shocked you don’t have an enormous circle of close, loyal friends. But quality over quantity, right?
Book!AeneasWouldNever: Honestly, I’m still surprised sometimes to have ANY friends. I didn’t growing up.
Unapologetic Lavinia Stan: Being a kid is so awkward.
Book!AeneasWouldNever: Yes. Anyway, I’m forever grateful for the friends I do have. Definitely including you, Ulsie.
Unapologetic Lavinia Stan: I feel the same.
Unapologetic Lavinia Stan: Thanks for listening, as always.
Book!AeneasWouldNever: Any time.
Unapologetic Lavinia Stan: I don’t let everyone in, and it hurts to do it and be disappointed.
Book!AeneasWouldNever: I’m an expert at disappointing others, sadly.
Unapologetic Lavinia Stan: Well, you’ve never disappointed me.
25
APRIL WAS CRYING AGAIN. WITH HURT, YES, BUT ALSO RAGE.
So much goddamn rage.
Marcus was Book!AeneasWouldNever. At one time, that would have been her most fervent wish, to have the two most important men in her life somehow merge into one. To not have to choose between them. But now—but now—
All this time. All this time, he’d pretended they’d met as strangers at a restaurant. All this time, he’d fucking lied to her.
“April, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.” When Marcus tentatively reached out to dry her tears again, she slapped his hand away.
“Why?” That single syllable was so choked with betrayal, she could barely understand herself. “Why didn’t you say something?”
He raked a hand through his hair. Gripped it in his fist so hard he must have ripped some out. “I wanted to, April. Fuck, I would have done anything to let you know.”
Jesus, what bullshit. Exactly how gullible did he think she was?
“Anything.” She laughed, a horrible, scraping sound. “Anything except tell me.”
Such a small slip-up he’d made. So easy to dismiss, to explain away, if his stumble hadn’t involved something she couldn’t second-guess or doubt.
She’d decided months ago not to mention being fat-shamed on dates to Marcus. It was a very deliberate, very conscious omission, one intended to spare her pride. She’d told herself that part of her past didn’t matter, really, not when he did love her body exactly the way it was.
If she hadn’t caught that damning little slip, would he ever have told her? And how long, precisely, had he known the truth?
“Did you know who I was when you asked me out on Twitter?” Her tone had hardened now. Turned colder, as her tears dried.
He frantically shook his head. “I had no clue who you were. I swear. Not until you told me at dinner.”
That blank look of shock when she’d shared her fanfic name. Those initial, probing questions about Marcus—about himself, and how she felt about him—on the Lavineas server. All those conversations where he pretended to know almost nothing about fanfic.
“You’ve been keeping this a secret from our very first date,” she whispered. “From our first fucking date.”
He grabbed the back of his neck, squeezing hard. “April, you have to understand—”
“Oh, how wonderful.” She’d never used that voice, rich with sarcasm and disdain, on him before. Not even once. It made him flinch, and she was savagely glad. “Yes, please tell me what I have to understand. I can’t wait to find out.”
“If anyone knew I was writing fix-it fics in response to the show, if anyone knew the things I said about the scripts on the Lavineas server . . .” He sounded so sincere, each word a heart-wrenching plea. A hell of a good actor, as always. “I could have lost the role of Aeneas. I could be sued, potentially. And no one would want to cast the guy who—”
Enough. She didn’t need a lecture on how grave the consequences could have been, or how grave they could still be. Of course his showrunners would be unhappy. Maybe even his colleagues. But he’d lied to her, and she wasn’t letting herself be dragged off-topic.
She held up a steady hand. “I get it, Marcus.”
“I don’t think you do.” His lips tightened, just for a moment. A flash of anger, when Marcus was never, ever angry at her—at least, not until he was caught in a lie. “Not really.”
Ignoring that attempted feint, she cut to the most crucial, most hurtful part of this absolute shitshow. “I also get the real issue here.”
“The real issue?” It was almost a growl.
“You don’t trust me.” She sat back in her car seat and laughed again, and the sound was just as horrible, just as sharp, as before. “We were friends for over two years online, and you’ve been living with me for months, and you don’t trust me.”