Page 177 of Puck Prince

“I can’t go back there,” I cut her off. She waits while I come up with reasons that aren’t Owen-related. “It’s too far away. From you. From him. From everything familiar. I feel untethered enough right now. I need familiar. Plus, it has… memories.”

“Of what? Of Owen?” She arches her brows. “How can it have memories of Owen? You’ve only been there once and—oh my god. Did you guys fuck on the kitchen counter already?”

“Of course not!” I blurt out before hesitantly admitting the truth. “We fucked in the closet.”

Kennedy covers her mouth as a laugh escapes. “Of course you did…”

I smile, but it hurts everywhere. Even my heart.

“Alright, we’ll back burner the new digs for a bit. Option number two—my personal favorite—is for you to come home with me. We can have Owen box up anything that you left at his place and set it by the door. No contact necessary. Alright?”

It’s not great, but it’s the best option I have. I manage a nod, dabbing my eyes with a tissue.

She throws the car into drive. “Out of sight, out of mind.”

If only it were that simple.

Just like our sleepovers growing up, Kennedy piles every pillow she owns on the couch and orders Chinese food—sesame tofu for her and egg drop soup for me. As we eat, I tell her everything.

“He wasn’t who I thought, and by the time I figured it out, it was too late. I was afraid of him.”

Kennedy is crying over her spring roll, which feels like it should be illegal. “Oh, Callie, I had no idea. I mean, I knew you were caught up in some kind of scandal, but I didn’t know it was that bad.” She takes a bite, talking around a mouthful of cabbage. “So everything I’ve seen about Spencer being guilty of sexual assault and you leaving the university because of it…?”

“All true.”

“You need to report him so they can send his ass to jail.”

“I thought it would end my career. He didn’t attack me until we were already in a relationship—er dating, I guess. Whatever we were, it was blurry and made things complicated.” I stir my soup. My appetite more or less disappeared the seconds we started talking about Spencer.

“Callie, I don’t care if y’all were happily married for twenty years with a white picket fence and an army of cats. You said ‘no.’ That’s rape. End of story. Do you understand?”

I nod, setting my bowl aside to grab a tissue. “I do. I mean, when stuff like this happens to other girls, I feel exactly the way you do. But it’s not as black and white when it happens to you, you know? I guess I thought I’d never be this girl. I tried so hard not to be this girl. And now, it’s a mess. Owen and I are a big fat question mark. I’m pregnant. And I look like I could audition forFight Club. If my story was questionable before, it’s even worse now.”

“What happened with Owen exactly?”

I sniff, leaning back into the couch. “He blames himself for everything. He gave me the keys and walked out.”

“Walked out how? Walked out like he needed to blow off some steam, but in a day or two you’ll be back to making babies in closets? Orwalked outwalked out?”

“Walked outwalked out.”

She drums a spring roll against her pursed lips. “It just doesn’t sound like him at all. You two are perfect for each other. This doesn’t make sense.”

It doesn’t make sense to her because she doesn’t know the whole story. It’s yet another thing I’ve kept from her. Another reason I’m on the verge of exploding, too.

“Owen and I were…” I trail off. I don’t know how to take this bandage off, so I figure I might as well just rip it. “He was never my boyfriend.”

Kennedy’s face scrunches in confusion. “I’m sorry, what?”

“So… from the day I met him, I couldn’t stand him. I was locked out on your balcony with your cat.”

“Half naked and half a bottle of merlot deep,” she nods. “I remember this part, so skip the recap. Next episode.”

“I slept with him, but I didn’t like him. And then we kept running into each other. I had no idea he played hockey and even less of an idea he played for the Scythes. For a while, we just avoided each other. But that was easier said than done. I mean, he was my neighbor, and we used the same coffee maker at work.”

“Not to mention KT taping his fine ass is literally in your job description.” She pops another piece of fried tofu in her mouth. As much as I know she’s going to be upset with me momentarily, she’s trash for this sort of gossip and is hanging on every word right now.

“We got caught by the paparazzi on accident a few times, and your dad called us into his office to remind me to be careful—just to make sure we weren’t actually dating, I’m pretty sure. Instead, Owen decided the best solution to our forced proximity problem was to blurt out to Uncle Randy that we were in a relationship.”

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