Her Invisible Knight (Book 4)

Twenty

Maverick

“Why did you buy L’art En Danse, and to what extent was their acceptance centered more on me than on you?” Mackenzie tensely asked. This was the moment I knew was going to happen eventually. I was thinking of coming clean, but I just couldn’t find the right time. I guess I hadn’t found the proper way to break things to her, so I kept prolonging the inevitable. Obviously, anything I was about to say would look like I had manipulated every aspect of her career, because the truth of the matter was, I kind of did, so there was no way I was going to escape this situation undamaged. There was no choosing my words wisely or sugarcoating things either. This was Mackenzie we were talking about. She had a thousand-yard nose for nonsense. It was either man up or run like a coward, and I was far from being one. I may have been called nice too many times, but never a namby-pamby. We stared at each other for a very long time, or more like she was meeting my calm stare with a glare. Whatever she may have stumbled upon prior to events taking this turn, none of those things could be interpreted as good news.

“Well,” she impatiently stated as she tipped her chin up, challenging me to go on. “Well, it’s true that I bought L’art En Danse before you auditioned. I did give them a list of the talented dancers I knew, and I couldn’t deny the fact that you were one of them. I didn’t have any intentions of buying the dance company until I heard that they were about to close,” I admitted. “If you didn’t intend to buy it, then why did you?” Mackenzie questioned with a raised brow. I breathed deeply, knowing that this was the moment I needed to let everything out. “It was your long-time dream, wasn’t it? To be a part of L’art? I couldn’t watch your dreams fall apart, not then and not now. It was L’art or nothing for you,” I sighed. Her eyes grew wide at that moment because I wasn’t supposed to know that. I was only supposed to know that she wanted to be a dancer, not about her deepest dreams and aspirations. When she opened her mouth to launch a series of questions, I immediately stopped her by raising my hand. “Here’s the awful truth. I haven’t stopped keeping tabs since we broke up, but I never manipulated anything to get you where you are today.”

“Bullshit! That was not what Lila told me, and you kept tabs on me? For what?” she interrupted, and I cursed inwardly upon hearing Lila’s name. I knew something had happened, but what I didn’t realize was that my pretend business partner had something to do with this, which was a good enough reason for me to fire her ass. Also, admitting that I was her stalker was not exactly romantic from a girl’s point of view. It was creepy as hell, even when the so-called girl was currently in a relationship with you. That was no doubt a double-whammy right there. “I don’t know what Lila said and what her point was. That’s a story for another time, but yes, I kept tabs on you.”

“Oh, my God. I can’t... What the hell?” she shrieked, but thankfully didn’t back away or run for the hills just yet. “Remember when I told you how I never got over you? That was how I coped. I guess I just wanted to know how you were doing. It’s the lamest of all excuses, but believe me, Kenzie, this isn’t one. I only watched you from afar, but there was never a moment I stepped in to change your life. Buying L’art was the only time I did, but I never forced anyone to get you on board. Sure, I pointed them in your direction, but that was it.” It was obvious that she wasn’t pleased with my explanation, in fact, she got angrier when I threw the answers out there. “So, that was it? You kept tabs on me. Why? Because you felt so guilty that you left me hanging and chose to be a sell-out because you wanted fame and money? Was this your self-mortification?” And there it was. All along, she felt that I had chosen a different career path and that I had thrown our relationship away for money and fame. Her words stung, not because they were the truth, but because she was accusing me of something I didn’t do.

I didn’t choose anything over her because, in my opinion, she was the one who walked out on me. She was the one who went running into someone’s arms, and for what? because I wanted to go after what I’ve always wanted: music, or because she didn't want to date someone who could possibly become famous or rich? And now I'm the bad guy? I didn't get it. “I’m sorry, I left you hanging, and you thought I joined the band because I wanted superficial things?” I questioned, hurt and disbelief evident in my voice. Yeah, I was pissed. I knew better than to blow up on her, but for f**k’s sake, I was only a man. I understood how bad it was for her to find out what I did behind her back, but to actually accuse me of abandoning her was absurd.

“Don’t act like you didn’t do those things, Maverick. You left when I needed you! You made your choice and that was to play rock and roll god. You knew how hard it was for me back then. You knew how important the recital was to me. To you, it may be a small thing, but it was all courage and hard work. You didn’t show up that day and never came back! That was the only moment I could give my dad his final wish before he died, but I lost that opportunity,” she argued with so much resentment and heartbreak in her voice. And when tears rolled down her face, my heart broke even more because I knew how much her dad meant to her and how important that day was, so even though it was the same day as our debut, I did the impossible. I rushed back to school after begging Colin nonstop and ran like hell to the auditorium because I promised her this one last dance, but when I got there, she was already gone. She didn't perform and just left that day.

I never knew what really happened back then; all I knew was that she suddenly started avoiding me after that. "I showed up that day," I quietly began. "It was a big Hail Mary, but I got there. I made it. You were the one who disappeared. Then you didn't answer my calls, and you made your mom come out to tell me you weren't home every time I came by. Come prom night, you were already making out with some guy. Now, tell me, Kenzie, was I the one who walked out on us?"