Page 14 of Last Comes Fate

“Dick,” Joni concurred.

“Lowlife,” Marie added.

“Jackass,” Lea declared.

“What?” Xavier’s reply was immediate. “When? Fucking where?”

“In Kendal,” I told him while I swiped at my face with curled fists. “That last day. After you left me and Sofia in the kitchen, I decided the conversation wasn’t done. So I went upstairs to find you, got waylaid by your stepmonster, and by the time I made it back to your office, you were there withher.”

“I was withwho?” Xavier demanded with utter disbelief.

“That snooty neighbor,” Marie offered helpfully. “The viscount’s daughter, right? Or is it just count? I don’t really understand titles.”

“What was her name, again?” Joni asked. “It was super old-fashioned. Like a grandma name.”

“Imelda, I think,” Lea said as she folded her arms, looking like she wanted a shot at Xavier herself alongside Matthew.

“No, it was Imogene,” Kate corrected her. “And I think the name is pretty.”

I exhaled through my nose and massaged my temples. I loved my sisters, but I desperately wished they would disappear right now. It was like a Greek chorus had mated with the cast ofMean Girls.

Xavier’s brow furrowed as he gaped at me. “Imogene?” he repeated as if they’d suggested he’d slept with his own mother. “You think I cheated on you with Imogene bloody Douglas?”

“You said—” I rubbed my eyes, begging the tears to stop. “I heard you, Xavi. She said I couldn’t be happy with you. And you agreed with her. That I was the type of person who couldn’t be happy anyway. So why—why even bother with me, right? Why even try?”

I hiccupped back a gut-churning sob. God, I hated even thinking of the whole thing. For weeks, every time the memory had reappeared, I’d shoved it away, wanting only to forget how I’d felt outside that office door.

Small. Inconsequential.

A complete and total burden.

Kate rounded Lea and pulled me into her shoulder as I finished speaking.

“You said that?” she asked like she didn’t want to believe it.

Xavier’s eyes were rounder than the moon above us. “I—I didn’t—”

But his words faltered, stained with something akin to shame, and I could tell the memory was coming back to him.

“And then she said…” I continued. “She said you deserved something better. And then she kissed you. Don’t try to deny it, Xavi—I saw you! She kissed youand you let her!”

A hush fell over the boardwalk as my sisters all processed the moment with me, this time with a waterlogged Xavier watching us. They’d heard the story before, of course, though perhaps not in so much detail. Right now, however, Xavier didn’t just have one Zola who wanted to kick his ass. He had an entire army.

“What a fuckboy,” Joni pronounced with a curling lip.

“Two-timing snake.” Lea’s hand balled into a fist.

“Jerk,” Marie murmured like she was watching an episode ofJudge Judywith Nonna.

Kate just shook her head while she stroked my hair. “You complete and utterass.”

“Fucking prick,” Matthew said as he swung around with obvious intent.

His fist, however, was caught like a hardball in Xavier’s hand, and Matthew was forced a step back in the water as Xavier rounded on him like a bull seeing red.

“Touch me again, you lose a fucking eye,” Xavier gritted through his teeth as he took an equally rough handful of Matthew’s collar and lifted him a solid inch out of the water. “You’re not the only one who grew up street fighting, mate. And I’m primed right now, Ireallyam.”

He released him roughly, and the two men eyed each other much like two wolves vying for leadership of a pack. A solid minute passed before Matthew exhaled, then took his fist back. Xavier watched him a moment more to make sure he was truly relenting, then turned back to me.

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