“Like the way you gave her a chance before you married that skank?”
“Melissa,” Dean chastised softly, touching her arm in a way that somehow managed to erase the anger from her face.
My chest tightened and my jaw clenched as Melissa’s assumptions pierced me like the daggers they were. “You think it didn’t fucking kill me to leave Cassie that night? All I wanted to do was stay with her, beg for her forgiveness and—”
“But you didn’t! You didn’t stay with her. You left her crying in a parking lot alone while you left with that bitch!” Melissa screamed as she released every ounce of frustration she’d built up on behalf of Cassie, her recrimination drilling into my skull and my heart.
“I know what I did!” I shouted back, my neck throbbing. “You think I don’t fucking know what I did? I have to live with it every second of every day. I fucked up, OK? We all know I fucked up!” I slammed my palms against the table and watched as some loose change rattled and rolled onto the carpet below, bringing back memories of my first date with Cassie. My mind filled with the image of her sitting across from me in that small booth in the back of the restaurant. I remembered pulling the paper bag from my jacket and pouring the quarters out onto the tabletop, proud of my cleverness, as several rolled onto the tiled floor below. All of the memories that used to bring me joy now filled my heart with pain.
“It’s not enough to just know what you did if you want to make it right. You have to know what it did to her,” Melissa said, her voice starting to soften.
I glared at her, willing my temper to subside. “Tell me.”
“Everyone knew what you’d done by the time Cassie got back from visiting you in Alabama. It was all over the newspapers that you were getting married. And on Facebook. Did you know that the stupid school magazine she worked for had the balls to call and ask her for pictures of you? They said they only had old ones and wanted to know if she had any newer ones.”
“You’re kidding?” I spat out in disgust.
“I wish.”
My hands balled into fists. “I’ll fucking kill them, the inconsiderate little—”
She pointed an accusing finger at me, stopping me in mid-rant. “It wasn’t just the newspapers, Facebook, and the magazine. It was everywhere she went. School was the worst. Cassie couldn’t even walk across campus without people making comments and snide remarks. She had the most personal and painful moments of her life on display for everyone to see and judge. And trust me, everyone had an opinion about your breakup.”
I cringed. Just hearing this was painful enough; I couldn’t imagine my girl having to live through it. “I had no idea that was happening or I would have done something to stop it. I would have made sure no one ever said another negative word to her again.”
“I’m not telling you this to make you feel bad, Jack. I’m telling you this so you’ll understand the repercussions your actions had on her. You made the mistake, but she had to pay for it.”
I dropped my head into my hands and pulled at my hair in frustration, my fingers twisting the strands as I fought back the tears forming in my eyes.
“You broke her, Jack.” Melissa added the final blow as my stomach dropped to my feet. I’d hurt Cassie in ways I’d never imagined. Ways I’d never meant to. Ways I’d never be able to forgive myself for.
“I broke me too,” I admitted, brushing away the lone tear that dared sneak down my face.
“Jack, look.” Melissa sat down across from me and folded her arms on the table. “I love you, I really do. But you have to let her go do this.”
My chest constricted with the truth of her words as I swallowed hard. “I want her back. I need her. It’s either Cassie for me or no one.”
“I’m not the one you have to convince.” She reached out her hand, her fingertips brushing over my knuckles before I pulled away.
I ripped my gaze from her bright blue eyes and glanced at my brother. “I know.”
“She still loves you,” Dean said, before taking a pull from his bottle of water. My eyes narrowed and he reacted with, “What? You don’t believe that? She does.”
“It’s not about whether or not Cassie loves him,” Melissa said.
“It’s a little bit about that, otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Dean said with a smile.
“Have you even been paying attention?” she teased, her hair bouncing along her shoulders as she shook her head.
“Dean’s right,” I said. “I mean, I wouldn’t have a fighting chance if she didn’t love me anymore.”