“What’s going on?” he asks, even though he has no clue what he’s getting into.
Monroe takes the tissues and uses them to dab at her tears. Even when breaking down, she’s as elegant as it gets. “I went to his away game,” she says with a sniffle.
“Harlow said you thought he was cheating. What happened?” I know that information is supposed to be locked in the double vault, but this is an emergency.
Monroe’s lip quivers, and a few more tears spill out over her lashes. “I didn’t tell him I was going.”
“Oh fuck,” Gabriel whispers, reading my mind exactly.
“What happened?” I ask again.
She swipes at her nose and takes a steadying breath. “I saw him at a bar with the team. Talking to a woman while he was getting a drink.”
“Okay ...”
“And then when some of the guys left, he went with them, and so did she.”
My heart clenches because I’m scared of where this is going. In her defense, it looks bad.
Monroe keeps going. “She went up the elevator with them too, so I waited a few minutes ...”
I’m dying to know what happened next, but I don’t dare interrupt.
“And then I pounded on the door to his room, and when he opened it, I shoved inside. I thought I was going to catch him red-handed with that slut in his bed. I searched the whole room, while he just stood there by the door.”
Oh shit,I think, catching a glimpse of Gabriel from the corner of my eye. He shakes his head slowly as I picture Monroe ripping open closets and screaming as she searched for the woman.
“But she wasn’t there,” Gabriel says quietly.
Monroe jerks her head toward him. “How did you know?”
His face goes soft. “Because he’s married to you. He doesn’t need a skank from the bar when he’s got you waiting at home for him.”
Monroe bursts into another round of sobs. “Why didn’t I trust him? What is wrong with me?”
“Oh, honey.” I squeeze her tighter against my side. “You were scared and—”
“I ran out of the room and took a red-eye home. And when he got back a little while ago, Nate said he didn’t want to see me. He told me to leave, or he would.”
My stomach twists into a knot. “Shit. I’m so sorry. God, Monroe.”
“I deserve it. He’s going to divorce me. He told me we have nothing if we don’t trust each other.”
I don’t know what to say to her, but thankfully, Gabriel drops into a crouch beside my friend.
“How many times have you been cheated on?”
Monroe lifts her head. “Too many.”
“He know that?”
She doesn’t respond right away, but I have a feeling I know the answer.
Monroe’s always dated and married athletes. Not a single relationship has ended well, and yet ... she keeps trying. I can’t imagine she’d show Nate that crack in her armor, though, because she’d think it would make her less desirable for him to know that other men have been married to her and banged those bar skanks without a second thought.
“No,” she whispers. “I was ashamed. I didn’t want him to know.”
“Well, hell. You gotta tell him,” Gabriel says in a soft voice that makes me love him even more because he’s being so gentle with my friend when she’s fragile. “A man needs to know what kind of shit is going to set off his woman. I guarantee he’d be a fuck of a lot more understanding if he knew that you’ve been down this road before, and that it’s not really just him you don’t trust. It’s men in general.”