Page 95 of Revenge Puck

Christian takes two steps closer to me, and says, “Ellie, please. I didn’t know what I had with you until I lost you. Now I want you back. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Oh, I find that very hard to believe, Christian. You only think you want me now because I’m with Preston.”

He flashes me his panty-dropping smile. “Come on, babe. I know you two aren’t actually together. You were just trying to screw with my head because I messed up and dumped you right before the finals. I get it. I deserved it, from you and from Preston.”

When I don’t answer either way, he says, “Tell me that you don’t miss me.”

Okay, so a teeny, tiny part of me misses the prick, but with each day I’m with Preston, it diminishes. I don’t want him back, that I’m certain of, but I can’t lie. “I…I don’t know what to say, honestly.”

“How about you start with the truth? I never lied to you, Ellie. Not once.”

“You didn’t tell me you were screwing women in every city you played in, did you?”

“That wasn’t a lie. You never asked if we were exclusive. I thought you knew we were just having fun. I’ve only ever tried tobe with just one woman before and that went to hell. But since you’ve been gone, I’ve missed you so damn much.”

Oh, wow. He is laying it on thicker than a brick wall. Still, I can’t help but ask, “Who was the one woman you tried to be with?”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“No, seriously. Tell me, Christian.” When he doesn’t answer me, I go with my hunch. “Was it maybe Preston’s sister Maya?”

His eyes widen, and the man goes as still as a frozen ice sculpture. “How did you…how did you know about her? That son of a bitch told you?”

“Preston told me that you got her pregnant during her freshman year of college.”

With a scoff, he scrubs both hands down his face. “Well, now you know why he wants to kill me.”

I have to choose my next words very carefully because I will not be the one who tells him about Finley if he hasn’t figured it out for himself. “Preston doesn’t want to kill you. You two were good friends, right? He just blames himself for introducing you to his little sister, for wronglytrustingyou.”

Christian’s arms fall to his sides. “I know he trusted me, and I fucked up everything! One mistake cost me my best friend and the girl I…” He stops speaking so abruptly that I have no doubt what he was about to say.

“The girl you what?” I want him to say it. If he does, then, I don’t know, maybe not all hope is lost and there’s a chance for the three of them to be a real family. I like Maya and know she’s not over Christian yet. While she said she blames being a single mother on her lack of dating, Christian is the only man she’s ever been with, as if no other man could compete with the memory of him.

“Loved, okay. I thought I loved Maya and that she felt the same about me. But after I knocked her up, Preston wouldn’t let me anywhere near her again!”

“He kept you from her?”

“Hell yes. I couldn’t even say her name to ask about her without him kicking my ass all over the ice. He literally threw me and all my shit out of the apartment we shared.”

“Can you really blame him, Christian? He’s protective of Maya and he trusted you to be safe with her. She was just out of high school!”

“I know all of that, Elle.” I’m a little surprised when he uses my actual name and not the nickname he and his son use. “And I’ve apologized. I offered to go with Maya to the doctor and shit until she made her decision. I even sent her money in case she needed it for whichever way she went. Preston told me she didn’t want anything to do with me anymore and to stay away from her.”

Could there be more to the story? More than Preston shared, that makes Christian look a little bit less like an asshole?

“I want to believe you. I do. But I find it hard to trust anything you say, Christian.”

“Funny, since there’s only one of us here who is a proven liar,” he replies with his jaw clenched tight. “Tell me the truth. Tell me you haven’t been pretending with him,” he says through gritted teeth.

Taking a deep breath, I give him what he wants. “Fine. Preston and I weren’t really together.”

“I fucking knew it!” he exclaims in triumph.

“At first,” I quickly add. “When that photo of us kissing was taken, we weren’t actually a couple yet. But then we got to know each other better and became closer. It is real now. It has been since the first night I went to D.C.”

“And you actually believe he feels the same way? He’s just using you to get back at me, Ellie! Can’t you see that?”

“I thought so at first, but it’s more than that for both of us now.”

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