The Man I Thought I Trusted - E. L. Todd Page 0,50

me a kiss.

I kissed him deeply right in front of my friends, not caring if they stared.

When we pulled back, he squeezed my thigh under the table.

“She hasn’t even started packing yet.” Charlie threw me under the bus right away.

“I’ll do it tonight. Chill,” I insisted. “I procrastinate on everything.”

“Don’t expect me to help you,” Charlie said. “You always wait until the last minute for everything and assume I’ll come to the rescue.”

“I’ll help her,” Denise said. “We can drink wine and go through her clothes, and if I see something I like, I’ll borrow it.”

I rolled my eyes. “So selfless of you.”

We continued to chat at the table after Dax got his drink. Charlie and Denise were across from us, and Matt was at the head of the booth. We talked about basketball, the status of Matt’s relationship with Jeremy, and work.

“I can’t wait to see your place,” Charlie said. “I’ve never been in a penthouse before.”

“Me too,” Matt said. “I bet we could all live there, and you wouldn’t even notice us.”

I gave Matt a cold look. “Take it down a notch, alright?” I was sure Dax didn’t want people to obsess over how rich he was.

“It’s fine,” Dax said with a chuckle. “I’m excited for you guys to come over. I’m sure we’ll have lots of game nights.”

“Sweet,” Matt said.

“Carson is under the impression that she’ll be paying her fair share while she’s there.” Charlie glanced at me. “Which is ridiculous.”

“It’s not ridiculous,” I countered. “I’m a working woman. I should pay for stuff.”

“You can pay with sex,” Dax said. “That’s as good as cash, if you ask me.”

Charlie chuckled before he fist-bumped Dax across the table.

I wouldn’t be a freeloader. That wasn’t my style. “That’s not who I am—”

“Uh, guys…” Matt’s face turned pale as milk as he looked across the bar.

“What?” I asked, following his gaze to see what affected him so deeply.

Everyone else turned too.

Kat stood there with another girl, probably a friend from work, and she looked at us with vacant eyes, like her soul had escaped through her pores and she was empty inside. Her stare was focused on Charlie with his arm around Denise. Her hair was pulled back from her face in a ponytail, so every expression was visible like words on a page.

Dax released a quiet sigh, like he could feel her pain.

Charlie dropped his arm from Denise’s shoulder—as if that would make a difference.

Then Kat quickly stormed out and pushed through the double doors until she was outside.

Charlie’s previous happiness was long gone, replaced by self-loathing. “Fuck. I’ll go talk to her.”

“No.” I tapped Dax on the arm so he would get up. “Let me try. I don’t think she’d feel comfortable looking at you right now.”

Dax quickly got out of the way so I could cross the bar and head outside. I found her down the sidewalk, walking quickly in her heels with her hand raised to get the attention of a cab. I was in flats, so I jogged to catch up to her and made it just when a taxi pulled over. “Kat.”

She opened the back door.

I slammed my palm into it and closed it again.

The driver started to honk.

“Kat, talk to me—”

“And say what?” With watery eyes and a loud voice, she rounded on me, like everything she kept inside had burst free. “That I mean literally nothing to all of you, not just Charlie? Seeing you guys having a good time, all happy, just makes me realize that you’ve already forgotten me. I remember when it used to be the four of us before Denise moved here, and that was my life. It used to be the four of us, his arm around my shoulders…and now I’ve been replaced. And it wasn’t just Charlie who replaced me—all of you did.”

“That’s not true—”

“You guys all have forgotten me. And that’s fine.” She tried to open the door again.

I put my weight against it so she couldn’t open it. “Kat, I love you. I’m still your best friend. I think about you every day because I miss you. I’m sorry that we look like we’re happy without you, but we all miss you. I’m not lying to you.”

With tears dripping down her cheeks, she stared at the cab as she waited for me to move my hand.

The driver honked again.

“Oh, shut it!” I yelled.

Kat’s voice was quiet now, like she’d given up. “Move your hand, Carson.”

“Kat, come back inside. We’ll show you how much we