Page 72 of Deception & Daylight
“Try the beginning and go from there.”She rubs her palm up my back in a soothing gesture, and I release everything I’ve been holding back for the better part of three years. I confess all of it, from how I scrolled through hundreds of profiles in search of him, to how we started talking that night and never stopped. I tell her about the photos, the meetup, and then how he ghosted me.
Then I tell her it was Matty the whole time, and my best friend loses her shit. She stands and paces back and forth from one side to the other, muttering to herself. It would be comical if my entire world wasn’t crumbling beneath my feet.
Pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger, she opens her mouth then closes again, hesitating a beat before she finally says,“What if you’re wrong?”
I purse my lips, tilting my head to the side. “Come on, Paige. Did you see Miles’ face? He looked guilty as hell.”
“He did, but maybe it was because you were upset and you blamed him for it. You should let him explain. This could all be a misunderstanding.” There’s a tightness in my chest at the possibility that I might’ve gotten it wrong, but there’s also the sinking feeling in my gut that can’t be ignored.
“I — I don’t think it is,” I admit.
“It’s not.” Miles stood stoically behind Paige, his shoulders slumped, hands in his pockets; even his usual handsomeness couldn’t hide the haunted look in his eyes, his voice a low, dejected murmur. His face mirrors the pain undoubtedly etched on my own. A wave of sympathy washes over me, but I quickly tamp it down. If I’m right, he deceived me for over two years and he doesn’t deserve my compassion.
She whirls around to face him, anger radiating off her in waves as she violently stabs a finger intohis chest. “You’d better start explaining right now.”
He places a hand on her shoulder, halting her movements. “I will. I’ll explain everything. But not to you, Paige. You know I love you like a sister, but this isn’t about you. I need to talk to Mags first. She deserves that much.”
Paige locks eyes with me, and a silent communication passes between us. “She’s my best friend, Barlow. Don’t fuck this up.”
He nods, stepping closer to where I’m seated on the edge of the dock. “Can I sit?”
I shrug. “Can’t promise I won’t push you in.”
“Duly noted.” His hands rake through his hair in that all too familiar way that has my chest tightening. I’ve fallen deeper than I ever could have imagined, and now it’s all falling apart before my eyes. “I only ever wanted to protect you.”
I keep my eyes locked on where my toes are skating along the surface of the water, not sparing him a glance. “I don’t understand. Protect me from what?”
“When I found out what he’d done in my name, I confronted him. It wasn’t just you, Mags, but when I sawyourprofile, I lost my shit. We hadn’t met yet, but I already felt pulled to you in a way I never expected. That night, I told him he needed to come clean to every woman he’d harmed, and to start with you. That was my first mistake.” He inhales a ragged breath, pinching his eyes closed before he continues to speak. “When he realized you meant something to me, he threatened to release photos of you. Intimate photos.”
When the words leave his lips, I instantly freeze. I don’t know what I was expecting him to say, but that wasn’t even on my radar. Shame fills the void where numbness used to reside; I never imagined I’d get myself into this situation, but here I am, drowning in the bitter reality of my poor judgment.
Miles reaches out, wrapping his hand around mine. I shouldn’t want him to touch me, but I can’t bringmyself to refuse the comfort. “Stop blaming yourself,” he says, reading me like an open book. “You trusted him and he betrayed us both. I’m just sorry I lied to you for so long.”
“So I was supposed to meet Matty in Nashville? How the hell did he think that was gonna play out?”
“I don’t know, Mags. I’m not sure how he planned to explain himself, if at all. I wish I could go back and handle things differently. But I’m not sure the outcome would’ve changed. I think this was inevitable.” He raises my hand to place a soft kiss against my pulse point, and my heart lurches in my chest. “Nothing could ever change the way I feel about you.” His last words are barely a whisper, but they steal my breath all the same. I sink into his embrace, and his large frame instinctively curls around my much smaller one. I want to ask him how he feels. I want to hear the words and say them back, but Miles is an anchor, and it’s not in my nature to stay.
Miles
I hold her quietly, her back pressed against my chest, as the weight of the guilt I’ve been holding onto for so long finally eases. She isn’t running. She isn’t yelling and cussing me out. She’s offering understanding, and I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserveher.
A better man would let her go.
A better man would tell her to walk away.
But I’m not that man.
“So, Maggie Watson. How about we start over?”
Her shoulders shake against my chest and the sound of her laugh settles the part of me that worried I’d never get to hear it again. “Bit late for that, don’t you think? I mean, considering all the ways you’ve thoroughly debauched me. This week alone we’ve been in at least seven compromising positions.”
“Keep talking like that and we’ll make it an even eight. And as much as I’d love to watch you sink onto my dick, I don’t think Paige and Cade would appreciate the view.” I kiss the tip of her nose and the smile she gives me makes me want to commit her to memory. “I’m serious. Let’s start over.”
She wiggles out of my hold, putting some distance between us, and I instantly crave her touch. She holds out her hand for me to shake. “Hi. I’m Maggie Watson. I’m 25 years old. I’m a secret romance writer with daddy issues and I’m a Virgo.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Miles Barlow. 30 years old. Contractor and business owner. Matching daddy issues. Leo.”
She tries and fails to hide her smirk, and when I give her a questioning look, she says, “Dramatic, domineering, attention seeking — yeah, that tracks.”
