The Man I Thought I Trusted - E. L. Todd Page 0,11

this, but I think it would be better coming from me and not Charlie.”

Her hand lost its grip on her burrito, and it slipped onto the paper plate, bits of rice getting everywhere.

Fuck, where did I start?

“What are you talking about?” she whispered.

“I know you don’t want Charlie and Denise to be together, for valid reasons. But I think you need to understand that it’s not just some fleeting attraction between two people. It’s deeper than that.”

“Oh my god…they are already seeing each other. They’ve been seeing each other this whole time—”

“No,” I said quickly. “Nothing has happened between them. They’ve just been friends. But Charlie feels really strongly toward her, and while he doesn’t want to hurt you, this is what he really wants. This is what he’s always wanted…”

The look of death settled on her face, making her skin pale as milk, her lips white like she’d been drained of blood. “What are you trying to tell me, Carson?”

“He’s felt this way about her for a really long time…”

She started to breathe hard and then even harder. “How long?”

I didn’t answer her because I didn’t need to.

She knew.

“Oh my god…” Her palm rubbed against her chest, and she dropped her chin as she braced herself for the blow. She closed her eyes when she knew the painful truth, when it hit her like a bus. “That was why he broke up with me…” Her eyes filled with tears, and she cupped her mouth to silence her sobs and her shock.

I felt so fucking sick.

She worked through so many microemotions—pain, anger, even briefly…calm. It was a lot to process in one sitting, and she continued to rub her chest as she tried to calm herself down. Then she looked at me again as if she’d had an epiphany. “You knew…”

I could just lie and say I didn’t know until recently, but I didn’t like to lie; that wasn’t who I was. “You have to understand that I’m in the middle of this because I’m friends with both of you. This is why I didn’t want you guys to go out in the first place—”

“I can’t believe you knew this entire time and you didn’t tell me. You made me look like a fucking idiot! I’m sitting here telling you I’m still in love with him and I hope we get back together, and you knew he dumped me for Denise while I went on and on… What the fuck, Carson?” She dragged her hands down her face, trembling. “I didn’t even have the opportunity to keep some self-respect. You think I would have pouted over him and whined to you like that if I’d known the truth?”

This was why I didn’t want to do this. “Everything you told me, I never shared with him. And everything he told me, I didn’t share with you. I tried to stay as neutral as possible, so please don’t be so angry with me. Don’t focus on me, just on the message I provided to you. Charlie was the one who made that decision, he’s the one who hurt you, not me. He was going to tell you himself, but we both agreed it would be better to come from me. I knew it would hurt less.” I truly had good intentions, truly looked out for her more than she realized.

“It would hurt less that both the love of my life and my best friend lied to my face?”

I dropped my chin and stared at the table. “It wasn’t like that. I promise you. We both really care about you and wanted to handle this the right way.”

She shoved herself away from the table and got to her feet. “I feel so fucking stupid right now…”

“Kat—”

“Don’t fucking Kat me. You don’t deserve to call me that. The man I loved was in love with somebody else, and you didn’t even have my back.”

“He didn’t tell me until after he ended things with you. I kept pestering him for the real reason because we both knew he was hiding something, and then he finally told me…and I couldn’t believe it. He asked me not to tell you, so I couldn’t. And I also thought it would be cruel if I did.”

She was too emotional right now to see my side of things. “I was waiting around for months, hoping he would come back, and you knew the entire time he wouldn’t.” She threw her arms down. “What the fuck, Carson? What kind of friend