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“I am a dork,” Xavier admits, each word coated in guilt.
My throat starts aching like a motherfucker, and I welcome the thick layer of tears stealing my sight.
I can’t watch this.
“I’m the biggest fucking dork on the planet for letting you suffer in my place. I might not have been strong enough before but…” Xavier shifts his focus back to the bewildered guests.“Someone once told me to protect the people who would protect me—” he steals a glance at his mother standing near the buffet with his dad, “—and I think it’s time I listen.”
His father looks flaming mad.
And his mom… she’s as pale as a sheet.
Xavier doesn’t speak again for the longest, most miserable wait of my life, keeping every person present on their toes.
That’s when he says the one thing he can never take back.
“I’m Zac.”
Time stops.
No one moves.
Reacts.
Makes a sound.
And, for once in my life, I truly understand what my dad meant. For thefirst time since he left me, I experience one of those life-altering moments that’ll either make you stronger…
Or kill you.
Here, gathered with half the town in Finn’s backyard…
I experience my first slow-mo.
Until the first gasp reaches my ear.
Followed by the second.
And the third.
Before I know it, an amalgam of gasps and whispers ricochets throughout the spacious backyard.
He didn’t.
Xav, tell me you didn’t.
“That’s right, I wrote the confessions. Oh, and Brie.” Xavier looks Brie straight in the face. “Piece of advice, if you have to blackmail a guy into dating you, he’s just not that into you.”
The basketball team and cheer squad stare at Brie with their mouths hanging, failing to stifle their laughter as Brie’s cheeks turn bright red. I study the vicinity, half expecting to find hidden cameras or a television crew of some sort…
I never do.
The sound of glass shattering manages to peel my attention away from Xav. A woman dropped her champagne glass against the concrete patio. Except, it’s not just any woman.
It’s Xavier’s mom.
Realization finds every guest at once, her interruption resulting in a domino effect. Whispers soar around me, a wave of shock submerging the entire party.
“It’s her,” I hear a woman on my right say.
