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The door behind me opened, and I turned to see Adam glaring at me. He had dark stubble that stood out on his cheeks, and his hair was standing up at odd angles. It took little to deduce that he was drunk.
“What’re you doing here?” he asked, words slurring slightly.
“I needed to check on you,” I said, turning to face him. “I had to go to work while everything around me exploded.” I waved my hands outward, not sure how to respond. “Any time I tried to reach out, you guys haven’t told me anything. Throw me a bone, Adam. Tell me everything is going to be okay!”
“It’s not,” he said, shortly. “It’s not okay.” He shrugged and turned around to go back into the apartment.
He left the door open, and I took that as an invitation to come in. The lights were low in the living room, most of the illumination coming from the television. A movie took up the screen, but the volume was low. Given the pyrotechnics going off, that might’ve been why. The hallway was dark and I didn’t spot Cam anywhere. He must’ve been in bed.
“Don’t you have work tomorrow?” I asked as I closed the door.
“Nope,” Adam said as he came out of the kitchen. “Fired. Figured you already knew that given you had a hand in it.”
“I didn’t have a hand in it,” I protested. I stayed close to the door. When he flopped on the couch, I didn’t make any move to join him. “I’m in trouble here too. Why would I expose everything to Kyle? What do I gain from it?”
“I don’t know, Grace,” he said as he popped open a bottle of beer. He took a generous sip before he pinned me with a look. “What does a vindictive bitch hope to gain when she fucks her brother’s friends?” He tilted his head and kept talking, like he wasn’t insulting me. “A pony? It’s not a fucking ribbon or a trophy. But if you’re here to celebrate ruining everything, congratulations.” He took another pull from the bottle of beer, his eyes narrowing at me. “You did it.”
I ground my teeth together, not fighting back my anger. “I didn’t tell my brother about this. I didn’t invite him over to find us in Cam’s bed. There was no reason and no way he should have known I was here.” I didn’t try to calm myself or lower my voice. “I was here because I wanted what you suggested. I let it happen. Why would I do that just to have Kyle ruin it for me?”
“How else would he know you were here, Grace?” Adam snapped back. “How else did he know what we were doing?”
A shadow stepped out into the hallways, but I didn’t give it a second look. Adam, pointing the blame at me, was too much for me to not get caught up in my feelings. “Maybe you did something stupid,” I shouted back at Adam. “Maybe you couldn’t hack the idea you were feeding me, so instead of letting me have something with Cam or Darius, you had to ruin it for everyone.” I turned and jerked open the door. “But it wasn’t fucking me. I didn’t fucking do this.”
“Oh fuck off,” he said back, dismissively. “Who else could it be but you?”
“Grace . . . ” That sounded like Cameron, but I didn’t wait to see what he had to say. I couldn’t bear it if he was going to blame me too.
I stepped out of their apartment. I hurried down the steps and didn’t bother to stop when my name was called after me. I just stalked away from their apartment, struggling to keep it together.
My eyes burned and my vision blurred as I pulled my phone out of my pocket. I ordered a ride and tried to not break down. I didn’t want to cry. Damn Adam for doing this to me.
Dammit. Why was this getting to me? This had been something that was supposed to be fun. How did I get attached to this? Why did it hurt like this?
***
I wished I had somewhere else to go. I didn’t want to face Shay. She hadn’t called, though she had left me a text that assured me that exposing me to my brother would do nothing to keep me from doing the same to her. If I respected our friendship, I would believe her and keep my mouth closed about her involvement in the situation.
I believed Shay. I should’ve been skeptical. I knew that. But the surprise I had seen on her face after confronting her earlier was telling enough for me.
I let myself into the apartment, relieved that she hadn’t waited up for me. I locked the door, then I felt something crack. A sob racked through me before I could smother it with a hand. It was pushing four. I couldn’t make any noise. I couldn’t risk waking Shay up.
My shoulders shook against my will, and my chest ached. No matter how hard I tried to keep it in, it fought to come out. A tear fell down my cheek, and that was when I lost it. I bowed my head so my brow rested against the door and shook with the effort to keep quiet.
Arms came around my waist. I tensed at first before Shay rested head against my shoulder. She said nothing, she just held on to me.
There was no ‘I told you so.’ Nothing about the confrontation that had happened while she was working. She just held me, like she was helping me pull myself together.
“It’s late,” I managed.
“I know,” she murmured back, not letting me go.
“I didn’t want to wake you.”
“I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted. “I was so mad at you, I just couldn’t.” Slowly, almost reluctantly, she let go of me. “I didn’t think about why you would accuse me of exposing you. I didn’t think you had gotten as invested as you did.” Her hand moved to my shoulder, and she squeezed. “I get it now.” She paused.“I might not understand the how or the why, but I get that heartbroken feeling.”
I took in a breath and pushed myself away from the door. I rubbed my hot cheeks with both hands, trying to calm myself down. “I’m okay,” I said. “I’m good. I’m okay, you’re okay.”
“There’s nothing wrong with not being okay, Grace,” she whispered. “You’re entitled to be upset because this fell apart.” She took a breath and shook her head. “It wasn’t something that could last.”
