My heart is racing so fast I can hardly catch my breath. “What are you talking about?”
“Alexa Daniels,” she shouts, balling her hands into fists at her sides. “Are you fucking kidding me? How could you? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Tears stream down her blotchy cheeks that are puffed out as she yells in my face. “Of all the women you could screw, did it have to be her? Were you trying to hurt me on purpose?”
Pinching the bridge of my nose between my fingers, I sigh, unable to meet her intense gaze. I feared she would find out eventually, but I was hoping it would never come up, and we could pretend like it never happened.
Back in high school, Alexa did everything in her power to torture Harley. But in my defense, I didn’t realize she was that Alexa when we met at the bar. She changed her hair color in the past ten years to match Harley’s and even got a boob job. It wasn’t until after we had sex that she said, “I can’t believe you’re that stupid.”
I had no idea what she meant until she told me her full name. She looked nothing like the girl I once knew. So, when our pictures from that night mysteriously appeared online, I knew she was behind the scandal. But why did she wait until now to spill the truth all over my happiness? Why did she have to be such a fucking bitch?
For whatever reason, Alexa had always hated Harley, and neither of us ever knew why. She couldn’t have known that Harley would agree to marry me to save our company. Could she? What does she even have to gain from this?
“Harley, I’m sorry.” I look up at her, feeling like the biggest piece of shit on earth. “I was upset one night, and I ran into her at a bar.”
“What could be so upsetting that you had to hop into bed with my mortal enemy from high school? Alexa made my life miserable. She made me look like a whore. She did everything in her power to destroy my reputation.”
Alexa convinced Mark Holland, the captain of the football team, to ask Harley to prom. It was supposed to be a joke on Harley, like a bad scene from an eighties high school movie—the nerdy girl and the prom king. He was supposed to humiliate her and then ditch her, but Alexa underestimated how much people love Harley.
They ended up dating for months after prom, pushing us farther apart. By graduation, we barely spoke more than a few sentences to each other in passing. Harley thought I had changed because of my newfound popularity. And I had no idea how to get her back, so I let her go, assuming she was happier without me.
“She’s the reason we grew apart. And now… you…” She can barely get out the words. “You’re my…”
Harley stumbles backward, dropping her phone to the carpet as she sinks into the armchair in the corner of the bedroom.
“She’s not the reason we grew apart,” I challenge.
She runs her hands through her messy blonde hair, sucking in a few deep breaths.
“Oh, no?” More tears slide down her cheeks. “Then, how come you stopped talking to me after I went to the prom with Mark? She’s the one who made it happen, and for the longest time, I wondered if you had put her up to it. I thought you were acting weird because you felt guilty about the situation.”
“I was going to ask you to the prom.” I slide off the bed and get on one knee in front of her, afraid to touch her. “But he asked you before I could. Alexa and her stupid plan fucked everything up for both of us.”
Harley shakes her head. “And now, she destroyed everything we have, everything our family’s have spent decades to build, all because you were too much of a jerk to consider anyone but yourself.”
“I fucked up. I’m sorry that—”
“That I found out! You knew the entire time that Alexa is the woman from the pictures. You let me take the fall for her. We’re supposed to be partners. I trusted you.” She curls up on the chair, hugging her knees to her chest as she cries. “I thought you…”
I have no idea what to say or do to comfort her. For a few minutes, we sit in silence, with nothing more than Harley’s sobs filling the void. Testing the waters, I run my hand down her arm, stroking her soft skin with my fingers. She doesn’t push me away.
“I hate you,” she whines. “I can’t believe you. Why did you have sex with Alexa?” She looks at me from between her fingers. “Why, Nate?”
“Because I was upset and angry.”
“About what? I need to know why you would do this to me.”