Page 80 of Ties That Bind Us

“I’ve known Nicholas forever. We’ve been friends for a long time.” The way her tone changed on the word friends made me uneasy, like there was much more underneath that term. I got the feeling that they weren’t just friends. There was a little more history between the two of them than Nick was insinuating, I was sure of it.

Chapter 32

Ava

Sitting here listening to Nick and Gina reminisce was not exactly high on my priority list today. The longer we sat, the more irritated I became. Although Nick had his hand on my knee, he had hardly said two words to me the entire time. I was learning that family friend was a very loose term to characterize Gina. I had a strong feeling they had been more than that, and the fact that she was here made me uncomfortable. So did the way she kept casually touching Nick’s arm and twirling her hair in his face.

It didn’t help that she was the definition of perfection with her perfectly manicured fingernails and dark-brown spiraled hair. She had a tone of voice that sounded much more like singing than speaking, and her smile was nearly blinding. Of course she had probably been more to Nick—he had probably fawned all over her when he was younger. I was confident in our relationship, but it still didn’t feel good.

From their conversation, I gathered that they had gone to high school together. Gina brought up all kinds of memories like senior prom and some graduation camping trips. She talked about how cute Nick looked in his football uniform, and all the times their families vacationed together. If she was such a fixture in his life, it was interesting I’d never heard about her. The more she spoke, the less I believed the family friend cover story. The way Nick blushed at some of the memories she brought up gave him away even more. There wasn’t a shot in hell they hadn’t slept together. When she finally got up to refill her wine, and Nick turned his attention back to me, he gave me the opening I needed.

“I know that look.” Nick smirked at me as he put his arm around my shoulder. “What are you upset about?”

“I’m not upset.” I pursed my lips. “It just would have been nice to have a little heads-up that your family friend was going to be here.”

“Ava.” Nick sighed exasperatedly. I hated the way he said my name like that, like I was overreacting and the one in the wrong.

“She’s more than that, isn’t she?” I narrowed my eyes at him, my frustration growing by the second. “You’ve slept with her.”

“Jesus, would you keep your voice down?” Nick leaned forward. “What has gotten into you?”

“Nothing has gotten into me. I’m just trying to figure out who she really is since I’m not really buying the whole family friend excuse. It’s an easy question: Have you had sex with Gina?”

Nick let out a heavy breath. “We dated, okay? But it was years ago. I didn’t think it was even worth mentioning.”

“So you lied to me about it instead?” I crossed my arms defensively over my chest. I wanted answers, and I felt like I deserved them. I had blindly trusted Nick in almost every aspect of my life yet he was still keeping secrets from me.

“Damn it, Ava.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “I said she was a family friend because I didn’t want to get into anything in front of everyone. I am not doing this here. Can you just let it go?”

I frowned, unsure where his hostility was coming from, but it only made me more suspicious about who Gina really was to him. Would he get so damn defensive about an ex-girlfriend if she didn’t still mean something to him? He really had no right to be upset. He was the one who’d lied to me about who she really was. He was the one who hung on her every word, leaving me out of the conversation completely. He was the one who had a million opportunities to bring his ex-girlfriend up but hadn’t once.

“I’m going to the restroom.” I grabbed my purse and hightailed it into the house. I could feel his eyes searing into me the entire time. Not wanting to extend the confrontation inside, I ducked toward the bathroom, almost tripping over a woman on my way.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” I apologized, backing away and realizing it was Gina I had run into. If I had known, I probably wouldn’t have apologized.

“Don’t be sorry, it’s hard to see anything around that corner. I’ve run into people several times.” A wide grin spread across her face. Of course she had to throw in that she had been in Nick’s childhood home multiple times.

“Excuse me,” I said, trying to step around her and into the bathroom. I didn’t trust myself around her, and was already in trouble with Nick, so I’d better mind my manners and just leave.

“Wait!” She smiled tightly, reaching for my hand. “I have to see the ring, I have been hearing about it for months.”

I blushed as she held up Nick’s engagement ring and inspected it closely.

“Wow! It really is as beautiful as everyone says. Much bigger than the one he gave me.” She rolled her eyes, laughing.

“Um, I’m sorry, what?” I said, completely confused. Why would Nick give her a ring if they weren’t . . .

“Oh, he didn’t tell you?” She had a contented smirk on her face. “Probably not, it was silly, really. When we graduated, Nick proposed to me just before I went off to college. Heat of the moment, I suppose. Nothing like what he has with you.”

I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. All the wind had been sucked out of my lungs. Nick had proposed to her? My Nick, my husband, had asked her to marry him? The same man who had only moments ago claimed she was his family friend. If I stood in front of her much longer, I thought I might faint.

“It was lovely to meet you, Ava. I hope I’ll be getting an invitation to the wedding.” She smiled tightly before brushing past me.

I pressed my lips together, trying to gather myself. Part of me wanted to march right out there and let him have it. How could he neglect to tell me something as important as the fact he was engaged before? Whether or not our relationship started out as arranged, he still should have told me. If not then, then maybe when I agreed to marry him for real. When I betrayed my own family to support him.

Another part of me couldn’t bear the thought of facing him, though. He probably thought I was a complete fool, falling for all of his shit and never once questioning him. Maybe that’s exactly what I was.

I had to stop myself from spiraling. The last time I hadn’t given him a chance to explain himself, I’d gone off and gotten high, and I wasn’t going to let anything like that happen this time. I wasn’t going to run away, I was going to make him own up to keeping this from me after he’d promised no more secrets.

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