Chapter 26

Iknew this day would come, and no matter how much I tried to prepare myself for it, seeing the utter devastation in Cat's eyes will haunt me forever. Every time I close my eyes, I'll see the look of betrayal and stark pain on her beautiful face. This woman has suffered more pain in her life than any person should, and I hate myself for being one of the people who caused it.

"Why?" she croaks and wraps her arms around her middle like she's trying to hold herself together. Like if she doesn't, she'll fall apart at the seams.

My fingers tighten around the glass in my hand. "I love her," I say, knowing how much it will hurt, yet refusing to lie.

Her face scrunches and a sob escapes her. She throws one hand up to her mouth, but the sound still slips free.

When it looks like her knees are about to buckle, I set the glass on the floor and get up from the chair. I'm a couple of feet away when she throws a hand up in the air, her palm facing me.

"Stop!" she yells. "Don't come near me."

I ignore her request and move closer until her palm touches my chest. Her face is red and her eyes are swollen, indicating that she's been crying longer than she's been in the room.

I push against her hand. "Let me explain. There are things you don't understand yet," I tell her.

"No," she says, strength coming into her voice. She moves back, but I just follow her. "There's no need. Your answer a moment ago was enough."

"Baby, no. There's more you need to know. It's not what it looks like."

Even to my own ears, my words sound pathetic and cliché as fuck. Don't all cheaters say the same?

This time she lets out a bitter laugh. "I don't need to know the details, Hunter." Anger enters her tone and her eyes flare. "I don't fucking care how you met. I don't need to fucking hear how you couldn't help yourself," she says mockingly. "Or how it was impossible to not fall in love. Or that you didn't mean to. Or whatever other garbage you want to say."

Cat's pissed. It's not often that she curses. Only when her emotions are high. Her anger is entirely justified. In her eyes, I've betrayed her in the most despicable way. And in a way, I did.

When she turns to leave, I grab her arm, and that's when she turns into a hellcat. She rounds on me, her other hand striking out to land across my face. I don't attempt to stop her. I want to feel the heat of her slap. It's nothing in comparison to what she's feeling right now, but it's a taste.

Her palm lands two more times against my face before I spin her around and bring her back against my chest. I wrap my arms tightly around her, trapping hers at her side. She struggles and bucks against me, attempting to stomp on my foot.

"Let me go, you bastard!" She shouts through the broken sobs still leaving her lips. "Let me go!"

"I can't," I croak, burying my face in her neck. "I can't lose you, Cat. I will never fucking let you go. You're mine."

She stops struggling, but her chest pumps rapidly. Her hot tears splash on my arm as she sniffs.

"You've already lost me." Her voice is low, but her words blast through my ears like she shouted them through a megaphone.

Her statement has a jagged hole tearing through my chest, and my breath is stolen from my lungs. This woman is my life, and she's telling me she's taking it away. Life without her would be unbearable. It's a life I refuse to live.

I tighten my arms around her, expecting her to struggle when I lift her from her feet and carry her to the chair. Surprisingly, she doesn't fight me. After I set her down, she refuses to look at me when I drop to my knees in front of her. Tears still stream from her bloodshot eyes as she presses her lips into a firm line.

In the next second, her features go lax and all emotion is wiped from her face as she continues to stare at the window.

Getting stabbed repeatedly with a rusty knife wouldn't hurt this bad. I know this look. I've seen it a hundred times. She's protecting herself from the pain by closing herself off. And there's no telling what will happen next.

Or rather, who she'll be.

I have to tread very carefully.

She lets me grab her cold hand in mine. Not a twitch or hitch of breath at the contact.

"How did you find out?" I ask quietly.

Her reply is mumbled and lacks feeling. "I found her thong in your pants pocket."

I already knew this. The day she had a headache, and I brought her to our room to lie down, I saw the material peeking out of her pocket when I pulled her pants off. I also saw her looking at my phone when I left the room and knew what she was looking for.

As much as I hated knowing what she was thinking, I can't deny that a rush of relief passed through me. Keeping Scarlett from her was tearing me apart.

I took a chance and a huge leap of faith in our love to set it up so she would follow me here today.

It was time Cat knew the truth. I didn't want her to think I was cheating on her. That's the last thing I would ever do.

"I also smelled her on you a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't the first time I smelled another woman on you."

Dropping my head, I close my eyes. Shame slides instantly through my body. For almost five years, I've kept Scarlett's existence hidden. Apparently, I've done a shit job of it lately.

"How long, Hunter?"

I look up at Cat, seeing her expressionless eyes watching me. My throat threatens to close, but I force the words past my lips. "Almost five years."

Her face shows nothing, but another tear slips free to glide down her pale cheek.

"How can you do this to us? How can you say with one breath that you love me, and with the next, say you love her?"

I tighten my fingers around hers. "Because I do. I love you both with every breath I take." I pull in a lungful of air and let it out slowly. "Just like I love Athena and Presley."

Her brows crease in confusion and her hand twitches in mine. "Presley?"

"Yes."

I watch as the name rolls around in her head, and I wonder what she's thinking. It only takes a moment for me to get my answer, and it's not what I expected. Her lips curl in disgust and she yanks her hand away, finally giving me more than a void look.

"What the fuck, Hunter?" She grabs the arms of the chair and tries to scoot back. She has nowhere to go though. "Please don't tell me you touched—"

I cut her off before she has a chance to finish, anger making my words come out harsh. "You know me better than that, Cat," I growl, appalled that the thought would even cross her mind.

"I have no idea who you are at all," she declares. "The man I knew, the one I fell in love with, would never touch another woman."

"What I feel for Presley is not the same as what I feel for you and Scarlett."

Her eyes narrow. "Who in the fuck is Athena? You say you love," she throws the word out with such hate, "her too. Where in the hell is she?"

I sit back on my heels, my hands resting on my thighs. "She's here."

Cat's eyes widen as she darts them toward the doorway.

"They're all here, Cat," I say quietly, carefully watching her face. My heart feels sluggish in my chest, like it's struggling to beat.

Fear lodges itself inside my chest. Fear of what this will do to Cat. I've kept this secret, because as strong as Cat is, in some ways she's fragile. I have no choice but to come clean now. I won't lose Cat because she believes I've been unfaithful.

Her eyes shoot back to mine. "What?"

"All of them."

"What in the hell are you saying, Hunter?"

"They're all here in this room."

She shoves me back and pushes her way out of the chair. I catch myself before I fall on my ass, not expecting her sudden move, and get to my feet. I turn and face her. Now across the room from me, her hair looks wild, just as much as her eyes do. They dart around the room, like she's trying to find a way out.

"You're insane," she gasps. Her arms lift and she grabs handfuls of hair as she shakes her head. I don't know if she's trying to force away visions of the night that forever changed our lives, or other unwanted memories. "I don't see anyone else here."

I approach her slowly, not wanting to frighten her.

She knows what I'm saying. She may not want to admit it, but she knows.

When I'm only a couple of feet away, her head snaps up, her hands falling to her sides. I stop in my tracks, unsure where her mind is.

"What you're saying can't be true," she says shakily.

"It is, and deep down, you know it."

"No." She shakes her head. "You're lying. You're just saying it to get out of being caught."

"No, Cat."

"But you have to be. What you're saying is fucking crazy." Her voice dips and cracks, and more tears appear in her eyes. "I'm not insane. I'm not crazy."

"Baby." I close the gap between us, not giving a single fuck about whether she wants me near her or not. I'll be damned if I let her think she's anything less than the sane, beautiful woman that I love. She's a lot more sane than most people would be if they suffered even half as much as she has.

I don't stop until I'm almost in her face. I grab her cheeks and force her to look at me. "You listen to me, Cat, and hear me well. You aren't crazy. Never let that shit enter your mind. Understand?"

Her eyes glisten and her lips wobble. Her whole body fucking shakes, and feeling the trembles coming off of her has my jaw tensing and my own body vibrating in anger. Not at her, but at the bastards who made Cat the way she is today.

"Then why does it feel like it?" she asks, her words barely audible. Her eyes squeeze shut and a tear leaks out. I swipe it away with my thumb. "If what you're saying is true, how can you believe otherwise?"

I drop my head and press my lips against hers. "Because I know you," I say once I pull back. "Because nothing you've done indicates you are. Your mind does what it needs to do in order to protect itself. You are the bravest, strongest woman I've ever met. I'm in fucking awe of you, Cat, because you've handled a hell of a lot more than I would have been able to. That anyone would be able to handle."

"What does that mean?" Her hands come up to grip my wrists, her eyes imploring. "I don't understand. How can I be someone I don't remember?"

I let her cheeks go and bend down to pick her up. Carrying her over to the bed, I set her down on the end and sit beside her, turning my body so I'm facing her.

"Yes, you do," I state, grabbing her hand. "You know. You're just not ready to accept it yet. You've kept the truth locked away, because you're afraid to face it. And when that truth sneaks past the walls you've built in your mind, you hide and become someone else." I lock our fingers together. "You let Scarlett take over when you think you should be punished."

She bites her bottom lip and a line forms between her eyes. "Why would I feel that way?"

I don't answer her question. She's not ready for that information yet.

"Athena appears when the pain becomes too much and you need to escape it." I pause a moment. "She's a patient at The Grove."

Cat's breath catches and her hand jerks in mine. "What?"

"She checks herself in and stays for a few hours. The nurses call me when you show up, and I come to you there. To you, I'm just some guy who visits you."

I stop and let it sink in what I've told her so far.

"You mentioned Presley," she croaks a moment later. "Is she…."

"Yes." A smile tugs at my lips. "She's the innocent, yet feisty part of you. She's the one who sees the world how it should be, without all the heartache and darkness."

Her gaze falls to our entwined hands, and she's silent for so long I fear she won't speak. But then she lifts her head, and I see the haunted look in her eyes.

"Something bad happened, didn't it? Something that made me this way."

"Yes."

"I don't want to remember." She roughly shakes her head, her hair flying about her shoulders. "I'm not sure I ever want to remember. And I don't care if that makes me crazy or insane."

I hate hearing those words leave her lips. They shouldn't even be in her vocabulary.

"Baby, the only thing you've done that's crazy is think that I would ever touch another woman." I lift her hand to my lips. "You make my heart beat. You breathe life into me. You give me everything I need and are everything I could ever wish for. There's not a soul alive that could come even close to tempting me away from you. I will be yours and only yours until I take my last breath."

For years, I've felt profound guilt for hiding Scarlett from Cat. Despite being the same person, I felt like I was betraying Cat by being with her when she was Scarlett. When I was with Athena, I felt the same guilt, but it wasn't as strong since our relationship wasn't sexual. As shocking as this news is to Cat, I'm glad she finally knows the truth.

"Do you believe me?"

She chews on her bottom lip a moment before letting it go. "I don't know. I want to, but…." She trails off, looking uncertain.

I don't let her doubt bother me. It would be difficult for anyone to believe.

What does bother me is the way her body stiffens slightly when I pull her into my arms. My jaw clenches, but still, I lock my arms around her, refusing to let her go. Thankfully, she allows the embrace, which gives me hope.

I close my eyes and breathe in deeply, pulling in the sweet scent of my wife.