The Hardest Fall

“Tomorrow. We’ll figure everything out tomorrow. If you can come back, call me and I’ll come get you.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll call an Uber or just walk. It’s not that far away from the apartment.”

I closed the distance between us and tucked her hair behind her ear so I could kiss her temple. “Call me—I don’t want you out on your own so late, definitely not walking.”

A quick nod as she stared into my eyes, and then she was walking away from me.

Chapter Nineteen

Zoe

“Hi,” I said as I answered my phone. If I sounded a little breathless, it had nothing to do with the fact that I was speed-walking—and occasionally hopping to avoid puddles—to the library to meet Kayla and Jared, and everything to do with who was on the other end of the line.

“Zoe.”

I had to close my eyes, not because the rain was picking up, but because of him, because of what he did to me. Was there anything better than hearing Dylan’s morning voice mumble my name on the phone? I didn’t think so—or maybe there was; hearing him mumble my name right against my ear would do it too. In fact, it would do it way better.

“You came home and didn’t wake me up,” he continued as I tried to recover from what his voice was doing to me. The previous night was still fresh in my mind, and I could still feel his body pressing against mine, how I eager I’d been.

The damn had broken.

“It was pretty late. You looked tired, so I didn’t want to wake you up.” I’d snuck by and tiptoed to my room after finding him asleep on the couch, but I had thrown a blanket on him…so that counted for something.

Knowing what would happen, what we’d end up doing if I did wake him up had prevented me from continuing where we’d left off.

You might call me a chicken; I call myself smart.

I didn’t want to have to lie to him—or depending on what you thought, I didn’t want to have to keep lying to him. I didn’t have a boyfriend; that was what I’d told him, and it was the truth. Sure, I was forcing it a little bit since I’d never had a boyfriend to begin with, but still, I didn’t have a boyfriend, and I would tell him the rest—really, I would. As I’d guessed, he thought I had something going on with Mark, and who could’ve blamed him for coming to that conclusion, for God’s sake? It was all on me, and I knew that.

So, in a few hours or so, depending on what Kayla wanted to talk about, I’d call Mark—or better yet, text him—not to ask permission, but just so he wasn’t blindsided completely in case Dylan said something to him about it. I’d given him Chris, had let him decide on the best time to tell him, but Dylan was mine. He wouldn’t have that. I wouldn’t let him decide when or how where Dylan was concerned.

There was also the fact that Chris was Dylan’s best friend, and thinking about that had kept me up all night. Would Dylan run and tell Chris who I was? He was his best friend—could I ask him to keep me a secret? Would he? Did I even have the right to ask him?

Needless to say, I had no answers.

But I had Dylan.

I had the ghost of his touch on my neck, on my skin, constantly driving me crazy, and I wanted more. I wanted pretty much everything from him.

“Zoe? Did you hear what I said?”

“Sorry. Can you, maybe, repeat that? My mind just wandered off.”

“Your mind just…” A long sigh. “Where are you? You’re not running away from what happened last night, are you?”

“No. In fact, I’m offended you’d think that.” I huffed out a breath. “I’m meeting Kayla at the library, and after that…well, I have no idea how long it will take—she just sent a text this morning and I’m not sure what’s going on, but she wasn’t good last night. I didn’t want to leave her, but her boyfriend got back pretty drunk with two of his friends so she sent me away. Something’s definitely up, and I think she might be breaking up with Keith, though it’s happened before and he’s always managed to win her back so I’m not so sure if this time will be any different, but then again—”

“Baby.” That raspy chuckle pretty much killed me. “Stop. You were saying, after that…”

Baby. Baby. Baby.

I halted and closed my eyes. Twice he’d called me that, and each time the butterflies in my stomach had taken flight.

I cleared my throat and started walking again. “I was saying what?”

Another low chuckle reached my ears and my heart warmed at the sound.

“You said you’re meeting Kayla at the library then you got off track after that part.”

Right.

“After that, I want to talk to you.” I heard a long sigh and then a door close.

“Yeah, talking. We need to do that.”

“Where are you?”

“A few minutes behind you, I’m guessing. Have you made it to the library yet? It’s raining, so be careful.”

I did a 360 and looked around. There were people running around trying to escape the rain, but that was it. It was Sunday, after all. “I’m not melting away, if that’s what you mean by be careful, but what do you mean a few minutes behind?”

“I’m meeting with Chris for a workout. If you’re not done with Kayla by the time we’re finished in the weight room, I’ll come find you at the library.”

The sooner, the better, I thought. Being out in public instead of in a private, confined space like the apartment where there were beds and couches and counters and semi-flat surfaces would help.

“Okay. Okay, that sounds good. I’m here so I should…let you go. Say hi to Chris from me? Or not. You don’t need to say that. I’m not sure why I said that, don’t say hi to Chris.”

The silence stretched and I face-palmed myself.

“I’ll tell him hi and I’ll see you soon. Don’t disappear on me.” A short pause. “I hope you’re ready to lose our bet today.”

With that, he hung up.

I would not be the one to lose the bet; he just didn’t know how stubborn I was yet.

I shook off my umbrella and texted Mark as I walked into the library.

Me: I have to tell Dylan. I’m going to tell him. I don’t care what you say.

As soon as I heard the swoosh sound that indicated the message had been sent, I turned my phone off. I knew he’d call the first chance he got, and I didn’t want to argue with him or let him scare me off.

Despite knowing that Mark would lose it, I still managed to hold my smile until I found my friend at the very back of the library, in a study room separated from the main sitting area.

* * *

As soon as I saw the state Kayla was in, I ran to her side and sat my ass down on the chair next to her. “What happened?” When she kept staring at her hands on the table, I covered them with my own. “You have to tell me what’s going on Kayla. Look at you.”

She raised her head, and I studied my friend’s red, puffy eyes as fresh tears ran down her cheeks.

“Kayla?”

“Thank you for coming so quickly.”

“Of course, but…what’s wrong, KayKay?”

“I think I need help, Zoe.”

I pulled her shaky hands off the table and held on tight. “What happened?” Will she finally say something? Tell us what’s going on? “Do you want to wait for Jared?”