I Broke My Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

“What?”
    “Addie, after this place today and probably after I return to New York, we might not see each other again. Years from now, we might meet in conferences or find ourselves doing research together again. We would probably just say hello to each other and probably share ideas together towards our research.” He paused a little.
    I waited.
    “Addie, what I’m trying to say is that there is nothing between us. We are just two people who ha p pen to be working together on a research project. We are just colleagues.”
    For one eternal moment, I froze. Air left my lungs for a short while. When I was finally able to catch my breath, “Well, colleagues don’t have sex,” was all I could say.
    “And I am sorry for that,” he replied. His voice was calm but his words were hurting me. “If I could go back to last night, I’d do things in a different way. It should never have happened,” he finished.
    “So why did you lead me on all this while when you knew it would come to this?”
    “I’m sorry for that too and for everything,” he replied.
    I stared at him as tears filled my eyes. I felt hurt, betrayed, and angry. Yet, I tried to calm down, and to think more clearly, trying to be reasonable. “Look, Cleve, maybe you’re right. Maybe we don’t have a relationship right now, but we could start one, couldn’t we?”
    He slowly shook his head. “No, it wouldn’t work .”
    I stared at him, waiting for him to say more. “Well, you can’t just say it wouldn’t work and then go quiet on me. Say something more. Like why you think it wouldn’t work.”
    “It just won’t work out ,” he repeated.
    I gazed at him again, my amber eyes pleading with him. “Cleve, is there nothing left between us?”
    “Nothing was ever between us, Addie.”
    Hot tears filled my eyes again. Knowing that he would be pleased to see my face awash with tears, I quickly picked up my purse and stumbled out of the restaurant.
     
    ****
                  I tried to concentrate as I drove home. Tears were flowing down my cheek and I swiped them away, only to have them come pouring down again. I told m y self several times that Cleve wasn’t worth crying for, but then I remembered all the time we spent together and that caused me to burst into a loud sob again.
    Finally, I got home. I saw a brown envelope han g ing on my door. The envelope was from Max. I forced myself to open it. What I saw almost knocked the air out of me. The son of a bitch was married with two kids. Cleve Reeves was married with two kids.
    Max had done the background check and he had sent me a picture of the scumbag with his family. Ho w ever, it was too late. If only he had sent me those pi c tures yesterday, I wouldn’t be in this mess. Thinking about the fact that I had slept with a married man upset my stomach and I was afraid I might throw up.
    I decided against going into my house to grieve alone, because I might do the unthinkable, so I decided I’d go to Max’s place. I needed my friend right now.
    Because we lived only few blocks apart, it took less than three minutes to drive to his house. When I got there, I knocked on the front door for a long time, but Max didn’t open. Since the door wasn’t locked, I let myself in.
    I looked for him in the living room and then I checked in the kitchen. When I didn’t find him, I went to his room. What I saw in Max’s room took me by su r prise. I couldn’t believe it, or believe my eyes. My pi c ture was everywhere on his wall. He had done a great job of stalking me, because it appeared he took those pictures every day since I had met him. It wouldn’t have bothered me a lot if he had just my pictures, but he had pictures of my ex-boyfriend, Tyler, and even some of Cleve Reeves, my ex since only thirty minutes ago.
    I heard footsteps behind me and I turned to face him. “I hope you have a good explanation for this.” He wanted to say something, but I cut him off. “Don’t you even dare think