Page 119 of Our Daughter's Bones

Nick shook his head. “Mack, this is not about her. This is about you and him. She could be the most perfect woman on the planet, but it still won’t change anything.”

“I know!” Tears pricked the back of her eyes. She swallowed incessantly. “I’m not angry ather. If Sterling didn’t care about me, then why would she?”

“You’re using her as an excuse to stall. You know you have to make a decision. Either leave him or stay with him. But stop torturing yourself like this. Besides, he’s not even seeing her anymore.”

“How the hell do you know that?” She raised her eyebrows.

“I… I’ve been following him.”

Her laugh was mirthless. “Look at you! Like you care about my feelings.”

“Of course I do.”

“If you did, you wouldn’t have done what you did.” She turned to leave, but he twisted her around.

“I know I screwed up.” His grip on her elbow was unforgiving. “I hate myself every day for it, Mack. I’m sorry.”

“It’s too late.” Her voice broke. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I thought this was between you and him. I thought it would be inappropriate for me to––”

“Inappropriate? You were my best friend! You weren’t some acquaintance or colleague. I trusted you.”

“I’m sorry!” he yelled. “I don’t know how marriage and that crap works, Mack. Luna was the result of a hole in a condom. I messed up! I don’t know what else to do except apologize. I should have gone to you instead of speaking to him.”

“To him? What do you mean? What happened?”

He stepped back and rubbed the back of his neck. “When I caught him with her, at the hotel, he saw me. He came to me, begging me not to tell you anything. He said that he was going to end the fling anyway and that you should hear it from him. I gave him a week to come clean to you. I warned him that if he didn’t tell you in a week, then I would.”

“He didn’t.”

“I didn’t know that. He texted me few days later saying that he’d told you everything, and you two were working out your issues. It wasn’t until you showed up at my place that night that I found out Sterling lied to me.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything? When you thought that I knew the truth? You didn’t ask me anything.”

“I thought you were in denial or embarrassed or some shit. I was waiting foryouto open up tome. When I found out that Sterling lied to me, I clocked him in the face.”

“That was you?”

“Hell yeah.” He curled his hand in a fist and shoved it in his pocket.

She remembered the time Sterling had come home with a battered cheek.

“What happened?”

“This asshole we were charging. He lost it in the courthouse.”

She hung her head low and let out a groan. “Oh my God. Oh my God. What have I done? What should I do?”

Strength left her. She sank to the ground. She didn’t think about the filth touching her clothes. It did not matter anymore. Nothing did. She rubbed the sides of her head to dampen her piercing headache.

“Mack.” Nick crouched next to her and patted her back.

The caring gesture gutted her. Tears spilled with force. Her wound-up body uncoiled. She felt the salty taste of her tears on the tip of her tongue. Her hands began to tremble. She cried so hard that she was afraid her ribs might bruise. She hadn’t even realized that Nick had tucked her under his arm.

“All my life, p-people have betrayed me, Nick.Everyone.Almost every single person in my life has lied and cheated. My father was a drunk. My m-mother… Sterling cheated on me. You were the only one I had. I thought you would n-never hurt me.”

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he repeated the words like a prayer. “I thought I was doing the right thing by giving Sterling a chance. I was an idiot to believe him.”