"I saw Theo with Adela."
Acid burns my mouth. "What the fuck do you mean you saw him with Adela?"
She doesn't answer right away, and I don't have the patience for her timing tonight. "Nessa."
"They went to Gas Works Park." Her voice isn’t chipper anymore. "And I saw them kissing."
The acid in my mouth flows through my veins. "When."
"Is she all you care about?" she snaps. "When am I going to see you? When do I—"
"When the fuck did you see them together?"
"This morning."
"This morning!" I scoff.
What the fuck is Adela doing?
"Cody, why do I always—"
"I gotta go."
"Wait—" she starts talking, but I don’t hear anything. I can tell she’s mad, she’s hurt, and she’s confused, but I give zero fucks about Nessa and her feelings right now. Not after the bomb she just dropped on me.
I look at the driveway. At the dark. At the hour, I've been sitting here waiting for a girl who went to Gas Works Park this morning with Theo and kissed him and then went home and fucked Beckett, and then came to my lake house tonight and let me give her the best orgasm of her life.
I grip my steering wheel, wanting to punch something.
Theo?
Theo Rhodes!
"Nessa," I interrupt. "Listen to me very carefully."
"Cody—"
I cut her off. "I don't give a fuck about you." Each word placed exactly where I mean it. "I never did. You were leverage against your brother. That's all. Stop calling me. Stop begging for my attention." A pause. "You are nobody to me. Understand?"
The sound she makes is not something I'm going to think about.
"Fuck you!" she screams, and there's more coming. I end the call before I have to hear any of it.
I sit in the dark.
Theo.
I look at the cabin.
At the dark windows. The locked door.
She's out there in the cold in my clothes with nowhere to go.
I step towards the cabin. "I was waiting for you to come out," I say to the dark, to the tree line, to wherever she is right now. "So I could give you a ride home, Adela." I pause. "If this is how it's going to be." I start the engine of my car. "I guess I'll see you later."
I lock the cabin from the app on my phone, and I pull down the driveway. I turn onto the road, and I drive.
Theo Rhodes.
