Unexpected (23 page)

That stopped me from trying to get away. It froze me in place. Not only his words but the look on his face.

“I’m taking what well?” I demanded.

He cocked his head to the side. “
Breaking up. Or was it your idea? Is that why you’re taking it well? Although, I have to say, considering he’s the one that’s had a crush on you for years, I was surprised that he’d moved on so fast.”

“Moved on?” Why did my voice sound so…
foreign
? “
Tristan
moved on?”

Corey
blinked at me. In that split second, he looked as surprised as I felt. Then
he
started to step away. “You know what…never mind.” He turned and I grabbed him by the elbow.

“What are you talking about?” I demanded. He winced and I realized my nails were digging into his forearm. I slowly released him.
“That’s not funny. You can’t just say stuff like that and get away with it,” I said. “I know you don’t like that I’m with Tristan now. But you can’t be spreading lies like that.”

“Hey,” Willow said
as she appeared between us. “What’s going on?”

I wasn’t sure where she’d come from. Her brow was furrowed and her gaze swung between
Corey and me.

“Hey, Willow,”
Corey said. “I think maybe we just had a misunderstanding.”

“That didn’t seem like a misunderstanding,” I snapped. “That seemed like you trying to cause problems.”

He shook his head. “You know…maybe you just need to talk to Tristan. You didn’t break up?”

“Why would you think they broke up?” Willow demanded.

“You know what? I really don’t want to get into it. It’s not my place.”

He moved to leave and I grabbed him yet again.

“You don’t just get to walk away. What did you mean when you said Tristan had moved on? Why would you think that?”

Willow arched one neatly plucked eyebrow at him. “
Corey?”

He threw his hands up. “Okay, fine. I
saw Tristan with some girl tonight. When I was on my way here. They looked…cozy.”

“Cozy?”  I asked. Then I shook my head. “It couldn’t have been Tristan. He’s working.”

“No,” Corey said. “He’s not. It was him. Unless he makes deliveries?” He had one eyebrow cocked because he knew for a fact that Tristan didn’t make deliveries.

Smart ass
, I thought.

I wanted to argue. But suddenly, I didn’t dare.
Corey seemed so sure.

As if he read my mind he said, “Britta, I’m sure. I know Tristan when I see him. Believe it or not, I do recognize him even when you aren’t attached to his side.”

“Where was this?” Willow demanded.

Corey
gave generalized directions. I didn’t know exactly
where
he was talking about. I just knew the area.

“They went into an apartment together,” he told us.

I could feel Willow’s eyes burning into me. I was shaking my head. I was trying to think of a logical explanation. But I couldn’t. I couldn’t imagine why he wouldn’t be at work. If he’d lied about that, that was bad enough. But if he was with a girl?
Cozy
with a girl? And heading into her apartment? What the hell did that mean?

“Britta?” Willow said quietly. I could hear the concern in her voice.

I finally snapped out of it and looked at Corey again. “You’re lying. There’s no way.”

He looked apologetic and for some reason, that annoyed me. “I’m not lying. I mean…if you want, I can show you the apar
tment.” He almost looked relieved at the idea. “I didn’t look around when I was there. I mean, why would I? I didn’t think much of it, just that it was crazy you two broke up already.”

“Get to the point,” Willow calmly interrupted.

“Okay,” Corey said. “If it’s Tristan, and I know it is, I bet his car is there.”

I slumped up against the
counter as soon as those words were out of his mouth. The world had suddenly gone all fuzzy. My knees had turned to soggy noodles. I could feel my heart slamming in my chest and suddenly, even something as simple as breathing was difficult.

“Britta?
” Corey said as he reached out to rub my arm. It was a gesture of consolation. And I didn’t want it. Because there was nothing to console me about. Right? I wanted it to be true but I just didn’t know anymore.

“He’s suppose
d to be at work,” I said. “He’s supposed to meet me here when he gets done.” He was working late. He’d said something about inventory. I was sure of it. Or was I? Suddenly, my thoughts were spinning out of control. Was he not at work? After making such a big deal about needing to be there? And if he wasn’t at work tonight, did that mean he really wasn’t there all those other nights either? And if he wasn’t there, did that mean all those other nights he was sneaking off to an apartment with a girl?

I shook my head. Those thoughts were absolutely ridiculous. There was no way. None.

“He’s working,” I said. My voice sounded far more confident than I felt.

“
Until what time?” Corey demanded.

I shrugged. “What difference does it make?”

“I was just thinking if he’s got a while yet before he’s supposed to meet you, maybe he’s still there.”

“With some girl.” Saying the words out loud, it slammed into me like an emotional brick.

“Do you know who she was?” Willow demanded.

I narrowed my eyes at
Corey. There was still a large part of me that didn’t believe this was happening. This couldn’t be happening.
Because it was Tristan
. And he wouldn’t do that kind of thing. I’d known him almost my whole life. He wouldn’t lie to me. He wouldn’t sneak off with some girl. One or the other was bad enough. The two together were a mixture that could only result in something explosively awful.

He
lied
to me.

That was almost worse than the realization that he’d gone into an apartment with someone.

Because if he was capable of lying, deceiving, what else was he capable of doing?

Corey
shrugged. “I didn’t recognize her. Some short chick.” He hesitated. “Oh, but when she was under the streetlamp, it looked like she had pink streaks through her hair.”

If he’d thrown ice water over me, I wasn’t sure I could’ve been more shocked.
Suddenly I was blinking back tears that wanted to gush down my face. He couldn’t have known about Jayde and I realized that what he said had to be true.

Even though there was no way it could be.

“Come on,” Willow said. She looped her arm through mine. I kept my eyes on the ground as she swerved our way through the crowd. I wasn’t aware that Corey had followed us until we were outside. I realized Willow and I were not alone on the front porch. Ignoring Corey she turned to me. “So now what? What do you want to do?”

“I think I want to find Tristan,” I said. Somehow, on that short little hike from the hallway to the front porch, my feelings of hurt and disbelief had been boxed up. I was saving them for later. Right then, I was simply livid.

But I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe it hadn’t been Tristan. Not likely. Especially when Corey described a girl that looked just like Jayde. It sounded just too coincidental. But still…I needed proof. And really, it should be easy enough. If Tristan’s car was there, that was all the proof that I needed. Either he had lied to me, or he hadn’t.

“Should I go get Jamie?” Willow wondered.

I shook my head. “Probably not.”

Willow took out her phone. “I’ll let her know we’re leaving but that we should be back.”

I didn’t say anything. Jamie was with Evan so she probably wouldn’t even miss us. As I was waiting for her to finish up, my own phone announced an incoming text. My heart skittered when I saw that it was Tristan. I felt a huge surge of relief; sure he was messaging me to let me know there had been a change of plans. The feeling of relief was so immense, I almost collapsed from it.

But then I retrieved the text.

Running late

I texted back
,
Where are yo
u
?

There was a hesitation that felt a lot longer than I thought it should be. Especially when the text that came back t
o me was a single word:

Work

Corey had been looking over my shoulder. “Maybe he’s at work,” he said hesitantly. “Maybe he was just giving that chick a ride somewhere.”

“And she was too helpless to make it to the door on her own?” Willow grumbled.

“Let’s go,” I said. “There’s only one way to find out if Corey’s right.”

“I’ll drive,”
Corey said.

We followed him to his car. The whole situation felt wrong on so many levels. Just being with
Corey, felt wrong. Being with Corey so that he could prove to me that Tristan was a liar? It was almost unfathomable. And yet, as I dumped myself into his front seat I had to force myself to come to terms with the fact that it was exactly what I was doing.

We drove in silence. I was grateful for that. My emotions were so tangled up I was afraid of what would come out of my mouth if I tried to open it. The entire ride across town I was sure that
Corey was wrong simply because I couldn’t fathom that he was right. I possibly could have if not for the text from Tristan. I could have excused it as thinking something came up. Maybe the group that I’d met at Pulse had shown up and he’d gotten off work early.

But that, right there, was the problem. He said he was at work. And if he wasn’t…?

Corey muttered an expletive from beside me. It took me a few seconds to realize why. But when I did, it was just another mental kick

It was Tristan’s car. No doubt about it. He rolled by slowly; to be sure I got a good look. I wasn’t sure if that was for my benefit. Or his, so that I’d know he was right. He continued a short distance down the block and then pulled over.

“Britta,” Corey said. His voice sounded pained. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to be right.”

“I’m looking at it, and I still don’t believe it,” Willow said.

“Are you okay?” Corey asked.

“No. Not really,” I snapped. “It sucks to have your heart
broken.”

“Yeah,”
Corey said as he blew out a breath. “I can’t believe he did this to you.”

“I wasn’t just talking about him,” I grated out. “You suck, too!”

He gave me a startled look. Then his expression turned to one of guilt. “I’m sorry I hurt you, Britta. I really am. And to be honest, I’ve regretted it just about every single day since. It was one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done. And yeah, that’s saying a lot. But, at least I didn’t lie to you. At least I didn’t go behind your back. I sure as hell didn’t sneak off into some girl’s apartment to do who knows what. And then send you a text saying I was at work.”

My emotional dam chose that second to crack. My tears came out in a gush.

Corey didn’t say anything. Though I was sure I’d regret it later, I let him pull me into his chest. I silently cursed the fact that it felt so familiar. In my heartbroken state I was also cursing the fact that I’d ever let myself fall for Tristan. Corey was right. At least he’d been honest. He hadn’t snuck around. Or lied. Yeah, he’d broken my heart too. But at least he was up front about it.

I’d trusted Tristan.

Just like I’d trusted my dad.

And they’d both taken that trust and shredded it, along with my heart, into little tiny pieces.

I felt
ridiculous, wrapped up in my ex’s arms, crying about my supposedly current boyfriend. Yet, I couldn’t seem to do the adult thing and pull myself away. Corey didn’t seem to mind too much. He started murmuring things I couldn’t quite understand. I thought maybe that wasn’t a bad thing. I probably didn’t want to know what he was saying right then.

“So, um, I realize you two are having a moment,” Willow said. “But I’m still back here.”

That announcement was enough to make me come to my senses. Somewhat. I pulled away from Corey. It took some effort because he didn’t seem to want to let me go.

“
Ohhh
,” Willow said. Her tone implied something was wrong. When she added, “Oh, no,” I snapped my head back to look at her.

She grimaced and pointed out the back window.

The mental kicks just continued to come. The evening had gone from bad, to worse, to now…almost unbearable. Because Tristan and Jayde were walking across the street behind us. Corey had been right. Tristan was grinning down at her and she had her arm looped through his. They did look…cozy.

“We should probably go,”
Corey said. “You really shouldn’t have to watch this. The car was proof enough.”

He moved, going for the ignition but I put a hand on his arm to stop him. “No. Don’t. Not yet.” I was still staring out the back window. I was
waiting, anticipating the second when I would feel my heart shatter. It didn’t come. Not then. At that moment, watching Tristan and Jayde, watching them when they looked so happy…I just felt… numb. I felt like it couldn’t really be happening. I felt like that couldn’t
really
be Tristan.