Shock flashes in his gaze. In a different situation with a different person, I might be pleased. “What, you thought I wouldn’t find out?” I let out a dry laugh to disguise the sick feeling growing in my chest. “I got smarter after my meeting with your brother, so I looked you and your family up. It’s amazing how informative Google can be. Turns out you aren’t some college instructor like you led me to believe, and Faye’s been the woman on your arm every time you attend a high society function.”
“Ava, she’s nothing,” Lucas says, apparently recovered.
“Nothing? Really? Do you take ‘nothing’ to balls and premieres and expensive parties?”
His eyebrows pinch together, and he reaches for another drink. “I occasionally need someone as a date, and when we were together I didn’t want to ask you to miss classes because of my social obligations.”
Anger courses through my veins like acid. “Are you shitting me? You’re actually trying to blame me for taking her to those events?” I clench my hands, resisting the urge to throw my water at him. “Would you have been okay if I’d taken a guy to a party because I didn’t want to bother you?” I ask, even though I know he’ll lie and say, Yes, I’d have been perfectly fine with it. A man like him always has a few slick words to justify what he does.
He stares at me for a while, then finally says, “No.”
“Sure, lie throu—” I stop abruptly. “‘No’?”
“No.”
I’m deflated…but only a little. “Well, then, that makes you a hypocrite.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. But I swear Faye and I are just friends now. Nothing happened.”
“Nothing…” I cross my arms. “So you never slept with her? Not ever?”
“Not while I was with you.”
The bitter knot I’ve had in my gut since finding out about Faye eases a bit before I remember he hasn’t always been entirely honest with me. “Not while I was with you” sounds like he’s claiming he was faithful to me for our seven months…but it might also mean he slept with her during those months but when I wasn’t physically with him. After all, he did take her to those parties, and Faye is a seriously beautiful woman. Hell, I might be tempted if I were a man.
I shake my head. “Well, none of that matters now. I made the right decision to leave you.”
His eyes sharpen. “Ava.”
“It’s been two years, Lucas. You can’t just,” I cast around for the right word, “unilaterally decide to come back and impose yourself on me.”
A dull shade of red colors his cheeks. A vein throbs in his forehead, a clear sign that his patience is wearing thin. “Was it fair then that you unilaterally decided to dump me when I was at my most vulnerable? I have no idea what Blake said, but you never gave me a chance to explain.”
“Because you were deliberately staying away from me.” If he’d come for me as soon as he was out of surgery… Maybe we would’ve ended up differently.
“I stayed away because I didn’t want to look clingy and pitiable. I was waiting for you to come back.”
“Then why now?”
“Someone let me know where you were. Once I knew…I couldn’t stay away.”
“Then pretend you don’t know anymore. That’s what I want.” I dig the heels of my palms into my eyes. “Lucas, I really need some sleep. Now that we’ve talked, can you just land in Osaka and let me off?”
He presses his lips together. “We are not finished.”
Every cell in my body tenses, ready for a fight.
“But I’ll let you off in Osaka.”
I sag in my seat. “Thank you.”
This is a victory. I got to say my piece, and he’s going to let me go, contrary to his announcement.
But somehow I don’t feel triumphant.
Chapter Six
Lucas