"You also haven't been flat chested since then, but I wasn't going to point that out."
Swatting him in the chest, he laughs, a deep laugh that causes his entire body to shake as he tips his head back. Once he regains control of himself, Liam pulls him in for a man hug and they exchange quips. Poking fun at the way each other looks, their chosen professions, and the fact neither of them has managed to keep a woman long enough to introduce her to their friends.
Watching, listening, a smile spreads across my face at the ease my heart feels being surrounded by my friends. By the people who mean the most to me in this world. The people who love me unconditionally and would never intentionally hurt me.
"Food," Liam says, breaking into my thoughts. He and Aaron are waving at me to follow them to the buffet, and I happily oblige, Aaron wrapping his arm around my shoulders as I approach.
Food sounds great. I haven't eaten much today, and all the dancing worked up an appetite. Not to mention, if I'm going to finish my drink, I'll need something in my stomach to soak up the alcohol.
An hour later, my belly is full and so is my heart. Aaron's been cracking jokes at everyone’s expense since we sat back down, and laughter has been flowing freely. It feels like old times. Before there was a thick fog hanging over me.
"Can I have everyone's attention, please." Once the room has quieted, the DJ continues. "Sasha and Kevin would like to thank you all for coming out tonight to celebrate with them. At this time, I'd like to give the final call for food. The bar will be open for another hour, and then we're being kicked out but not for long. We'll be back in twenty-one days to celebrate their marriage."
Hoots and hollers echo through the room as I'm brought back to the night of my bachelorette party. Sasha, Kendra, and I went to Vegas to “live it up” for the weekend. It was the most fun I'd had in a long time. We gambled and lost. Saw all the sights and took in a few shows.
It was twenty-one days before my wedding.
Had I known then how much things would change in that short period of time, I wouldn't have believed it. We were the best of friends. The three of us have been inseparable since I moved back home. It suddenly feels weird not having Kendra here to celebrate.
"You’re pouting."
Turning my head in Liam's direction, I notice the concern on his face, but I don't know how to respond.
"Stop thinking about it. Whatever it is. Whoever it is. You deserve to smile, Cass. Life is about making choices and living with the consequences of those choices. I want you to try and choose to be happy."
"What if I don't deserve it?"
"You do."
"But what if this was all my fault?" I'm getting choked up just thinking about it.
"In no scenario could this ever be your fault. No matter how hard you try to convince me. What happened has nothing to do with you."
Our conversation is hushed, but with no one else at the table talking, it's still loud enough for others to hear. When I face forward again, I find Sasha staring at me with tears in her eyes. Before I can get up to excuse myself, to get away from this situation and the overwhelming feeling settling in my chest, she opens her mouth. The words that come out cause my jaw to hit the table.
"Kendra's always been a slut, Cass. She'll sleep with anyone, anytime. Whenever it's convenient for her. It's always been that way, and I know you know I'm right. The more unattainable, the greater the challenge. The fact that you were about to take her chance to sleep with Garrett again off the table must have driven her crazy. She had to have him. It was her mission.
"When I saw the signs, I warned her. She promised she wouldn't. Swore to me that she didn't want anything to do with him. That she wouldn't do that to you. So not only is she a whore and a liar, but she can add home-wrecker to her growing list of glowing accolades. It's not a short list, and you know it.
"But keep this in mind. She saved you from marrying a man that couldn't be faithful when tempted. From a weak man who didn't deserve you. And he saved you from continuing a lifelong friendship that had become toxic."
You could hear a pin drop in the room as Sasha finished. I could feel the weight of every eye on me as I stood, tossed back the watered-down rum and coke I had decided not to drink, and walked out the nearest door.
Chapter Six
I've been sitting on the couch, staring at the TV for an hour. Liam finally went to his room when he realized I wasn't going to talk to him, but I have a feeling he hasn't slept. I've heard him moving around in there since he left me to work through my issues.
Every few minutes, I replay Sasha's words over and over again. Nothing about what she said causes me pain or anger.
Except one thing.
She saw the signs.
Signs I missed.
Sasha called Kendra out.
Kendra still made the decision to fuck my fiancé.
It was planned. Something she had been thinking about doing. Something she had been wanting.
In the back of my mind, I had been blaming Garrett. In my heart, I wanted to believe he was the one who initiated things and convinced Kendra to sleep with him. Even though Kendra's reputation precedes her.
He was who I wanted to blame.
And now this.
How long?
That's my only question.
How long had she been planning this?
Since we got engaged? Longer?
Was it a last-minute decision, or had this been on her mind for weeks? Months?
And then, as I'm replaying her words again, I'm smacked across the face.
Again.
She said I was taking her chance of sleeping with him again off the table.
As in, it's happened before.
When? How did I not know? Why didn't anyone tell me?
Who else knew?
Pushing myself off the couch, I go in search of answers. If anyone in our group knows anything, it's Liam. He's going to tell me everything, even if he thinks I can't handle it. I'm done with him sheltering me.
Opening his door, I stop dead in my tracks when I catch sight of him. He's pacing next to his bed in only a pair of low-hanging gym shorts. His hands are on his head and his eyes are closed. Every muscle in his body is tense, and I can see the outline of his abs as he paces.
"Liam," I say, causing his eyes to pop open in surprise.
"What's wrong? Do you want to talk?" His words are rushed as he practically sprints toward me and pulls me into his arms.
"I have questions," I reply, my lips pressed against his bare chest, causing my words to be muffled.
"Ask me anything you want. I'll always be honest with you."
Somehow I doubt that. If he was always honest with me, he would have told me if he knew Kendra and Garrett had slept together. And I have the sinking feeling he knew. His job depends on his ability to know everything.
"How long ago did Kendra and Garrett sleep together?"
His body goes rigid against mine, but he doesn't release me. Wiggling out of his arms, I’m able to escape his hold and put some distance between us.
"How long ago?" I repeat when he doesn't offer an answer.
"Sasha says it was while we were away at college."
"What else did Sasha say?"
"That it wasn't a onetime thing. That Kendra stopped hooking up with other guys while they were sleeping together."
She fell for him.
"And you didn't know any of this?"
"Not until after you walked out of the room tonight."
That would explain why it took him ten minutes to get to the car. And why he was quiet on the ride home while I huffed and puffed in the passenger seat.
"And now everyone knows everything."
"Not everyone and not everything but I have an idea of what really happened based on what Sasha told me in private. If you want, I'll tell you, but I don't think it really matters at this point. It's not going to help you move on from this. In fact, it might have the opposite effect, and I don't want to watc
h you start peddling backwards."
"I'd rather know," I state firmly before I can chicken out. If it's as bad as Liam's making it sound, I need to know. I don't want to, but I need to.
Taking a seat on the edge of his bed, Liam pats the spot next to him, but I shake my head, opting to keep sanding in case I need to walk away from this conversation.
"Kendra and Garrett got together after you two broke up. He was angry and spewing hate toward me one night at the bar over Thanksgiving break, saying how he was convinced you and I were sleeping together. That you'd been cheating on him your entire relationship. Kendra drove him home that night after Kevin took his keys away from him. No one heard from them for the rest of break.
"Remember when we came home for Christmas that first year how neither of them came to my parents’ party on Christmas Eve? Then they both avoided the New Year’s party? We thought Garrett still wasn't over you, but Kendra's absence was odd. By summer vacation things seemed back to normal but thinking back now, if one of them was hanging out with us, the other wasn't. I'm guessing they had a falling out.
"When we moved back home and you started dating Garrett again, Kendra was elusive those first few weeks, remember? She made excuses not to come to the bar with everyone. She avoided your big shopping trip with Sasha. Didn't that ever strike you as odd?"
Thinking back, it does now.
"A little, but if I remember, I brushed it off as her being involved with someone. She was always absent when she was starting a new relationship . . ."
My words trail off as realization hits me.
"She was in a relationship or trying to be. You and Sasha left town, and we think she spent the weekend with Garrett. We can't prove it, but no one saw either of them that weekend. And if that's the case, it sounds like they've had a thing going for a while."
Sounds to me like they never stopped having a thing. And I was oblivious the entire time.
"How did I not see it? How is it possible that I lived with him and he was sleeping with her the entire time?"
"Well, we think he put a stop to it after he proposed. It would explain why she left town for two weeks."
"She said she was going to visit her sick grandmother."
"Her grandmother is dead."
"That bitch," I mutter to myself.
"It gets worse, Cass."
"That's not really possible if you ask me. He was fucking both of us, suddenly grew a conscience, and his solution to being a one-woman kind of man was to propose to me. That's about as bad as it can get."
"Hold that thought because I think I'm about to break your heart, and I don't really want to." Liam's face is filled with fear and sorrow. Whatever he's about to say, it's going to hurt.
Do I really need to know?
He said hearing all of this wouldn't help me move on. So far, it has. It's enraged my hatred for both of them. I'm better off. I don't want anything to do with them. So whatever he hasn't told me is what's going to send me spiraling.
"Tell me," I demand, lifting my chin and squaring my shoulders as I take the seat next to him.
"When Kendra left town, she was pregnant."
Fuck my life.
"She told Sasha why she was leaving town but never said who the father was. After we put all the pieces of the puzzle together it became obvious it was Garrett. The worst part is he knew. He's the one that told her to take care of it, that he was going to marry you and you'd make an honest man out of him. That he was done with her."
What a bastard. He was trying to save face. He didn't want to get caught.
"I need you to say something so I know you're okay before I continue, Cass. I see the look on your face. You're as shocked as I was. It was hard for me to hear the first time as well."
"I don't know what to say. It all makes sense. I can see how it played out in my mind, but I don't understand how I never saw any of this as it was happening. How was I so blind?"
"You were busy. You were focused on your classroom. It was your first year teaching, and you were constantly stressing out about everything. Your focus was your students and your job. No one can fault you for that."
"My passion for teaching is the reason he had time to cheat on me."
"That's not what I said. Your passion will never be a bad thing. Those kids love you. They need you. He took advantage of the fact that your focus was elsewhere. This is something he did, a choice he made. It has nothing to do with you."
"And she was pregnant?"
Letting out a sigh, Liam stands and begins pacing again.
"According to what she told Sasha, she was eight months pregnant and she went away to give birth. I don't remember her getting bigger, but then again, every woman carries weight differently. She did avoid the beach the summer before. She wasn't dressing as slutty as she normally did. That isn't confirmation, but it fits with what she told Sasha."
"Find the baby."
My words are barely above a whisper, but I know he hears me clearly when his steps falter.
"What?"
"Find the baby. If anyone can find out if she had a child and gave it up, it's you. You can find information on anyone and anything. It's your job."
"You're missing the point of the story, Cass."
"Fine. Keep going. What happened next?"
If the point wasn't that Kendra got knocked up by my fiancé, I need to know what it was.
"The day of the wedding, you said Kendra disappeared about ten minutes before you went looking for her, right?"
"Yeah. I needed help with my veil, and she never came back from the restroom."
"She knew you would need her?"
"Yeah. She said she would be right back."
"And you found her at the exact moment she wanted you to find her. She planned it. She wanted you to see her with Garrett. I have a feeling she threatened him. He didn't want you to know about the baby, and she wanted one last time. Only she knew it wouldn't be the last time if you caught them. She wanted him to come crawling back to her after you left him. And he did. It worked like a charm. She manipulated him."
As much as I'd like to dispute every word, I can see it clearly. I've known Kendra since third grade. She's always gotten what she wanted. Her parents have money. They spoiled her. She thought that meant everyone else should as well.
When people wouldn't give her what she wanted, she'd find a way to get it anyway. I've seen it firsthand. And she's good too. She'll find a way to make it look like it was your idea, not hers.
"So all these years, she's been planning to ruin everything?"
"I'm so sorry, Cass. I wish it weren't true, but there's no other explanation for what happened and how it went down."
"What a fucking bitch."
It's the first thing that comes to mind. My brain is trying to process everything he's said, but all I can focus on is how manipulative she's been. How conniving. And to people she's supposed to care for. Her friends. The people who have stood by her side for years.
Never once have I ever treated her with disrespect, even when she deserved it. I never questioned her decisions, talked about her behind her back. If I couldn't say it to her face, I kept my feelings to myself.
That's the way I was raised.
For her to do this to me, with the intent to hurt me, is unbelievable. The ache in my chest is compounded the longer I sit here and let reality sink in.
The only way I'll be able to dull the pain, to move past everything Liam's just told me, is to hear it from her. To confront her and for her to tell me the truth. Because as much as I believe him, Liam wasn't part of the drama. He heard it secondhand.
Which means there's probably more to the story.
The only side that's been told is the one Kendra wanted people to eventually hear.
"I want to see her," I say, standing and then heading for the door.
"Why?" Liam asks, following me down the hall when I don't stop. His voice is muffled by the fabric of his shirt as he pulls it over his head, but that does
n't stop him from giving me his opinion. "Nothing good can come from that. Even if we don't have the whole story, we have enough. Minor details are not going to make a difference. She's still a lying bitch. Bottom line."
Reaching for my purse on the table, Liam stops me by wrapping his arms around me. I fall back against his chest and let him hold me for a few minutes before saying anything.
"Yes, she's a lying bitch. She's always found a way to get what she wants, and if she wants Garrett, she can have him. I'm not trying to get him back, but I need to know why. Why she did this to me. Why she pretended to by my friend. Was it to stay close to him or was our entire friendship a lie?"
"Does it really matter?" he whispers in my ear before resting his head on top of mine.
No, it doesn't, but that's not going to stop me from asking. Our friendship is over. I want nothing to do with her, but I deserve an explanation. It's the least she can do after how things went down.
"Will you come with me?"
"You thought I was going to let you go alone?" The surprise in his voice is mixed with humor. "I want to be there when you clock her."
"I'm not going to hit her," I protest, even though the thought has crossed my mind.
"Well, if you change your mind, just remember she deserves it."
The room falls silent and neither of us moves to leave.
"Karma will get her, Cass. You can't be a horrible person and not have it fall back on you at some point. Her luck will run out, and when it does, she will have burned all her bridges. No one will be there to pick her up and help her. That's the moment she'll realize how horrible of a person she is. Anything you say will go in one ear and out the other, but if you want to go see her, to get answers, I'll go with you."
Before I can change my mind, I reach for Liam's keys and toss them to him. The five-minute drive to Kendra's apartment is over before I can put together a plan. It's almost midnight, but there are lights on in her apartment and her car is parked out front.
As I walk up the two flights of stairs to the top floor, I try and picture what her face will look like when she sees me standing in her doorway. Will she be surprised? Happy? Indifferent?
Worth The Fight Page 5
