~ Chapter 41 ~
Kevin crawled home looking the worst for wear. After Nick left, he spent an hour screaming at the woman who managed to ruin his life. All the way home, tears of anger and sadness streamed down his face. He called Loreto and told her to come over right away. He needed to talk to someone.
When he opened the door, Loreto could see that something was very wrong. Kevin let her in and didn't say anything until they were both settled on the loveseat in the den.
"What's wrong, baby?" she asked before he had a chance to speak.
"Nick..." his voice was a small whisper, "he knows...he found out about...he saw us..." He wasn't making much sense. His body trembled in agony, hot tears scalding his cheeks.
Loreto swallowed hard. She took Kevin's hands and rubbed them gently. "Kevin, did you tell Nick?"
He shook his his head. "I didn't have to tell him. She was there today. I called her because I needed to talk to her about Nick. I wanted to tell her that I was coming clean with him. She didn't want me to and we argued about it. Nick saw us standing together and I guess some distant memory resurfaced because at that moment he knew. He remembered seeing us kiss last year. The day..." his voice broke.
"It's ok, Kev. I know. What did Nick say?"
"He told me that I screwed his fiancee."
"FIANCEE?" Loreto shrieked. "They were engaged?"
Kevin nodded sadly. "I didn't know. I swear I didn't know. Not that it makes any difference now. I know I'm a fool."
"You're more than a fool. You're a betrayer. You don't date or sleep with your friend's girlfriend, fiancee, whatever. It's wrong."
Kevin's eyes flashed in defense. "Don't you think I know that now? But Lo, she...she lied to me."
"How?"
Kevin told Loreto everything about his argument with the woman he now hated. She had been dating Nick since January 1996. She liked Nick, but her plan had been to eventually get her claws into Kevin. Kevin had been seeing someone at the time and never showed any interest in her other than as Nick's girlfriend. His own girlfriend broke up with him in early December 1997. He was heartbroken. The night of New Years Eve they had shared a dance. She knew Kevin was miserable and decided this was her chance to try and claim him. Nick had proposed to her only hours before. She was wearing Nick's ring, but conveniently slipped it off so Kevin wouldn't notice. Kevin felt some chemistry as they were dancing, but ignored it. She was his younger brother's woman. She asked him to go for a walk in the gardens. Kevin hesitated, but she seemed upset herself and Nick was busy regaling his family with tales about their latest tour. They went for a long walk. She told Kevin that she and Nick had gotten into an argument and that their relationship was in jepoardy. She wasn't sure she wanted to continue in a relationship with him, citing to Kevin that Nick treated her like a trophy girlfriend that he could parade around for show. She told Nick they needed to cool it for a while until she was sure of what she wanted. Of course it was all a lie, but Kevin fell for it. He consoled as she "cried." Then he told her of how he and Kristy had broken up. They held on to each other and sobbed and before he knew what was happening, their lips had met in an electrifying kiss. "I fell right there and then," Kevin explained. "Looking back now, I see I was on the rebound. But here she was, so perfect, so sad, needing someone as badly as I did. I thought it was love. I guess it wasn't."
He went on to tell Loreto that they eventually went back to his place and had sex all night long. The next day Kevin was sure he was in love. He fretted about Nick. He wanted to talk to him, but she assured him that she would take care of it. A few days later, she told Kevin that she had spoken to Nick and he was mean and awful to her. He had treated her like a piece of shit and told her that he would never let her go. Kevin got angry and wanted to go tell Nick off, but she convinced him to wait until Nick had calmed down and come to terms with the end of their relationship. It went on like this for three months. She would go to Nick and he would try and win her back. She would insult him, making up stories about how Kevin would make rude comments about Nick. She never mentionned that the other man was Kevin. When she was with Kevin, she would tell him that Nick wasn't ready to hear the truth. She was mellowing him out, when in fact it was the opposite, and as soon as she felt he was ready, they could tell him the truth. But it never came to that. One day in early April, Nick walked in on them at the recording studio. They were in a deep lip lock, oblivious to him standing there. They only realized that someone was there when an anguished scream tore from his throat. He ran out. Kevin went running after him.
"...and you know the rest," he finished solemnly, head bowed.
"God Kev...you know what you have to do, right?"
"What?"
"Go talk to Nick."
"He hates me Loreto. He said. Screamed it out actually." He felt the tears coming again and wiped at his eyes with his shirtsleeve.
"Kevin, what you did was wrong and really stupid. You were leading with your dick and not your head. If you were thinking straight, you would have went to Nick and not let this viper tug you along. But the damage has already been done. Now you have to try and repair it."
"How?" he whispered.
"Kevin, you didn't tell him everything, did you?"
"No. I couldn't ...after he freaked out on me and called her a whore, I slapped him. That's when he said he hated me and ran out."
"You slapped him? How could you do that? And defend that...whore! That's what she is!" Her eyes gleamed in anger.
"I KNOW THAT NOW! This was BEFORE she confessed."
"Whatever!" Loreto waved his words away. "What's important is that you go to Nick, not matter how much it kills you, and tell him the rest. And once you're done, you can get down on your knees and beg his forgiveness."
Kevin snorted. "Nick will never forgive me. And when I tell him the rest, he'll hate me even more, if that's possible."
Loreto sat on his lap and put her arms around him. "That's a chance you'll have to take, isn't it?"
Kevin nodded, knowing she was right. He had to get everything off his conscience.
"Did I ever tell you that I love you?"
Loreto's eyes widened in surprise. "Excuse me? No, you never did."
She stared into his eyes. His pain was so apparent, but she saw something else there. Something she'd never noticed before. Love. 'When did this happen?' she asked herself. 'When did Kevin find the time to fall in love with me?'
He was still staring into her eyes, looking amused. "Are you shocked?"
She nodded and was about to say something, but he continued, "Ever since that night in Europe it's been building slowly. Now it's here. Say you love me, too."
"I do, Kevin," she admitted softly.
He smiled for the first time that day as their lips met in a sweet kiss. Then he lifted her into his arms and carried her into his bedroom. This time he was sure. He was in love, he wanted her and she was his.
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