Page 97 of How To Not Need You

“What’s wrong with you?” He asks.

I don't answer him though. Because suddenly I have the vision of Liv going to my house, only to be met with the sight of a woman that not only was I married too, but that she hasn’t met yet.

My stomach drops so hard I actually feel sick.

Fuck.

Please don't let it have been Liv.

“Jake?” Ben tries again, but I ignore him and hit Megan’s name on my phone.

“Hey,” she answers in her normal and slightly amused tone. I don’t bother with pleasantries though and get straight to the point.

“The woman who came to my house.”

She pauses on the other end of the phone. Maybe still trying to decipher the avalanche of words I just shot at her. “What?”

“When you used my shower. You said someone came to the door.”

“Oh. Yeah. Weirdest thing. She knocked, I answered and she just stared at me and took off.”

My grip tightens around the phone. My knees suddenly don't feel as reliable as they did thirty seconds ago.

“What did she look like?”

“I don't know. Red hair. Pretty. About my height, maybe? Why?”

Everything inside me goes cold all of a sudden. Ben must see something happen to my face because he straightens from where he was leaning on his locker.

“Jake?”

I barely hear him as he tries to get my attention again.

“Megan.” I grit out. Hoping this is something still easy to salvage.

“What?”

“What were you wearing when you answered the door to my girlfriend?”

I can practically hear her brain work before she finally says.

“A towel… Oh.”

Well, now that is just perfect. Ten out of ten for the fuck up of the week. I know that she just realised as well.

“Oh?”

“Oh, shit.”

My eyes close without my permission. “Yeah.”

“Jake, I didn't know that was Liv. I've only seen that one photo of her and she was gone before I even…”

I hang up on her. Not because I'm angry with Megan. I'm not. She didn't do anything. Neither did I technically. But Liv doesn't know that.

And suddenly I know exactly why the woman who told me six months ago that she doesn't trust relationships hasn't answered a single fucking message in nearly three days.

She thinks I proved her right. I lower the phone slowly. For a second, I just stand there staring at Megan’s name on the screen.