It was the look in his eyes when she said it-screamed it, to be honest. The way he'd simply stopped and stared at her, his eyes betraying the hurt inside him. That was what she'd wanted, wasn't it? To hurt him as badly as he had hurt her, to make him feel just as betrayed, just as lonely as she had.

That was why she'd gone out that night. She was a woman with a mission. As she sat on the leather sofa, the silence weighed heavily upon her. Kevin had walked from the room without a word and she didn't follow him. She didn't know what to say. You didn't apologize for something you intended to do, did you? She'd wanted to do this-to throw the fact that she'd slept with another man in his face. But tonight, when she actually did it, when she actually said the words-it just didn't feel as good as she thought it would.

Kelly sighed, leaned back, allowing the sofa to cradle her as no one had in months. If this was the sweet revenge that everyone raved about, it sucked. Hurting Kevin hadn't made her pain go away. If anything, it actually made it worse. She was just as bad as he was. Even knowing how much his betrayal had hurt her, she willingly chose to inflict that pain on him.

'Scratch that,' she muttered, 'I'm worse.'

He couldn't be angry with her, no matter how badly he wanted to be. He had started this battle. He had fired the first shot. This was their way. This was what they did. They were destructive. The moment things started going well for them...the moment happiness started to creep up on the horizon, one of them would spook and do something stupid. Then it was up to the other to return fire. But this time-this time it had been different. Normally the stakes were lower-cheap shots, heated arguments, maybe a night out with no phone call, but this time he'd gone too far.

If he had been the one to tell her, he might have been able to salvage the situation, he thought to himself as he rolled the thin gold band around on the table. At least he could have been honest with her, told her his side of the story...told her that it didn't mean anything.

Instead Katie showed up at his door the next day to return a cufflink, a very polite but entirely self-serving gesture on her part. Even now he could still see the look on Kelly's face as she held out her hand, the cufflink sitting there like an accusation.

She never asked him. She didn't have to. The only words she spoke were in response to his. He had opened his mouth, fully prepared to launch into full scale damage control mode. She simply stared at him, her green eyes shimmering, "Don't. Just don't."

The sound of her high heels striking the porcelain tiles still echoed in his mind.

He had followed her, he remembered. The major difference between their reactions.

"Kelly, please...talk to me! Yell at me! You can say whatever you want. I don't care. I deserve it. I know how angry you must be."

"I'm not angry,"she whispered.

At the time, her reaction seemed ridiculous. In fact, he remembered wondering if she were in some sort of shock, but as he sat there, staring as his hand, a slight tan line where his ring should be, it all began to make sense.

She wasn't angry. She was hurt. The game they played didn't have winners. Tonight, they both lost. Tonight, the best they could hope for was to be even. This round was over.