The Mix-Up (Southern Hearts Club #3) - Melanie Munton Page 0,95

took advantage of you not stepping up with an incredible woman like that. And by not doing so, you told her some lies of your own, brother. How do you think she’s going to react when she finds out you’ve been keeping the truth from her all this time?”

Ryder averts his gaze—there’s the guilt—and hangs his head. “I’m going to tell her. I just… It hasn’t been the right time.”

“Ten months, Ryder. Did you really think you’d have all the time in the world? If I hadn’t kicked your ass into gear, it would have been someone else getting in your way. Men are going to want her, and one of them is eventually going to snap her up if you don’t get your shit together.”

Ryder just glares. “Not while I’m in the picture they’re not.”

Myles lifts an eyebrow. “Looks to me like you’re already out of the picture. Why keep trying? If it hasn’t happened between you two by now, it probably won’t.”

“Because I’m in love with her, you asshole!”

The inertia of those words knocks me back in my chair like a crash test dummy.

Ryder spins away from Myles, stabbing his fingers through his hair. “Christ! I can’t let her go, Myles. I’m incapable of giving up. I love her too damn much. My head hasn’t been right from the moment I met her.”

I’m staring into that room, shell-shocked, watching Ryder grapple for control. He’s slowly unraveling right before my eyes. Then, with Ryder’s back turned, Myles shoots a quick glance at the two-way mirror. Right at me. And winks.

He knows I’m in here. He’s known the whole time.

That sneaky son of a bitch.

Despite the smile I feel touching the corners of my mouth, I’m still fuming that these two men have been playing me like a fiddle in the Charlie Daniels Band. They’ve been keeping secrets and manipulating me, and I sure don’t appreciate it. In fact, it’s a little…infuriating.

Time to go crack some skulls.

I snatch a particular piece of paper that I’ve been holding on to off the table and stomp out of the viewing room. Leaving a trail of raging woman behind me, I burst into the focus group room without knocking.

“Since I’m the subject of this little squabble,” I snap, “I feel like I should be part of it.”

Ryder’s eyes widen in panic, all color leaching from his face. “Gretchen… Where did you come from?”

I roll my eyes. “The freaking moon.”

Myles just smirks.

“I’ll deal with you later,” I tell him, my voice cracking like a whip. “Don’t think for a second that you’re off the hook.”

He kisses the top of my head on his way out the door. “Looking forward to it, babe.”

And then there were two.

“You…” Ryder licks his lips nervously, “you heard all of that?”

“I heard that you’ve been lying to me for the past year.”

He shakes his head adamantly. “I didn’t lie to you.”

“Right. Because omitting the truth is better than a flat-out lie.”

He blows out a frustrated breath. “I didn’t know how to bring up that night after you started working here, okay? Of course, I remembered it. Every fucking second. But I thought you didn’t. That first day in my office, you acted like you’d never seen me before in your life.”

Because I’m a master at blocking out the things I’m too cowardly to face.

But no more.

“I thought you didn’t remember it,” I toss back. “You were the one who didn’t let on that you knew me. I figured that if I treated it like it was all in the past, then we could have a clean slate. Sleeping with my boss wasn’t exactly how I wanted to start this job.”

“Yeah, well, after you made it clear that you hated me, I was kind of in a tough spot. I thought we could start fresh, too. But it was obvious you had a problem with me.”

I cross my arms over my chest. “Why did you let me believe it was Myles that night? Neither of you denied it in your office that day.”

He chuckles sardonically and scrubs his hand down his face, obviously reluctant to spill his guts.

“The truth, Ryder. And nothing but the truth.”

He quirks an eyebrow. “So help me God?”

“God won’t be able to save you if you lie to me again.”

His jaw hardens. “That day with Myles, I realized how deep of a hole I’d dug myself with you.”

“What does that mean?”

“I made the mistake in the beginning of not admitting that I remembered everything about that