“WHAT?” She turns her gaze to Zara. “You lied to me. Last time I saw you and Chance kiss, you promised me it was a dare. Zara, you know how I feel about cheaters. You’re my best friend, but I can’t condone cheating. And Lev is such a good guy. He doesn’t deserve this. And you, Chance! You and Lev are closer than real brothers. You’re closer to him than you are to Ares. How could you?”
Jesus.
“Heather, please lower your voice.” I plead. “No one is cheating on anyone. Lev knows about me and Zara, and he’s ok with it.”
I don’t know what I thought would happen in going with the truth. Or at least part of it. I have no intention of dragging Ares into this if I can help it. Zara is right that we need to be on the same page before we go to our parents. And I need to make sure that my brother is really all in before we risk Dad’s fury.
“I thought we said no more secrets and especially no more lies.” Heather accuses me. “Do you really expect me to believe that Lev is ok to let you make out with his girlfriend? I’ve seen the way he looks at Zara. He’s in love with her.”
Zara intervenes for the first time. “Heather, Chance isn’t lying. I’m in love with Lev, and I would never betray him. But from the very beginning, I’ve had feelings for Chance, too. I have been honest with them from the beginning, and at first we decided that I should date them both and then choose. But the more I got to know them, the more time I spent with them, the harder it was to choose. So I told them that I couldn’t choose.”
Heather looks at each of us with a bewildered expression on her face. “So what are you going to do?”
I love the way Zara answers her with her head held high. She isn’t ashamed of our relationship. “They agreed that I can be with both of them.”
“Long term?” Heather spits out.
“Hopefully forever.” Zara confirms.
There’s a second of silence. I can see the shock on Heather’s face as she tries to come to terms with what she just learned.
“But Chance is your brother. What you’re doing is wrong.”
What the fuck is wrong with people? Why does nobody seem to get that Zara isn’t related to me and Ares?
“Stepsister.” I correct her. “And you know as well as I do that we didn’t even grow up as siblings. You were there when we met Zara for the first time.”
I’m not surprised when Heather argues with the point I just made.
“Yes, but your parents are married. It’s icky.”
I’m about to snap and tell her to butt out and mind her own fucking business, but Zara precedes me.
“Heather, sweetie,” she says more kindly than I could have ever expressed that concept. “Our parents’ relationship has nothing to do with us. We even tried to stay away from each other after the wedding, but we’re in love. The reason why we’ve been keeping it secret is that Scott has this idea of a big, happy family where Chance, Ares and I are siblings. We’ve been tryingto find a way to talk to him, but we wanted to be sure that things between us worked out first. We just need a little more time to find the right moment to talk to Scott and my mom. I hate to ask you this, but Chance and I would be very grateful if you could keep this between us until we can speak to our parents? It’s gonna be a hard sell as it is, but I think it would be much better if they heard about our relationship from us.”
Heather pulls Zara into a hug. “Of course. You’re my best friend, and you can always count on me. You,” she glares at me. “Are lucky that I adore Zara. Because you don’t deserve my loyalty.”
I don’t know how Atlas could put up with Heather’s constant drama. But I didn’t sign up for it and I’m starting to understand why Ares is always so frustrated with her.
“Whatever, Heather.” I bite out. “Maybe people wouldn’t keep secrets from you if you didn’t always make such a big deal out of everything. You always manage to make everything about you.”
I realize that I shouldn’t have said that when Heather’s eyes narrow into two furious slits.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Chance.” She snaps. “I’m trying to be understanding about this. I get why Zara didn’t say anything, and I’m not upset with her. The one I’m upset with is you. You lied to my face.”
I open my mouth to argue with her, but she continued before I could get one word in edge-wise.
“Remember a couple of weeks ago? When I asked you if you had a thing for Zara, and you denied it?”
“We were still trying to figure things out back then. I didn’t know if Zara would have picked Lev over me. And besides, it wasn’t just my truth to tell. I couldn’t have said anything without Lev and Zara’s agreement.”
My argument isn’t as convincing as I was hoping.
“That’s not what I’m talking about. You told me that you wouldn’t hook up with me because you loved me like a sister. That you didn’t feel attracted to me that way. But it was all bullshit. It was because you wanted Zara instead of me. I should have known. After all, if I were a sister to you, you wouldn’t have been able to get hard enough to fuck me, and I don’t recall you having any problems with that.”
My head rears back as if Heather had slapped me.
The shock on Zara’s face reduces me to silence before I can work out what to say.
