The Other Man (40 page)

It happened about two years ago, the hate.
 
Came out of nowhere and trampled its way all over my heart.
 

And to this day, I did not know why.
 

It didn’t matter.
 
I was lovesick.
 
Totally.
 
I couldn’t see beyond the agony of my feelings for him, not even for Clayton.
 

When Declan was nearby, my body knew it.
 
Not just the same room, but even near that room, and I swear I changed, things in my body started throbbing, I lost brain cells, and became an utter fool.
 

He, on the other hand, barely seemed to notice me now.
 

I couldn’t have gotten his attention if I stripped down and started dancing naked.
 

 
It was so unfair, because he had all of my attention all the time.
 

It was an obsession that had kept me company for so long that I needed it.
 
Needed it to get through the day.
 

And as if unrequited love weren’t enough, our lives were securely and inevitably entwined.
 
It wasn’t even an issue of seeing him daily.
 
This was an
hourly
affliction, with shared car rides, classes, and often, when I went home, even shared dinners between our close-knit families.
 
There was no escape, no relief, no reprieve from the barrage of feelings that I held inside of me for a guy who’d barely given me solid eye contact for nearly two years.
 

I was so screwed.
   

This dilemma had been the contentious focal point of my life for so long that a lot of other things slipped my notice.

Significant things.
 

Important
things.
   

Things I’d soon come to regret.

COMING SOON!