36. Switch Just Flipped

Knox was having mixed reactions to what he'd just heard.

He knew it was only one-sided, but it also told him something more was going on.

When he'd seen the phone call, the first thing that came to his mind was that she was cheating on him. Which was stupid but a switch just flipped.

He wanted her to answer the call in front of him. To see how she reacted. What she said.

But what he saw was how hurt she was over something.

He didn't like her comments about secrets and lies and wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Maybe some of it was guilt on his part, but until he knew everything, he couldn't say much.

"As you know, that was Henry. I haven't heard from him since he came to my apartment in New York and said we were done."

"He gave no reason?" he asked. He'd heard this part before. "Nothing at all?"

"No. I asked. I was crying. I wanted to know. I didn't know if it was something I did or not. I thought we had a good relationship."

"Yeah, he let you do what you wanted, you said that."

"That's mean," she said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "I told you that he'd always say we could do what I wanted. Not let me do what I wanted. There is a big difference and I'm not sure why you would say otherwise."

She was right, but he was too worked up to think clearly. "Go on."

"I hated that he never gave much of an opinion. That is more of what it was about. And if he was breaking up with me because there was something he wanted or needed and never said, I wanted to know that and why it never came up before."

"So that you could say you'd change and work it out?" he asked.

All he saw was this fancy guy in a suit that she'd talked about. One who understood the work she did when all he did was listen and nod his head but didn't know all of what she was explaining.

"No," she said. "But when you are with someone for months and they want to break it off suddenly with no explanation, don't you think you'd want to know?"

"Nope," he said. "If someone doesn't want to be with me then they don't. I'm not begging anyone to stay if they don't want to. It only ends up worse in the end. You work it out or you don't. Playing games to break things off without trying to fix them to get your way is manipulation. I want no part of it."

He'd seen that one too many times with his mother. His father never asked his mother to stay. Just told her to get out.

But his mother had a lot of men that begged her to stay. Or they wanted to stay and work things out and she'd make out for a period of time.

In the end it never changed a damn thing and his mother only took more advantage of the sucker before she found another bed to keep her warm.

"You're right," she said. "You can't make someone stay or love you and that isn't what I wanted. I just wanted answers. He didn't give me anything. He said he was moving and we were done. That he got another job. He didn't even put in two weeks" notice. He up and left the next day."

None of that made sense and he had to admit he'd have questions too. Or he'd doubt himself for a long time after.

"That's it. Came to your place, said he was done and then skipped town?"

"Yes! I know you think I'm lying to you, but I'm not. I fully expected to go to work and see him and he was just gone. Everyone was coming up to me to find out where he was. I had no idea. I had to tell them we ended things the night before."

"That would have driven me insane having to explain anything."

"That's right," she said firmly. "So I'm upset. I'm trying to figure out what is going on. What happened? Then no one knows where he is. I'm thinking did he get hit by a car? Was he abducted? Anything you can imagine came into my head."

"Did anyone find out where he went or why?" he asked.

"He'd called his boss and said he quit. By the end of the day that made the rounds. I literally heard people talking about it outside my office. No one came in to tell me."

"And now he's calling, why?"

"I'm not done explaining the past," she said. "You want to know and I'm going to tell you it all. A few weeks went by and my father and brother were livid. I'm hurt and confused and still dealing with shit at work. Most of it came from one person."

"Selena?" he said. "You said her name."

"Yes. She is the person who replaced me when I left. It all comes back to her. Henry even said that he told Selena we were dating when we said we weren't going to tell anyone."

"Why did he tell her?"

"He claims she was coming onto him and he told her he wasn't single."

"You don't believe that?" he asked.

"Oh, I believe it. I'd believe it more if he had an affair with her, but he didn't. The reason Henry left is because he was in a long distance relationship with another woman for over a year. Before he started to ask me out. Then once he found out his other girlfriend was pregnant, he moved and got engaged and broke it off with me. That was the reason for the sudden move—the pregnancy. But I didn't find out about the baby for weeks after I found out about the other woman."

He felt his face all but light on fire.

It was the last thing he expected from Sage.

"So you had an affair with a man who was in another relationship? And you didn't think I should know that?"

"See," she said, pointing her finger. "You immediately jumped to me being the bad guy. I just explained to you that I didn't know why he was breaking up with me or where he was going or anything. Don't you think I'd know that if I knew he was with someone else?"

He shook his head. "How could you not know? Are you telling me there was no sign of him being with someone else?"

Her face was crimson now. "This is where I was a fool. Looking back. Yeah. He traveled for work, but I didn't think much of it. When he was out of town we didn't have hardly any contact at all. If I called him it always went to voicemail. He never talked to me until he was on his way back. Even text messages were few and far between."

"That should have been a clue right there," he said.

"Really?" she asked. "Is that because your mother did those things? I've never cheated on anyone. I've never been cheated on. I didn't know what to look for. Why would I? I'm not a pro like you think I am. I'm not devious. Though I can tell by the look on your face you think I'm lying to you."

"You know how I feel about this," he all but snarled at her.

"That's right," she yelled. "And it's why I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to judge me, but you're doing a damn good job of it anyway. Instead of feeling bad for what I went through and that I can understand how your father felt, you think I was the other woman rather than the victim."

She was yelling at him and her words were making sense but not enough for him to stop from getting his keys and walking to the door.

"I can't deal with this right now."

"So another guy is just going to walk out of my life without talking about it?" she asked, throwing her hands in the air.

"It's not the same thing," he said.

"No, it's not, but you're sure the hell treating it that way. You said you don't beg anyone, you better start thinking about that more now."

He opened the door and slammed it on his way out.

He was wrong every day of the week for his reaction, but he couldn't seem to stop himself and realized that he was seeing his mother's face when Sage was trying to explain and realized he was more messed up about his past than she was.

Knox was positive this had to do with not feeling as if he deserved or received the forgiveness he needed from his father before he passed and it was transferred onto him and what his father should have done or said to his mother.

None of that ever happened.

His father just calmly told his mother to get out and that was it.

Not much more reaction on that end.

Guess he was more like his mother than he thought based on the way he just lit into Sage that was completely uncalled for. He heard but didn't listen and let his emotions take over.

Did Sage say he'd have to beg?

Looked like he'd be swallowing his pride if he wanted to make things right.

Which he did because he wasn't going to be a fool like his father and walk away. Not that what Sage did was anything like his mother had and he was an idiot for even letting his mind go there. The sad part was, she kept this from him for this very reason and all he did was prove her right.