Page 59 of Five Days

“I did.” Proof he’d spent too long outside the day before. The sun had kissed his face with perhaps a bit too much pink, one of the reasons I’d insisted we picnic beneath the canopy.

“Did you miss me?” I teased, telling myself I didn’t really ask out of insecurity.

“Of course we did.” Zack placated me with a smirk, the knowing bastard.

“I always pine for Callum when he’s not around, but I’m actually kind of glad to have you all to myself today.”

I hoped to hear Zack agree with the sentiment, but he simply popped another bite of fruit between his lips.

“It was nice reminiscing about our childhood this morning,” he stated quietly after swallowing, sending a zing through my system. “We had some good times, didn’t we?”

“We really did,” I agreed before sipping my chilled wine. “But being invited to ride on the elephant at the circus a few months after you came to live with us—that’s one of my most treasured memories.”

“Really?” Zack gave me the undivided attention I’d been craving since we’d sat down to snack. His gaze roamed over my face like a physical touch, making me hungry for more. “Of everything we did, every vacation your parents dragged us on, that stands out in your memory?”

“It was the first time you held my hand.”

A soft smile made his eyes twinkle. “You were scared shitless.”

“I thought I was going to topple off and get trampled by those huge feet.”

Zack chuckled. “You’d have been squashed for sure. You were such a pipsqueak back then.”

“Hey.” I tossed a piece of that disgusting fruit at his head.

Of course, he shied away, and I missed him by a mile, which made him laugh.

I damn near swooned at the lines at the corners of his eyes. “I’ve missed that.”

“What?” he asked while righting himself, still chuckling.

“The sound of your happiness.”

His smile faded. “Can’t say that happens too often.”

“Same,” I whispered what I hated about my life.

We stared at one another for a long moment, and I realized the connection I hoped to find with him again required that I tell him all the shit of my life. I had to be completely honest. With how Zack and I were secluded where there was no escape except for the boat offshore and around the bend waiting on our walkie-talkie request to return to the hotel, Zack had no choice but to hear me out.

And if it made him pack his bags and take off early, then at least I could say I’d been completely honest with him.

“After I told you to leave…” I started, my heart racing badly enough I didn’t know how to go on. Showing vulnerability had to be the key, right?

Fuck.

I swallowed hard and set the glass of wine aside before I snapped the stem.

“I’m not going to judge you, Landon.” Zack’s quiet words assured me as gently and easily as Callum always did. “Get whatever you need off your chest. I promise to listen and attempt to see things from your point of view.”

Tears welled in my eyes, and I blinked rapidly to keep from getting overly emotional. I didn’t need him thinking I was trying to manipulate him again.

“After you left, I grew resentful. Gave up my virginity to the first guy who showed interest. And once I learned what a high I got from bottoming and making men lose their ability to do anything but nut up my ass, I became addicted.” I glanced at Zack, but he didn’t appear fazed by my admission.

“So anyway.” I inhaled until it hurt. “An asshole ex-boyfriend unknowingly recorded and then leaked a cum dump sex tape across social media. The names I’d been called during the filming used to get me off—which was why he’d agreed to share me so often—but the backlash of that video proved to be disastrous. It even hit the major news networks.

“Father’s hopes of running for president got tossed into the sewer along with my reputation. Overnight, I became the ‘Soiled Senator’s Son’, confined to the shadows. They called me a cock-hungry whore, so I sought isolation. I was labeled a cum slut, who had shown my asshole to anyone in order to be filled, since I didn’t get any attention at home.”

Fuck, did stating that shit aloud still hurt.

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