Lowering my eyes, I forked egg into my mouth to delay my response. I truly didn’t know then that Carter felt more than friendship toward me, and after that day in the woods, he didn’t feel even that much.
Me, on the other hand, crushed on him so hard, I wanted to put Brinley Dylan’s head through a wall whenever he said her name. I told him I did what I did that day because I loved him. I wished he understood how true that was.
Not that it makes up for what I did. Nothing ever will.
“I wouldn’t say that,” I whispered.
Surprise slackened his jaw. “What? Really?”
“I’ll give it to her. Mom was right to say no to those sleepovers.” I laughed. “But we were twelve. We wouldn’t have gotten up to much.”
“I’d have thought of something to get up to. Trust me.”
Heat licked at my cheeks. What did I say to that?
“I guess it all worked out, then,” Carter continued. “We’ll pick up where we left off as husband and wife.”
My smile dimmed. “Carter, please, don’t. We’re having a good moment for the first time in seven years. You’re not obligated to ruin it.”
His smile changed too, morphing into a sight cruel around the edges, and my heart sank.
“I am obligated because it wouldn’t be right to lead you on. Let you think we can go back to how we were. Because we can’t.” Carter bore into me, leaning forward as I moved back. “Not until you admit what you did.”
I pressed my lips together, holding his gaze though shame tried to tug my eyes down.
“This is happening, Belle. I’ve told your parents and mine. Mom’s gushing about you staying with her over winter break. Gotta put in time with the future in-laws.”
“This is the last time I’ll say this,” I said. “Take it all back, Carter, and find someone else to get you a bigger inheritance. I don’t take well to people forcing me to live by their terms. I’m certainly not trading a bully ex-friend for a bullying husband.”
If anything, his smirk widened. “My days of bullying you are over, Belle.” He flicked to my forehead. “Turns out, I no longer have the stomach to see you hurt. If the dame doesn’t handle Finn, I’ll have to do it myself.”
My chest fluttered traitorously.
“After we’re married, I’ll give you any and everything you want. A design studio filled with every fabric known to man. A house in the country like you used to talk about. Kids if you want them. Even if you don’t want them with me. It goes without saying that I wouldn’t touch you unless you asked for it.”
I opened my mouth but nothing came out.
“I’ve tried everything else with you, Adler.” Carter pushed back from the table. “Bullying, blackmail, and friendship weren’t enough, so maybe loving me is. That’s what it’ll take for you to care enough to end this for me.”
A lump built in my throat. “I do care.”
“No, you don’t.” He didn’t for a second believe I could be telling the truth. “We wouldn’t be here if you did. I’ll never understand what I did to deserve it, Belle. Afterward, sure. But before when you were supposedly crushing on me?” Carter smiled wryly. “Guess I talked about Brinley Dylan too much.”
“Carter...”
“See you around, Belle.” Carter headed inside. “Stay away from single-celled morons.”
I let him get as far as the door.
“Don’t make me do this, Carter.”
“It’s already done.”
I stared at the door long after he left. That he felt my silence as unending torture ripped my soul to ribbons. A thousand confessions to a thousand priests and I’d never be washed clean of what I’d done to the first boy I fell for.
But we can’t get married.
Especially not in sweet bliss where Carter showers me in my every heart’s desire.
The marriage I would’ve proposed to Nathan had us on opposite ends of the world living separate lives. A husband only in name and I the sole focus of Mal’s obsession. But to see me happy with another man?
He wouldn’t stop until he destroyed us.
I abandoned my now ice-cold food and picked my phone off the nightstand.
“Hello. Thank you for calling Knight Petroleum Corp. How may I direct your call?”
“Hi, I’d like to speak to Mr. Eric Knight. Tell him it’s his future daughter-in-law, Belle Lewis-Adler.”
“Certainly, Miss Lewis-Adler. Would you allow me to put you on a brief hold?”
“Sure. I’ve got all day.”
CARTER
“You’re not going to throw the board if I win again, are you?”