Curvy Girls Can't Date Bad Boys - Kelsie Stelting Page 0,54
matter how much I hit the touchscreen, it would not come to life, I put it on the counter and washed my hands before splashing some water on my face.
Taking a deep breath, I opened the bathroom door and began walking toward the table, needing to tell Ronan about what had happened before he heard from someone else.
But he and the waitress were looking up at the news screen in the corner, and when she caught sight of me, she said, “Isn't that you?”
Thirty-Three
Ronan's eyes flicked from the screen to me, and when I caught his gaze, I could see he was comparing the picture to the person in front of him. I was still wearing the same dress as the night before. There was no denying who it was on the screen, or who I was now.
I was close enough to hear Ronan say, “Excuse me,” as he stood from the booth and made a beeline to the exit. My mind wasn't working, but my feet followed him. The second he got outside, he ripped his hands through his hair, pacing quickly back and forth.
I wanted him to say something, anything, but he wasn't. And that scared me.
“Ronan?” I said.
His eyes turned on me, black fiery coals of anger and distrust. He only said one word. “Engaged?”
I shook my hand. “It’s not what it looks like.”
His eyes narrowed, and his lips formed a line. “Tell me what it looks like then. Because I'm pretty sure the people on the news were saying that you're engaged to Mr. Oiled Abs with a Multi-Million-Dollar Trust Fund.”
The anger in his voice took me aback.
“But I'm not engaged to him.”
“So you're telling me that the evening news and all those reporters just shared false information with the entire country?”
“Yes!” I cried. “That's why I called you last night. I broke it off. I'm not with him.”
His eyebrows furrowed even more. “So you’ve been with someone else this whole time? Even after he left you in the middle of the street, you stayed with him?”
I stepped closer to him, and he took a step back. That made my chest hurt even more. I still ached from what had happened between us the night before, still smelled like him, and he was departing from me like I was poison.
“Ronan, I wasn’t with him in the way you think.”
“You’re not off to a great start, Zara.” His voice was flat, which was even worse than the anger. It meant he was giving up on me. On us.
Tears stung my eyes. I'd given Ronan every part of myself except for the truth of my father's plan. “My dad arranged for me to marry Ryde. The dinner last night was to make our engagement final and set our wedding date. I ran away. I don't want to be with him.”
Ronan was incredulous. “Let’s say I believed that someone would arrange a marriage for a teenager—which I don’t, by the way—that doesn’t change what you did.
“What I did? I called it off!”
“But that means it was on at some point. When we were at the beach. When we watched the sunset. When we...” He shuddered. “I gave you all of me, and you never told me anything.”
My throat tightened. “Ryde meant nothing to me. I didn't tell you because it didn't matter. You matter.”
“Well the truth matters to me. I was always honest with you, even about DP.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “I don't even know you.”
The pain in my chest was so thick I had to gasp for air. Desperation had me fighting through the ache to tell him that this mattered. “Ronan, you know me better than anyone.”
“No, I don’t, because keeping that secret meant you knew how this would end. The girl I fell in love with never would have led me on like that.”
His words struck me one after another, and I wrapped my arms around my stomach just to hold myself together. “It doesn't have to end.”
He gave me a long, cold look and shook his head before walking away. He went to his motorcycle, got on, and kicked it to life. I called his name, did something I told myself I’d never do for a man, and begged him to stay.
The last I saw of him was his rigid shoulders as he sped away.
A couple passed me, their eyes down, not saying a word. I was sure I looked a mess, with my hair tossed into a ponytail, my second-day