Bliss (Entangled Hearts Duet 2)

“I loved you. I still do,” he says softly.

I nod. “I know. I love you too, but not enough. I know that sounds harsh, but you deserve someone to love you who has zero doubts, zero reservations.”

“Why didn’t you just talk to me? We could have postponed the wedding.”

“Hunter,” I say, biting my lip to keep the tears from falling. I take a minute to get my emotions in check and then try again. “I never would have been able to give you all of me. I thought that I could, but I know now I never would have. That’s not fair to you.”

“You told me that the two of you were just friends. That there was nothing between the two of you,” he says accusingly.

“That wasn’t a lie. Cooper and I were best friends, have been since we were kids. All of that is true. What I didn’t tell you is that I’ve been in love with him for longer than I can remember.” He flinches, but I know he needs to hear this as much as I need to say it. “In fact, I don’t know when it happened. I just woke up one day, and he was more to me. I never told him. I never wanted it to tarnish our friendship. One night, in college, before you, there was kissing, and it ended in us saying we should just be friends.”

He sits on the chair, silently listening as I tell him the reason I broke his heart. “So, there was something?” he finally says.

“For me, yes,” I confess. “That night, the night he decided we couldn’t take that leap of faith, my heart shattered. I loved him. I knew I had to move on. I had to forge full-steam ahead with my life and stop waiting around for him to feel the same way.”

“So what, I was your rebound guy?” He winces as he says the words.

“No, but I guess when you think about it, maybe.” My heart hurts at admitting this. “Hunter, I enjoyed my time with you. I do love you.”

“Just not enough to marry me?”

“No. I’m sorry. I know that’s hard to hear, and it’s just as hard for me to say it, but it’s the truth, and after what I did, you deserve the truth.”

“Why not earlier that day? Huh? Why did you wait until we were standing there with everyone watching to tell me you couldn’t go through with it?”

“I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t. I struggled with my decision. Trust me, it was not made lightly. I agreed to marry you. I gave you my word and didn’t want to go back on that. However, I also owed it to myself and to you, to be honest. It wasn’t until I was standing before you that it hit me that not only was I not being true to myself, but I wasn’t being true to you. You deserved better, and that’s what led me to walk away.”

“And Cooper? What role does he play in all of this?” he asks.

I hesitate on what I should tell him. It feels like if I tell him about Cooper confessing his love for me at the rehearsal that I would just be digging the knife deeper into his heart. I don’t want to hurt him anymore than I already have.

“I saw him, Reese. Did he tell you that? I saw him at the diner just down from your place. The waitress was hitting on him.”

I nod. Cooper told me how it all went down. “He told me.”

“He was pretty blunt about the fact he had a girlfriend that he was madly in love with. It was news to me he was dating, and then it hit me. You. He’s in love with you. Did he tell you that too?”

I nod. “Yes.”

“You still love him.” It’s not a question.

“Yes.”

“Are the two of you together now? You go from my bed to his?” he asks hotly.

“Hunter, that’s not fair, and you know it. Besides, we weren’t sleeping together.”

“You slept next to me, Reese. Here in my bed, in yours. We were committed to one another. You should have talked to me, damn it.” He stands and runs his fingers through his hair as he begins to pace across the room. “You should have told me you were having second thoughts. We could have talked about it. We could have worked through it.”

“There was no working through it, Hunter.”

“Just like that. Over a year of our lives, just gone in a flash.”

“Not gone. We still have those memories.”

“Yeah, but they hurt, Reese. They hurt,” he says flatly.

“I’m sorry.” I wipe the tears from my eyes. “I know that nothing I say can or do will make this right.”

“You’re right,” he agrees. He stops pacing and turns to look at me. “You can go now.”