“Why would I want the girl I care about to know my darkest secret? The one that I’m most ashamed about?”
Fury threaded her voice. “You tell me because it’s the right thing to do. You tell me because we’re equals. You have no right to decide what is right for this relationship and what is wrong.” Her brown eyes grew animated. “I’m in this, too. And I should have a choice.”
“I did what I thought was best,” he managed to say. “I made mistakes. I see that now, and as much as I would like to, I can’t change the past.”
“And what about the future? How do I know you won’t do the same thing next time?”
“Oh, so there’s a chance we have a relationship now?”
His sarcastic tone broke something in her. She scrambled to repair it, but it was too late. Tears welled in her eyes and slowly coursed down her face.
Talon rested his forehead against hers, gently wiping away the tears with his thumb. “I’m sorry, baby doll. So sorry,” he whispered. “Please don’t cry.” His lips followed his thumb, pressing soft kisses against her cheek.
“I’m just so confused,” she said. “Sometimes it feels as if I’m dating two different guys.”
“I’m just me,” he replied.
She wiped away the last of her tears and raised her head. “But you’re not. Sometimes you can be Talon and other times you can be JT. When you’re Talon, you’re sweet and funny. But every so often, I catch a glimpse of JT. And I don’t know how to reconcile the two.” She thought JT was an act, and Talon was his true self, but what if that wasn’t the case? “I don’t trust JT.”
His nostrils flared. “So what? That’s it? You decide you don’t like one aspect of me, so you quit? You’re not even going to try?”
Her eyes burned as she looked away and quietly whispered, “I don’t know if I want to.”
Her admission hung in the air. All she could hear was the sound of his breathing.
“If you tell me right now there’s no chance of us being together, then I’ll walk away. I won’t bother you again. But if you feel there’s even the slightest chance of us working out, then I’ll fight with everything I have to prove you can trust me.”
With college and everything around her changing, she needed to feel safe in a relationship. Talon was no longer safe. “I’m sorry.”
Keeley saw the pain slash through his face as his eyes closed. When he opened them again, he stepped away from her, his voice flat. “Let’s get you home,” he said.
The drive back lasted a thousand years. She would have felt better if he’d shown her some type of emotion, but she couldn’t read him at all. It was as if a protective shell encased his feelings.
By the time he pulled into her driveway, she was anxious to get out. She had the door halfway open before he even put the truck in park.
“Wait,” he said. “You have my …”
She was still wearing his long-sleeved shirt. “Oh. You probably want that back, huh?” she asked. She slipped out of the soft fabric and handed it back to him.
“Thanks, but I actually meant my ring.”
Her fingers fumbled with the clasp. Her heart stopped as she turned around to hand it to him, an emblem of what they’d lost. “Do you want the charm, too?”
“No,” he whispered. “That was a present.”
She gave him a sad smile and climbed out of the truck. As he drove off, she raised a hand and whispered, “Bye, Talon.”
Edgewood’s Homecoming dance was fast approaching. The student body was abuzz as they gossiped about who was going with whom and what they were going to wear. For the most part, Keeley tuned them out, but every now and then, a stray comment would make its way to her. In those few moments, she allowed herself to imagine what it would be like to go to Homecoming with Talon. Which she would never be doing now.
When the lunch bell rang, she found Nicky at one of the cafeteria tables. “I am so sick of hearing about Homecoming,” Keeley said. “I can’t wait for our girls-only weekend.” They planned to spend the whole weekend together. They were going to go bowling and to the movies and sleep over and pamper themselves.
A hesitant look. “About that …”
Keeley felt dread creeping in. Don’t let it be what I think, she thought. She didn’t want to spend Homecoming weekend alone, this year of all years.
“Do you remember Ben, the cross-country runner I had a crush on? Well, he stopped me after English and asked me to the dance.”
Keeley’s stomach dropped. “Are you going?”
“I know we have plans and everything but …” She silently pleaded for Keeley to understand. “It’s senior year. It’s our last Homecoming. I really want to go.”
Keeley understood. She felt the same way. She had been looking forward to going with Talon even if he was her school’s archenemy. She imagined walking into the dance with him on her arm. They would create a huge uproar.
“He has a friend who doesn’t have a date yet. We could double,” Nicky suggested in a hopeful tone. “It’d be fun! We could go dress shopping together, do our hair and makeup. And Ben and his group are even renting a limo. They’d pay for everything.”
It would be fun to get ready together, but the rest of it? … No. She couldn’t imagine going to that dance with anyone but Talon. “Thanks, but I don’t think I can. Besides, I wouldn’t be a very fun date.” She’d been feeling empty inside. Like a piece was missing from her life.
Nicky stood up. “I don’t want you sitting at home moping. I’ll just tell Ben no.”
She grabbed Nicky’s arm and forced her to sit. “Don’t do that. Go to the dance with him.”
“Are you sure?”
The eagerness in Nicky’s eyes was proof she’d made the right decision. “I’ll be fine. Probably binge-watch another show on Netflix.”
She picked at her food, not really hungry. The worst part of the breakup was when she forgot they weren’t together anymore. Like those moments when, waking up, she’d automatically reach for her phone, expecting a text from him, and then she’d remember what had happened. It was like breaking up all over again. “I know I’m the one who broke up with him, but I miss him. A lot.”
“You made the right choice. You can’t be with someone like that.”
“Doesn’t stop me from missing him. When I go to bed, I find myself reading our texts.” She could see the progression of their relationship. How they opened up and then grew to trust each other.
“Delete those messages. Hell, delete his number. Make a clean break so you can get over him faster.”
Nicky made it sound so easy but it wasn’t. Keeley wasn’t ready to let go yet. She liked the change he brought about in her. What if those changes disappeared now that he was out of her life? Who would keep her accountable? He was the only one who saw the differences.
Gavin nervously approached their table. He kept shooting glances over his shoulder like he didn’t want anyone to see him. “Keeley, can we talk? Privately?”