Page 148 of Take My Hand

It was too late Zak had spotted me, and as he lifted his eyes to mine he smiled at me. It wasn’t forced, but it felt like he was surprised, so I did what instinct told me to do and what my legs finally allowed me to do…I turned around and ran away.

Chapter Fifty-Three

Maddy

Iknew I couldn’t go back to Zak’s uncle’s house. I had no idea how to get there, or what the address was. The best thing I could do was find Emma and Liv and come up with a plan, but scanning the room there was no sign of them. I did spot Oscar, though, so headed for him.

“Hey, Mads.” He greeted me with a huge, drunken smile. “Having a good time?” He peered at me and then frowned. “What’s up, darlin’?”

I took a huge breath, unsure what to say. Zak was his friend, and he knew Connie better than he knew me, so I couldn’t really expect his support, but there was no one else around, and I was on the verge of bursting into tears. Shaking my hands out at my sides, I looked over his shoulder towards the spot where I’d seen Zak and Connie talking. Then it kind of hit me—they wereonlytalking…

“Maddy?” Oscar prompted.

“I just found Zak and Connie together,” I blurted out.

Oscar’s eyes went as wide as saucers as he leaned his upper body forward, like he wasn’t sure he’d heard me properly.

“Together?” Scrubbing a hand over his face he placed his other on my shoulder. “Like together, together?”

“Talking together?”

He placed both hands on my shoulders as he looked me in the eye, swaying slightly as he did. “Talking?”

I nodded and watched as he blinked slowly. He was a good-looking boy, not quite as dark as Zak, with slate grey-eyes that glinted with mischief. His style was very much like’s Zak’s, wearing rings and a necklace, but instead of short, cropped hair, his was longer on top and messy. He’d had plenty of girls following him around all night, but his eyes seemed to always be on a tiny, pretty redhead who stayed closed to her friends, warily watching the room.

“If they were just talking.”

“It was the way they were talking.” As he scratched his head, I knew that I shouldn’t have told him. Zak was his friend, and I was putting him in a difficult situation. “It’s fine, I’m just being an idiot.”

“No, if it’s upset you, then it’s not fine.”

“Mads.” A hand reached for mine, and Zak appeared in front of me. He turned to Oscar. “Thanks, mate.”

Oscar shook his head. “Sort it out because I mean it, Connie is not worth the shit.” He ruffled my hair and left, heading in the direction of the redhead.

“Who’s that?” I asked Zak. “Oscar seems to like her.”

Zak looked over to where I pointing and sighed. “That’s our friend, Ruby, who I told you about. The one who was drugged. This is the first time she’s been out in ages; she was really nervous about it.”

My gaze shot over to her. She was looking up at Oscar who was a respectful distance from her. When he reached out totouch her cheek, and she visibly relaxed, giving him a beautiful smile, my heart did a little leap.

“He likes her,” I stated.

Zak nodded. “Yeah, he does. Has done for a long time, since we were about ten.” He laughed and then turned to me, signalling a full stop to the conversation. “Why did you run away?”

I pulled my hand from his and crossed my arms over my chest. “Why do you think?”

“We were only talking.”

“For about half an hour while I was waiting like an idiot.” Swallowing, I waited for Zak to turn it on me, to make it seem like my fault, like I should have gone to the toilet with him if I didn’t want to be left alone, like I should have gone looking for him sooner.

He dropped his head and sighed. “I’m sorry. I should have come back to you sooner. I shouldn’t have left you for so long.”

It wasn’t what I expected. But he was still talking to her, though. He still looked like he was enjoying their conversation.

“It wasn’t just that, it was how you were talking to her.”

Saying the words again didn’t make them sound any less stupid than they had the first time. They didn’t make me seem any less neurotic.

---