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“Vaguely,” I admit, shrugging.
“Well, it was Zach. I didn’t know who he was until he came into the office with you when you were revising for your A-levels. Maddox and Liam were scaring him off, but he was out there ranting about how he needed to stop his friend from doing something stupid.”
The embarrassment is still flooding me. I had hoped he would forget that night ever happened. But now that he’s brought it up, I have to say what I know out loud. “He overheard me telling Hayden about my plans for that night.”
“I think his plan all along was to get you to be with him. Honestly, after the first time I met him, he seemed like someone who would talk you into a scheme to be with him just to make someone else jealous.”
He means him. He’s the only guy I wanted to make jealous. I wanted him to see I could be mature enough to be with a guy. I might have given in that night with Zach, but it didn’t last long. It felt deceptive and unfair to use him like that. Which is what I told him when I called it off.
“If it was, then why do I still feel like a shitty human being? I’d been wanting to break it off with him for over a year, but I could never find the right time. My love for him as a friend got in the way or something happened that stopped me.”
He clears his throat, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. “Why did you want to break it off?”
“Um, you have…” I reach over, wiping away the cream stuck on his upper lip. “You had cream on your lip.”
I slowly pull back, my heart racing. The last time I was that close to him, he rejected me. And it still stings.
He doesn’t break eye contact as he flicks the remaining bit off his lip. “Thank you.”
I need to change the subject.
Fast.
Before I embarrass myself even further and try to kiss him again.
My brain and vagina arenoton the same page.
“As for our relationship, it just didn’t blossom into what I had hoped it would. He changed. Or I changed. He didn’t understand me and I don’t think he wanted to,” I confess. “Things haven’t been right between us for a while, and it’s not because I didn’t love him the way he loved me. I never imagined we would end up like this.”
“The police will find the disc. I don’t think you’ll be held accountable, but you may need to testify to him being there.”
My phone dings with a message alert. “Sorry, let me check this. It’s probably my mum or dad,” I explain, but the message is from George. “It’s from George.”
“Who is George?”
“A guy who works at Castle and Games. We started together. He also helped me search for the game,” I reply as I click on the message. It’s not a clear picture, but I can make it out. “Oh my god.”
“What?”
I hold my phone out. “This is Zach walking onto the floor. This is him walking out.” I zoom into the picture that shows a case tucked into the back of his trousers. “That’s the disc.”
“Can you forward that to me? I can send it to Jackson,” he orders gently. “What did your friend say?”
I click off the picture to look at the message. “Laura said you can’t get the disc back. It has to be the authorities. She’s going to show Larry in the morning when he’s back from his meeting. But, girl, this is crazy. We should totally set fire to dogsh—” I click off the message, my cheeks heating. “Yeah, you don’t need to know the rest.”
Ben laughs. “I wouldn’t advise doing that.”
“Wasn’t planning to,” I rush out. “Here, I don’t have your number.”
He takes the phone, tapping away until his phone beeps with a message. “I’ve saved my number in case you want to run anything by me.”
I take it off him, our fingers brushing against each other. I hold my breath as I lay the phone on the blanket between us. “Thanks.”
As soon as he breaks eye contact, I let out a breath. He slaps his hand gently on his thigh. “I should get going. I have to be up early for a check-up at the hospital.”
“Why? Is something wrong? Did you overdo it?”
He chuckles as he slowly gets to his feet. “No. They just want to make sure everything is healing nicely. I’m already clear for infection. The knife wasn’t exactly clean, but they got antibiotics into me in time.”
