Randi felt completely destroyed and betrayed by the two men who meant the most to her. “You lied to me. When did you know who I was?”
“The day I brought you supplies and you lost power. Hope told me that you had recently lost your foster mother, and everything fell into place. I should have told you that day, but I couldn’t.”
Okay . . . so maybe he hadn’t known for very long, but he’d known before they’d ever been intimate. He should have told her before anything ever happened between them. “There was nothing stopping you from telling me,” she told him furiously, angry now that the initial shock of his confession had worn off. “You played me.” He’d used his status as a trusted friend to get information from her.
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” he grumbled as he strode forward and gripped her by the shoulders. “Why did you say you couldn’t love me if you do?”
She shook off his hands, not wanting him to touch her. He’d betrayed her, and his dishonesty and the way he’d toyed with her emotions infuriated her.
“I didn’t say I didn’t love you. I said I can’t love you because of my past and the problems it might cause. You’re a billionaire who travels and I’m a teacher who stays in the same place. Don’t worry. I’ll get over it. The fact that you’re a liar and that you deceived me will help me get over you that much faster,” she answered hotly.
Evan grabbed her shoulders again. “You’ll never get over me. I’ll never get over you,” he growled, sounding enraged. “I’ve never gotten over you. I feel the same damn way every time I see you. I wasn’t as shocked as I should have been to learn that you were the woman I was corresponding with, either. I should have known that two different women could never hold my interest in the same way. I have to wonder if deep down inside, you knew who I was, too.”
“I didn’t know,” Randi denied emphatically. “I thought you were my friend.” The loss of both men was practically ripping her heart from her chest.
“I am your friend. I’m also your lover,” Evan replied flatly.
“You’re nothing,” Randi answered, thinking about all of the times he’d played with her feelings. “Was any of it real?”
“All of it,” Evan said in a graveled voice. “And don’t say I’m nothing to you. You just told me you loved me.”
She pulled away from him to look at his face, unable to decipher exactly what was real and what wasn’t. He’d lied to her from the very beginning, agreeing that he was just an employee. Then he’d bullshitted her again, not telling her the truth even after he knew who she was. “I don’t really know you, do I?” she asked angrily. “How can I love a man who doesn’t exist?” The question made her nauseous. How could she have been so stupid?
“You do love me, dammit!” Evan answered sharply. “You said you did.”
“That was before I knew that you were a manipulative liar.” Randi unlocked the door as tears rolled down her face, the pain of his duplicitous actions gripping her heart and tearing it to shreds.
Gasping for breath, she knew she needed to get out of the tiny room, create some distance between her and Evan. She had to think, needed to understand. Opening the door, she quickly fled, wondering if she’d ever be able to get over the excruciating pain of Evan’s betrayal.
Male voices sounded behind her as she ran toward the entrance to the Center, but she couldn’t make out who they were or what was said. Honestly, she didn’t care.
I have to get out of here.
Escape was the only thing she could think of right now.
The harshly cold temperatures hit her the moment she ran out the front door, her gown offering little protection from the elements.
“Madam, are you all right?” The male voice came from beside her.
She saw Stokes as she turned her head to the side. “No. I’m not okay,” she told the elderly man as she angrily swiped the tears from her face. “I need to get home.”
“I’ll take you.” The driver took her arm gently and led her to the Rolls.
“Evan will want you,” she protested.
“For once in his life, Mr. Sinclair can wait,” Stokes answered firmly, helping her to the vehicle sitting right out front.
Distraught, Randi didn’t argue. She needed to leave this place, she needed to think, and she needed to put space between herself and the man who had just rocked her world in a good way . . . and a devastating one. She jumped into the rear seat of the luxury vehicle as soon as the driver opened the back door for her.
Stokes set the car in motion almost immediately, leaving her huddled in the seat behind him—bewildered, crying, and feeling as though her heart would never be whole again.
CHAPTER 20
“What the hell happened?” Micah grilled Evan about the scene he’d stumbled upon at the Center.
Completely confused, he eyed Evan curiously. It never looked good when a disheveled woman came sobbing out of a bathroom with an unkempt man right behind her. Oh, not that he thought Evan had done something wrong, but when it came to Randi, it was quite possible for him to actually do something stupid.
“I told her the truth about being the guy she was writing to,” Evan admitted glumly.
“I thought she already knew. Hope told you to tell her right away.”
“I . . . didn’t.” Evan was chugging down whiskey like it was bottled water.
Shit! No wonder Randi was pissed off. Micah wondered what had motivated Evan not to follow his sister’s advice.
“Why didn’t you tell her?” Julian asked curiously as he motioned to the bartender for another beer.
As soon as he’d prevented Evan from making more of a scene in the Center by keeping him from chasing after a sobbing Randi, Micah had grabbed Julian and the three of them had left to go somewhere quieter. That destination ended up being Shamrock’s Pub. It was a small, quiet bar and grill on Main Street, not far from the Center, and there were only a few other people in the entire place. Micah was betting that it was so slow here because of the party. Half of the town was probably there, and it wasn’t tourist season.
Evan looked at Julian suspiciously.
“I filled him in,” Micah confessed calmly, not feeling the least bit guilty because he’d told Julian all about Evan’s past and his attachment to Miranda Tyler. After all, it was family business.
“I was fucking afraid to tell her,” Evan rasped, jerking at his collar, only to have the buttonless shirt he was now wearing open wider. “It’s hot in here.”
It wasn’t warm at all in the bar, but Micah suspected it was the whiskey that Evan was slugging down causing his hot flashes. “Hope told you to tell her,” Micah reminded him.
“I couldn’t. I was afraid she’d dump me. And I was getting more uncensored information as her friend on the Internet than I was in person.”
“You talked about yourself to her via email? And she didn’t know it was you, but you knew exactly who she was?” Julian asked, obviously trying to verify what he was hearing.
“Yes.” Evan slumped back in his chair.
“You’re an asshole,” Micah and Julian said in tandem.