Chapter 82
CHAPTER EIGHTY-TWO
ASTRID
“What?” I asked, opening and closing my mouth a handful of times in an attempt to form words, but … how … was she … who told her? How’d she find out? I sat up on the bed and swallowed hard. “What do you mean?”
She didn’t flinch. “I know you’re fucking my brother.”
“I don’t know—”
“Stop it!” she shouted. “Stop with the lying!”
My eyes widened slightly, and I stood up slowly. “Diya … I …”
“Don’t try to smooth this all over. You’re supposed to be my best friend, and you’re fucking my goddamn brother when I’m dealing with all this shit with the baby, the rumors, people fucking hating me. And you’re fucking my brother.”
Mouth drying, I shook my head at her. “It’s … I … how’d you find out?”
I didn’t know why that was the question that had come out of my mouth when I could’ve apologized, but she was putting all this blame on me. I hadn’t told her to go out and get pregnant, to have to deal with the rumors, to fuck her stepdad.
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” she snarled. “No apology? Nothing?”
“No,” I said, crossing my arms. “I’m not going to apologize.”
“You’re fucking my brother when I’m dealing with all this shit!”
“Well, it’s not my fault that you had to suck off your stepdad whenever you had the chance! It’s not my fault that you’re pregnant and dealing with all this shit! Why the fuck are you blaming that on me?!”
Tears formed in her eyes, and I immediately wanted to take it all back.
I hadn’t meant to make her feel bad. It wasn’t her fault that people were dickheads. But still … that didn’t give her a reason to blame me for it. I had been supporting her this entire time and even taken the heat of it so she wouldn’t worry too much.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered because I loved her. “I shouldn’t have said that.”
“You’re sorry for that and not for sleeping with my brother?”
“I wasn’t—” I took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean for it to happen, and I was going to tell you, but it never felt like the right time. I didn’t want you to stress out over it. I didn’t want you to think I was using you for him. Not when you’re pregnant.”
The warmth of her room vanished, and suddenly, it felt like I was suffocating.
“I’ve been here for you through all of this. I’ve kept your secrets. I’ve protected you—”
“Bullshit!” she hissed, nostrils flared. She stood up and shook her head. “You’re protecting yourself. You think screwing around with my brother and lying to my face makes you a good friend?”
“I didn’t lie—”
“You hid this from me for, what, months now?!”
I took a shaky step toward her. “Diya, this isn’t fair—”
“No,” she said, shoving me back. “What’s not fair is that I needed you, and you were off playing house with the same guys who look at every other girl like a game. What’s not fair is that I’m in the middle of a nightmare, and you don’t care.”
“If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be here.”
She crossed her arms and looked away, a tear falling down her cheek. “You came because you felt guilty, because you were covering your ass for sneaking away with my brother and the rest of those assholes.”
Another tear fell down her cheek, and my chest tightened.
“Go,” she growled. “Now.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but she whipped the door open and pointed toward the hallway. Tears welled in my eyes, and I grabbed my belongings and walked out the door. She slammed it behind me.
The tears finally started falling as I headed down the hallway and toward the front door. The air outside hit like a fucking train, the sun low, casting long shadows over the pavement. My eyes were burning, my throat tight.
While I so desperately wanted to see the guys, to tell them what had happened, to even support Rush tonight, I knew they didn’t want me there. Diya didn’t want me here. Which left me with only a few options.
When I reached my car, I leaned my elbows against the top of it and rested my head in my hands, sobbing. After everything that I had done for Diya, why couldn’t she understand that I … that I loved her brother? I wasn’t just fucking him to fuck him.
Why would I do that to her? She was my best fucking friend.
My best friend!
“Hey!” someone called from behind me. “You Astrid?”
I wiped some of my tears from my cheeks and turned to face the unfamiliar man. “Who’s asking?”
Before I could react, he lunged at me and slapped a hand over my mouth. I threw my elbow back in an attempt to get out of his strong hold, but he dragged me across the street and toward a black car.
The next thing I knew, he was hurling me into the back of his car and slamming the trunk on my head. Hard enough that stars danced in my vision.