He thought he saw remorse flicker across John’s face, but it was gone before he could be sure. “Fine. Let’s say there is a difference. It still wouldn’t be cheating. You and I aren’t official, and we’ve never even broached the subject of being exclusive. You can’t cheat on someone you’re not technically with.”

Zack was almost too aghast to respond. “Is that why you didn’t ask me to be your boyfriend? So you could claim later that it wasn’t cheating on a technicality?”

“You already know why I didn’t ask you. And you never said anything—or nothing you were willing to own up to, anyway.”

“Why should I believe you? If you’ve been cheating, then—”

“It wasn’t cheating,” John interrupted.

Zack realized his fingers had gone numb, he’d been clenching them so tightly. He flexed them and leveled a caustic glare at John. “Then why did you try to hide it from me?”

John started to argue, but Zack pointed to where the phone was still partially buried in the sofa. “You shoved your phone between the cushions and acted like I was the reason you were turned on. Are you going to lie to my face and tell me that’s not hiding it?”

John opened his mouth again, but after a second, he shut it and looked away.

A flag of miserable victory unfurled itself in Zack’s stomach. He looked down at the carpet, unable to meet John’s gaze as he asked, “Was this the first time?”

There was a pregnant pause. Then John softly said, “Yes.”

That should have made him feel better, but knowing that John had chosen tonight of all nights to do this was like a physical blow. A small part of Zack couldn’t stop thinking that if he’d just gotten here sooner . . . “How could you?” he whispered.

“I’m sorry for hurting you,” John said. “We obviously weren’t on the same page.”

Zack stared hard at him until John asked, “What?”

“This isn’t really about my job, is it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb, John. It doesn’t suit you. You may be a lot of things, but petty isn’t one of them. Do you really expect me to believe you cheated on me just because you thought you could? What’s the real reason?”

John eyed him coolly. “I already told you: we weren’t on the same page.” He moved to the opposite side of the room and sat down as far from Zack as he could get. He tilted his head back and held the tissue to his nose.