Page 149 of Let You Love Me

He nods and the muscle in his jaw flickers before he asks, “You’ll be there?”

“It’s a home game, so I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I smile back at him, but his throat bobs, and I wonder if he’s nervous about something else or if it really is just the game.

“Can I ask you something?”

My brows rise but instead of meeting my eyes, he avoids my gaze and steps forward, taking one of the jerseys I finished scrubbing to wring it out. “Sure,” I say, ignoring the uneasy feeling fisting at the base of my spine.

“You said Sophie’s dad isn’t in the picture, right?”

I stiffen and my defenses rise like a drawbridge over water. “I think you’ve been around enough to know that for a fact.”

“Yeah,” he says, but his tone and the way he chews his lower lip tells he’s not convinced. “Do you ever see him anymore or talk to him?”

Ice chinks in my veins as I try to wrap my head around the sudden line of questioning and the timing of it all when it’s the one topic I told him was off-limits.

“Why are you asking now? What is this really about, Teagan?”

He leans forward, gripping the edge of the plastic wash bin while the muscles in his arms and back flex. “I just . . .” He trails off, lifting his head and finally turning to me. “I told you early on that the one thing I couldn’t take is you withholding the truth or lying to me about?”

“I’m not lying. He reallyisn’ta part of our lives.”

“Okay, but?”

“Do youthinkI’m lying?” My voice rises an octave, and the guilt swimming in my veins colors my cheeks. “Because if you do, I’d appreciate it if you just came right out and asked what you really want to know instead of beating around the bush, because I told you all of this already.”

“Fine.” His nostrils flare and he pushes his shoulders back as he asks, “Were you and Chance ever together?”

My heart flies into my throat and I swallow, trying to dislodge it.

I should tell him the truth. I know I should.

I love him.

I want him in my life, which means complete transparency. We can’t build a future off lies, but I can’t bring myself to form the words any more than I can change the truth, though God knows I wish I could.

“No,” I choke out.

I justify the lie by rationalizing. In reality, Chance and I never reallyweretogether. I spent the better part of a year after I found out I was pregnant coming to terms with the fact that whatI thought we had was all a lie, a figment of my imagination, and a product of the fanciful whims of a teenager with a crush.

He stares at me for a long moment while I prepare for him to call my bluff, but he doesn’t. “Okay. And Sophie’s father is . . .”

“I already told you.” I throw the wet jersey in my hands onto the counter with a loud thwack, angry he won’t just let it drop even though I have zero right to be. “Just like I told you this was the one topic off-limits, my hard no. I won’t talk about him. He’s not a part of our lives, and that’s all anyone needs to know.”

Including you.

My unspoken words are louder than the ones coming from my mouth, and I hate myself for them.

Teagan grips at his hair, and the pain on his face is so acute, it makes my chest ache. “I can’t help but feel like there’s this giant shoe waiting to drop. Like there’s something I’m missing. Maybe I’m crazy to think Chance might have?”

“Yeah, you are.” I scoff.

Liar.

Lair.

Lair.

“It’s just that he’s been fucking with me, and the other day in your room, I saw a picture of the two of you and?”