18. Winnie
“Where the fuck were you last night?”
I thought I lucked out when Elijah was gone this afternoon and I had the place to myself. I said it would give me time to come up with a good excuse, but him jumping down my throat the moment I walk in the door after class leaves me floundering.
“I told you I was going out?”
“Where did you stay?”
I walk past him, my head low, pretending to mess with something on my keys so he hopefully can’t see the lie. “The girls’. You saw who I was with, Eli. Why are you so pissy?”
“Because I thought we were closer than this.”
The pain in his voice is the only reason I lift my stare to meet his cold one. Jaw tight, eyes narrowed, and his arms crossed over his chest, he looks so much like our dad, but a meaner version.
“Eli…”
“Were you with Reese?”
Oh, come on. How am I meant to lie right to his face when he asks me outright like that? I can’t.
“You know what, forget it. I know you were, so there’s no point in lying.”
“I wasn’t,” I whisper.
“Wasn’t what? With him? Really? Because I saw photos, Win.”
Photos? My eyebrows crease. “What?”
He rolls his eyes and pulls out his phone, then flips it my way. A photo of Reese kissing my forehead this morning fills his screen. What the fuck? Reese couldn’t have taken this because it was shot from down the hall, from the looks of it. Like someone was sneaking photos of us. My blood runs cold. If they got this photo, what else could they have? We didn’t do anything in the hallway… I don’t think.
“Who sent you these?”
“Does it fucking matter? You lied to me, Win.”
“Yeah, Elijah, it kind of matters that someone was invading my business and sneaking photos of your sister.” It’s not even a question of whether or not it matters.
“Calm down, it wasn’t some fucking stalker. It was Zoey.”
That’s so much worse than a stalker. “What the hell is she doing taking photos of me and sending them to you?”
He kicks off from the counter and stops on the other side of the island from me. “Answer my question first, and don’t lie, because you know I have proof. Were you with Reese last night?”
“Yes, but—” He storms from the room without letting me get another word out, but I follow after. “Elijah, wait. It’s not what you think.” It’s not? Really? Because I’m sure it’s exactly what he is thinking. In fact, it might be worse than that.
“Then tell me. Tell me my baby sister wasn’t fucking with the one guy I hate most in the world. Tell me that, and I’ll drop it.”
What the fuck do I do? Be honest and risk Elijah doing who knows what? Or lie and hope he never finds out the truth?
“Reese was there, but I wasn’t with him. Not like you think. I went out with the girls, and Sawyer came looking for his sister. He brought Reese with. They took us back to their place after a while. I was drunk, so I crashed there.”
“And the photo?” he snaps before I’m even able to get to that point.
“The photo is of Reese comforting me. That’s all.” Knowing he’s going to ask for what, I come up with the most ridiculous but hopefully believable lie I can imagine. That Reese was kissing my forehead because Sawyer and I slept together last night, and I woke up to find out he has a girlfriend. That’s why I’m wearing a hockey sweatshirt. Thank God he can’t see the name or number in the photo. “Reese caught me leaving Sawyer’s place. I was crying, and he was just helping me.”
The lie is heavy on my tongue and in my heart, but when Elijah’s shoulders relax the smallest amount, I know I made the right decision. Even if it hurts having to lie to my brother, I’d rather lie than have him do something that will permanently damage our relationship.
“I know it’s probably not what you wanted to hear, but that’s what happened. He was just being a friend, Eli.”
“A friend.” He scoffs. “Reese doesn’t know the first thing about being a friend. He probably turned around as soon as you left and went and laughed with Sawyer about it all.”
He turns again, heading back out to the living room, and this time it’s my turn to ask him the hard questions. I get why he hates Reese. I don’t agree, but I know how Elijah thinks. What I don’t get is why he considers him a bad friend. As far as I know, Reese was always there for him. Even after their falling out.
“What happened between you two? And don’t tell me it’s because of Dad, because we both know that’s bullshit, E.”
His jaw clenches. “Drop it, Winnie. You won’t like the answer.”
“But if you tell me, then maybe I can understand why you hate him so much. Because right now, I can’t, Eli. It doesn’t make sense for you to blame him for Dad’s death when he wasn’t even in the car. Or that night between us. We were both there and, like it or not, I came onto him. So what is it? What happened?”
“You really want to know? You’re going to hate your friend.”
I roll my eyes at his condescending tone. I highly doubt anything he could say would make me hate Reese. “Go for it.”
And he does. He tells me everything. About the party they attended the night they came home for Thanksgiving break. How he had lost Reese at some point during the night, and how Zoey never came to bed with him. So the next morning, he went looking for her and found her naked in the place he never would have expected—in bed with Reese.
When Elijah is done telling me, I excuse myself to the shower, and he lets me go, no doubt sensing my desperate need to cry. Elijah hates crying—or any sort of emotion.
I didn’t think he was going to say something to actually make me hate Reese, but I was wrong. He knows I hate liars, and yet he lied right to my face, multiple times. I texted him that weekend, asking why he didn’t come home if Elijah did, and he said he was catching up on schoolwork when he was most likely across the road the entire time. Maybe even with Zoey.
That. Fucking. Blows. I don’t know if that’s worse, or that he lied about it yesterday. Why would he tell me he’s only ever been with me when it’s such a blatant lie? I didn’t want to ask if he had slept with anyone else because, truthfully, I didn’t care if he had. I was here now, so anyone after me the first time didn’t matter.
But he lied. And why? To protect me since he knows I hate her and that would be a line in the sand for me? Or to protect her?
Emma said they weren’t dating, even though Zoey said they were. But he didn’t push her away when she slipped her arm into his at the store. Maybe that doesn’t mean anything, but it’s all the small things that are jumping out now.
I’m such a fucking idiot for ever trusting him again.
Well, not anymore. I’ve cried over Reese Larson one too many times, and I refuse to do it again. After today.
I’m going to need the rest of the night to get it out, but come tomorrow, I’m moving on with my life, and I’m not looking back ever again.
Even if I am pregnant.
The talk with Laney left me feeling good. She made some good points about how Reese was obviously into me and how he would make a good dad, along with so much other bullshit that I left that bathroom truly believing that if I was several hours pregnant, it would be okay because Reese was a good man.
I could laugh. Does she know anything about him and Zoey? I’d think if she did, she would tell me instead of encouraging me to have a baby with him, in a roundabout way. If Reese and Zoey are some kind of weird fuck buddies, I want no part of that. I’m not getting with Zoey’s sloppy seconds, even if she would have gotten mine first. Unless he lied about losing his virginity that night too.
“Ugh.” I drop my head to the back of the shower. I really should have removed my clothes before I got in because I hate the feeling of wet clothes, but the water was cold when I stepped in, so it made sense to leave them on.
A knock raps on the bathroom door.
“Win?” Elijah asks. “You okay?”
No. I feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest and stomped on right in front of my face. “Yeah.”
“I gotta piss. Can I come in?”
“Go ahead.”
Elijah does his business, and I wait to hear his zipper before pushing open the curtain. He looks down at me, a new kind of frown on his usual scowling face.
“I hate seeing you cry over such a dick.”
“I know.”
“Sawyer too. The next time I see him, I’m going to punch him.”
Poor Sawyer. Hopefully he doesn’t bump into Elijah anytime soon. Should I even feel bad? He probably knows all about Reese, Elijah, Zoey, and whoever else. I can’t help but feel like an idiot for trusting people I don’t even know so easily, but I guess that’s what happens when you make your first friends. A learning curve, I bet Mom would say.
“It’s fine.”
“It’s really not.” He flops down outside the tub and takes my hand in his rough one. “But it will be. I got you, and you got me, Win. That’s what’s important.”
I smile at my brother, and for the first time, it feels like old times again. Sucks it took getting my heart broken—again. But it’s nice to see a glimpse of my old brother, even if it’s only for a second.
“Get out and get changed. We can put on a movie and eat popcorn until we’re sick.”
“Can I pick the movie?”
He chuckles as he climbs to his feet. “Absolutely not.”
Yep, just like old times.
“Oh, Win,”—Elijah looks over his shoulder from the door—“never let someone lie to your face twice.” He says, using the same advice Dad used to tell us. Advice I never needed before now.