Page 69 of Between the Stars

Two days before the wedding, I try my hand at a confession, unable to live a lie any longer. Not after I had my confirmation Griff had been cheating on me too. Maybe if I confronted him, told my side and we could come to a mutual agreement that marriage is the last thing we should be doing.

We’re in the car, on the way back from our rehearsal dinner, and I think I might throw up when Griff reaches over and touches my thigh. I fight through the urge to pull away from him, but I don’t. “What’s wrong?” he asks. I’d said very little through dinner and I’m surprised he’s noticed, and asked.

Tears flood my eyes. “I have to be honest with you.”

Silence spreads and our eyes meet in the darkness of the car, his lit up by the dashboard reflecting the obnoxious iPad screen on his Tesla. “Okay.”

My entire body shakes and my stomach rolls. “I… m-m-made… well, I… um.” Fuck. Why can’t I spit it out? Probably because the man beside me scares me in ways I can’t explain.

Griff sighs, resting his head against the headrest. He knows. “Just say it, Abigale.” He slings the demand at me with disgust.

My tangled emotions surface and I draw in a heavy breath. When I release it, my admittance goes with it. “I slept with someone else when I went home for Christmas break.”

The words hang in the air but his face doesn’t read into his demeanor. “I know.” He swallows and shakes his head ironically. “Jace, right?”

So he knows. Huh.But it’s so much worse. I’m pregnant, and it’s not yours.

His nonchalant reaction is what catches me off guard. It’s as if I just told him I didn’t want to have steak at our wedding, but instead wanted chicken.

I stare at him in disbelief and notice there’s absolutely no flicker of sadness. “You’re awfully calm.”

He shrugs one shoulder, his face void of emotion. An indifference he’s really good at portraying. “We all make mistakes.”

Mistakes? Rolling my eyes, I shake my head. I knew it’d come down to this. “Who is she?”

He chuckles under his breath, the muscles in his forearm tightening as he turns into our condo complex. “That’s not important.”

Tears sting my eyes. “Were you going to tell me?”

“Why?” Finally, he looks at me, and then away. “It doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

Is he for real? I nervously begin to dive right into a full anxiety attack. “How can it not?”

“It wasn’t anything personal.” He calmly makes eye contact with me. “It didn’t mean anything.”

“How can you say it wasn’t personal?”

“Because it just happened,” he says, matter-of-factly. “It wasn’t planned. Things like this happen.”

“How many not-planned nights have there been?”

“Doesn’t matter. There wasn’t emotion to it.”

“Of course not, Tin Man,” I snap, the heat rising in my cheeks.

“I let it slide when Josie started that shit, but I better not hear you say that again,” he snaps.

My heavy breaths drown out the steady pulse in my ears. “How many times, Griff?”

His stare tells me he’s not about to tell me the truth. “We’re not having this conversation. We’re done, so put a smile on that pretty little face and let it go.” I can’t believe we’re at this point, days before the wedding and he’s wanting me to settle on having an open marriage. At least that’s what it sounds like to me. “Why do you want to marry me?”

He snorts, his lips flat. “What kind of question is that?”

“Do you love me?”

He doesn’t make eye contact with me. “Of course I do.”

But I don’t love you. Not anymore.I don’t know him at all. Who is this guy? He’s certainly not the one I should marry.

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