“After the...incident...with Stella,” she started, “Reid told Dane that Stella had a busted lip, and a bruise on the side of her face. Stella said you did it.”

“But you saw the whole thing,” I replied. “I didn’t put a hand on her.”

“I know, but I saw her face this morning, and he was telling the truth.”

“And he believed her?”

Kennedy dropped her head and I knew that Reid did in fact believe whatever bullshit Stella had told him.

“She also told him you threatened her,” added Grady. “But he wouldn’t repeat exactly what Stella told him. He said he wanted to talk to you first.”

I laughed bitterly, and the bile rising in my throat burned. “What’s the point? He already believes her.”

Grady reached over and covered my hand with his. “We know she’s lying, and we’ll find out exactly what the psycho bitch did to get her face to look like you’d pummeled her. You can’t get upset over this, okay? Right now you have to take care of yourself, and we’re gonna be with you all the way.”

As much as I appreciated their support, I’d reached a point where I was tired of feeling like some kind of victim of whatever Stella was doing. I’d decided to get back to being my old self, and there was no way some Psycho Hobbit was going to stop me. I was done fighting, and no matter what the outcome was going to be after I told Reid about my pregnancy, I was done with the stupid game we’d been playing. I was done dancing around him, the tatters of our friendship, and his bitch of a girlfriend. I had someone who mattered more than all of that.

I sat up straight, braced my shoulders, and inhaled.

“If he wants to talk, then we’ll talk, but if he thinks I’m fighting Stella for him any longer, he’s wrong.”

Chapter 7

Reid

Let Her Go

I checked my phone for the umpteenth time, noting that it was, in fact, quite late. It was already nightfall, and as I stepped out of my Range Rover I wondered if I was making a mistake. Jade had to have been sleeping, but after landing at the airport only a few hours ago, I had to speak to her.

Stella and I had stayed for the rest of our trip to Cabo, while Dane, Kennedy and Grady had left soon after Jade. Every instinct in my body told me to go with them, but like the idiot I was, I stayed behind with Stella instead. She seemed a little more relaxed once we were alone, and I couldn’t help but be bothered by how much she disliked my friends. I thought it would have taken her some time to get used to our group, so I never thought much of it, but I was starting to see things now, that hadn’t been so obvious before.

I crossed the dimly lit road, and up the familiar drive way leading up to Jade’s house. My parents lived right next door, but they weren’t home, and even if they were, it was too late to call on them now anyway.

I pulled my black, leather jacket closer to my body, and fought the chill in the air as I expelled a smoky breath. I was cold, freezing, but it had less to do with the temperature and more with the chill inside me. I hadn’t spoken to Jade in days, since our confrontation at the hotel, and she’d ignored every attempt I’d made to get in touch. That only made my already frayed nerves over what I was going to do intensify. I knew things with Stella and I couldn’t stay the same – I was unhappy – but I had no idea how to judge where that left my relationship with Jade. We were supposed to be heading back to school tomorrow, and I decided to get this out the way before we were forced to see each other every day and pretend.

Wanting some kind of resolution was what led me to her front door.

I knocked, hoping someone would still be awake, and the moment I thought no one would answer, the door opened, revealing my very own girl-next-door.

“Reid?”

Jade’s hair was tied up, and hung loosely over one shoulder, and she wore a grey U of B hoodie – my grey hoodie -, light purple sleep shorts, and a pair of white knitted Ugg boots that I’d bought her for her birthday last year. I stood there, transfixed. She looked tired though, and while I was relieved that she’d answered, I was also worried about her.

“Hey,” I said, finding my words. “I hope I didn’t wake you.”

Amidst the frigid winter temperature, the air between us still crackled, filling with my need to pull her to me and hold her close, and the unspoken words that could no longer remain unspoken.

“Can I come in?” I asked. I inhaled the cold air, and caught a whisper of Jade’s favorite perfume. It made my insides tingle in remembrance, knowing what her skin tasted like when mixed with that scent, and our sweat. It was both heady, and a punch to the gut, winding me all at once.

“It’s late,” she replied. “What are you doing here?”

Her voice was soft, but I caught the undercurrent of uncertainty lingering under her breath.

I shuffled on my feet, wiping my sweaty hands on the inside of my pockets, and cleared my throat. “You haven’t returned my texts or my calls,” I shivered, “We need to talk.”

She bit her lip, and hesitated slightly before swinging the door open, and stepping back so that I could walk in. The foyer was dark, but I saw light coming from the living room, and figured she must’ve been on the sofa when I knocked on the door.

“Why are you still up?” I asked. It was the first thing I could think of to ask to break the uncomfortable silence crashing around us.

“I was restless,” – she looked down, and folded her arms around herself – “I was just reading.”

Her teeth started to chatter, and I stepped forward with every intention of rubbing her arms to stave off the cold, but stopped myself when her head shot up.

“You’re not dressed warm enough,” I chided, taking notice of the bags under her brown eyes. Wasn’t she sleeping? Was she troubled?

“I’m fine, Reid,” she sighed. “You said you wanted to talk?”

Her impatience snapped me out of my inner monologue about her wellbeing, and I stood taller. I couldn’t afford to allow that part of me to override what I’d come here to do, and that was to talk, to clear the air, and figure out where we went from here.

“Yeah, I uh....” I scraped my hands though my hair, once against struggling to separate what I had to do with how I felt about the woman standing in front of me. “I need to know what happened with you and Stella.”

Jade’s eyes pierced mine, and the urge to pull away was strong. I didn’t want her to see the choices I’d made, or the regret colliding with indecision. She could read me like an open book, when the rest of the world didn’t even fucking bother looking past the surface. It was one of many reasons she’d been my best friend since, well, forever.

She walked past me, into the living room, and I followed, slipping my jacket off and placing it on the arm of the sofa. She took a seat, and looked up at me as if waiting for me, like she had an idea of what was going to be said.

“Might as well say it,” I twisted to face her, “You think whatever happened to Stella’s face is my doing.”

I frowned. “You know what happened, then?”

“Kennedy and Grady filled me in, yes, and I’m struggling to understand why you believe I did it.”

“I’m not sure what to believe,” I replied honestly. “But it was hard not to take her side when I saw her face, Jade.”