My boyfriend cheated and refuses to admit it?

Anonymous

A few people, including the girl he cheated with, told me he had hooked up with someone once a few months into dating. This was almost 5 months ago, and about 4 since I found out. He refuses to admit it and calls them liars, even after the girl sent me messages from that night in which she told her friend that she “doesn’t care he has a gf” and was planning on hooking up with him that night but he claimed he blacked out and so it was nonconsensual, which he claimed a few days after that night. I believed him, but when I saw his deleted messages ( he doesn’t know I looked at these) I saw messages from one of his friends telling him “once a cheater always a cheater” and referenced that night, since he was there. I stayed, choosing to pretend to believe him. How do I get past this, how do I get him to own up to what he did? Or should I just leave him as soon as possible? Can this be saved at all?

Updates
10 mo
I’m choosing to finally leave him…I just don’t know how. Since writing this post, he’s been acting strange and I wrote it off as him getting a new job and being a lot busier than usual but so many little things just don’t add up and I just don’t trust him at all anymore. I could add a million details, but I won’t. How do I leave him? He’s my first everything, first love, first rs, first kiss, first time, heck the first guy I’ve held hands with so I’m attached horribly. Any advice would be app.
My boyfriend cheated and refuses to admit it?
8 Opinion