“Calm down. We don’t know for sure that it was him.”
“I don’t know, D. Caleb is making excellent points, and I have a feeling it was,” Zoe says. “Besides, you said yourself that you can’t believe Zach would do something like that. To me there’s nothing malicious about him…”
“When I met him, he spent the entire night telling me about this non-profit he wants to start,” Caleb tells me.
“You do know how the idea began, right?” Caleb shakes his head at my question. “It was because Zach developed an app in high school that was a hot-or-not kind of thing. It spun out of control and caused a ton of drama.”
“So you’re saying you think he’s capable of sending out a naked photo of his girlfriend because he did a shitty thing in high school?” Caleb volleys back.
Well…no, I don’t think that at all. I think that’s why I’m having such a hard time with all this. When Zach told me the story of what he did in high school, I felt his remorse. He was beyond sorry it ever happened. Whenever he speaks about Embody Positivity, he’s passionate.
I don’t think he did this.
And I’m a complete asshole for jumping the gun on him.
Fuck. I think I screwed up the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
I release a heavy sigh and fall back onto the couch. “I’m the worst.”
“You’re not the worst. The evidence was there, there’s no denying that. Besides, this is all theory at this point. We don’t have concrete proof that it was Shep.”
“How do we get it?”
Caleb continues to pace, mumbling to himself. Neither me nor Zoe can understand him. We sit and watch as he rolls a plan around in his head.
Finally, he faces us, hands on his hips. “Let me take care of it.”
“Okay.”
“But, D? If it turns out he isn’t the one who sent the photo—though I’m fairly certain that’s highly unlikely—you need to be prepared.”
My mouth goes dry at the thought. I got so wrapped up in the theory that Zach is innocent that I forgot to think about him being guilty.
My stomach clenches.
“I’ll be ready, Caleb.”
My alarm clock sounds, and I reach over to the bedside table and launch it across the room.
I don’t want to go to class this morning. I can’t.
I’m not ready to face everyone. I know there will be at least one person in the class that’s seen the photo. Caleb claims no one knows who the girl is, but I’ll know, and every time someone looks at me, I’ll wonder if they know too.
I close my eyes and try to go back to sleep, but it’s no use.
I can’t sleep.
I’ve been tossing and turning all night. Hell, I haven’t had a proper night’s sleep since Friday—you know, before my world imploded and all that.
Out of habit, I reach for my phone, searching for a text from Zach.
I’ve caught myself doing this more times than I can count over the last few days. When you text someone non-stop for months, you grow used to them, and when they are ripped out of your life, you fall into a total pit of despair.
I manage to pull myself from the bed as Zoe comes barging into my room.
“Good, you’re up.”
“Not for long,” I mumble.
“Oh yes. You’re going to class today. There’s no arguing that with me.”
“No, no way.” I throw myself back into bed and pull the covers tightly over my head.
Zoe tugs on them, trying with all her might to rip them off me. I can feel the material sliding through my hands, and then she’s won.
I lie there anyway.
“Up. Come on. Caleb said no one knows it’s you and I believe him. There was no indication on the text about who it was and no one on campus has seen you naked other than Caleb. You know the secret is safe with him. So, up!”
“Never!”
She jumps on the bed and bounces around, hard—so hard that I’m flopping around on the bed as she moves up and down.
It’s not long before I’m giggling, and it feels so good. I haven’t felt like laughing in days, and I love to laugh.
“Stop, stop, stop! You’re going to break my bed and I will make you buy me a new one.”
She settles down and collapses next to me, giving me puppy-dog eyes. “Please come to class. Please. I promise I’ll only leave you for the lecture. I’ll walk in with you and meet you at the door afterward so you don’t have to do the walk of shame alone.”
“Walk of shame? I thought no one knew.”
“No one does, but I know you—you’ll think everyone has x-ray vision and can see your boobs and will know exactly who it was in the photo. Also, can we please talk about how you’re not supposed to send sexy photos to someone’s phone? You SnapChat that shit, disappears real quick.”
“Sent many naked pics yourself?”
She shrugs. “Maybe. I do have great tits, you know.”
I shake my head and push myself off the mattress until I’m sitting up on my knees. “Okay, fine. I’ll go to class, but you have to walk in and out with me. I don’t want to run into Shep.”
“Deal. Now, go shower. You’re ripe as hell.”
I lift my arm and smell myself. “Oh…yeah. Let me go take care of that real quick.
I cross the room and open the drawer on my dresser. All of a sudden I’m hit with memories of me and Zach and a certain time I stood in front of this dresser.
The tears silently slide town my face, my shoulders shaking with the unreleased cries.
Zoe wraps her arms around me from behind and I take comfort in her support.
“It’ll be okay, D. I promise it will. We’ll figure out who’s to blame and I’ll kick them right in the dickhole.”
“You’re a really good best friend, Zoe.”
“I know.” She smacks a kiss to my cheek. “Go shower, smelly. We have class in forty-five minutes.”
I do it again when I slip into my seat.
I check my phone.
Nothing from Zach—not that I’m really expecting anything, but still.
Caleb comes rushing into the room at the last moment and takes the empty seat beside me.
“How are you holding up?”
I lift a shoulder. “As well as expected, I guess. I feel like everyone suddenly became an X-Man and they all acquired the exact same mutation: x-ray vision.”
“Well stop worrying. No one suspects a thing. I asked around at practice this morning to see if anyone had any idea who was in the photo.”
“And?”
“Not a clue, though they wouldn’t shut up about how hot the chick was.”
He winks at me, and I don’t even have the stomach to be flattered. I’m too pissed off at those shmucks for passing the photo around to begin with. I mean, who receives a naked photo of someone they don’t know and then forwards it on?
Dicks, that’s who.
“Any leads on cracking the case?”
Caleb gives me a look but doesn’t answer my question. “We’ll talk about it later.”
My stomach drops.
This can’t be good.
I spend the entire class unfocused and not paying an ounce of attention. My head is swimming with everything but whatever it is our professor is rambling on about.
I attempt to wish away the time, but the more I close my eyes and beg, the slower it goes, so I give up and zone out entirely, staring at my notebook.
Luckily Caleb is diligently typing away on his laptop; I’ll have to grab the notes from him later.
My fingers wander to the phone sitting on the table in front of me. I press the home button and the screen lights up.
No phone call.
No text.
No hope for us at all.
Class finally draws to an end. Everyone gathers up their things and rushes from the room, not wanting to be stuck behind the slow movers and aisle blockers.
Today, I’m a slow mover.
When I’m f
inally ready to face Caleb and get this dreadful conversation over with, he’s not there.
I see him rushing up the stairs and I call after him.
“Later!” he calls out to me.
My shoulders sink. Here goes another day of worrying about everything.
Zoe’s standing outside the door when I exit. “Everything go okay?”
“Caleb said we’ll talk later.”
“About what?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t say, which is a total shit move because—”
“Now you’ll be worrying all day. Great.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure? I can skip my next two classes and come home with you now if you need me to.”
“No way. You forced me here, so you have to stay. Besides, I don’t think I’m heading home yet. I might grab a coffee and then come back later to pick you up. That way I’m not at home sulking.”
She loops her arm with mine. “I think that’s a great idea. I should be done in about two hours, so it’s not that long. Afterward we’ll grab a pizza to take home and then we’ll be bums on the couch.”
“Sounds like a plan—but we’re not watching that weird show you’ve been hooked on lately.”
She narrows her eyes at me. “Fine, but only because you’re heartbroken and all that.”
22
I don’t know how I ended up here, but it’s too late to backtrack now.
I push through the doors of Level Up and my eyes scan the room of their own accord.
He’s not here.
I’m caught between feeling elated and upset at that fact.
I make my way to the front counter and order the drink Zach first picked for me. The barista squints at me from behind his glasses and I realize it’s the guy who was working the night Zach brought me here. I quickly avert my gaze, hoping he doesn’t recognize me.
It’s no use.
“Are you looking for him?”
I snap my head up. “Who?” I ask, feigning innocence.
“Hastings.”
Hearing his last name causes me to lose my breath. I can feel the now all too familiar sting of tears beginning.
“No,” I say quietly. “I’m not looking for him.”
“He’s been coming in here with nothing but grunts and scowls. Hasn’t even been chatty about that little goat of his.”
The mention of Marshmallow is what sends me over the edge, and I’m a blubbering fool again.
“Oh shit. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
The panic of seeing lady tears is real. He begins rushing around, making my drink as I grab a few napkins and wipe at my face.
“Here.” He slides my drink toward me. “On the house.”
I shake my head. “No way. I’m paying.”
“Hastings would have my ass if he knew I made his lady cry and then didn’t do anything to remedy it. There’s no way you’re spending a penny on that drink.”
I want to correct him, tell him I don’t think I’m anyone’s lady anymore, but I don’t have it in my heart to say it out loud.
I stare him down, hoping he’ll budge. He doesn’t.
“Well, thank you then.”
“My pleasure.”
When he turns away from the counter and isn’t watching, I stuff a ten in his tip jar.
Take that.
I grab my drink and make my way over to an open pinball machine. I spend the next hour or so putting all my aggression—and about twenty bucks—into that and skee-ball.
It’s amazing to me how therapeutic it is.
As I’m walking out the door, the barista calls out to me. “Make sure to check on our guy, okay?”
God, that hurts.
I nod and swiftly make my way outside, where I have to bend over to catch my breath…again.
A few pedestrians pass by me, staring. I do my best to straighten myself up and climb into my car without any other incidents.
I make my way back over to campus to pick up Zoe. She’s waiting at the edge of the parking lot for me.
“How was your afternoon?” she asks timidly once she’s inside the car.
“It was…” I pause, debating if I should tell her where I ended up. I decide against it, not wanting to explain. “It was great to go out and about for a bit, get off the couch for a while.”
I feel terrible for not telling her where I went, but then again, I don’t. There are some things I need to keep private.
“I’m so happy to hear that.”
I nod and navigate us to our favorite pizza place. All I can think about is the fact that the last time I had pizza was with Zach when we sat in his car eating.
This time I don’t want to cry; I want to smile.
For a second, I think everything will be okay.
A pounding at the door wakes me from the first decent night’s sleep I’ve had in days.
“Coming!” I yell as I peel myself off the couch.
Zoe and I passed out while watching Penny Dreadful. Guess it wasn’t such a smart idea to eat half a pizza each after all.
Stumbling to the door, I swing it open without checking the peephole. To say I’m surprised by who I find on the other side would be an understatement.
I rub my eyes to make sure they aren’t deceiving me.
They aren’t.
Swallowing the lump in my throat, I ask, “What are you guys doing here?”
“Go ahead, tell her, you ass.”
Shep grumbles something incoherent. Caleb gets right in his face.
“What was that, dick? Want to say it again?”
Shep shoves at him and he shoves back—harder.
“Don’t test me right now. I’m this fucking close to punching you again.”
For the first time, I notice that Shep’s right eye is starting to bruise. I can’t help but get a smidge of satisfaction from that.
“Tell her,” Caleb bites out.
“Fine. It was me, okay? I’m the one who sent the photo.” Shep turns to Caleb. “You fucking happy now?”
He scoffs. “Not even close. Tell her everything.”
“Why? She knows it was me, what else does she need?”
Caleb gives him a cold smile, and it’s enough to make even me shiver. “Because it’s the most pitiful thing I’ve ever heard and I want to hear you say it again.”
Another grumble out of Shep, a slap to the back of the head from Caleb.
“Quit hitting me!”
“Quit pussyfooting around and get on with it.”
“Fine. Fuck. I snooped around on Zach’s phone when he let me borrow it, found that pic you’d sent him, and sent it my way for, you know, later. I made sure to delete the sent text from Zach’s phone because he didn’t need to know what I was doing.”
My stomach turns at the thought of Shep masturbating to a naked photo of me—hell, any photo of me—but I think what repulses me the most is that he’s Zach’s brother and he violated not only me, but him too. What kind of person does that to their family?
“Disgusting,” Caleb mutters.
“Shut the fuck up.” Shep meets my eyes for the first time and I have to take a step back when I see the hatred pouring out of his. “Anyway, you wouldn’t shut your mouth about your little friend Zoe, implying that I screwed her over or some shit. Newsflash, darlin’, she gave it up real easy. I got my piece and I was done.”
My hands curl into fists at my sides. Now I’m the one who wants to hit him.
“So, yeah, I screenshotted the picture and forwarded it on to a few friends.”
“And those fuckers forwarded it on to a few of their friends,” Caleb says with a sneer.
My mouth is hanging open. I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
“You were mad because I called you out for screwing my friend over? Is that what I’m gathering from all this?”
“You did it in front of my family, on Thanksgiving. Great table manners there, Delia.”
He spits my name out like a curse.
Shep shrugs and I can feel my pulse kick up, my muscles tense at how nonchalant he is about all of this. What an asshole.
“You sent a naked picture of me to your buddies because you’re a man-whore and I called you out on that? Is your ego really that fragile? Do you have any idea what you’ve done? Any clue at all what it could do to my future if anyone found out it was me?”
“No one will. I kept it anonymous. No harm, no foul.”
This time it’s me who steps toward him. “No harm, no foul? Please tell me you’re joking. Numerous strangers saw a naked picture of me. I feel violated beyond belief. What’s to stop them from sending it all over campus? Or posting it on the internet? I cannot believe you don’t think this is a big deal.”
“It’s just a pair of tits. You didn’t even have the balls to put your pussy on camera.”
The sound of skin smacking against skin is deafening.
I slap him—hard, so hard that he stumbles backward.
I don’t feel an iota of regret for doing it.
“You hit me!”
My hand shakes as I grab the doorknob. “And I’m about to again if you don’t get out of this building…now!”
He glares at me before attempting to tuck tail and run.
Caleb grabs him before he can get far. “Not so fast. I’m not done with you.”
The two have a short-lived staring contest—with Shep giving up first—before Caleb turns my way.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Caleb.”
He practically drags Shep down the hall by his collar, shaking him a few times.
I can only imagine what he’ll do to him, and the thought brings a smile to my face.
Closing the door, I turn back to the couch. Zoe’s still passed out. Should I wake her and let her know what happened or wait until morning? I glance at the clock: it’s already midnight. If I wake her up now, we’ll be up for hours gabbing, and she doesn’t need that.
That said, I’m wide awake right now. Not even the couch appears inviting.
Ambling my way down the hall, I close myself into my bedroom and click on my Bluetooth speaker. I pull out my phone as I plop down onto my bed and put on something soothing.
Texting Box Set: The Complete Series Page 19