VERSUS (Second Chances 2)

I understand. The pull toward him must have been strong for her to take that step.

I won’t let her share her secrets until I share mine.

“You’re away from him and safe. That’s what matters.” I rest a hand on her knee. “I need to tell you something.”

“Have you been married?” Her voice cracks. “You’ve been married, haven’t you?”

I chuckle. “Fuck no.”

She lets out a breathy sigh. “Why am I so happy about that?”

I want that smile on her face to last. I want her to wake up every day for the rest of her life and look at me with that much joy.

I owe her this. I owe us this.

If we start with a clean slate, the world is no match for us.

“Something happened on graduation night.”

Her eyes skim my face. “I know. You left. I was in an accident. It’s history.”

I take a deep, steadying breath. “Something else happened.”

Anger took hold of Clark when I walked out of that bedroom and faced him. I did something that a jealous, petty eighteen-year-old kid would do when the girl he liked picked another guy to love.

I wanted him to dump her.

I needed him to send her packing so she’d give up on Ohio State and make a life in New York City without her dad watching over her.

“What else happened?”

I move to sit on the coffee table so that I can face her directly. I want her to look into my eyes when I tell her this. I need her to understand the depth of my regret.

What is it, Dylan?” Her hand reaches for mine.

I take it and squeeze it, needing the comfort only her touch can provide. “I said something to Clark before I left that party.”

Her eyes widen. “What did you say?”

Something that set him off to the point that he pushed me. I slammed him back against the wall with a veiled threat that I’d end his football career with a snap of his tattooed arm.

I was taller than him. I weighed a good twenty pounds more.

He backed down. Brushing past me he went into the bedroom I had just exited.

The same bedroom that I’d left Eden in.

I take a deep breath. “I made him believe that something had happened between us in that bedroom.”

Her gaze drops to her lap.

“You told me you were going to Ohio State. I stormed out of the room.”

“I remember,” she says quietly.

“I had a pair of panties in my pocket,” I go on, “a girl had shoved them at me when I got to the party. I tugged them out so Clark would think…”

“That we made love in that bedroom?” Her eyes meet mine.