“You’re wrong, Kasmine. He actally did. He led me on. And I don’t think what he did after that is fair, she said.
I stared at her.
And for a second, I swear I thought I hadn’t heard her right.
Kester? My Kester?
Led Claire on?
Claire stood still after those words. She looked like she was done hiding whatever had been eating her up all morning.
I stared at her, heart beginning to thump weirdly. “What do you mean he led you on?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady. “Like… are you saying he flirted? What–what are you even talking about?”
She laughed under her breath, but it wasn’t funny. Not even a little. Her arms folded across her chest like she needed to physically hold herself together.
“You remember that date I told you about?” she said, not looking at me. “The one where I said the guy was cold… barely looked at
me and never called back?”
1 nodded slowly, unsure where this was going, but my pulse had started to race anyway. I remembered that date clearly. Claire had
refused to tell me who the guy was. And she had come back from it looking crushed, and I’d told her the guy sounded like an asshole not worth remembering.
“Well,” she said, turning to look at me now. “That guy was Kester.”
My ears rang.
“What?”
She nodded once, lips pressed together. “Yeah. Your brother. He asked me out. We went for drinks and dinner at that exquisite restaurant off Silvergate Avenue. I didn’t even know how to act. I thought maybe–maybe he had finally seen me and chose me.”
I could feel my legs weakening underneath me. Like someone had kicked a wall inside my chest, and I didn’t even have time to catch my breath.
“He never told me,” I whispered, mostly to myself.
Claire kept going. “He ghosted me after that night. I cried like a fool for days. But then…” She paused and pulled out her phone, flicking it open. “He started texting me again. Out of the blue. A few days later. And then he called. Asked if I was okay. Said he was sorry had been weird. That he was going through stuff. He sounded sincere, Kasmine. And I bought it. Hook, line, and sinker.”
She looked up at me, her eyes glassy. “We talked most nights. I started thinking–maybe he just needed time. Maybe he was warming up. But then… just like that, he went back to being the same cold–hearted asshole. No texts. No calls. Like those nights meant nothing to him. Like I meant nothing.”
I didn’t know what to say. My throat felt like sandpaper.
Kester.
My own Kester.
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Chapter 235
And he never said anything about it to me. Not even a slip.
I couldn’t look Claire in the eye anymore. I stared down at the shoes I’d been trying on, but they suddenly felt stupid and heavy.
7
A swirl of feelings churned in my chest. Shock. Betrayal. Hurt. And yeah–jealousy.
Because what the actual fuck?
Before I could even piece my thoughts together or say something halfway rational to Claire, I caught a glimpse of someone through the glass storefront window.
My eyes narrowed instinctively.
The woman. Her gait. Her tight brown curls pinned at the nape of her neck. That brown hospital cardigan she had draped over her
arm.
Wait. I’d seen her before.
Leropita Hospital.
The receptionist, Melissa.
Before I knew what the hell I was doing, my legs were moving faster than I could think. I muttered something like “I’ll be right back to Claire, but my mind was already several steps ahead, pushing through the store door and into the mall walkway.
I’d have to get the truth out of this woman today, one way or another.
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