Page 56 of Tomorrow Belongs to Us
“Not now? Is your wife hovering around you? Are you finding it difficult to juggle both of us?” Raucous laughter follows. She hisses at someone to keep quiet. “Listen to yourself,” she snarls at me. “You can’t even get your story straight. I don’t want this… I don’t need this—”
“This, what?”
“The complications you cause. Don’t call me again. Ever.”
This can’t be it. “Give me a chance to explain,” I beg.
“No more chances. You have a pattern, Mr. Turner, that’s what you have. We have this thing, I fall for you, and then you leave and you—”
Fall for him?Shedoesfeel something for me. I haven’t misheard. This is my second chance and I’m not about to let it slip through my fingers. “Megan—” But I stop, because a man’s voice, loud against a backdrop of laughter, taunts me. Is he talking to her? Is that her date?
“Will you be quiet?” I hear her say to someone and I’m more curious than ever.
“Who are you talking to?” Jealousy pricks me like a needle and when I see Cassie walking towards me my anxiety spikes.
“I told you—I’m on a date …”
“LuLu’s cocktails are the best!” A woman yells in the background.
“Goodbye, Lance,” Megan says. “Don’t call me again.”
“Don’t do this, Meg—” but it’s too late. She’s hung up.
Over a decade ago, when she’d only been a blip on my radar, I'd been unable to do anything about Megan Summers. She was a schoolgirl I was worried about, and even when the warning bells sounded loud and clear, I hadn't heeded them.
But this time around I'll do no such thing. This time around there's more at stake. This time around she means more to me and I won’t mess up.
Chapter 21
MEGAN
“And then his wife walked in.”
Arla almost spits out the sip of cocktail she's just taken. I've wallowed in self-pity all weekend. I’ve ignored Lance's texts and phone calls.
“Getouttahere!” Arla yells. “He’smarried?”
We're in LuLu’s, a popular bar not far from where Lance teaches. Why she has picked this of all the places, I don’t know. Why I agreed to come, I have no idea.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I want to talk about it! You’ve just dumped a huge bombshell on me!”
She doesn’t know the worst of it.
When Arla suggested we meet for drinks and news, I jumped at the chance. Only, I couldn’t keep my dirty secret to myself. I blurted out what happened, and like the genie that’s escaped from the lamp, I can’t put the secret back in.
I blurted out that I went to see him and ended up going down on him. I couldn’t keep it in any longer but telling her in a crowded student bar is a big mistake. I’ve been stuck inside all weekend, marinating in my own miserable thoughts, my bad luck with men, the complications in my life, the state of my love life. Wondering why I do things like this; seek instant gratification from a guy I’m attracted to, but this is different. Not only is Lance Turner still as handsome as ever, we have history. He’s been in my head and my heart through my darkest times.
I shouldn’t have gone to him, and now all I’ve done is read and reread Lance's desperate texts to me and listen to his voicemails. He wants to talk to me to explain everything, but I am done listening to that liar. I’ve met his wife and child, for crying out loud. He can't explain them away.
“Tell me about your date with Scott,” I say.
“Forget about Scott. My news is boring. I want to know more about Lance’s wife, and you giving him head.” Arla's voice carries a little too loudly and the two guys at the table next to ours—who've been eyeballing us ever since we sat down—now gape at us with curious expressions on their faces.
I wish I hadn’t told Arla. “Will you hush!” I hiss.
“You’ve mentioned a wife, and you said you’ve gone from ‘hello’ to kissing to giving him head. That’s crazy, even for you. You do the stupidest things when you're around Mr. Turner.”
