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Got the job! Piece of cake.

“Jack?!” I answer the phone on the first ring.

“Hey, hey. I just stepped off the ice. The game just ended. We won, and I scored two!”

There’s so much background noise and shouting that I can barely hear him. But it’s obvious he hasn’t listened to my voicemail.

“Great,” I force out. “Did you get my message?” I ask anyway, my stomach turning in on itself.

“No, I didn’t.” He sounds way less animated as he picks up on my flat tone. I hear a door close behind him, and the previous noise disappears. “What’s the matter, Kitten?”

I swallow hard, bile rising, making it difficult to push down the nausea.

“I need to ask you something, and I need you to be completely honest with me.”

“Kendra, what’s this about?”

I pull my phone away from my ear, bringing up the file Tyler sent me. Attaching it to a message, I forward it to Jack.

A ping rings down the line.

“I need you to tell me you didn’t write these messages.”

Silence passes between us as I wait for him to read them.

“Jack,” I whisper, unable to stand the tension any longer, “I know things were different back then. I know we didn’t know each other that well, but did you really say that you could fuck me easily?” I fight back the tears and dig my nails into my palm so hard that I know they’ll leave crescent-shaped marks. “Did you tell Kurt and Ben that fucking me would be the best way to get at Tyler?”

More silence.

“Kendra …” His voice is soft, just like it was that day in this very room. The day he asked me to go to the gala with him as his fake girlfriend.

I thought it was because he cared.

“Kendra, I?—”

“Did you send them, Jack?” I ask again, my voice harsher this time. “Or is Tyler the bullshitter I hope he is?”

“Kendra, I don’t know what to say …”

“It’s easy. Yes or no?”

“Yes, I sent them.”

My phone drops to my lap as I cover my eyes with my palms. All the while, I can hear Jack’s voice repeating my name.

On a deep breath, I pick it back up.

“I was nineteen and a fucking idiot for what I said. I was pissed at the way he was treating you. I don’t have the evidence because it was from years ago, and to be honest, I forgot all about the messages, but what he sent you wasn’t the whole conversation.”

I angry sob. “Oh, yeah? What else did you say?”

“I don’t remember the exact words. I just know he clipped that to make me look bad …” He trails off. “And I know it looks bad, Kitten. But I promise you that’s not what this is about. Those messages aren’t how I feel about you.”

“You know what I feel? Humiliated,” I whisper-hiss. “Like I’m being taken for a fool.”

“I promise you aren’t. I feel so much for you.”

I shake my head, not knowing what to believe anymore. “How much of this was about your issue with Tyler, and how much of it was about me?”