CHAPTER 24
Jul 10, 2025
KAT’S POV
I hadn’t slept at all the night before. Every time I closed my eyes, I could hear Liam’s voice saying those impossible words: “I’ve been in love with you since before we even met.”
The revelation had turned everything I thought I knew about our relationship completely upside down. All the hostility, all the cruel comments, all the times he’d made me feel small and unwanted – it had all been a lie. A defense mechanism to protect himself from feelings he thought were hopeless.
Now, walking through the hallways of Ridgeview the next morning, I felt like I was seeing everything through a different lens.
Every interaction we’d had took on new meaning, and I couldn’t stop my mind from racing through the possibilities and implications.
I kept my head down as I made my way to my first class, hyperaware of every whisper and sideways glance from other students.
Word about the confrontation between the Carter brothers had spread like wildfire, and I could feel the weight of curious stares following me wherever I went.
“Kate!” Sophie’s voice cut through my anxious thoughts as she caught up with me near my locker. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to reach you since yesterday.”
“I needed some space to think,” I said, fumbling with my combination lock. “It’s been a complicated couple of days.”
“I heard about what happened with Nate and Liam,” she said gently. “Are you okay?”
I finally got my locker open and grabbed my books, using the motion to avoid meeting her eyes. “I’m fine. Just trying to figure out how to move forward.”
“Kate,” Sophie said, placing a hand on my arm. “Talk to me. What’s really going on?”
“I can’t,” I said quietly. “Not yet. I need to talk to Nate first, and I haven’t been able to find him anywhere.”
“He’s been avoiding the dining hall and all his usual spots,” Sophie said with a knowing look. “But I think I know where he might be.”
Twenty minutes later, I found myself standing outside the indoor tennis courts, watching through the glass doors as Nate hit ball after ball against the practice wall with mechanical precision. His movements were sharp and aggressive, like he was trying to work out his frustration through physical exertion.
I took a deep breath and pushed through the doors, the sound of my footsteps echoing off the walls. Nate’s rhythm faltered for just a moment when he saw me, but he didn’t stop hitting balls.
“Nate,” I said softly. “Can we talk?”
“I’m busy,” he replied without looking at me, his voice clipped and cold.
“Please,” I said, moving closer. “I know you’re angry, and you have every right to be, but I need to explain—”
“Explain what?” he interrupted, finally stopping and turning to face me. His face was flushed from exertion, and his eyes were hard in a way I’d never seen before. “Explain how you lied to me about everything? Explain how you slept with my brother while pretending to be my girlfriend?”
The words hit like physical blows, and I felt tears starting to sting my eyes. “I never meant for any of this to happen.”
“But it did happen,” he said, his voice rising. “You made choices, Kate. You chose to lie to me, you chose to be with him, and then you chose to let me make a fool of myself by declaring our relationship was real.”
“I tried to stop you,” I protested. “When you told Liam we were really together, I tried to—”
“You tried to what?” Nate demanded. “You stood there silent while I lied to my brother’s face. You let me dig myself deeper into a hole based on feelings you knew weren’t real.”
I closed my eyes, feeling the weight of his accusations because they were true. Every single word was true.
“You’re right,” I said quietly. “I handled everything wrong. I should have been honest with you from the beginning about my feelings, or lack thereof. I should have stopped you from making that declaration to Liam. I should have found a way to end our arrangement without hurting you.”
Nate’s expression softened slightly at my admission. “Then why didn’t you?”
“Because I was scared,” I said honestly. “Scared of losing your friendship, scared of being alone at this school, scared of admitting that I had feelings for someone who I thought hated me.”
“My brother doesn’t hate you,” Nate said, his voice gentler now. “That much was obvious from the way he reacted when he thought we were really together.”
“I know that now,” I said. “But I didn’t know it then. All I knew was that he’d been cruel to me since the day I arrived, and I couldn’t understand why being near him made me feel so… confused.”
Nate was quiet for a long moment, absently bouncing a tennis ball against his racket. “Kate, I need to ask you something, and I need you to be completely honest with me.”
“Anything,” I said immediately.
“Did you ever have feelings for me? Real feelings, not just friendship?”
The question hung in the air between us, and I could see the vulnerability in his eyes despite his attempt to appear casual. He needed to know, needed to understand where he stood in all of this.
“I cared about you,” I said carefully. “I still do. You were kind to me when no one else was, you made me laugh, you made me feel like I belonged somewhere. But romantic feelings? The kind of feelings that build lasting relationships?” I shook my head slowly. “No. I’m sorry, Nate, but no.”
He nodded, and I could see him processing my answer. “I kind of knew that,” he said finally. “I think I knew it even when I was trying to convince myself otherwise. The way you kissed me, the way you responded when I touched you – it was like you were going through the motions rather than feeling anything real.”
“I wanted to feel something real,” I said desperately. “You have no idea how much I wanted our relationship to be genuine. It would have been so much easier if I could have fallen for you instead of—” I stopped myself before I could finish the sentence.
“Instead of my brother,” Nate finished for me, his voice surprisingly understanding.
I nodded, not trusting my voice.
“Kate, I’m going to ask you one more question, and your answer is going to determine where our friendship goes from here.”
I felt my heart start racing. “What question?”
“Do you love Liam?”
The simple question hit me like a freight train. I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it again, realizing I had no idea what to say.
Did I love Liam? How could I love someone who had been so cruel to me? How could I love someone who had hurt me so many times?
But then I remembered the way he’d held me yesterday, the vulnerability in his voice when he’d confessed his feelings, the way my entire body had responded to his touch like it had been waiting for him my whole life.
“I…” I started, then stopped, my voice failing me completely.
“Kate?” Nate prompted gently. “Do you love him?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I honestly don’t know how to answer that question.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I mean I don’t know what I feel for him,” I said, the words coming out in a rush. “I hate him for the way he treated me, but I also can’t stop thinking about him. I’m angry at him for exposing our secret, but I also understand why he did it. I’m terrified of trusting him, but when he touches me, I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
Nate listened to my rambling explanation with a patient expression. “That sounds like love to me,” he said quietly.
“Does it?” I asked, genuinely confused. “Because it feels like chaos.”
“Love usually does,” he said with a small smile. “At least the real kind.”
“Are you going to stop being my friend if I tell you I might love him?” I asked, my voice small and uncertain.
Nate’s expression grew serious. “Is that what you think of me? That I’m petty enough to end our friendship because you have feelings for someone else?”
“I don’t know what to think anymore,” I admitted. “Everything is so messed up, and I’ve hurt you so badly, and I don’t know how to fix any of it.”
“Kate,” he said, stepping closer. “Answer my question honestly. Do you love my brother?”
I took a deep breath, trying to sort through the tangle of emotions in my chest. After a moment, I nodded and shook my head in confusion and he pulled me into a tight hug.
