The Man I Thought I Trusted - E. L. Todd Page 0,17
to his lips. “We’re all fucked.” He took a drink. “How can I go after Denise when I’m in such a bad mood? I’ve wanted this for so long, and now it doesn’t feel right.”
“Because you feel guilty about Kat?”
“I guess I feel guilty about everything…” Charlie looked past me to the TV behind me. “I wish I had just stayed committed to Kat. Honestly, we were really happy. I wish Denise didn’t affect me the way she does. My life would be far less complicated if that had never happened.”
“Yeah, life can be cruel sometimes.”
“You’re telling me.”
I didn’t see Charlie as just Carson’s friend, but my friend as well, and as years went by, I hoped we would become closer. That made me want to help him as much as I could. “What if you talked to Kat yourself?”
His eyes came back to me.
“You probably can’t smooth over your problems with her, but maybe you can fix the situation between Kat and Carson. That’s all you really care about, right?”
He nodded. “I just have a feeling she never wants to see me again.”
Finding out most of your relationship was a complete lie would make anyone pull away.
“If I do that, I still need to wait a while. Let her cool off for a bit.”
“Yeah, maybe you should.”
He finished the last of his beer then glanced at the bar like he might order another, but something changed his mind. He left the empty bottle on the table. “Carson is finally happy with you, and I’m overshadowing it with my drama. I’ve wanted her to feel better for a long time now, and it finally happens, and then this shit goes down…”
“It’ll get better.” Carson hadn’t been the same since all of this happened, and I missed the way it was the first weekend we’d had together in my penthouse. It was a dream, having her beside me all night, watching her want to stay with me instead of darting for the door right after sex or first thing in the morning. It was what I’d wanted since the beginning, to really be with her, to be happy.
“Yeah… I hope so.”
“And she and I have the rest of our lives, so if it takes a while for this to resolve, that’s fine.”
He lifted his gaze and looked at me. “The rest of our lives? Look, don’t get ahead of yourself like last time. Don’t push anything too heavy. Just live in the moment with her and let her steer the ship.”
My eyes narrowed. “She and I are in the same place, man.” When I’d said those three little words to her, I was taking a huge risk. I knew it was more likely that it would scare her off instead of bring her closer, but she accepted those words with tears…and said them back. So I didn’t know why Charlie had any doubts that Carson was ready to be in this relationship completely.
“She said that?” he asked incredulously.
My eyebrows rose in surprise because it seemed like he had no idea the feelings we had exchanged. I hadn’t said it again and neither had she, but I suspected we would be one of those couples that only said it once in a while, not every time we got off the phone or departed from a room. She told him everything, but he seemed to have no idea about this. “I told her I loved her…she said it back.”
His eyes snapped wide open like he couldn’t believe the news. “Really? Carson?” Then his eyes narrowed in suspicion, and he rubbed his palm across his jawline. “That really happened?”
“Why would I lie about something like that?”
“I don’t know. You lied about being a billionaire, so…”
I released a quiet chuckle because I would never live that down. “Yes. It happened the night we left the bar. She came over…and I told her.” I wouldn’t give him all the details because the intimacy was just for me. “She said it back. Rest is history.”
Charlie was speechless now.
“She didn’t tell you.” For someone like Carson, who confided everything in this person, I was surprised she hadn’t shared such a big moment with him.
He shook his head.
Maybe she thought it was just for us. Maybe we were so special she didn’t want to share us with anyone else. I decided not to jump to conclusions and take it as a compliment.
“Well, I’m really happy for both of you. I mean, I never thought Carson would get to this