“That’s the truth,” Roxy snorts, shifting my gaze to hers.
“So I rushed to your house, and well, you know what happened. I didn’t expect for Roxy to show up at my door. But I’m glad she did. We’ve talked. She’s told me how the two of you feel about each other and what you mentioned wanting. And I want to try. If you can forgive me.”
His thumb brushes over my knuckles again, and I pull my hand away. As I bring my knees to my chest and rest my chin on one, Ezra takes that as a cue, and slides off the bed to kneel on the floor. With my arms crossed loosely over my shins, I sit there in silence, and for the moment I’m unsure of what to say.
I listened to their flawed reasoning. But the two people in front of me, the very people I love, betrayed my trust with their actions. And as I mull over their words in my head, the confusion I felt after waking vanishes. In its place is disappointment.
My shoulders slump, and after a heavy sigh, I ask, “Why didn’t either—” I press my lips together and look at them before I continue. “Both of you. Why couldn’t both of you tell me this? You know, sit down and have a conversation without all these theatrics? Or me having my body feel like I’ve been run over by a semi?”
“We’re idiots,” Roxy says, her voice soft and cracked with guilt. “But we’re idiots who love you.”
I bite my lower lip, carefully going over everything they’ve told me. All the details. But there’s more I need to know. Things that aren’t clear for me. Answers I still need before I can even think about trying to decide, or give an answer to them.
“I have questions,” I tell them.
“We knew you would and want to answer every one of them honestly. There’s no more secrets.” Ezra tells me warmly, smiling at me, his dimples winking.
“You both said you were subscribed to my channel. What were your names?”
“HotHands69,” he says while rubbing the back of his neck.
“RavenSin,” Roxy adds.
I stare at them—at these people IthoughtI knew, who Itrusted. My mouth goes dry. Something in my chest clenches so tight I think I might snap in half.
I grab the water bottle from the bed and hurl it—hard. It bounces harmlessly off the wall, but the point is made.
“Are you kidding me?” My voice shakes. “You were jerking off to me? You werebothwatching me while pretending to be someone else? Talking to me like strangers—while you were already in my life?”
I swing my legs off the side of the bed, opposite Ezra, and push myself up too fast. The world tilts. I stumble, nearly fall, and brace myself on the bedpost. A sob climbs my throat, but I choke it down.
Roxy reaches out to help, but I hold my hand up to stop her. I close my eyes. No. I won’t fall apart. Not yet. One breath. Two. Then I sit back down at the corner, my limbs trembling as I look at the floor.
“Okay,” I whisper, barely audible. “Next question.”
“What else do you want to know?” Ezra asks. “I want to answer them all; have everything in the open so we can move forward with us.”
“Us?!” I snap, turning to watch him stand and move to the foot of the bed. “Will there be anusafter this?” Roxy once again joins him. They’re too close to me, so I scoot towards the headboard. “Am I supposed to put these lies, this… betrayal, behind me? Were you ever going to tell me that you planned our meeting?” To make sure they both understand, I looked each of them in the eye as I speak.
“No,” Ezra states firmly.
“At some point. I just wanted time to confess it in a way that you would think it was cute, endearing.” Roxy smiles, not wide and vibrant like normal, but small, and unsure.
“How did you know where I was living, Ezra? I never told you.”
He lifts his hand, running it through his hair as he exhales deeply.
Ezra laughs and I start to get pissed. It’s a valid question, and he’s acting like it’s something to make fun of. “Felicity. I stalked you, found where you went to school and orchestrated meeting you. Of course I knew where you were living. I may not have been talking to you, but I was making sure you were okay.” He stops, brows furrowing as if he’s trying to think how to say his next words. “Her and you being together as an item, officially, was a shock. That I didn’t know.”
I shift my position.
“How did you find me, Roxy? If Ezra took me and you weren’t home, how did you know where I was? Actually, where am I?”
“You’re at my house. This is the attic. When I originally moved in I was going to renovate it into a guest room or office and never finished. I just never showed it to you.”
“I knew where he lived. Felicity, he’s a part of your life and I made sure to know about him. Seems I didn’t have all the details.”
“I can say the same,” he retorts.
