“I didn’t let him know where I was stationed. I even changed my last name, to make it impossible for him.”
“Your father sounded so broken up when he told me he hadn’t heard from you. I was totally lost and I hurt so badly. My friends rallied around me. They said I needed to forget you and get on with my life. They insisted I go out with them to a party. But they didn’t understand. How could they understand what you and I shared?”
Her words were like a sledgehammer, beating at his chest. Jason opened his mouth, searching for an apology. Unable to find words to express the depth of his regret, he closed his mouth. She wouldn’t even look at him now. Her hands were clenched in her lap. He wanted to reach out to her, but his nerve faltered.
Kara had never been a partier. She’d much rather be doing outdoor sports than watching her friends get drunk. Something must have happened at that party. His chest struggled for each breath as he waited.
The silence flowed on. Her pink lips trembled. He’d always been drawn by them. Surprised he’d noticed them now of all times, he continued to stare. The temptation to smother them in a reassuring kiss and erase the rest of this doomed story overrode his apprehension. He stepped forward. Maybe just one kiss could change this perilous course they were on, but logic told him it’d only delay the inevitable. This journey had been preordained years ago.
He pulled his foot back and took a firm stance. “Kara, whatever it is, just say it.”
“At the party,” she said, giving him a hesitant glance, “I found a dark corner and stayed there. I regretted going, but since I hadn’t driven, I had to wait for my ride. Anyway, someone decided I needed to loosen up, so they spiked my drink. When I realized what they’d done, I hesitated. I wasn’t thinking clearly, but they convinced me that the drink would take the edge off the pain.”
She paused, her eyes not meeting his. One by one, each muscle in his body grew rigid, while a sickening feeling brewed in his gut.
“I was young and stupid. I don’t have any other excuse for what happened next. One drink led to another and another. You know I didn’t drink, so it didn’t take long before I was feeling good—too good.” She rubbed her hands together. “Shaun showed up. Someone had called him when they found me wasted. He took care of me....”
Jason’s uneasiness ramped up to an excruciating pain, as though he’d been riddled with bullets, left on the side of the road to die a slow, agonizing death. He wanted to be there for Kara, just as she’d been there for him, but this...this was different.
“I was wrong,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I don’t want to hear this.”
He took a step toward the door.
“You have to listen.” The eerie, high-pitched tone of her voice put a stop to his retreat. “You can’t run away. Not this time.”
His teeth ground together. His jaw flexed. The door was in sight, but the determination in Kara’s voice told him that she’d follow him this time. He summoned up the courage he’d clung to on the battlefield, and turned.
Kara stood now. Her gaze held his with a fierce determination. “You weren’t there to help me—but like always, Shaun filled in. He was your lifelong best friend. We had been the Three Musketeers. I trusted him almost as much as I trusted you.”
She dashed away another tear. “He attempted to sober me up. He took me to his car, intent on getting me home.”
Jason felt trapped on a runaway train. His life whizzed past him and there was no way to get off. He could only hold on, bracing for the devastating collision with the truth.
“On the way, I started to cry. Shaun pulled off on one of the desolate country roads. It was late and there wasn’t any traffic. He tried to comfort me—”
“Stop.” Jason’s voice thundered in the room. He couldn’t bear to hear any more.
The stabbing pain in his chest had him glancing down, searching for blood. He took a moment to gather his shattered illusions.
“Shaun is Samantha’s father?” he asked, stumbling to latch on to this fact.
Kara nodded. Silent tears streamed down her cheeks. “Yes, he is.”
The brown hair and blue eyes made sense now. Jason and Shaun had been mistaken all their lives for brothers because of their similar looks.
Shaun. His best friend.
And Kara. Kara! The only woman he’d ever loved.
How was it possible his girl and his best friend had created a baby?
Pain spanned
from temple to temple. This couldn’t be happening. It had to be some kind of sick, twisted nightmare. Kara and Shaun never would have betrayed him like this.
Jason’s breath came in short, rapid puffs.
“This can’t be right. Kara, tell me it isn’t true. Tell me you’re saying this to get even with me for leaving you, and none of it is true.”