The Bridesmaid's Best Man - Page 34

Cole forced himself to look at Angie. She seemed stunned. “My mother is still alive,” he said. “So is my stepdad.”

Anger flashed in her eyes. Her mouth opened and closed. “You told me they were dead. You said you didn’t have parents.”

He rubbed the back of his neck as the shame clawed at him. “They stopped being my parents years ago, but they are still alive.” Still married. Still a family without him. “I just thought you should know.”

“You just...” She pressed her lips together into a stern line. “Of all the...”

Cole closed his eyes. He should have kept his mouth shut.

* * *

COLE LIED TO HER. His parents were alive. The words kept repeating in her mind. The hurt and surprise had reverberated inside her and she’d followed her first instinct to sprint for the bathroom. She felt betrayed and she didn’t think she could control her wild emotions.

She had taken her time in the shower and changing her clothes, hoping Cole would have gotten the idea and slither out of her apartment and far, far away from her. Instead, he stayed. She’d seen the determined, almost defiant look in his eyes and she knew she was in for a battle. Angie had immediately scooped up her keys and walked out of the apartment, only to have Cole follow her.

Cole lied to her. His parents were alive. Angie glanced up at the gray sky and noticed the dark, ominous clouds. She took an unsteady breath and inhaled the scent of rain.

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me,” Angie said to Cole as they walked to the Starbucks at the corner of her street. She huddled in her jacket to ward off the cool morning breeze but she also wanted to distance herself from Cole. “I never thought you’d lie to me.”

“I didn’t lie,” Cole said calmly. “My parents haven’t been part of my life since I was fifteen. They may as well not exist.”

“You acted like they were dead. Actually, you let me think they were dead.” Angie frowned and shook her head. “Who does that?”

“Angie,” he said with a deep sigh. “Don’t you think you’re overreacting?”

“No,” she said as she marched down the crowded sidewalk. She didn’t pay attention to the people striding past her or the sound of the bus whooshing by. The world was cold and colorless. Silent and still. She needed to move to get this billowing hurt out of her, but she wasn’t getting far.

“It has nothing to do with us,” Cole insisted.

Angie stopped and stared at him. “Are you serious?” From the look on his face, he was. How could Cole be so smart and yet so clueless? “It has everything to do with us. I always thought you were private. You were reluctant to share anything about yourself, but once you did, I assumed it was the truth. What else have you hidden from me? Is there a Mrs. Cole Foster? Is Cole your real name?”

Cole’s eyes narrowed with anger. “Do you really think I would keep something like that from you? What kind of man do you think I am?”

“Are you really thirty years old?” She thought about the other things he had said in the past. Those anecdotes that she had treasured because he had shared them freely. “Did that scar on your arm come from falling out of the tree when you were ten? Are you an only child or do you have a bunch of brothers and sisters I don’t know about?”

Cole clenched his jaw and a ruddy streak entered his cheeks. “That’s enough,” he said in a low growl. “It wasn’t easy for me to tell the truth. I knew it wouldn’t make me look good but I did it because I have been holding back. I was trying to share something and now it just blew up in my face. This is why I don’t talk about myself.”

“How did you expect I would react?” she asked as she followed him to the Starbucks. “Did you think I would say, ‘Oh, thanks for clearing it up, sweetheart. I’m sure that was the only thing you lied about. My trust in you is still absolute.’”

“Wouldn’t that have been great?” he muttered as he opened the bright green door and motioned for her to step ahead.

“And why are you telling me now?” She lowered her voice as they entered the long line.

“Like I said, I was trying to share,” he bit out the words. “Communicate. Shouldn’t I get bonus points for that?”

She rolled her eyes. He just didn’t get it. “Don’t you think it’s too little, too late? We had a booty call and—” The woman standing in front of her turned around and gave a curious look over her thick-rimmed glasses.

Tags: Susanna Carr Billionaire Romance
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