I hang my head, exhaling a relieved breath that she isn’t mad at me. “I’m sorry; maybe I should have told you sooner. To be honest, I try not to think about that time. It’s just too hard. And that kiss didn’t help. It just made me feel icky.”
What I just said appeased Zara, but it had the opposite effect on Heather.
“Icky? Is that how I make you feel?” She screams. “You were hard after we kissed. You didn’t look that grossed out to me. And we couldn’t have cheated on someone who was gone.”
Like I did almost two years ago, I’m honest with her. “It wasn’t you who grossed me out, Heather. It was the whole situation. You were my twin brother’s girlfriend. He adored you. Can’t you see how fucked up it would have been to be together that way? Atlas and I looked identical. You didn’t want me. You wanted him, and your grief was making you see him instead of me. You’re right that you can’t cheat on someone who’s no longer alive. But sleeping with me, telling yourself it was him, would have been like cheating. On yourself, on his memory and on me. And I’m sorry if that offends you, but there was never any attraction between me and you. I would have just slept with you trying to hold on to a piece of Atlas. It would have been wrong.”
Chapter 25
One Last Secret
ZARA
Heather’s eyes are full of unshed tears.
“Fuck you, Ares.” She bites out. “You’ve always acted like you’re better than all of us. If I think that I had a crush on you before Atlas started paying attention to me, I feel so stupid.”
Ares’s gaze softens. “No, Heath. I don’t know anything. I fuck up more times than I get anything right. And I’m sorry if I ever broke your heart in any way. I swear I never meant to. My brother was crazy about you, and you two were perfect together. You and I would have been a disaster. Even without everything that happened. Please don’t be angry with Zara for not telling you, and don’t hate me. We never meant to hurt you.”
Tears start falling from Heather’s eyes, and my heart hurts for her. “It’s just that you look exactly like him.” She cries. “Your voice is the same as his voice. Why couldn’t you just love me? He would have been happy to know that we were finding comfort in each other.”
Ares shakes his head. “I can’t love you the way he did, and I’m not him. You need to move on, Heather. I’m saying this foryour own sake. Atlas isn’t coming back, and he would hate to see you hurt like this. He would want you to be happy again.”
“Happy?” Her lips are tight, her tone bitter. “I’ll never be happy again. I feel nothing. That’s why I was hoping that you or Chance would want me. Because you’re the closest thing to him. No one else will do. Every time another man touches me, I feel like I want to fucking vomit.”
Dave, who had been observing our confrontation without a word, barks out a mirthless laugh. “Jeez, thanks. Nothing like hearing your girl say that you make her want to vomit every time you touch her. If that’s how you talk to a guy, no wonder Ares didn’t want you.”
Heather shrugs, looking empty, defeated. “Whatever. I don’t think you and I are going to work anyway, Dave. I’m sorry, it’s over.”
Dave looks genuinely hurt. “You’re breaking up with me? Come on, you haven’t even given me a real shot. I thought we were having fun.”
“Fun?” She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. “You were the only one who was having fun, Dave. I was just laying there, hoping to feel something. To be honest, I was just faking it. Atlas and Chance were the only men who could ever make me come.”
Heather and I have already talked about her one-night stand with Chance. It was way before Chance and I were ever anything more than a few hot kisses at a party. I’m not mad at her. There’s a part of me that can’t blame her because Chance is incredibly hot, and he knows what he’s doing in bed. So, I have no doubt that he rocked her world.
I wrap my arm around my friend’s shoulders. “Come on, Heather. Ares and I were going to order pizza. Please stay and eat dinner with us?”
Heather’s response is a tearful laugh. “Right. I was coming to ask you if you wanted to go out to dinner with me and Dave and bring Lev or Chance, or both. I guess we won’t double date now.”
“It’s ok, Heather. You’re our friend, and you don’t need a date to hang out with us. Babe,” I say, turning to look at Ares. “Do you mind starting an order and see if Lev and Chance are coming home for dinner?”
Ares doesn’t answer. He’s staring at me and Heather with a bewildered expression. “Did you and Heather just say that Heather was with Chance? Like, they fucked?”
Neither of us has time to answer. We see Lev’s SUV park right next to Ares’s Jeep a few feet away from us.
Chance and Lev walk up to us, totally unaware of the drama we’ve been dealing with.
Chance
Hockey practice was particularly grueling today, and every muscle in my body is sore. I’m also starving. I think I might see if Zara would like to get pizza, but I’m probably gonna raid the fridge before dinner comes. I’m way too famished to wait.
“Look,” Lev says before opening his door. “Dave must have picked up Heather straight from her cheer training.”
“Great.” I roll my eyes. Dave is in the top five of the people I wouldn’t hang out with unless I’m forced to. “I hope Heather and Dave leave. I was hoping for a quiet night in, just the four of us. Maybe just pizza and a movie with Zara tucked into my side.”
Lev agrees. “You and I both, man.”
As if the universe had heard my wishes, Dave walks away the second Lev and I approach them.
