Page 55 of Just a Number

He laughs but there’s no humour in it. “Fat fucking chance of that. Why would I want a friend that does that?”

“Does what?” I ask, gently, desperate to unpick this so I can mend it.

“He’s clearly only friends with me so he can get to you.” He huffs.

“You guys were friends before I met him. I don’t think he’s done any of this with some kind of malicious intent, Zack. I swear, it just happened.”

My phone starts ringing and I know from the tone that it’s work, but I decide to ignore it and focus on this conversation.

“Is that him?” It would be hard to miss the disapproval in his voice.

“No, it’s a work call.” That seems to give Zack a way out of this conversation.

“I’m going to grab a shower and then I need to head to college.”

“Are we okay?” I ask, over the sound of the still ringing phone.

“I dunno. I just want to forget I even know. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay. I love you, Zack.”

He releases another un-humorous laugh and then leaves the room. I wilt, wanting to scream and cry.Why did I let this happen?And why is the man that sets my body on fire and wants to worship me too damn young for me?

I snatch my phone from the counter, but it’s stopped ringing. There’s a missed call from one of the girls in the office. I’ll call her back once I’ve calmed down.

A notification pops up at the top of my screen.

Alex:

Are you okay? I can come back.

A warmth spreads in my chest at his concern as I type a quick message back.

Me:

I’m fine. Zack is grabbing a shower and then heading to college.

I leave it at that, trying not to encourage him but hopefully putting his mind at ease. I tidy up the kitchen and then head upstairs to try to get some work done.

Once Zack has slammed his way back out of the house and I’ve had a catch up with the office, I pause for a moment.

I need to talk to someone about this. If I sit here all day, I’m going to just keep replaying it all in my head and probably get nowhere. The night of incredible sex with Alex, then Zack finding out threatens me with overwhelm. I pull up Cassidy’s number on my phone and press call.

“‘Lo,” she answers in a croaky voice after a few rings.

“Oh shit, did I wake you?”

“Hey, Mel. It’s fine. I need to get up anyway.” I hear a murmur of a male voice at the end of the line. “It’s okay, babe, go back to sleep. I’m gonna go talk to Mel.”

I hear her moving around and then what could be a door closing behind her.

“Hey, let me just start the coffee and then I’m all yours,” she tells me. In the background, there’s the sound of cupboards opening and closing and a kettle boiling. “Right, I’ll soon be caffeinated. What’s up?”

“Why would anything be up? Couldn’t this just be a friendly call?” I’m stalling and I’m not sure why.

“Mel, you always text first to check if it's okay to chat. If you’re ringing me straight off the bat, I shall assume it’s of a more urgent nature.”

“Oh, fair enough.” I hedge a moment more. “Zack knows.”

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