Page 143 of Marked By the Pack
I forced a laugh. Because Otto was trying to make light of the situation. But everyone was just pissed off at each other.
I watched Titan pull out his phone. He pressed a few buttons. I assumed it was done.
“So…yeah,” I said. “Now you know.” I stared at all of them. They all looked angry, pissed off, hurt. Except Otto. Because Otto always tried to make me feel better. I wiped away the tears beneath my eyes.
I swallowed hard. “Thank you guys, for everything. I meant what I said. I think you helped heal this piece of me that was still hurt by everything that happened back in college.” And hopefully tonight I’d find a way to pay them back for that. “These last few days were some of my best in the last ten years.” I nodded. “Yeah.” I didn’t know what else to say. “So thank you. And…I’m just going to go.”
“Stop,” Bennett said.
I stared into his blue eyes. I was going to miss them.
“You’re just going to walk away?” he asked.
“I don’t have anything else to say.” I could feel myself breaking. I needed my bed. And Emma. I could really use one of her hugs right now.
“You don’t want to hear what we have to say? Because you said you wanted to talk about it.”
I opened my mouth and then closed it again. “I think it’s pretty obvious how you guys feel.”
Otto smiled. “I think it’s hot. Can we star in one of these videos with you?”
Huxley hit him in the back of the head.
I laughed, but it came out forced.
“Zoey, we’re in a relationship,” Bennett said. “So no, you don’t just get to walk away from us before we have an actual discussion about this.”
“I really am sorry,” I said. “I was going to tell you. I just…”
“Titan blackmailed you before you got a chance. Yeah. We’ll handle that later.”
“Okay.” I glanced at Titan.
He really did look sorry. I was so used to seeing him looking pissed off.
“So let’s talk about this,” Bennett said. “And figure it out together.”
“Wait. You…you’re not breaking up with me?”
He finally smiled. “No.” He closed the distance between us. “Are you breaking up with us?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Well, that’s a relief.” He put his hands on the sides of my face. “Back to back breakups in such a short span of time would have seriously wounded my ego.”
I smiled up at him. I was pretty sure I was in shock. Was he seriously not breaking up with me?
“More importantly though…” He wiped away my remaining tears with this thumbs. “I don’t want to lose you.”
Gah, I was going to start crying all over again. I wrapped my arms around him and pressed the side of my face into his chest.
His hands settled on my back. For just a few moments, he held me. While my heart started beating normally again. And the pain in my chest eased. I’d expected the worst. I’d pictured them calling me a slut and kicking me to the curb. I never expected them to forgive me. To accept me.
“We do need to talk about this though,” he finally said, breaking the silence. “All of us.” He exhaled slowly as he pulled back from me. “I get why you started your MyFanatics account. But why keep it going for so long?”
“It’s my job.” It was more than that though. For a long time it had been everything to me.
“I thought you were a personal fitness instructor? Which honestly…I think we should probably talk about too.”
