Page 22 of Keep Me

“What are you doing here? And why is your hair… blonde?” I wasn’t trying to be rude, but my brain couldn’t focus on all the questions I had.

“I could ask you the same thing.” She grinned, opening the door wider, then my heart stopped.

Or broke.

I couldn’t decipher the intricacies of the numbness in my chest because my brain was trying to understand the scene before me.

She was standing in front of me, wearing nothing but Matty’s shirt from last night. The one withmylipstick stains all over the collar. Or, at least, I thought they were mine. There were sheets strewn all over the room, and the shower was running. It didn’t take a genius to know that Matty was in there cleaning himself off.

I took another step back, and Olana lifted her hand so her fingers were resting across the door.

My breath caught. Olana had a fat diamond on her finger. Herleftring finger, to be precise.

Bewildered, I took another step back, thinking over everything Matty had said last night. Everything we did.

I squeezed my eyes shut, swallowing the lump in my throat.

It was all a lie.

None of it was real.

He had a fiancée.

What was I, then?

A side piece. Something he wanted to try before he made the ultimate commitment toher.

Every single moment from last night ran through my head like it was on fast forward, and I couldn’t figure out how we’d gotten here.

To Matty marrying someone else.

His lie felt like a heavy stone in my stomach.

Nothing was real last night.

Thiswas my reality.

He never wanted me but knew I wanted him. How could he not? I’d made it so obvious these last few years. Was this his way of getting me out of his system before marrying Olana? Say and do the right things to get me to do whatever he wanted?

I grasped my left hand, trying to stop it from shaking, but it was no use. I was a fool. I was so lovestruck by him that I would’ve believed anything he’d said.

“What are you doing here?” Olana asked.

I swallowed down the sadness, refusing to lethersee me upset over Matty. Closing my eyes, I pointed my thumb over my shoulder to gain some composure.

“I was just heading home and wanted to tell Matty to have a great summer, but you can do that for me, can’t you?” The longer I stood in her presence, the more of the hotel room I could see. A pink bag was open with clothes spilling out of it.

Was she here the whole time?

While he was out with me?

I shook my head, annoyed that I ever thought Matty would choose me over Olana. They’d known each other for years, and it didn’t matter how many times they’d broken up, they always got back together. She was his rock, and I was a tiny pebble in comparison.

“You sure you don’t want to wait for him to come out of the shower?” She crinkled her nose and took in a sharp breath. “He might be a while.” She rolled her eyes to look at the ceiling, and her lips tipped up in amusement. “We may have gotten a little dirty last night after I told him the news.”

I gulped.

News?

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