Page 30 of Love or Leave (Mapleton #4)

twenty-five

C ara waited for Max to leave before turning toward Antonio. He was standing in front of his apartment door with his head hung, and she wasn't sure if it was from guilt or defeat.

Fran stood in front of him, unmoving, as if paralyzed by the situation that had just unfolded.

Had she really just arrived? It seemed like it, but Cara honestly didn't know what to believe anymore. She'd given Antonio the benefit of the doubt, but maybe that had been a stupid thing to do.

This nightmare hadn't been on her bingo card for the day.

"Cara, you're not just some girl anymore—"

"Fran," Cara said, cutting Antonio off. She really didn't want her boyfriend's wife to hear anymore of the conversation. "Can you give us a minute?"

Fran snapped out of it and nodded. "I'll just go—"

"No." Cara shook her head. She wasn't planning on sticking around, so there was no reason for Fran to leave. She just had one question she wanted an answer to before she pulled the plug on her and Antonio’s relationship.

Fran awkwardly scurried down the hallway in the opposite direction of the door and stood in the corner.

Cara would have laughed if her heart wasn't breaking. She turned to Antonio, who'd become completely despondent. She couldn't really blame him. The situation was beyond fucked. And Max hadn't helped. He'd could be incredibly cruel when he felt cornered.

"Antonio?" she said, waiting. When he looked up at her, she wanted to cry. "Did you sign your divorce papers?"

His eyebrows bunched, as if that hadn't even crossed his radar.

"Not yet," he said, glancing back at his apartment. "I don't know where they are, but I—"

Cara turned on her heels, effectively cutting him off, and started walking toward the door Max had left by. Every step made her heart crack a little more.

"Cara," Antonio called

A second later, Cara felt his hand take hold of hers. She stopped, but only because her heart wished things hadn't turned the way they had. She wanted so badly for things to go well.

"I'm going to sign them," he said, pleading with his eyes. "I'll find them right now."

Cara forced herself to look at the reality and not the supposed love in his eyes. Max didn't trust him. Jer didn't trust him. Sara had warned her about him. Now she was faced with the same thing. She recognized the pattern, and her eyes absorbed the tears.

"You should have signed them after you asked me to be your girlfriend."

Antonio bent his head. "You're right, I should have."

Dammit. She'd expected him to defend himself, not agree. Maybe she wasn't giving him enough credit.

Her tears broke through, and she scrubbed them from her cheeks. "Why is Fran here?"

"I don't know. She got here literally right before you—"

"Why didn't you tell her to leave?"

"I—" He turned back to look at Fran. "I'll tell her right now."

Cara shook her head. "Did you tell her there was nothing left between you two?"

"No, I didn't think about her. I just wanted to move on—" He stopped his explanation and held her eyes, searching. "You don't trust me."

A heavy sigh came from her chest, and she shook her head. "I don't trust you."

He dropped her hand. His arms hung down his sides, pulling his shoulders and head down with them. "What can I do?"

Get a fucking time machine.

"I think if you were serious about me, Fran would know by now that things are completely over between you two."

"I only told Maria—"

"If you were serious about me, Maria would know by now that things are completely over between you and Fran."

"I…" Antonio trailed off, shaking his head.

"You talked to Maria about Fran yesterday," Cara said, her voice betraying her sadness.

Antonio took a deep breath to steady himself. "Blake came in and said he was going to break up with her. I only told Maria because Blake was being a dick, not because I wanted something to happen between me and Fran."

Cara nodded and pulled in an unsteady breath, desperate now to stop the tears.

"So you were worried about how Fran would feel about Blake mistreating her, but you didn't think about how I would feel being mistreated by you ?"

Antonio's jaw dropped. Cara was pretty sure he'd have been less shocked if she punched him and broke his nose.

"That's not…" he drifted off, as if finally seeing things from her point of view, and not liking it. He sagged slightly and shook his head. His face showed his grief.

"I hate that I mistreated you," he said, his voice catching.

"Yeah, me, too."

He dropped his eyelids and shook his head. "I want to fix this."

The tears Cara was holding back ran freely down once again, and she turned away from him, forcing her feet forward. She pulled open the door and took a step out but couldn't resist glancing back for a split second.

When she saw him standing there, shellshocked and broken in the hallway, her heart cracked the rest of the way.

She should have known better than to get involved with him. She should have listened to everyone around her when they told her not to trust him.

She shook her head and left. Never again.