He flinched but didn’t budge. My Kelsey, the one I envisioned every damned, fucking time I closed my eyes at night, would have scampered away from someone yelling at him. He’d always been so skittish. Nervous. Frightened. I’d thought he was just a timid little pup that needed someone to help him sort out his courage.
Hell, who the hell knew what kind of game he’d been playing with that act. He’d probably read me like a fucking book and recognized I possessed the type of personality that would be drawn to a weaker person. It had to have been a game. And I’d given him my heart, all wrapped up in pretty paper with a giant bow tied around it.
Kelsey’s next words surprised me. He looked directly at Ethan.
“He’s here to hurtme, isn’t he? The business isn’t worth a fucking dime right now, but he waltzed in and bought it from the bank. It was leveraged way beyond the hope of being able to make any money off of it. Something had to bring him back, right?” He turned away from Ethan and looked at me. “Somebody had to bring you back, Gabriel. It was me, after all, wasn’t it? You came back to finish it.”
I would have never thought he would possess the courage to own up to his betrayal. In my mind, I’d pictured all sorts of pretty denials or trying to blame others. I wasn’t really prepared to handle him looking me in the eye and owning it. There’d never been any doubts. Hell, that was a lie. I’d desperately tried to convince myself of his innocence. Doubts had been my fucking lifeline those first few months. I’d concocted all sorts of ridiculous excuses as to why he’d lied about us. More than I had wanted my next breath, I’d wanted to believe that Kelsey hadn’t really said I raped him. The lies I’d told to try and convince myself of his innocence had been as glaringly unbelievable as the lie he’d told about me. It had taken months for me to realize the truth and when I had finally accepted it, my heart had nearly exploded from the pain of acknowledging it.
The pain in my heart was worse now. I hadn’t thought it was possible, but hearing him admit it, so fucking casually like it was no more than a statement about the shitty weather we’d been having, hurt even more. The hate that had been trying to flicker and die just from hearing his voice and looking into his eyes blazed back to life with a fury. How the fuck could he do what he did, admit it, and then fucking ask me to do the right fucking thing?
My eyes locked with his. “You want me to do the right thing, Kels? You going to bat for all the Morganston employees? Trying to save the fucking day? Here’s what it will take,angel,” I spat out the nickname that had once been an endearment. “Get on your knees and convince my cock that I care more about people I don’t know than I care about my hate for you. Show me if that pretty mouth of yours has learned any new tricks over the years.” I shrugged, hating myself more than I hated him. “It’s all up to you, Kels. Do they stay or do they go?”