Page 23 of What He Always Knew

Charlie’s shoulders rounded, her little eyes sad under bent brows. “That’s low, Reese.”

“I’m sorry,” I said quickly, pulling her hands into mine again. “Just… please. Give me another chance. I’m still the same guy you’ve been with since January. I’m still the same boy you used to have a crush on.”

She smirked. “So cocky. How do you know I had a crush on you?”

It was me who cocked a brow this time. “You’re kidding, right? Miss Red Cheeks.”

On cue, she blushed, rolling her eyes before she let them settle on mine again. They were wide then, searching for something. “I wish I could have been there for you, when everything…” She swallowed. “I didn’t even call.”

“We’ve been through that,” I told her, squeezing her hands. “You had your own life here, Charlie. It’s okay.” I shrugged. “Now, I just need you to understand that I had my own life before you, too. Or rather,afteryou — and before we found each other again. The in-between. But it doesn’t change anything about how I feel for you now. It doesn’t change the fact that this,” I said, gesturing between us. “Weare real.”

Charlie pulled her little mouth to the side, considering me.

“Let me back in,” I begged her. “Please.”

She sighed, her brows pinching together like she was still a little unsure. But she smiled, and that smile let me take my next breath.

“Fine,” she said. “But, no more lies, okay? I mean it. I’ll be honest with you, and I expect the same.”

“I promise.”

A pang of warning zipped through me as I gave my word to her, knowing what I needed to say next would likely ruffle any feathers I’d managed to smooth in the last ten minutes.

“With that in mind, I need to tell you something.”

Charlie’s smile slipped. “Okay…”

“This morning, Blake was really upset…” I scratched my neck, praying the words would come out right. “She’s going into the city to see her dad, and she’s scared. And well… the way she used to help me, sometimes, it would get… physical. It was just the way we sort of made the pain go away. On both ends. And…”

Charlie’s lips were flat now, her hands turning cold in mine.

“God, Charlie, please don’t make me say it.”

“You slept with her.”

I cringed, trying to hold her hands tighter but she ripped them away, swiping the workbooks off the table as she stormed across the classroom.

“God,Reese. What the hell is wrong with you?” She slapped the workbooks on her desk, hastily shoving her personal items in her messenger bag before throwing it over her shoulder. “You just fed me that… that load of completegarbagenot even a full twenty-four hours after you slept with her?” She shook her head. “You’re unbelievable.”

“It didn’t mean anything,” I said, stumbling a bit as I stood from the awkward position I’d been in at the kids’ table. I caught the crook of her elbow just before she reached the door.

“Let me go.”

“No.”

“Let mego,Reese.”

“I can’t!” I yelled, eyes glancing in the hall behind her before I pulled her more into the classroom, more into me. “I can’t let you go, Tadpole. Not after I’ve known what it’s like to hold you.”

Her eyes glossed then, and her gaze dropped to the floor between us. “I can’t believe you slept with her.”

“You haven’t with Cameron?”

“Not since you.” Her eyes met mine immediately, unwaveringly, the truth one she was proud to state. “How could I, after what we shared?”

My heart broke and beamed all at once. She’d refused her husband for me. Even though she’d promised him more time, she hadn’t slept with him, at least not yet.

I hoped she never would again.