Page 61 of Not For Keeps
“Ahh. Okay. How are you?”
“Fine.”
“You’re not fine.”
“I am fine, Mateo.”
“Yeah, so then why did you basically kick me out the other night?”
“I told you…I had an early morning.”
“Bullshit.”
“What?”
“I said bullshit. You’ve had many early mornings, Lyse, and not once have you ever run me out of your house the way you did that night. Talk to me. What’s going on?”
She takes a deep breath and then sits beside me on her couch. “Letty texted me that night.”
“And tell me, what did that she-devil say?”
“It wasn’t so much what she said, but what she showed me.”
“What did she show you?”
“It was a picture. Of you both. At the gym. Her hands were all over you. You both seemed cozy.”
“A picture? Let me see it.”
She pulls her phone out of her pocket, unlocking it, and shows me the picture. Oh, fuck. There it is. A picture of meand Letty at the gym, and her damn hands are on my bicep. This doesn’t look good.
“That’s not what it looks like. I swear.”
“Look. It’s fine. You and I aren’t even together, not really. I just don’t want to look stupid. It’s embarrassing. You’re supposed to be my man, and Letty’s out there telling everyone that’ll listen that you’re with her. So whatever you’re doing, couldn’t it just have waited until you and I were done with this?”
I grab her hands between mine. “Slow down. You don’t actually think that I’m sleeping with Letty behind your back? Do you?”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“Lyse. You know me. You know that I would never hurt you.”
“Right…but I also know that we never talked about being exclusive, and you and I aren’t actually dating.”
“Chula, I need you to listen to me…I am not sleeping with Letty, or anyone else. I would never do that. I care about you, and I will never hurt you. As long as you and I are together, you are mine, and there’s nothing that I will allow to get between us. I don’t care if this isn’t a real relationship—you are mine.”
“I’ve been through a lot, Mateo,” she says.
“I get it,” I say, and I mean it. “I should’ve pushed her away,” I admit. “I didn’t invite her there. She just showed up. And I thought ignoring her was the best move. I didn’t want to give her more attention by making a scene. I didn’t think she’d go this far.”
“I hate that she made me doubt you. How did she even get this picture?”
“I think I know…Nico.”
“Nico? What does he have to do with this?”
“He was there, too. At the gym. He came over while Lettyand I were working out and started saying all this crap about me having a side-piece. I’d bet every dollar I have that he took that picture of us.”
“Wow. But then how would Letty have gotten it?”
