Lie To Me

Lie To Me-Chapter 155

(Harry's POV)

She didn't love me.

Riley's parting words played over and over again in my head, each time twisting the knife that was surely planted in my heart.

"I was lying when I said I ever loved you."

I'd tried so hard. I'd done everything I could to show her how it could be with us, to show her how happy we could be together, if she'd just give us a chance. This whole time I was thinking it had been fear that was holding her back. This whole time I'd...

But, she didn't love me. THAT was the problem. It wasn't fear, or uncertainty, or anything else. It was the simple fact that while I'd been falling head over heels for the most beautiful, most important woman in my life, she'd been using me.

If not for the pain radiating from my chest, I would have laughed at the irony of it all. Riley always claimed that she wasn't "my type," when she turned out to be no better than the rest of them. No better than Ari...

She'd used me, just like everyone before her.

No... I shook my head. She had to be lying. She had to be! The memories of hearing those three little words falling from her soft lips, of holding her in my arms, of feeling her tremble beneath my touch. She couldn't have been faking all of that...right? Riley was as good a liar as anyone, but she wasn't THAT good... Was she?

I scrambled to see the signs, to piece together just how I could have been so blind...

But, it didn't help. Every memory, every moment that played back in my mind was just...perfect. Riley, smiling at me from the passenger seat of the car, singing along to whatever song came on the radio. Her loud laughter when I'd say something silly, or stupid. Her soft touch as she'd play with my hair, or trace the lines of the tattoos on my body. Her heavy-lidded gaze when I was hovered above her, my name a whisper on her lips. It wasn't just sex. It was love. It had to be.

I grabbed for the phone in my pocket as it vibrated, praying that it was her, hoping she'd just said those things in anger, hoping she'd already be on her way back to me. Hoping...

"Riley?!?"

"Uh, no dumbass... You know you have called ID on your phone, right?" Gemma's snarky laughter sounded in my ear.

"Sorry..."

"Woah..." Her tone changed abruptly at the sound of my voice. "You sound like death! What's going on?!?"

"It's Riley... She, um... She's gone."

"What do you mean, she's gone?!?"

"She left. She's on her way back home." I ran my hand through my hair, tears coming to my eyes. Saying it out loud, hearing the words, somehow made it all real. She was gone. Just...gone.

"Oh, Lord... You scared the crap out of me, Harry! What, did she have to come back early for work or something? We both know those people can't give her a freaking moment of peace. They're always..."

"Jesus, Gemma!! No! She left me! LEFT! It's over, okay?!? She doesn't love me! She never even did! Do you get it now?!?" I couldn't hold back any longer, the pain was too much, too overwhelming. "I don't... I don't even know what to do. Gemma..." My voice cracked.

"What?!? What the hell happened?!? What do you mean she doesn't love you?!? I've never seen a woman love you more than Riley!! She's put up with you, your job, and everything for years now! She's stood by your side, stood up for you, made you care packages while you were touring, and just...everything!! How can you even think for one second that she doesn't love you?!?"