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“You’re still seeing him, aren’t you?” I pressed.
Her face flushed, anger sparking in her eyes. “So what if I am?”
Her response felt like someone grabbed ahold of my stomach and squeezed it in their fist.
“So you are. I knew it. Was this all just a ploy to get back to him? Go on then! Go get your man! But just remember how easy it was to convince him to leave.”
Delia ran her tongue over her bottom teeth, turning her head away from me in anger before whipping it around to face me again. “Robert, I’m not with him.”
“Then what are you doing here with him?” I demanded.
“I’m not with him!” she snapped. “He’s here because of my brother, not because of me.”
I shook my head, frustration boiling over. “You expect me to believe that? You expect me to believe there’s nothing going on when you can’t even look him in the eye?”
She crossed her arms, her jaw tightening. “I’m not with him, Robert.”
“Then why does it feel like you’re playing both sides?” The words came out harsher than I intended, but I couldn’t stop myself. “If you want to fool around with him and me at the same time, that’s not happening. I’m not going to fight for you, Delia. I’ve got enough shit to deal with without adding that to the list.”
Her mouth fell open, hurt flashing across her face. For a moment, she just stared at me. “You made it perfectly clear you won’t be fighting for me,” she said finally, her voice shaking. “You did a great job of pushing me away all on your own. You don’t need another man to be in the picture for that.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. I knew what she was referring to, but anger flashed in my chest that she was referring to it as me pushing her away. I wasn’t pushing her away! I had been worried about her safety!
A small voice in my head told me to be honest with myself, but I ignored it, saying to her, “I didn’t push you away, Delia. You decided to interpret the events that transpired that way.”
“The ‘events that transpired’?Who are you?You think I don’t know why you told me to leave that night?” she snapped, her jaw tight and her eyes small in anger. “You’re scared, Robert. You’re scared of getting close to anyone because you think you’ll screw it up. But don’t you dare take that out on me.”
Her words hit like a punch to the gut. I wanted to argue, to tell her she was wrong, but I couldn’t. Because she wasn’t.
She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a whisper. “You want me to be honest with you? Fine. I didn’t look Jeremy in the eye because I knew what kind of jealous mess you were. And it kills me that everything that’s happened to you has made you this way. But I’m not with him. I don’t want to be with him.”
I swallowed hard, my chest tightening.
“I’m done here,” she said, her voice cold.
I reached out instinctively, grabbing her wrist. “Delia—”
“Don’t,” she said, pulling free, “touch me. If you’re going to keep pushing me away, then let me go. But don’t accuse me of something I didn’t do just because you’re too afraid to deal with your own shit.”
She turned and walked away, leaving me standing there, speechless.
I wanted to follow her, to say something—anything—to fix the mess I’d just made. But I couldn’t move.
Because she was right.
twenty-five
Delia
The cold air slapped my face as I stormed out of the library, my heart pounding and my fists clenched. Robert’s words echoed in my mind, each one cutting deeper than the last.
“If you want to fool around with him and me at the same time, that’s not happening.”
It was bad enough that he’d had sex with me and asked me to leave before I could even put my clothes on. But he just had to take it a step further and insult me.
I couldn’t believe he had the audacity to accuse me of being with Jeremy. And the worst part? He didn’t have any claim over me. He was in no place to demand loyalty from me.
I’d made it all the way to the parking lot when the anger boiling inside me finally overflowed.