Page 26 of Resurrecting the Enemy
“Even if you two are in the middle of a little spat, we still should have been informed,” he said, completely ignoring me.
“Why?” If he wasn’t going to acknowledge that I said Iwasn’tdating Ramsey, then I needed to know what the hell he wanted from me.
“Well, so we can make accommodations, if need be, Ms. Warren,” he replied like I was an idiot, but I wasn’t an idiot. He was referring to special treatment, and I wasn’t having it.
I grabbed my backpack off the floor. “Let me assure you, Mr. Hughes, that there will be no need to make accommodations or whatever,” I told him. “Now, may I get back to class?” I was beyond irritated.
“Well, certainly,” he replied, still bristling at me like I was being difficult or something.
I hooked my backpack over my left shoulder and left his office. I was irritated enough to want to unblock Ramsey’s number and ask him what the fuck, but then that would be giving him the reaction he wanted, and I wasn’t going to do that.
However, I was rethinking cussing him out when I rounded the corner and almost ran over Curt. We shared first, fifth, and seventh period together, so he obviously knew I’d been called to the principal’s office, and I couldn’t imagine what he’d told Mr. Gaviers to get a hall pass.
But here he was.
And I wasn’t in the mood.
“Lake-”
I shook my head. “Not now, Curt,” I bit out.
“Are you in trouble?” he asked, ignoring me, and I was really getting tired of men ignoring me.
“I need to get to class,” I replied, not answering, intent on walking right past him. However, I wasn’t prepared for him to reach out and grab my arm.
He turned me to face him. “C’mon, Lake,” he said. “Give me a break here.”
“Let go of my arm, Curt,” I snapped. “You don’t get to do that anymore.”
Curt immediately let go and threw his hands up in surrender. “Sorry.”
I let out a deep breath, realizing I was taking out my frustrations with Ramsey on Curt. While we had nothing to talk about, there was no need to be mean. It was over, and I couldn’t garner enough emotion to hate him over it anymore.
“What do you want, Curt?”
He actually looked torn up, but it did nothing to soften me. “How many times do I have to tell you that I barely remember a thing, Lake?”
I closed my eyes, exhausted already for only being the first class of the day. When I opened them, Curt was looking at me earnestly. It’s the same story he told when Erica had posted all about their night together. She had even posted pictures of them in bed. Though they’d both been under the covers, it was obvious what they’d done.
The next day, Curt had pounded on my front door, begging me to hear him out, but my view on it hadn’t changed. Curt remembering doing the deed or not didn’t change the fact that he’d done it. He cheated whether he had enjoyed it or not.
And even if I could have found it in my heart to forgive him, Erica posting it all over the place was a humiliation I just couldn’t get past.
“And how many times do I have to tell you that I don’t care,” I replied. “Your lack of memory doesn’t change anything, Curt.”
“Lake, I never would have done it if I hadn’t been so fucked-up,” he swore again.
I hoisted my backpack up higher on my shoulder. “And I would believe that if you hadn’t kept your interaction with her a secret.”
That was another thing. According to him, Erica had been coming onto him the entire time we’d been dating, and he swore he had refused all her advances and that he’d had no interest in her. He swore he was in love with me, but why not tell me she was hitting on him? His excuse was that he hadn’t wanted to upset me because he knew Erica didn’t care for me.
“I already explained that,” he argued. “I didn’t want to upset you over something that was never going to happen or matter.”
“Except that it did happen, Curt,” I reminded him quietly.
“Lake, I’m so fucking sorry,” he said again for the millionth time. He ran his hands through his hair. “I still fucking love you.”
I shook my head. “Don’t do this,” I snapped. “You don’t get to do this.”
