27. Reese
Unknown Number: Yeah, I’ll meet you there ;)
I already regret this, but I need the one person who might be able to convince Elijah and Winnie. The only other person who was in the room that night and who I know knows what actually happened. Elijah is going to be the hard one to convince; Winnie looked like she maybe already believed me, but her brother thinks less of me than she ever could. If I can get Zoey to tell them the truth, maybe, just maybe, that will fix everything.
I just hope meeting with Zoey doesn’t do more damage than good.
“What’s good here?”
Is it possible to clench your jaw so tight it may never open? Because right now I feel like it could happen.
“Just fucking decide,” I growl, hoping my harsh voice urges her to order, but the waitress comes by, and Zoey shoos her away for the second time.
She’s going to make me rip my fucking hair out. I tug my cap off and drag my hand through my hair before shoving it back on.
“But I want to like what I get.” Her pout has to be the most annoying thing I’ve ever seen. It’s in close competition to the annoyance I felt when she walked in wearing a dress that barely contained the breasts her daddy bought for her last year. That was a glorious time because Zoey disappeared for the entire healing process.
I picked this hole-in-the-wall diner for a few reasons—one of them being it’s definitely not a place I’d ever bring a date.
Fed up, I wave the waitress over and order two club sandwiches.
“I don’t eat meat!”
The waitress pauses her pen, but I assure her it’s fine and send her on her way. Folding my hands on the table, I narrow my eyes.
“Then this will be quick because you’ll be hungry.” If I come home with an extra club, one of the guys will eat it. Or I could swing by Winnie’s on the way home and give it to her, she loves sandwiches. Maybe if her brother wasn’t like a fucking bodyguard set out on keeping us apart.
Zoey puffs her lips out and crosses her arms over her chest. “If you didn’t ask me out for a date, what the hell am I doing here, Reese?”
“I want something from you.” Seeing her eyes light up, I regret the words immediately. “Not like that.” My jaw clenches for what feels like the hundredth time in the last twenty minutes since she sat down at the table.
“Well, what else could you want from me?”
It’s almost sad she thinks sex is the only thing she has to offer. Then again, maybe it is. Whatever, not my problem.
“The truth.”
Her eyebrows knit. “What do you mea—”
“I need you to tell Elijah and Winnie the truth about that night.”
Her lips flatten, and any smugness she was holding deflates, along with her shoulders. “What truth?”
“You know what truth, Zoey. The only fucking truth there is—we didn’t fuck.”
Her eyes shoot around the room, I’m guessing looking for listeners, but another reason I picked this place is because it’s on the outer part of campus and is hardly ever crowded. Their milkshakes are the best, though.
“We were both naked, Reese.” As if I don’t already know that. “How else do you explain that?”
“I have a pretty good idea,” I say through clenched teeth. The waitress sets our plates down and leaves after asking if we need anything else. Zoey looks at her sandwich and snarls before shoving it across the table and reaching for her drink instead.
Opening up the second sandwich I take the bacon on top and slap it onto mine. I rip off a piece of my club, not bothering to swallow before speaking. “I think you had a crush on me, but I wasn’t interested, so you dated Elijah.” It’s an awful fucking accusation because only a monster would date the best friend of the guy they really wanted, but this is Zoey. “I think you were looking for any chance you had to make Elijah and Winnie hate me. You found me in that room and set it up to look like we fucked, and it was just dumb luck on your part that we got caught.”
Silence stretches between us. I finish half my sandwich and chug down most of my drink, waiting for her to say anything, but for once, she’s silent until her lips flick up.
“You know how crazy that makes me sound?”
“Yeah, unfortunately, I do.”
Her eyebrows drop. “You’ve always been so rude to me. Why?”
“We’re getting off topic.” I slam my drink down a little harder than I meant to.
She leans forward, resting her breasts on the table, but I don’t look like she wants me to. “Answer me, and then I’ll answer you. Why do you hate me?”
I know there’s a chance she’s wasting my time. That she will never answer. But I have half a sandwich left, so if I answer her and she doesn’t give me the same by the time I finish, I’m walking out and will be forced to find another way to convince Winnie and Eli of the truth.
“The first time I ever spoke to you, you threw yourself at me while simultaneously talking bad about one of the most important people in my life,” I deadpan.
She rolls her eyes. “Can you blame a girl for making it known what she wants? I’ve never been one to play games.”
“No, I can’t, but it doesn’t mean I have to be interested. That’s your issue—you’ve made me some kind of unreachable target. You’ve made it a solo game, and that’s why you’re still persistent. But—” I pause and lean forward, making sure she can hear everything I’m about to say. “There will never be anything between us.”
“Because of her?” she scoffs.
“Me not wanting you has nothing to do with Winnie and everything to do with you.” I hold up a hand, stopping her from asking anything else. “Your turn. Answer my question.”
She leans against the back of the booth and averts her gaze. If it wasn’t Zoey I was talking to, I would probably feel bad for being so blunt, but she needs a reality check, and if I have to give it to her, so be it.
“So?” I press. Ready to get the fuck out of here.
She doesn’t look my way, interested in something across the small diner. Following her eyes, I find out why. What are the fucking odds?
I meet Elijah’s hate-filled stare first but am quick to look behind him into Winnie’s. Standing in the doorway, she’s frozen and gazing in our direction. Her mouth is partially open, and with each passing moment, I notice her chest deflate.
I’m frozen in my seat, that is until Zoey leans forward and drags her hand up my arm. I snap my eyes to her and rip my arm away as fast as I can.
“Don’t,” I growl.
Winnie, Elijah, and some guy I don’t recognize head our way, needing to pass by our booth to get to the rest of the diner.
Much to all of their dismay, the waitress sits them at the booth directly behind me. I wait for them to order their drinks before I can’t handle it anymore and slip from the booth. I grab Zoey’s arm and drag her with me to their table. As soon as we are in front of it, I let her go.
“Tell them. Now.”
She shoots a fleeting look at them, then back to me and tilts her head with fake confusion. “Tell them what?”
A growl rips from my throat. “The truth.”
“Reese,” Winnie whispers. I glance down at her, and she shakes her head, but unshed tears catch my eye, and I know I can’t just let it go. It’s now or never.
“Now, Zoey.”
“Go the fuck away,” Elijah snaps. “Or you’ll end up worse than I left Sawyer.”
I ignore him, boring my eyes into Zoey, who is making it a point not to look at any of us.
“Zoey,” I warn for the last time.
Elijah shifts from the corner of my eye, and I know if it wasn’t for Winnie blocking him in, he would be in my face, ready to drop me.
“We didn’t sleep together.” The moment the words leave her mouth, a weight lifts from my chest. Even if neither of them believe her, I know the truth. I guess there’s always been a part of me that wondered. I knew we didn’t, but a small part of me questioned if I was so drunk and just didn’t remember. “I found him passed out. I was going to leave but saw his clothes on the ground and got the idea to make it look like we fucked.”
If I didn’t feel so relieved, her shrug as if it was no big deal would’ve sent me over the edge.
“Why?” Winnie whispers.
“Who the fuck cares?” Elijah cuts off anyone from answering. “It doesn’t fucking matter if you did or didn’t.”
I shoot a look to Elijah and find Winnie looking at him with pinched eyebrows as well.
“What the fuck do you mean it doesn’t matter?” I ask.
He scoffs and rolls his eyes. “Maybe that’s why I started hating you, but finding out you fucked my sixteen-year-old sister put a nail in that already-decomposing coffin.”
One step forward, three steps back.
“E—”
He slams a hand on the table, and I snap my mouth shut. If Winnie wasn’t here, I would be in Elijah’s face. He’s given me hell, called me names for the last couple years, and when I prove the reason he hates me to be faulty, he doesn’t care. Classic Elijah.
“Don’t fucking call me that. In fact, get the fuck out of here. I have no interest in hearing your pathetic excuse for sleeping with someone so young, you sick fuck.”
“Elijah.” Winnie winces. “Please, stop.”
“It’s fine,” I say, and they both look up at me. I meet her eyes and can feel the battle raging inside of her. Her heart speaks to mine, a silent dance neither of us can hear, only feel. “He’s right, Win. I should have never slept with you while you were so young. I’m sorry to both of you, but you heard what I wanted you to. I needed you to know that there never was and never will be anything between Zoey and me. It’s always been you.” I whisper that last part, even though I know Elijah can hear me. I need Winnie to hear it.
Zoey scoffs. I didn’t realize she was still here, but that must be enough for her because she turns and storms away.
Elijah clamps his jaw, but Winnie is on the verge of tears, and the only reason I don’t pull her into my arms right now is because I know she doesn’t want her brother to know what is happening between us, if anything even is. I honestly don’t know.
“I’ll leave you to your dinner.”
Winnie lifts her hand as if she’s going to reach for me, but Elijah grunts, and it falls.
I drop money onto the table, and instead of getting a box for the untouched sandwich, I grab it and slide it in front of Winnie.
“Bro, don’t you get the fucking hint?”
Ignoring Elijah, I wink at Winnie. “Club. No bacon.”
She whispers a small thanks, and Elijah calls after me, but I don’t pay any attention.
Tonight didn’t go as planned, and I didn’t get to say anything I wanted to say when I drug Zoey to Winnie and Elijah’s, but at least my name is cleared from ever sleeping with her. I saw the look in Winnie’s eyes. She wanted to reach out to me, but now I gotta figure out how to deal with her brother so we can finally be together. Forever is the goal, but nothing serious can happen between us until her brother is on board. She would see a relationship between us as a betrayal because that’s what he would see.
Fuck me, this is a lot more difficult than I expected. Why does Elijah have to be such a pain in my ass?