Page 72 of Offside and Off-Limits
Connected so well once more? What the heck is he talking about?
“Dwayne, you’re not making any sense.”
His smile spreads, the look in his eyes telling me he’s in on some great secret he has yet to share.
“Can we sit?” he asks, and I nod, immediately pulling my hand from his and taking a seat on one of the sofas.
I fully expect him to sit opposite me, but instead he lowers himself onto the seat cushion beside me, our thighs merely inches apart.
I swallow, my back stiffening. “You’re acting weird. What’s going on?” I demand.
“May I?” he asks, holding out his hand once more.
I give a tight head shake, pressing my lips together.
“Tell me about Warrior.”
I recoil from him in shock, my pulse jumping. “How do you know about Warrior?”
That grin of his doesn’t falter for a second. “As I said, I knew if I reached out to you as me, you’d never have given me a chance. But as Warrior, you opened up. You let me back in.”
My jaw slackens as my mind races faster than a Formula 1 race car. Dwayne is Warrior? Warrior is Dwayne? My ex-husband has been masquerading as someone with CFS, someone who I formed what I had thought was a close, genuine relationship with online?
I blink at him in utter shock. “You’re Warrior?” Dismay shortens my breath as I scramble to align the radically different people in my mind. Dwayne, my ex-husband, who cheated on me with someonewho I thought was my friend, and then left me and the kids. A man who barrels through life, never thinking of anyone but himself. And Warrior, the sweet, thoughtful man with chronic fatigue, who brought a sense of calm to my world, giving me an outlet, both of us mutually supportive.
Only it was all a lie.
Dwayne doesn’t have CFS. Dwayne isn’t a sweet and tender person who brings a sense of calm to my life.
Those two people could not be more different.
“I know this is a lot to take, but can’t you see what this means? You and me, Clars. We’re meant to be together, our connection online these past months is all the proof we needed. You didn’t even know it was me and you fell for me, all over again.”
He scoots closer, placing a hand on my shoulder. “It’s over with Izzy, Clars. Done with. I left her. And it’s because of you. You and me? We’re made for each other. Can’t you see that?”
Thoughts are still flying around in my head like I'm taking corners at 200 mph with no brakes as I wrangle withunderstanding the depth of his concealment, his manipulation, his sheer gall.
Finally, I find my voice.
“Dwayne, please get your hand off of me,” I say levelly, my jaw tight, my body as rigid as a plank of wood.
He doesn’t remove it. “Hey, I know I wasn’t a hundred percent honest online, and I’m sorry about that. But you locked me out, Clars. I couldn’t get you to see sense. I needed to get through to you, and I knew you wouldn’t let Dwayne back in.”
I gawk at him. “I can’t believe you did this to me.”
“Can’t you see howromanticthis is? It’s next level romantic, babe. Warrior was my only option to show you that whatever has gone before, whatever mistakes we both made—and we did both make mistakes, babe—,” He looks at me pointedly, as though I had some part in what happened back then, as if me getting sick was somehow my mistake, and that I’m equally to blame for him leaving me for a woman I once counted as a friend. “You can’t fight it, babe. You and me? We’re meant to be.”
Finally, he falls into silence.
“I said, get your hand off of me,” I grind out, my tone low and firm.
He holds both hands in the air. “Okay. You win.”
I stare at him. “Win? You think this is mewinning?” I spring to my feet, suck in a breath, and square my shoulders, anger rushing through my veins. I look down at him. “You think that manipulating me through Warrior is just a means to an end? A way to work your way back into my affections?”
“Babe, come on. I had to do it. I had no choice. You barely even talk to me when I come to pick up the kids.”
I force myself to remain calm. The kids are only just down the hall, and I need to get my message through to him without alarming them. “You didn’t. If you wanted to work on our relationship, you should have done it honestly. Not by creating some fiction with which to lure me in.”
