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“Okay.” His eyes closed a second. “She cheated on me.”
A bomb was dropped.
“What?” I couldn’t—really?
“You fucking with us?” Zellman shot to his feet.
Jordan shook his head, looking around the room. Pain was etched over his face. “Yeah. There was a frat party the night after our documentary thing. And she cheated.”
“Who told you?” Unlike Zellman and me, Cross’ tone was quiet. Calm. Eerily calm.
Jordan snorted, leaning back against the chair. His hand came up in a helpless motion. “Allen.”
I had to groan inwardly at that. Zeke Allen. Again.
“You sure?”
Jordan nodded slowly. “Yeah. Allen told me he saw Tabatha hooking up with a guy there, I guess he’s in Zeke’s fraternity. I asked Blaise about it. He said he was there, and he saw it, too. Said it definitely happened earlier in the night because he took off halfway through the party.”
Blaise was known for being honest, brutally honest. He wouldn’t lie. Especially not about that.
“I’m sorry, Jordan.”
He looked at me, nodding again. The pain flared brighter. “Yeah. I confronted her about it, said I had two people backing it up, and she rolled over. Started crying. Then said it was my fault. All of it was my fault because she feels you guys don’t like her.”
Okay. Now I was pissed.
I’d been feeling bad for Jordan, but I hadn’t moved to the default reaction I used to have. Now I was. I wanted to rip her head off.
Zellman got there before me. “I’ll show her exactly what she can blame us for.”
Cross straightened from the wall, his eyes on Jordan. “What do you want from us?”
We fell silent, waiting.
Jordan shook his head, standing, too. “Nothing. I broke up with her immediately, and trust me, I’ve been having my revenge. I’m fucking every girl she knows. Just haven’t started on her sorority house…yet.”
I winced.
If Cross broke up with me, then banged a whole list of girls I knew, yeah. That’d be torture. I was feeling tortured just thinking about it. No matter if she messed up, Tabatha still loved Jordan. She’d first been my enemy the beginning of last year, and they still started dating. Both had fallen for the other. So this didn’t make sense.
“Why?”
All heads turned my way.
I added, “Why would she cheat? I don’t believe what she said.”
“If you don’t, then she wouldn’t say why she cheated. She wasn’t drunk. Allen and Blaise both said she looked sober.”
Well, that didn’t answer my question.
I didn’t understand cheating. It was a shallow and selfish move that only satisfied you for a temporary basis. Why risk the long run on a short glitch? I could only understand cheating if it served a purpose, like deliberately pushing the other person away because you saw a future together with the new person.
“Wait.” I held up a hand. “Who’s the guy?”
“Allen wouldn’t tell me.”
I scowled. “You deserve to know.”
He scowled right back. “If I find out, I’ll rip his head off. I don’t know if I couldn’t not do that.”
Nodding, I got that, but I still had to ask. “Is anything going on in Tabatha’s life right now? Besides the breakup with you.”
Cross’ eyebrows pinched together. “What are you thinking?”
I opened my mouth to explain but shot Jordan a look. His were fixed on me with an almost hopeful look, and my gut shifted to the side. I couldn’t. If I was wrong, I couldn’t give him that hope and then take it away. So, I lied, shrugging. “Just thinking of more ways to hurt her, that’s all.”
Zellman bought it.
Jordan was in too much agony to see through me.
Not Cross. His gaze was heated on mine, and I knew he was calling me a liar.
Later. I tried to convey that to him.
It worked. The heat faded and he nodded, just slightly.
But no matter what, I’d be taking a couple of trips tonight. Then I remembered my five A.M. job start. Damn.
I amended my previous plan.
I’d be taking a couple trips tomorrow.
“You’re thinking Tabatha did it on purpose?”
Cross waited until after we both heard Jordan and Zellman head to their own rooms. Zellman’s bedroom was upstairs. Jordan’s was downstairs. Cross’ was on the main floor, and I kept one across the hallway from Zellman’s upstairs. Some nights we were in Cross’ and some nights we were in mine. All the guys thought it was important that I had my own room.
We were in Cross’ tonight.
We heard Zellman’s footsteps on the stairs, and the basement door shut.
I came out of the bathroom, brushing my teeth. I stared at him a second, then he moved into the closet. A few minutes later, we both moved to the bed and I crawled in, but I scooted to the headboard, pulling my knees up against my chest.
Cross sat on the end, facing me. His eyes were hooded. His face a stoic mask, but I only knew that was because he was bracing for whatever I was about to say.
