Chapter 27
I push through the door of Murphy's Tavern, scanning the dimly lit interior until I spot Jenni at a corner booth.
The place is nearly empty, with just a few regulars nursing beers at the bar and the sound of some old rock song playing too quietly in the background.
Not exactly what I expected when she texted asking to meet.
She looks up as I approach, her smile too bright for the setting. “Zach! Thanks for coming.”
I slide into the booth across from her, keeping my distance. “So,” I say, cutting straight to the point, “why couldn't we just meet at Hail Mary's? It's on campus, and—”
“Because I didn't want anyone seeing us together and getting the wrong idea,” she interrupts, her fingers fidgeting with her drink. “You know how people talk, especially about you. The last thing I'd want is a repeat of the porch incident.”
I study her face, trying to read between the lines. It's a reasonable explanation, but something about the way she says it feels too rehearsed.
“Right,” I say slowly. “So you wanted to go over the party?”
Jenni’s expression shifts. “Yes!” she says animatedly before pulling out her phone and scrolling through a long list of notes.
As she leans forward to show me the screen, her hand brushes against mine on the table.
The contact is brief but deliberate—I can tell by the way she lets her fingers linger just a second too long.
I pull my hand back, not saying anything, but not missing the flash of something in her eyes when I do.
“I reserved a space at The Holy Oak. Figured it would be less crowded than Hail Mary’s and I took her there last week and she loved it.
” She’s talking faster now, and I want to believe it’s because she’s enthusiastic about helping Honey, but there’s something forced about it all.
“Chris and his team have some leftover decorations we can use, and I’ve also spoken to the bakery across the street from campus that Honey likes. ”
“Sounds like you have it handled,” I say, leaning back in the booth. “Not sure why you needed me here to go over this.”
“Well, I wanted to make sure you approved of everything. It is your girlfriend we're celebrating.” Her hand moves across the table again, this time landing on my forearm. “And I thought maybe you could help me pick up the cake tomorrow morning?”
Is she serious? I have a game in the afternoon and she knows it.
I remove her hand again, more firmly this time. “Jenni.”
“What?” she asks, all innocence, but there's a challenge in her eyes.
“You know what.”
She sighs, sitting back in her seat. “I'm just trying to be a good friend to Honey, and to you. I know things have been tense between us, but I really am trying here.”
“Are you?”
“Yes!” The word comes out sharper than she probably intended. She takes a breath, composing herself. “Look, I know you don't trust me. I get it. But can't we at least try to get along for Honey's sake? She's caught in the middle of whatever this is between us, and it's not fair to her.”
She's not wrong about that, and the fact that she's right irritates me more than anything else she could have said.
“Fine,” I say. “But let's be clear about something—this is about Honey. Nothing else.”
“Of course,” she says, but there's something in her smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes.
“I can’t get the cake tomorrow because I have to prepare for my football game.” Tiff and Ella are also arriving, but the less Jenni knows about me, the better.
She shakes her head, laughing nervously. “Of course. Can’t believe I even suggested it. I’ll get Chris to help. His game isn’t until Monday.”
My jaw clenches and unfortunately, Jenni is watching me so closely, she catches it. “Something wrong with Chris?”
“Nothing,” I answer, still reeling over the fact he told my girlfriend he was in fucking love with her.
“Oh…” She trails off, biting her lip as if she’s debating whether to say whatever’s on her mind. “Have you noticed too?”
“Noticed what?”
“It's probably nothing, but… have you noticed Honey's been different lately? A little more distant?”
Every muscle in my body tenses, wondering if Honey told her about the last couple of nights. After all, she was the first person Honey told about her dad.
“I haven’t noticed.” I call her bluff, knowing the things she said to me last night were too vulnerable for her to admit.
“So, she’s not acting distracted with you? I don’t know, it’s just sometimes when she talks, it feels like her mind is somewhere else.” Jenni’s voice drops. “She talks about Chris a lot. Like, a lot. Actually, she’s over there tonight.”
My stomach drops because Jenni clearly expected this to be news to me. She wanted me to react, to get angry or jealous or both.
“I know,” I say flatly. “She told me.”
Jenni's eyebrows shoot up, genuine surprise crossing her face. “She told you? And you're… okay with that?”
“Why wouldn't I be? Honey and I don't keep secrets from each other.” I lean forward, my voice low and steady. “What I don't understand is why you're trying to make it seem like something it's not.”
A flash of something—frustration? anger?—crosses Jenni's face before she composes herself. “I'm not trying to do anything. I just thought you should know.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “You wanted me to find out from you, not from Honey. You wanted me to think she was hiding something.”
Jenni's expression shifts, softening unexpectedly. She leans forward, her hand sliding across the table to rest on mine.
“Maybe I just wanted to spend some time with you,” she says, her voice dropping to a near whisper. “Is that so wrong?”
I pull my hand away, uncomfortable with the sudden change in her demeanor. “Jenni—”
“Look,” she interrupts, standing up and moving around the table to the seat beside me. “We both know there's something here. I've felt it since we first met.”
“There's nothing here,” I say firmly, shifting away from her. “I'm with Honey. I love Honey.”
She sighs, her eyes searching mine. “You don't have to pretend with me, Zach. I see the way you look at me sometimes.”
“I think you're confusing suspicion with interest.”
“Am I?” she asks, then stands, rounding the table, stumbling slightly before she catches herself with a hand on my shoulder, her face suddenly inches from mine.
Her lips brush against my cheek, dangerously close to the corner of my mouth—not quite a kiss, but not quite an accident either.
“Oops,” she says, not sounding sorry at all as she pulls back slightly. “Clumsy me.”
I stand abruptly, putting distance between us. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Come on, Zach,” she says, looking up at me through her lashes. “Honey's busy with Chris. She doesn't have to know.”
“This is exactly what I'm talking about,” I say, anger rising in my chest. “You've been trying to sabotage us from the beginning.”
She laughs, the sound sharp and brittle. “God, you have such an ego. Not everything is about you, Zach. Maybe I just think Honey deserves better than a guy who's always putting football first and eyeing up her best friend.”
“I’m done with this. Have a good night, Jenni.”
I grab my things and stalk toward the door in annoyance.
“H-Honey? Is that you?” I hear Jenni sob.
What the fuck?
I whip my head around, and it’s like I’m staring at a stranger. Two seconds ago, she was arrogant and smug. Now, she’s bent forward with her phone clutched to her ear while tears spill down her cheeks.
“I’m okay.” Her voice fractures mid-syllable, trembling as though she’s been hurt.
“Shit, I… I didn’t know who else to call.
I’m—I’m at Murphy’s and Zach showed up and—” Her breath hitches, and she lets out a choked little sob.
“He asked me to come along to help throw you a surprise party, but then he—he tried to kiss me.”
My brain nearly explodes. “What the fuck are you—”
“Stop!” she cries, holding the phone away to make it look like she’s fending me off. My hands are high in the air. I haven’t touched her. She tilts her face toward the phone, her voice wobbling. “Please, just stop—”
Her eyes flick to mine as a smirk draws across her face, completely juxtaposing her voice. “I told him no, Honey. I told him I love you like a sister, that I’d never—but he wouldn’t listen. He said you don’t have to know.”
“Give me the phone,” I snap, but my voice sounds distant, strangled by disbelief.
“No—don’t!” she gasps, jerking back again, and I swear she almost smiles before she covers it with another trembling sob. “I’m so sorry, Honey. I just… I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to ruin things between you two, but I can’t stay quiet.”
“Give me the phone,” I grit out, lunging for it.
Jenni twists away with a sharp little gasp, like I’ve just proved her point. “Zach, stop,” she cries, loud enough for the bartender to glance over. “Please, just stop—”
“Stop what?!” My voice breaks. “You’re lying, Jenni. She’s not going to believe this bullshit.”
She backs up a step, still clutching the phone to her ear, tears streaking down her cheeks like she’s been rehearsing them in a mirror. “I just… I had to tell you, Honey. You deserve to know who you’re really with.”
“Give me the fucking phone—”
But she’s already pulling it away, pressing the screen with trembling fingers.
“Please don’t hate me,” she whispers, and then the line clicks dead.
My stomach drops straight through the floor.
“No,” I breathe, shoving a hand through my hair, tugging hard hoping the pain might wake me from this nightmare. “No, no, no.”
She hangs up just as I snatch the phone from her hand, the screen black, call ended. My reflection stares back at me in the glass, wild-eyed and furious and terrified.
Jenni just watches, calm now—serene, almost—like the tears were never real at all.
“You’re insane,” I hiss.
She smiles through her fake tears, and she sneers, “No.” Adjusting her hair, she tucks the phone back into her bag. “I’m smart, and now Honey knows what kind of guy she’s really dating.”
I don’t wait for more.
I turn and bolt, shoving out of Murphy’s into the cold night air. My hands are shaking as I yank out my own phone, my thumb smashing Honey’s name, but the screen stays stubbornly gray.
No signal.
“Come on,” I snarl, trying again, pacing like a caged animal. Nothing.
Fuck.
She’s out there, hearing Jenni’s lies, and I can’t even warn her.
I pocket the phone and run with no plan or hesitation, because if Honey believes her, if I lose her over something I didn’t do, it won’t just break me. It’ll finish me.
I need to get to her.
Now.