“Don’t apologize for that.” When Winter had first told him she was pregnant and her ex-boyfriend was pressuring her to have an abortion, she’d been distraught and didn’t know what to do.
She hadn’t told her friends or even her parents about the pregnancy. Winter had come to Lucas. She said it was because he could keep a secret. He’d instinctively known the real reason she’d come to him, though. She wanted to be talked out of an abortion.
He’d sat with her, held her while she cried, and discussed her options. He’d been the one to find an adoption agency for her. And when her ex got nasty and said that if she continued with the pregnancy, he wouldn’t sign the papers relinquishing his rights—just to spite her—Lucas had a forceful conversation with him in which he may have threatened him with some creative and slightly illegal retribution.
The guy had folded. He’d been nothing but a bully who wasn’t used to being called out for it.
Winter had told people she was going to Europe to study for two semesters. She’d actually moved in with an aunt and would stay there after the baby was born until she got back into shape.
Only her parents, aunt, and Lucas knew the truth.
Lucas rubbed his forehead, trying to ease the pressure of this impossible situation. “I’m glad you came to me when you needed someone. It’s just, you realize how things looked from Riley’s perspective. I’ve never been able to convince her I wasn’t cheating on her.”
“If she refused to trust you, she doesn’t deserve you and would never make you happy. Really, can you imagine having to answer to her every time you came home late from work or spent time talking with another woman? You two never would have lasted. You’re a man who keeps his word. That’s why I came to you. You need to find a woman who realizes that about you.”
The bit about him keeping his word was Winter’s reminder that he shouldn’t go against her wishes and tell Riley anyway.
“I want to make things right with Riley. You can understand that.”
Winter sighed. “And the next time she gets mad at you and wants to hurt you, it will be my life that gets ruined. I’ve never told any of your secrets. I wouldn’t want the things you and Jace did to come back to bite you. Just show me the same respect and don’t tell mine.”
And there was the subtle threat. Because Winter knew what Lucas had done during their senior year. It was a secret he never should have told her.
At the last minute, Jace wasn’t able to take the SAT. He’d waited until November to sign up for the test so he could get in more studying. December would be too late for any sort ofscholarships, and Jace had been depending on receiving some financial aid.
So without telling Jace what he was doing, Lucas used his twin’s ID and took the test in his place.
At eighteen, it had seemed like just one more instance in a long list of switching places; something that was harmless. Granted, Lucas had scored high enough to earn a full tuition scholarship for Jace, but that’s not why he pretended to be his twin. He wasn’t trying to game the system. Jace probably would’ve scored as high on his own. Maybe even higher.
Now that Lucas was older, he realized what he’d done was technically fraud and illegal. If the truth came out, it might not only have consequences for Lucas’s place on the police force, but the university that gave Jace his scholarship would have the right to revoke his degree.
Lucas wasn’t so worried about his own job, but he couldn’t do anything to risk his brother’s career. Not when Jace had worked so hard for so long.
“I’m sorry,” Winter said. “I wish things were different.”
That made two of them.
He wished Winter would be more reasonable. He wished he hadn’t been stupid enough in high school to tell her about taking Jace’s test. He wished he hadn’t lied to Riley about meeting with Winter. If he’d told her the truth about that one thing, everything else would’ve been different.
He didn’t say anything for a long time.
“Did I lose you?” she asked.
No, they hadn’t lost each other. He’d just lost Riley.
He said his goodbyes to Winter and hung up.
On some days, Lucas told himself that if Riley couldn’t forgive him for one mistake and trust him again, if she couldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt even once, then the two of them didn’t belong together.
Today wasn’t one of those days.
Today he couldn’t stop thinking about Riley dancing with Nick.
CHAPTER 6
Annie was the one who picked Riley up from the gas station parking lot. Delancey had gone to a movie with her sister and wasn’t back yet.
“So,” Annie said when Riley climbed into her car. “I’m guessing Nick is off your possible wedding dates list.”