Chapter12
1257 Words
~Liv~
Rowan stood over me holding the water glass like it was a bomb he didn’t know how to defuse. His knuckles were white. The rest of him looked ready to snap in half.
I took the glass just to make him stop staring, gulped half of it, then shoved it back at his chest. Water sloshed over his shirt. He didn’t flinch.
“Feel better?” he asked, voice flat.
“No.”
“Good. Me neither.”
He set the glass on the coffee table hard enough that it clinked too loud. Then he just stood there, breathing through his nose, looking at me like I was a puzzle he wanted to smash.
I hugged my knees to my chest. “Stop hovering. You’re not my boyfriend, remember? You literally said it.”
His jaw flexed. “Yeah, I remember.”
“So why are you acting like one?”
“Because I’m f*****g furious, Liv. That’s why.”
I laughed, short and ugly. “At me?”
He dragged both hands through his hair hard enough to pull. “No. Yes. I don’t know. Pick one.”
“Great. Super clear.”
He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “You almost ran out that door to go score from that piece of s**t. After everything. ……”
“I wasn’t going to take them!”
“Bullshit you weren’t!”
I shot up from the couch. “f**k you, Rowan. You don’t get to yell at me about what I was or wasn’t gonna do.”
He stepped closer, voice dropping low. “You had one foot out the door before I even saw the picture. Don’t lie to my face.”
My throat closed up. Because he wasn’t wrong and I hated him for it.
I shoved his chest. He didn’t move. I shoved again, harder. “Back off.”
“No.”
I slapped him. Open hand, loud c***k across his cheek. His head barely turned. The mark showed up instantly, red and angry.
We both froze.
His eyes went wide, then narrow. “Feel better now?”
“No.”
“Me neither.”
He turned, walked down the hallway, and slammed the bathroom door so hard the walls shook. I heard the lock click.
I stood there shaking, palms stinging, tears running hot down my neck. The apartment was too quiet now except for my own stupid breathing.
I grabbed my phone, my keys, my shoes. Didn’t bother with socks. Just yanked the front door open and stepped into the hallway. The cold floor bit my feet. I didn’t care.
I dialed.
Zoe picked up on the second ring. “Hey, babe…..”
“I need you here. Now.”
She heard my voice and went dead serious.
“What's going on? You're still with Rowan? Share your location Asap.”
“I can't answer all girl, just get here.’’
“On my way. Ten minutes.”
She made it in nine.
The door was still cracked open. She shoved it the rest of the way and stormed in like a hurricane in ripped jeans.
Her eyes went straight to my face, then around the room. Broken glass on the kitchen floor. Pill powder still dusting the wall like orange snow. Rowan’s hoodie half falling off my shoulders.
She dropped her bag. “Where is he.”
“Zoe….”
“Where the f**k is he, Liv?”
I opened my mouth. Nothing came out.
She took one step toward the hallway, voice rising. “Rowan, you piece of s**t, you better come out here right now!”
The bathroom door stayed shut.
Zoe spun back to me, eyes blazing. “Did he hit you?”
“No.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“He didn’t touch me like that.”
“Then why do you look like someone just ran you over?”
I started crying again, which pissed me off more. “Because I’m a mess, okay? Not because of him.”
She grabbed my shoulders, looked me dead in the eye. “I swear to God, if he laid one finger on you….”
“He didn’t!”
“Then why’s he hiding in the f*****g bathroom like a coward?”
I wiped my face with the sleeve. “Because I slapped him and he didn’t want to say something he’d regret.”
Zoe went still. Then she let go of me and turned toward the hallway again.
“Rowan!” she yelled, loud enough the neighbors probably heard. “Get your ass out here or I’m kicking this door down!”
Silence.
She took one step. Another.
I grabbed her arm. “Zoe, stop.”
She looked back at me, furious. “I told you hooking up with him was a bad idea. I literally introduced you two as a joke and now look at this shit.”
“I know.”
“I said, ‘He’s hot, he’s single, he’ll annoy the hell out of you,’ and you went and caught feelings anyway.”
“I know.”
She pointed at the bathroom door. “And now he’s got you crying and locked himself in there like a little b***h because what, he can’t handle the consequences?”
The lock clicked.
The door opened slowly.
Rowan stepped out. Bare feet, same sweatpants, red handprint still glowing on his cheek. He didn’t look at me. Just looked at Zoe.
“I needed a second,” he said, voice rough. “That’s all.”
Zoe got right up in his space. She’s shorter than him by a lot but somehow made it feel like she was taller.
“You needed a second,” she repeated. “My best friend is standing here shaking and you needed a second.”
He didn’t back up. “Yeah. I did.”
“Because she hit you?”
“Because if I opened my mouth thirty seconds earlier I would’ve said s**t I couldn’t take back. And she doesn’t need that right now.”
Zoe stared at him for a long beat. Then she looked at me.
I couldn’t hold her eyes.
She turned back to Rowan. “You swear on your life you didn’t touch her.”
“I swear.”
“You swear this whole thing is still the fake dating right?.”
He finally looked at me then. Just for a second. Something raw flashed across his face and was gone.
“It stopped being a game a long time ago,” he said quietly.
Zoe’s mouth opened like she was gonna say more, then closed. She looked between us, back and forth, like she was seeing something she didn’t want to see.
She exhaled hard through her nose.
Then she pointed at Rowan.
“If you ever make her cry again,” she said, voice low and deadly, “I don’t care how big you are. I will end you. Slowly.”
He didn’t answer. Just nodded once.
Zoe grabbed my hand. “Come on. You’re coming home with me.”
I didn’t move.
She tugged. “Liv.”
I looked at Rowan. He was staring at the floor now, hands curled into fists at his sides.
Zoe tugged again, harder. “Now.”
I let
her pull me toward the door.
Right before we stepped out, Rowan spoke, so quiet I almost missed it.
“I’m sorry.”
Zoe didn’t stop walking.
I didn’t answer.
The door shut behind us.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD