Page 92 of Fake Dating Mr. Prince

Hurt and disappointment lit her face. “I’m not lying to you. I’d never hurt you.”

“You have a strange way of showing that when you hand over my designs to your stepmother.”

“I didn’t.” She sighed and shook her head.

“Nothing else makes sense, Ashlyn. Because from where I’m standing, there’s no other way she could’ve gotten them. Besides the night you saw them, they’d been locked up. And you already admitted you were taking pictures. I bet you even planned to pass the designs off as your own.” I rubbed at my eyes.

How had this gone so wrong?

“I don’t want there to be any other lies between us. I admitted to takingonepicture, Dean. I don’t know how else to convince you I wouldn’t betray you like that.”

“I’m sure you can understand that I might be struggling to believe you.” I paced the floor. My quick strides not enough to calm the beating of my heart. I wanted to tear out of there and run until I was so exhausted I could forget this conversation ever happened.

“I know it looks bad, but I never would have gone through with it.” She rubbed at her chest.

She looked so forlorn I had to stop myself from going to her. The desire to comfort her and hold her tight was messing with me. The need to pretend for just a moment, the instincts I’d prided myself in, hadn’t failed once again.

She’d lied to me and used me just as Simone had. Yet this time hurt far worse. I scrubbed at the back of my neck.

“Oh yeah, what would’ve stopped you?” I scoffed.

“My feelings for you.” Her eyes met mine. Sorrow reflected back at me mixed with regret.

I wanted to believe her. Yet, how could I when all the evidence was pointing at her deception?

“I love you,” she whispered on a broken sigh.

My chest tightened. There wasn’t enough oxygen in the room, and I struggled to breathe. The tips of my fingers tingled and felt numb, while my heart beat an unsteady rhythm.

Everything in me wanted to run away. Instead, I chose another way to distance myself from her. I pointed to the door. “I need you to get out.”

“I’m sorry for all of this, Dean.”

I stalked to the door and opened it. “Don’t bother coming back.”

Her rapid blinks made me want to soften, to try and believe her. But my instincts were screaming at me that if she could keep something like that from me, there was no way I could ever trust her.

***

OVER AN HOUR LATER, my body dragged from the emotional strain. I’d slumped onto the couch, letting the minutes pass. I couldn’t get over how Ashlyn betrayed me. My traitorous body longed to be with her, my mind wanted to believe her, and my heart didn’t know what to do.

She said she loved me. I didn’t do love. I didn’t do forever.

Even if she hadn’t taken advantage of my trust, knowing how deep her feelings ran, I would have needed to break up with her anyway.

This was not how I envisioned how our relationship would end.

The moment I heard the board agreed to confirm my promotion, I wanted to share the news with her. Ashlyn was the first person I thought of. I was excited to tell her our plan had done what we needed it to.

The only reason I hadn’t run right over to tell her was this trepidatious voice at the back of my mind. Once I’d gotten what I wanted, it meant we didn’t need to be together.

I realized I wasn’t ready to let her go. I’d been thinking of asking her to give us a little more time. We had fun together. And up until now, I’d thought there were no feelings involved. I’d convinced myself I only needed a little more time, and soon enough, my desire to move on would re-emerge.

While I’d been thinking about ways to keep what we had going, she’d been plotting behind my back.

I ran my hand through my hair. How was I going to tell my father? He sounded so proud of me earlier and had suggested Ashlyn and I come over this week to celebrate with him and my mother.

I'd never disappointed my father this badly. Before I lost my nerve, I grabbed my cell phone from the table in front of me and dialed his number.