The Life You Stole (Life Duet 2)

I clenched my jaw, priming my comeback. “Tell me you love Lila.”

He smirked bringing another bite to his mouth.

“I love Lila.”

“We love Lila more.”

He chewed, inspecting me through eyes formed into slits.

“Tell me you love Lila more,” I said.

Graham dabbed his mouth with his napkin. “More than what or whom?”

“More than everything and everyone.”

Rubbing his lips together, his gaze fell to his plate. My heart fell into my stomach, heavy and pulsing. Painful and terrified.

“More than me,” I whispered. “Tell me you love Lila more than you love me.”

His Adam’s apple dipped when he swallowed. “I married her,” he murmured.

Tears burned my eyes. “Tell me you love her more than you love me.”

The man I loved right down to the deepest parts of my soul couldn’t look me in the eye or face me at night when we slept. He held my heart hostage, each breath captive … waiting for a look, a smile, the tiniest touch.

The man I vetted, molded, groomed, and campaigned for my best friend to marry … he gave me everything money could buy. Sometimes he gave me a look, a smile, a touch … but it wasn’t the look, smile, or touch. My heart didn’t belong to him. And while I loved him for many reasons, none of those reasons came close to the one reason I loved Ronin Alexander—that one completely wordless reason.

My heart just knew. One feeling. One force. One moment in Vancouver that told me I had arrived.

“Why …” Graham sighed, shaking his head. “Why did we bring so many people into this? Why were you so stubborn? This could have all been avoided.”

I squinted. “Wh-what are you talking about?”

Rubbing his temples, he closed his eyes. “We married the wrong people.”

No. No, no, no!

My jaw unhinged as I stared at him without blinking, waiting for him to open his eyes and see that he was so very wrong. But he didn’t open his eyes, and I couldn’t find a single word. I could barely find my next breath. Tossing my napkin on the table, I shoved my chair back and ran toward the restroom.

Before the door completely closed behind me, I felt his presence looming over me like a storm cloud. I rested my hands on the edge of the sink and squeezed my eyes shut, erratic breaths congesting in my throat as they tried to make their way past the boulder of emotion.

I stiffened when he pulled my hair off my shoulders, letting it slowly fall from his fingers, down my back. “You regretted our night together. I never did. You put words in my mouth like I surely regretted it too. You were the one who said we could be friends or nothing, but if we were more than friends it would end badly. You made the best night of my life sound like a clumsy fucking mistake. Yet, we’d agreed to officially start dating weeks earlier. Sex is part of dating. Why did you end it just when we were getting to the good part? Do you have any idea how that made me feel?”

With tears trailing down my cheeks and my heart slowly cracking, I glanced up in the mirror to his red-eyed reflection. My mouth opened to speak, but nothing came out. What could I say?

I’m sorry?

I never knew. I honestly never knew he really wanted that.

“Y-you made fun of me—my twiggy figure, tiny boobs, and bleached hair. You said I fit in with the guys because I looked like a guy.”

His head moved side to side in tiny increments as pain etched his whole face. “It was my stupid, childish way of flirting with you. I could have had any girl, a million friends, a nicer place farther from campus, but I chose you. How could you not see it?”

My brain felt like a ten-car pileup in the middle of a snowstorm.

I couldn’t see through my blurred vision.

I couldn’t hear past the blood rushing through my ears.

And the iciest of chills crawled from the bottom of my spine to my head, intensifying the ache.

“You wanted Lila,” I whispered.

“I wanted to make you jealous.”

I shook my head over and over. “You chased her.”

“You said she’d never give me a chance. I wanted to prove you wrong. I wanted to prove to you that I was worthy. I thought if I could make Lila love me that you’d see me differently too. You’d see me through her eyes. And I liked a challenge.” He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, making a tight fist with his fingers. “And you did too. You. Did. Too.” His hands fell to his sides, and he blew out a quick breath as his shoulders folded inward.

I turned to face him, drawing in a long, angry breath. Why? Why did he have to ruin everything? “You don’t make someone jealous by using their best friend as a pawn!”