A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men #5)(122)

She came to my passcode screen, then bit her lip, looking momentarily thoughtful. A second later, she clicked a few numbers and got in.

My mouth dropped open. “How the hell did you figure out my passcode?”

She barely paid me any attention as she found my picture app and opened it. “It’s Zoey,” she said. “Wasn’t that hard to figure out.”

She started scrolling through all my snapshots, and I panicked, snagging the phone from her hand. “Don’t look at them,” I said.

Snapping me a hard glare, she set her jaw firmly. “Why not? Is she that much better looking than me?”

“No. Of course not. Jesus, don’t do this to yourself, Care. I’ll erase them all. Right now. Enough time’s passed, I’m sure she’s moved on and won’t say anything about Gamble.”

Caroline stared at me with hurt eyes as I hunted up the photos and deleted every single one of them. “There,” I murmured softly, showing her the screen. “They’re all gone.”

She took it from my hand and began to look through all the pictures. “So, Marci, and Blaze, and Kelly whose place I took, plus at least two of her friends. Who else is there?”

I shook my head. “Maybe we should just stop there. This was a bad idea.”

But Caroline seared me with a hard glare. “Just keep talking. Now I have to know.”

I wiped trembling hands over my face, feeling the shit rise up around me. “Okay,” I whispered. “Let’s see. There was...” Fuck, I couldn’t believe I was going to admit this one. “Cora.”

“Zoey’s sister?” Caroline’s eye widened with horror. “Quinn’s ex? Oh, Oren. Is that why Quinn gave you a black eye last semester, because you stabbed him in the back with her?”

“I didn’t cheat,” I insisted. Then I ran my hand frantically through my hair. “I mean, not knowingly. I didn’t know they were together yet, not until later and then...shit. You know I wouldn’t do that to Ham on purpose.”

When she just stared at me, pain building behind her eyes, I breathed out an aching breath.

“I did that to Pick too, though, I guess.”

“No.” Tears filled her eyes as she set her hand over her mouth. “You slept with Eva?”

“What? No! God, no!” When I reached for her arm, she recoiled away from me. “His first wife,” I said. “The one who overdosed and died. Julian’s real mother. She came into the bar one night and I had no idea who she was. But Pick assured me it was okay, he and she never had that kind of relationship.”

“But he was still technically married to her?”

I couldn’t get my hands to stop shaking or my breathing to settle down. I hated seeing her like this. “Yes,” I rasped. “He was still technically married to her...in name only.”

She squeezed her eyes closed. “What about the rest of our friends? You’ve never slept with any of the women in our group, have you? Reese?”

“No,” I whispered. “I have never slept with Buttercup or any of our friends.”

Caroline sniffed and wiped at her damn cheeks. I went to move toward her, but she held up a hand. “I just...need a second here.”

I dropped my hand and blew out a breath, but my ribs felt as if they wanted to cave in on me.

“What’s...” She sopped more tears off her cheeks with her fingers. “What’s something Noel would think to tell me? Something he’d think is...bad?”

“I don’t know.” I groaned and scrubbed my face, just wanting this to be over. “Our freshman year, I guess. We’d go to parties, get wasted and bring a girl back to our dorm room.”

“A girl,” Caroline repeated slowly. “A—singular—girl?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Just...some girl, a different one each time.”

“And then...” She shook her head, confused. “What?” But a split second later, she caught on. Her eyes flared. “Oh my f*cking God. You had threesomes...with my brother?”

“No! I mean, not...really. We just...took turns.”

“Eww.” She gagged and slapped her hand over her mouth. The tears fell harder, and I cursed a little louder.

“Then there was Faith McCrown.”

“You know what? No.” Caroline lifted her hands in surrender and flew off my bed. “I don’t...I don’t think I want to hear anymore.”

“Caroline.” I scrambled after her, but she warded me off.

“No. Please. Don’t touch me right now.”

“Damn it.” I fisted my hands, wanting to hit something or grab on to her and hold on for dear life. “I knew this was a bad idea.”

“No, it wasn’t. I just...I need some time.” She snatched her jeans off the floor and jerked them on under my too-big-for-her T-shirt. “I gotta go.”

I watched helplessly as she slammed her feet into her shoes. “You don’t have to leave.”

She blurted out a miserable laugh and sent me a dark look. “No, I really do.” When she stood, I opened my mouth to say...f*ck, I had nothing to say to defend myself. I’d been a slutty man-whore, and that’s all there was to it.

After pushing her fingers across her damp face one more time, she hugged her arms over her chest and cast me a broken glance. “Bye.”