My Rebound (On My Own #2) - Carrie Ann Ryan Page 0,61

worry about me,” I said.

“Oh. I’m glad that you’re fine. It’s good to hear that.”

He started to ramble about something, and I just shook my head.

“Was there something you wanted? Because we’re not together anymore, Paul,” I said and cursed as he flinched at the use of the name. I used to call him both, and it hadn’t been an issue. Now, it felt weird. I didn’t need to be cruel. I just needed to be okay.

I needed to be okay with who I was and make sure that he knew I was done.

“I guess I just missed you.”

I blinked. “Okay, good for you. But you don’t need to tell me that.”

Shit, I didn’t know what to say.

“Why don’t you tell me why I’m here?” I said, not too kindly.

“Hell, okay, Angela told me to come.” I blinked.

“Angela?”

“My, uh…you know.”

“Ah.” The last girl I had seen him with. I didn’t know her name, didn’t need to know her name. That might be insensitive of me, but I didn’t any part of that in my life anymore. I just wanted it gone. And he certainly wasn’t making that any easier by bringing her up now.

“Anyway, Angela came to me, and…shit. She wanted me to apologize.”

I blinked, wondering why he was telling me this. Why did any of this matter? Why were we in public for him to tell me this? It shouldn’t matter at all, and yet here he was, apologizing after all this time.

“What?” I bit out, my voice low.

“I don’t know. I mean… After so many years, you and I were like the perfect thing, you know? We were amazing together, and I fucked it all up because I wanted to see what else was out there. And while I like Angela and all, she’s not who I saw myself getting married to or anything. And my parents hate her, so I figured that you and I could maybe see if we could work things out. Or something. Because we shouldn’t just throw everything away.”

I blinked, my entire world crashing in around me. I couldn’t be hearing this. Not after months of silence. After his cheating. Who the hell did he think he was? “You think I’ll just forgive you and take you back after you cheated on me?”

He blushed. “I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t make a scene.”

I stood up, my chair tipping over. “You didn’t want me to make a scene, so you asked me to forgive you for cheating on me while we were in a coffee shop? In public?” I asked, my voice low, but my body vibrating.

Everyone was staring now. We were in the quiet part of the coffee shop, but they were still looking.

“Shit. Stop acting like this. Maybe there’s a reason I left you.”

And there it was. The Paul who never took responsibility for anything. His parents had probably put him up to this. Oh, Angela might have told him to say that he was sorry, but his parents wanted us back together. Well, tough for them.

“No. Not even a little bit. I don’t love you anymore, Paul. I don’t even like you. Have fun with Angela. Have fun with the perfect little life you wanted because I’m not going to be a part of it. Oh, and maybe don’t tell me it’s a damn emergency when all you wanted to do was crawl back to me out of some kind of FOMO.”

I turned on my heel and ran smack into Pacey. Could this day get any worse? Mortification slid through me as I looked up at him. “Did you hear that, by chance?”

“Oh, I did.”

He looked over at Sanders. “This isn’t over.” And then he took my hand and pulled me out of the shop. People were still staring, but thankfully they were mostly looking at Sanders.

That piece of shit. I would feel sorry for him, but I didn’t care enough.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, my hands shaking as we stood outside where nobody could hear us.

“Mackenzie.”

“I cannot believe he got me to come here for that.” I put my hands on my face and resisted the urge to scream. I couldn’t believe I had come here at all. For closure. Right. I was already closed. I was over him. Nothing about him mattered anymore. And yet, here I was, letting him into my thoughts again.

Pacey leaned forward and brought me close. “Do you want me to go back in there and hit him for you? I’m kind of jealous