A flare of jealousy bursts inside me. She’s tellingZaneher secrets now?
“I am not on board with this plan,” I state through gritted teeth.
“Well, tough shit. You’re the one who bought her in here, showing everyone how much you adored her until we all fell in love with her, too. Just because you’re going through something right now doesn’t mean the rest of us have stopped caring.”
“Zane’s right,” Dahlia says, clambering off Wilder’s lap to stand beside him.
“Zane is not fucking right.”
But he shakes his head. “I don’t want to lose our friendship over this, but I won’t let that girl get hurt because you’re nursing a bruised ego.”
“It’s not a—” I move closer, jabbing my finger towards his chest. “Do you know what her brother did? When she was sharing her life story with you behind my back, did she drop that little titbit into the conversation?”
Zane just shrugs. “Ant sold her drugs she begged to buy, he opened his squat to her when her family kicked her out of her home, and they tried to get clean together, Mads.” Zane’s glance is full of pity, an expression that feeds my fury. “He was Addie’s friend when nobody else in her life knew how to be there for her any longer. That’s what happened.”
“He sold her the drugs she overdosed on.”
“And I gave her the money to buy them.”
It’s the shame on his face that knocks me back a step, far worse than the shock. This isn’t a wind-up or a ploy to snap me out of my blackest mood ever.
He can barely force himself to meet my gaze head-on, a stance that lets me know it’s the truth.
“She came to me, crying, begging, and I had sex with her and paid her and a week later she was dead.”
Dahlia turns to Wilder with a pleading expression, clearly distraught, and he gets to his feet, standing where he can easily force a path between us.
“She was home, but she was still a mess, and I took advantage.Idid that. Not Ant. Not Evie.Me.”
I can’t answer him. I can’t look at him. My face is numb, my body feeling so weak it might spill me to the ground at any moment.
“So tonight, I’m going to the club and I’m going to watch out for Evie because their security is for shit, and I don’t think a girl I go to school with should have to worry about getting assaulted at work. Especially when the only reason she’s back working there is because her boyfriend has his head so far up his arse that he’d rather let her go than sort through the pile of shit he’s been carrying for far too long.”
He glances at Wilder and Dahlia, then shakes his head.
“She had nothing to do with what happened to Addie.”
“Right. And her fucking my dad for money is outside her control, too, is it?”
I want to take another step closer, get in his face and force a physical confrontation. I want to feel the smash of his fist against my face, just like I had with Ant. The external pain so much easier to deal with than its internal cousin.
But it’s all I can do to stand, trying to stop my body shaking.
“Are you really going to blame a teenage girl when a fifty-year-old billionaire pressures her for sex.” There’s so much scorn on Zane’s face, I can’t see any hint of my oldest friend. “You’ve never sided with your father before, but this is thesituation you pick to back him?” He shakes his head in disgust. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
He walks past, thumping down the stairs while I stay exactly where I am, trying to hold myself together.
The admission he made is a far greater betrayal than anything Evie did, but I don’t feel any animosity. Weirded out, sure, but a sixteen-year-old torn up by grief and taking solace where he finds it isn’t the same as…
… as what? You’ll excuse him but blame a girl who never even met her?
“Just gonna grab something to eat,” Wilder says with an awkward grin, clapping me on the shoulder as he and Dahlia escape down the stairs.
When the bell for class goes, I turn and walk slowly downstairs, too. Except instead of heading towards my next lesson, I head for my car, getting behind the wheel and steering towards home.
The midday traffic is sparse and soon I’m pulling through the security gates and into my driveway. My heart thunders in my chest, my eyes pulse like a migraine is on its way.
I have my hand on the doorknob to the guest bedroom when I change my mind, heading for Addie’s room instead. The inside has been tidied since the night I brought Evie here. The night I couldn’t bring myself to end everything… even with the perfect method held in my hand.
