"You should have told me!" I yell, glaring at him like I want a few more rounds.
"You're right," he concedes, slumping in defeat. "I can't tell you how sorry I am. I was stupid enough to think she'd look at me the way she always did you, and I was a bastard for doing that to you."
I clench my fist, wanting to punch him again, but I refrain as I drop my head back into my hands and let the tears fall discreetly.
"So no one knows why she left this time?" Britt asks softly, her voice calming me when it reminds me my sister is in the room, witnessing this meltdown.
"No," Maverick answers with a sigh.
"She just said it wasn't going to work, and she believed it because it wasn't a lie," I murmur without looking up, my voice breaking on the end.
"It was obviously something big that happened," Britt continues. "She told me the day before she left that she wanted to take me shopping. I know I suck at reading people, but if she was planning on leaving, she wouldn't have been making future plans. We were even going to cook you a surprise dinner."
I know she's trying to help, but it's only making my heart hurt worse.
"When I left her that morning, she kissed me and told me she loved me. When I got home, she was in the process of moving out. I wasn't even there to fuck anything up."
Everyone breathes out wearily as we search for reason in the illogical. "Maybe she'll write another fucking book to explain it, because it's obvious she can't just talk to me," I mutter dryly, managing to regain some composure as my anger returns.
"They can call it, Gallbladder Surgery Rekindles Forgotten Romance," Corbin adds with a small snicker.
Dale shakes his head in disapproval, and Corbin's laughter tapers off as he coughs and looks away shamefully.
"She had gallbladder surgery, too?" Britt asks while coming to sit beside me, placing her body on the arm of the chair.
"It's the surgery she had when I went to stay with her," I explain, still trying to wrap my mind around things, going over every detail of that morning.
She was smiling when I left.
"No. She had a hysterectomy," Britt argues.
My head leaves my hands as I study her. She seems certain she's right.
"No. It was gallbladder surgery. Why do you think it was a hysterectomy? Did she say something like that?"
Britt stands while shrugging. "You don't let me ask personal questions like that. I saw the scars on the lower abdomen—the two small cuts. I looked up what they could be. They fit a hysterectomy. Gallbladder cuts are higher, and there are usually more of them. And considering her mother and grandmother had endometrial cancer—or uterus cancer—it makes sense that Rain would most likely have it, too. Especially after her close call with breast cancer. And you had sex exactly six weeks after the surgery. That's the typical wait time."
Maverick and Corbin chuckle lightly at that last bit, but I'm too distracted.
I lean back, taking a deeper breath than I've had in a month as I try to digest all of this. "Why would she lie?"
Kode looks up, shaking his head. "Because it's Rain. If she had any sort of cancer, she probably wouldn't tell a soul after last time. It made her feel insecure, lost, and embarrassed. She fails to see how much we all care about her."
"Wait, Rain had cancer?" Maverick asks, finally grasping the important part of the story.
"And she didn't fucking tell us?" Corbin barks, also catching on.
"I'm kicking her ass," Dale gripes.
"I wish she had balls to kick," Corbin grumbles. "If anyone deserves a shot to the balls, it's her right now."
"That's why she left. She still has cancer," Maverick panics, and I almost throw up.
"No," Britt says quickly. "Considering Rain has an appointment book full of doctor's visits, I think she keeps a close eye on things. They would have caught it early, and the hysterectomy would have most likely taken care of it. Not to mention, she just went to the doctor a week before she left and came home in a great mood. I'm assuming all was clear on the scan. That wouldn't have changed in a week, and besides, she didn't go to the doctor after that."
My panic subsides somewhat, but everyone is still tense. "Then why?" I groan.
Kode curses as he jumps up from his chair and dashes to his dining room. He comes running back in holding his iPad. "When did that article come out on you? The one where the chick was supposed to interview all of us and Rain, but she only interviewed you instead."
"I don't know... why?"
"It came out the day Rain left," Britt says, her eidetic memory kicking in. "Do you need me to recite the article?"
Kode curses again as he hands me the iPad. "No, but thanks. I found it." He turns to me as I stare at the screen, confused. Why do I need to read my own interview?