“Is that who you really want to be tied to?” Laura addresses Fitz. “I guess since you do have that playboy reputation, it’s probably not a big deal.”
“Wait, you slept withher?” one of the hockey players says to Knox.
“She was skinnier then,” Knox sneers.
All the hockey players laugh at me.
I want to sink into the floor, keep on sinking till I’m back on the street and can get in my car and go home.
All the hockey girlfriends look at me in shock and surprise that someone who looked likemeslept with a man who looks like their boyfriends.
Derision is the term.
It feels just like in high school—all the cool athletes and their chill-girl girlfriends laughing at me. Like, how could she think she’s one of them?
“Oh my god, you’re the person he was having an affair with! Those were your underwear at his house!” Brinley is furious. She grabs Knox’s arm possessively.
“This whole time, you were pretending to be my friend!”
“What the fuck?” Fitz finally says. It comes out in a quiet hiss.
If I was a lesser woman, I would break down in tears, and when I get home and was finally alone—well, not tonightbecause my life is imploding around me—I would cry into my ice cream. But not right now.
Fuck this. I am too old for this shit.
“No, Kathy, I did not help Knox cheat.”
“Do you believe that, Kathy?” Laura says.
Olive hugs Kathy and rubs circles on her back.
“He and I were together in high school. He didn’t want anyone to know he wasn’t with one of the popular cheerleaders. Guess I actually wasn’t thin enough, and his mom didn’t think I was easy enough to manipulate, so then he started hooking up with you, Kathy, and promised me that you were just friends. Except that’s not what you were.”
Kathy’s lower lip trembles. “Winnie…”
“And he stole my underwear out of my house, which is a pain because they were not cheap. I definitely did not give them to him. Those are not ‘giving’ underwear. I had to special-order them from Canada.”
Knox is furious. “Don’t try to cover up what we—”
“It sounds like there’s no cover-up,” Fitz says, voice cold. “You broke into her house, stole her stuff, and now what? You’re obsessed with her? You’re stalking her? Am I understanding this right?”
“He didn’t break in!” Brinley cries, coming to Knox’s defense. “He was just there visiting his mom.”
“God save us from women who will give a man every benefit of the doubt.” Carolina throws up her hands.
“She’s standing by her man,” Laura says, hugging her fiancé’s arm.
“There’s clearly something there, though, considering he has her sexy photos,” Nolan states. “I mean, no shade. I think you’re kind of hot, Winnie, and you cook good.”
Behind me, I feel the anger wafting off Fitz. Laura doesn’t look too pleased either.
“Do you mean to tell me”—Fitz takes a step forward—“that you have pictures of my girlfriend in your house?”
The hockey players all scuttle back, leaving Knox clear in the middle of the room.
“Um, I—no, no, I don’t.”
“He does, like some pervert,” I tell Fitz.
