Page 67 of Second Shot

“A dethroned king,” I mumble.

He laughs. “I see you still have your sense of humor.”

I move to sit near him on the sectional. It’s surreal having Tam in my apartment. The way he ended things was pretty cold and heartless, but I’ve realized a lot of things about how poorly I treated him. Being with Gabe helped me see how little I was giving Tam. No wonder he was grumpy and unhappy all the time. He was lonely. Neglected.

“I can’t believe you’re here,” I mutter. “I thought you hated me.”

He winces. “No, Babe, I could never hate you. But I still believe it was for the best that we split up.”

I shrug. “Probably. But it hurt.”

He watches me with his big brown eyes. “You know I suck at beating around the bush, so I’m just going to say what I need to say.”

“Okay.” I brace myself.

“I’m sorry for how I broke up with you.” His eyes shimmer with guilt. “It was a shitty way to do it, and I regretted it the minute I hung up.”

“Yeah?” I frown.

“Not the breaking up part, that had to happen. But the way I did it was just fucking cold.” He sighs. “We were miserable, and I knew if I didn’t end things, we’d go on like that forever. You tend to avoid the hard conversations. But I still regret how I went about it. I may or may not have drunk an entire bottle of champagne all by myself just to get up the nerve. I guess it made me nastier than I needed to be.”

“You always were a mean drunk,” I murmur.

“I know.” He sighs. “Do you forgive me?”

I scowl. “No way. I’m not letting you off the hook with a sorry. You really hurt me, Tam. That came out of left field for me. I agree, we were on life support, but after being together for two years, we should have ended things on a more respectful note.”

“I know,”he whines, gripping his blond hair in frustration. “I fucked up and that’s why I’m here now. To make it up to you.”

“I’m not sleeping with you.”

He grins. “I know. Besides, I’m still with the guy I dumped you for.”

“Are you?” I’m a mix of happy for him and mildly annoyed. Nobody wants to be dumped and then hear their ex is doing great with someone else.

“Yep.” He nods. “His name is Brian, and he’s really good to me.”

“I’m glad,” I force myself to say, although the words don’t sound as sincere as intended. “You deserve to be treated better than I treated you.” That part I truly mean.

He sighs. “I did deserve to be treated better. But I was no fucking angel. I did plenty of things when we were together that I’m not proud of. However, I did love you. I do love you, if I’m honest. I even miss you.”

I lift one shoulder. “I love and miss you too, Tam. It hurt to think I’d never see or speak to you again. But I’m glad you’re happy, even if I wasn’t the one who was able to do that for you.”

“How about, instead of falling on our swords for each other, we just accept that we both fucked up and that we’re better off as friends.”He smiles, his brown eyes warm. “I want you in my life, even if I don’t need you in my bed anymore.”

I shake my head. “You don’t have to keep rubbing that in.”

He laughs, but as his smile fades he studies me, gnawing on his bottom lip. “So, I saw the news, obviously. That’s why I’m here.”

I groan, resting my head against the back of the couch. “God, my life has completely gone to shit, Tam. I don’t know what to do. I’ve lost everything that matters to me.”

He wrinkles his brow. “Do you think your team will fire you?”

“I don’t know.” I meet his familiar gaze. “They might.”

He hesitates. “Did you really do that stuff? Bully that kid, I mean?”

My face heats, but I give a sharp nod. “Yeah. I did. Other kids too, but mostly him. I’ve been ashamed for decades. I… I even went to therapy because I felt so guilty.”

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