MADversary (20 page)

Megan felt uneasy but Lisa joined her a few minutes later
, plate still in her hands
.  Megan led her to the table where she’d thrown her
own
food in haste and asked
Lisa
what
had
happened.

Lisa shook her head.  “You know, when I saw his wife’s face, she looked so sweet.  Yeah, she deserves to know, but I didn’t want to be the one to hurt her.  She—Maxine, her name was—seemed so nice.  She was warm and friendly and even invited me to sit with them.”  Lisa’s lips curled up in a smile as she set her plate down at the table.  “I considered it.  That would’ve been fun, watching Randy sweat all through breakfast.”

Megan laughed. 
“What an awfully grownup thing to do,
Leese
.”

Lisa smiled again.  “I know.  But don’t expect me to stay that way.  And, sad but true, I’m sure she’ll find out eventually.
  I just don’t
wanna
be anymore the bad guy than I’ve already been.
”

Megan nodded
.  “You weren’t a bad girl.  You didn’t know
.”

“
Doesn’t make me feel any less guilty.
 
Anyway, I’m
gonna
go get some coffee and juice.  Can I get you anything else?”

“Nah, I’m good.  Thanks.”

Lisa draped her purse over a chair
and leaned over, her voice low.  “And then we’ll blow this
fuckin
’ joint.  And if I ask you to go to our twenty-year reunion,
tell me to kiss your ass
.”  Megan raised her eyebrows, ready to protest and tell her friend that she’d tried
this time
, but Lisa continued.  “No matter how much I beg or plead or cajole or bribe you,
don’t do it
.  In fact, tell me you’re not my friend anymore.  That’ll get my attention.”

Megan laughed and used her fork to cut off a bite-sized piece of watermelon while her friend left in search of beverages.  She too was ready to return to her normal life.  She’d been shaken a little too much, but they’d survived.

She reached for her coffee cup and felt a hand on her shoulder.  She felt her blood heat up in anger as she realized she hadn’t done what she’d planned to do when they’d arrived.  She had planned to sit facing the door so she could see who entered and exited
the room
, but her nerves had made her forget.  She’d lost her focus and now she was going to have to deal with Tyler unprepared.

Only it wasn’t Tyler, and it wasn’t Tamara
(her second guess)
either. 
It was Mike Hardy, software genius extraordinaire
,
that she’d caught up with on Friday night. 
“Hey, Megan.
  Do you mind if I sit with you?”

Megan’s adrenaline levels had increase
d
threefold, but she hoped she could maintain a calm exterior.  She said, “No, not at all.  Have a seat, Mike.”

Mike sa
t on the other side of her, not a few seats down as Megan had expected.  Still, she supposed that was all right.  This was probably going to be the last time she
would ever see
him, so she thought she could play nice one last time.

“Tyler stole you away Friday night, so I never had a chance to ask you what you’ve been up to since high school.”

Well, that statement wasn’t exactly true.  She’d ditched the two men, as she’d recalled, because she hadn’t wanted to be around Tyler.  That and Mike had bored the shit out of her.  And he was going to take one last crack at it.

That wasn’t fair.  He was nice.  And he was asking questions, indicating he didn’t want the conversation to be one-sided.  The only problem Megan could see was he was sitting a little too close.

“Not much, really.
  I work at the library, and I love that job.  I’m surrounded by books, one of my life’s passions, and I get to help people who sometimes have that same love.”

Lisa sat down on the other side of Megan, coffee in hand.  “Is that Mike Hardy?” she asked.

Mike stood.  “Lisa French. 
Great to see you.”
  He pushed his chair back and walked over to the other side of Megan, giving Lisa a warm hug.
  Megan had forgotten until this weekend that Mike was a hugger, kind of touchy-feely.  It looked like her friend could use the hug, because she held him a little longer than she should have.  But Mike didn’t seem to mind.  When Lisa let go, he said, “Would you two mind if I sat in between you both?  That way I don’t have to strain to hear you?”

Megan shrugged.  If it was okay with Lisa, it was okay with her.  Lisa read her expression and said, “Great idea.  I’ll move over one.”

Megan stood away from the table a little to give Mike room to make the switch. 
While Mike was moving his food over, Megan was once again distracted, and just as Mike’s
entire meal was moved, Tyler
stood just behind Mike’s
empty
chair
.  Megan was afraid she looked like the proverbial doe in the headlights.  She’d so wanted to be prepared for this event, but all the happenings of the morning had distracted the shit out of her.  And because he’d caught her
unawares, she wasn’t able to formulate words and she was sure she looked vulnerable, something she hadn’t wanted to do.  Hard as she tried, no words would come out of her mouth.

Tyler got straight to the point.  “Can I talk to you somewhere in private?”

Megan found her voice.  She didn’t want Tyler charming the pants off her somewhere away from other people.  She didn’t want his charisma to overpower her anymore.  Her only hope was to have her BFF by her side, calling
bullshit
when she spotted it.  Otherwise, Megan would accept anything Tyler Green had to say to her.

Chapter
Twenty-four

MEGAN REFUSED TO
let her eyes drop.  She told Tyler, “Anything you have to say you can say in front of my friends.”

He
frowned
, his brown eyes glinting
.  “Oh, come on, Meg.  Don’t make me do this in public.”
 
She scowled and
planted her feet, indicating she wasn’t going to budge.  She didn
’t say anything, instead engaging
in a stare down.
  He sighed and frowned.  He gave in, but his voice was low, hoping to minimize attention. 
“All right.
  So I know you talked to Tamara last night
,
and I know she poisoned you.  She told you
something
that made you run off
, and she wouldn’t tell me what it was
.”

Megan found her voice…and her balls.  “Yeah…a little something called the truth.”

A small grin appeared on Tyler’s face in spite of himself.  “Meg, that girl wouldn’t know the truth if it jumped up and bit her on the ass.”  Megan kept her face frozen.  “Don’t tell me you believe whatever it was she told you.”

Megan got closer to him, because suddenly she didn’t like the attention around the tabl
e either.  It was bad enough that
Lisa and Mike had put down their utensils.  They weren’t staring at Megan and Tyler, but Megan knew they were listening.  “She didn’t have to
tell
me anything when she had the evidence.”

Tyler didn’t take his eyes off her but said, “Did you leave before she was carted off?”

Megan’s brows pressed inward as though trying to touch. 
“What do you mean,
carted off
?”

Tyler looked toward the table.  “Mike, you saw it, right?”

Mike blinked a couple of times as though he didn’t want to have any part of their conversation, but he said, “Yeah.  Who didn’t?”

Tyler’s eyes returned to Megan. 
“People who weren’t here.”

Megan rolled her eyes.  “So what happened?”

Mike said, “
Tamara
was arrested last night.  She got out of control and was threatening people.  She started destroying things, starting with the refreshments table.”

“So she’s crazy.  We’ve always known that.”  She took a deep breath.  “But crazy doesn’t make her a liar.”
  Mike, looking abashed, got up, taking his coffee mug to the beverage table.

Tyler nodded. 
“Fair enough.
  So what did she tell you, Meg?  What makes you so convinced I’m a bad guy?  Is it just because I was fucking stupid enough to date her before you?”

Megan heard someone at the table to her left gasp, and she knew it was because Tyler dropped an F-bomb.  That was the least of her concerns, though, and anyone who had attended
Madversary’s
mini-concert the night before had already heard that word come out of Tyler’s mouth a few times in his songs.  She lowered her voice again and forced herself to maintain eye contact.  “No, Tyler, it’s not because you were stupid enough to date her.  It’s because you were stupid enough to think I’d never find out.”

A look of confusion spread over his face.  “Find out
what
?”

Megan scoffed. 
“Seriously?”
 
She
shook her head and looked over at Lisa.  “Lisa, do
I
look
stupid?”  Her friend looked worried but said nothing.  Lisa simply shook her head.  Megan turned back to Tyler.  Her bottom lip jutted out and she crossed her arms as if to dare him to continue the charade.

Tyler pressed on. 
“Yes, seriously.
  Find out
what
?”

“Oh, come on, Tyler.  I already know you’re Tyson’s dad.  Would you just
be a man about it and admit it?
F
or the kid’s sake
,
if nothing else.
  I don’t care anymore.  You do what you want to do, but be a man about it, for Christ’s sake.  A kid needs his dad, and I’m not just talking money.”

Tyler raised his eyebrows. 
“Who the fuck is Tyson?”

M
egan felt her blood pressure building
.  “You know what?  I’m done here.”  She held up her hands and started walking toward the exit.  She walked with purpose, as though a fire alarm had sounded and she couldn’t panic, couldn’t run, but she had to get out of there before she got burned.

She knew she couldn’t leave
the hotel
.  She had to wait for Lisa, but she had to get away from the nonsense, the bullshit.  She couldn’t believe Tyler was taking her for such a fool.
  She walked with a steady gait
, with purpose, imagining Tyler was locked in position where she’d left him, with that feigned look of shock on his face.

Instead, when she had made it a few feet down the hall, just out of sight of the doorway to the ballroom, Tyler’s hand wrapped around her upper arm.
  She turned to look at him and said, “Tyler, just go.”

His eyes narrowed.  “You think I’m the father of her kid, don’t you?”

“Enough, Tyler.”
  Her heart felt as though he had it in his hands and he was squeezing, squeezing,
draining
it of life and energy.  She had to get out of the hall, had to get away from him.  Being right next to him, in his gaze, under his scrutiny, she could have found it so easy to forgive him for something he deserved no absolution for.  She allowed herself to look in his eyes and said, “I
know
you’re his father.”

He was close to her, keeping his voice low so he wouldn’t draw attention to himself, but he was too close.  She felt a magnetic pull to him, and in spite of all her anger and frustration, she just wanted him to hold her and tell her everything would be okay.  But she knew that was just a dream.  They could never be together, not when she knew the horrid truth.  Tyler said, “So what’d she show you—some fake birth certificate with me listed as the father?”
  She forced her eyes away from his that compelled her to forget, resting their gaze on his Adam’s apple. 
Safe.

Megan shook her head, leaving her eyes low.  No sense not telling him.  “It was the results of the paternity test that showed you were conclusively the boy’s father.”

Tyler started laughing.  “Meg, come on.  How could I be the kid’s dad?”

Megan’s anger spiked again.  She couldn’t help making eye contact
now
. 
“Because you
fucked
her, Tyler.”

His voice was a growl.  “Long before she got pregnant.
 
Long before you and me.
 
I was never with her after we broke up. 
But you
do
know the kid’s dad.”  She didn’t want to hear any
more lies, but she felt helpless to pull her eyes away from his.  Instead, she tried backing away but her strength escaped her.  Tyler sensed her weakness and kissed her.  And for a few
fragile
moments, she gave in.  She let him inside her, not just his tongue, but his very essence—he filled her nostrils, her blood, her soul, and she knew she’d never be the same again.  He had changed her, had made her want something more, something so much more, and yet she couldn’t let herself give in.  Tyler Green was a cheater, and once a cheater, always a cheater.  And the fact that he was so adamant about his story, that he couldn’t admit he was wrong…that just made it worse.  So while she drowned in his kiss and the touch of his gentle, firm hands on her shoulders, she knew what she had to do.