to deny him that when he clearly needed to get whatever it was off his chest.
"Four years ago, I went to a party at the lake. There were girls there. Lots of them," he said, his expression grim.
Nausea rolled through me and I held up a hand. "Look, I appreciate after all this time, you want to clear your conscience, but don't. Don't put me through having to listen to the blow by blow details, Robbie. I can't--"
"Stop. Let me finish, damn it," he snapped, scrubbing a hand over his tortured face. "There were girls there,” he repeated. “And I didn't touch a single one of them. One of them tried to get me to go for a skinny dip with her, and I said no. In fact, I wasn't even tempted. And do you know why?" he asked, his tone low and harsh.
"Why?" I managed through numb lips, still trying to process his words.
"Because I was crazy, madly, totally in love with you. And still am." He leaned in and grabbed my hand, lacing his fingers with mine. "I never cheated on you, Melissa. I told you I did because I knew you were considering staying in town and giving up on your dream school so we could stay together. I told you I did because I didn't want you to be stuck with me in that town and regret it later."
The room seemed to spin, and I was sucked back in time. Recalling the agony of that night as clear as if it had happened not an hour before. How I’d doubled over in pain as Robbie told me, his voice dull…like he’d been reading from a script of a play he couldn’t give two shits about, that he didn’t want to be with me anymore.