CHAPTER FOURTEEN #2
“Maybe, but as you can see, she won’t go out of her way to help her, so it will have to be me.” I reached for Emily and helped her to her feet. “Lean on me. We’ll go slow.”
“Okay.”
Zach followed us out, and I didn’t miss how his gaze was on me almost the whole time, making my heart twist in my chest repeatedly.
I didn’t know what he was thinking about, but then I decided it didn’t matter.
Neither of us said anything. I opened the passenger door and helped Emily get into the car. She gave me a panicked look.
“I’m going to get blood all over your car.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“But—”
“Really. It’s okay.” I closed the door and moved to step around the car when Zach grabbed my arm, making me face him.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Acting like you care about Emily’s well-being.”
I raised my brows in disbelief. “Because I do care.”
“No, you don’t.”
I gave him an incredulous gaze. “And you concluded that . . . how?” I shook my head. “I have to go. Emily’s waiting.” I yanked my arm out of his grip and moved around my car, refusing to give him any more attention.
Seconds later, I pulled out of the driveway and left.
Zach was working by the fountain when Emily and I returned, the newly delivered crates of flowers by his feet. My chest constricted when he rushed over to the passenger side and helped Emily out, looking worried as he took in the bandage around her ankle.
“How did it go?”
She smiled at him, her cheeks growing rosy. “I’ll live. It’s just a small cut. I didn’t even need stitches.”
“That’s good.” He bent and swooped her up into his arms.
Emily squealed. “What are you doing?”
“I’ll help you to your room.”
“You don’t have to.”
He was already carrying her away. “I want to.”
My fists flexed, and I tore my gaze away from them, swallowing up jealousy. He seemed completely different with her. Gentle, compassionate. Almost like he cared for her. Or maybe he did care. Perhaps he liked her.
I slammed my driver’s door shut with more force than needed. And so what if he did? Maybe that was a good thing. Perhaps that would take his mind off revenge, and he would give up on it eventually.
I should be happy about it.
But imagining him with Emily or any other girl . . . didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel right at all.
Which was fucked up. I wasn’t supposed to give a shit about him.
I had every reason to hate him. There was no logical reason for me to care about him or feel jealous.
He wasn’t the same guy I’d fallen for, and he would never be, not that it mattered now after everything he’d already done to me.
But still, my heart always beat a little faster when he was around.
My mind always took me back to him. It was like he was infiltrating my world more and more, and it was impossible to stop it, and that made everything he did to me hurt even more.
He was breaking me piece by piece, yet I was becoming increasingly attracted to him, which in itself was torture on its own.
I pushed the thoughts of him aside and called Lana. I had to warn her about Zach.
“Did you see all the videos about Aurora? People are tearing her apart,” she said by way of greeting.
“You sound way too excited about it.”
She snorted. “I’m not going to cry buckets just because she was stupid enough to allow him to film her. She brought it on herself.”
My chest flared with anger. “So we’re totally going to gloss over the fact that it was Zach who set her up and posted that shit on her TikTok?”
“As I said, she was stupid enough to allow him to film her. Besides, she didn’t have to go with him in the first place. I mean, desperate much?”
I shook my head, grinding my teeth. One more time, I wondered why I wasted my time hanging out with Lana and Aurora. Aurora was out of the picture now, and I wasn’t going to miss her, but I still had to put up appearances with Lana. Mom would flip out if I ghosted her.
Mom said only fools burned bridges. I always wondered whether those connections were ever worth maintaining in the first place.
“Whatever, Lana. I just called you to warn you not to go anywhere near Zach. He said you’re next.”
She chuckled. “Don’t worry about me. I’m not that addicted to dick. Although, judging by that video, he has an enormous cock. I can almost understand why she wasn’t able to resist it.”
I grimaced, choosing to ignore that. “He can find another way to get back at you for what we’ve done to him.”
I could practically see her roll her eyes. “I’m not afraid of that loser. If posting some porn shit is the best he’s got, I say bring it on.”
My fingers tightened around the phone with indignation that I felt. How she could act so indifferent was beyond me. She really had no idea.
I ended the call a minute later and decided there was nothing more I could do about it.
I couldn’t prevent Zach from doing whatever he wanted, but I’d warned her, so all I could do was hope she would heed my warning eventually.
Because if not . . . I didn’t even want to think about what Zach could have in store for her.