Page 77 of Love or Leave

"If you aren't using her, then why haven't you told Max?"

Antonio's thoughts swirled so quickly it was hard to keep up. "We were only keeping it from him at first because—"

"Because you're married," Adam continued.

Antonio shook his head at the interrogation. "Separated."

"And Max doesn't trust you."

"He—"

"Because you cheated on your last girlfriend," Adam said.

"That—"

"And because he loves Cara like a daughter."

Antonio went numb as the knot in his stomach grew. What a fucking dumpster fire. He'd never felt like a bigger piece of shit in his whole life.

"Enough," Cara said with a shake of her head. Her warm hand took his, and she tugged him toward the stairs.

He wanted to go with her, but his limbs felt like a million pounds.

"This isn't your business, Adam," she said, pulling on Antonio’s arm.

Adam stopped and crossed his arms around his chest. "I agree," he said. "I wish I didn't know about any of this. But now that I do, I'm not keeping it from Max."

Using all her strength, Cara pulled, and finally, Antonio’s legs loosened enough to follow her. They turned away from Adam and Ethan and climbed up the stairs.

They were at the top of the stairs when Adam shouted up, "If you don't tell him, I will."

Fuck.

What the hell was he thinking?

There were a thousand other ways he could have handled his feelings for Cara. And he'd chosen the absolute worst one. He'd gone to her house and ravaged her, and they got caught.

Now they were in this messy situation where he'd have to backtrack and convince his friends and her brother that he wasn't using her. He'd made the worst fucking mess of his life.

Now he had to scramble to pick up the pieces.

twenty-one

Cara took the stairs two at a time, dragging Antonio behind her. When she got to her room, she yanked open the door and placed a hand on Antonio's back, shoving him into her bedroom and slamming the door behind them.

Her blood had been boiling with indignation. She couldn't believe the nerve of Adam and Ethan interrogating Antonio. They'd acted as if she wasn't even there.

She was an entire adult. She could—and would—make her own decisions about whom to sleep with. It was no one else's damn business.

She had nothing but respect and love for Max, but his—and his friends'—opinion of her and Antonio’s relationship was not relevant.

Okay, maybe notrelationship. But whatever the hell the thing between her and Antonio was did not need Max's stamp of approval.

She'd admit that she lost some bravado at Adam's suggestion that Antonio was using her. The thought had caused a stabbing pain in her chest, and she prayed it wasn't true.

If she was honest, though, she'd been using him, too. In fact, she'd literally told him she wanted to use him for sex. But the problem was that she'd fallen for him. Hard. And now the thought of him using her for sex made her stomach roll.

She honestly didn't know what to feel or think anymore.

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