The Storm In Their Hearts - Aching Hearts Series #3

When they all realize

CHAPTER 49 - WHEN THEY ALL REALIZE

WILL'S POV

"Where did you get those?"

I nearly jumped when I heard her voice, and on cue, I moved away from the mirror, as if that would hide the scratches on my back. I wonder how couldn't I even feel the pain when they were done, I mean, blood must have gushed out. I suppose I was too much into it to consider anything else.

I've never done anything like that, I gotta be honest. The raging fury with which Rebecca and I jumped each other, the anger we put into the deed, it was ... damnit, it would be incredible material for a book. If I wrote about such a thing, I'm pretty sure my readers would go insane.

Trouble is, in other circumstances I would have pleasantly reminisced the flames that enveloped us whole, my writer mind would have partnered up that metaphor with that spark we felt six years ago, and this would have been the dangerous outcome, but ... sense of guilt was the sole thing that gnawed at me now.

Especially because of the question Katie asked upon entering the room out of the blue.

"Will?" she called when I didn't answer.

I sighed, raking a hand over my face. "I don't believe in lies, I'm sorry."

She gulped, evidently concerned, as she came closer. She was dressed up nicely, because we're supposed to have dinner with her parents, who are in town for the weekend to check in and pick up their daughter, because the wedding is in five weeks, so she needs to go home and start planning the last details. They've been here all weekend, but I didn't see them, wasn't supposed to, Katie brought them on a tour of the city, I would have reached them tonight, Sunday, for dinner. It was all planned.

We're getting married in the lovely Savannah, Georgia, because that's Katie's hometown. I really didn't care about the venue, for me it could have been an igloo somewhere in Greenland, but ... Katie wants the wedding of her dreams, and who am I to disrupt their fantasy?

Right. I'm her cheating fiancé. That's who. I should have known I wouldn't have come out of that meeting alive. I should have known she would claw at my most unyielding resolutions to hate her. I should have known.

"Will?" Katie caressed my cheek, searching my eyes, worried. "What is it?"

Don't say it. Don't say it. It was nothing, you're only gonna hurt her for something that meant nothing. Don't say it. "I cheated on you." Sorry, I don't believe in lies.

Predictably, Katie gasped, retrieving her hand from my face, and I could already see traces of tears in her chocolate brown eyes. "W-What?"

I closed my own eyes, not wanting to read straight on her face the moment I broke her heart. "I cheated on you, Katie." I repeated, and damn, it felt like I'd just stabbed her. "When I said I was spending some time with Al and Byron, in truth I was going to Connecticut to meet with my ex. We talked, well, basically fought, badly, heavy words flew around, anger enveloped us whole, but in the end, we wound up right there." I blurted out in one breath, even too calm for my liking. "I cheated on you, and I feel disgusted with myself, Katie, because it happened over and over again, and-"

"I-Is that why you spent the weekend out of town?"

I'm such a bastard. "Yes." I responded in a sigh. "Yes, that's why. I spent the weekend with her."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry." I truly am. And I'm angry at myself for letting that bitch ensnare me in her enticing tricks again. I cheated on my fiancée because of Rebecca. Not once, not twice, but 13 fucking times.