The Hardest Fall(101)

I left Kayla and Jared alone and went to find my phone. It was ringing and I hoped it was Dylan, but unfortunately, it wasn’t. Reluctantly, I answered.

“Yes.”

After a few seconds of silence, Mark spoke up. “Where are you?”

No, I was worried about you. No, I heard what happened at the library. No, Are you okay, Zoe? No Is there anything I can do? No nothing.

But none of it mattered because I’d already talked to my dad. He had already asked the questions a dad was supposed to ask. This man was nothing to me, and it was my own damn fault for thinking things could’ve been different.

“I’m with my friends,” I said coldly.

“Did you tell him? Dylan?”

“Not yet, but I will.” I would that night, as soon as I decided how to go about it. At that moment, I realized I wasn’t afraid to tell him about Mark and Chris. It was just words, and it would’ve been easy enough to sit him down and explain from the very beginning. What I was afraid of was how he would react. Would he be angry at me for letting him think there was something going on between me and my biological father? Would whatever was happening between us end before it had even begun? That was what I was afraid of—losing him. God knew I’d have been angry at him for letting me think the worst of him.

“Where are you?” he asked again, and I could tell he was gritting his teeth. “I’ll pick you up. We need to talk.”

“I’m busy right now.”

“Zoe,” he thundered through the phone. “You are going to tell me where the hell you are and we are going to talk.”

Anger bubbled up inside me. I was pretty close to hating him, not that I’d really loved him before, but at least I hadn’t detested him. I had been curious, and I’d wanted a chance to get to know him. The first time we met, I told him how excited I was to meet Chris, how I’d always wanted a brother or sister. He’d gently told me it was too early to tell Chris, saying we should take advantage of the time and get to know each other before we told him because he was still shocked himself. He said he was trying to protect his family, and I got that. Oh, it wasn’t the best feeling to know he was trying to protect them from me, but at least I’d understood him. As the next three years had passed, I’d slowly come to the realization that Mark wasn’t interested in telling Chris anything, at least not the whole truth, and the realization had come three years late.

So, it was time I told him everything I’d kept inside for so long. We were going to have a talk, and this time I was going to be the one doing all the talking. It was probably going to be the last time I ever saw him, too, and I was more than okay with that. I gave him Jared’s address, and he told me he’d be there in fifteen.

After sitting with Jared and Kayla for another ten minutes, I promised them I’d come back the next day to meet her parents then headed out to wait for Mark to come pick me up. When I told my friends I was going to talk with him, Jared gave me an alarmed look, but I didn’t think anything of it.

I should’ve. I should’ve been just as alarmed as he was because I didn’t know it then, but right that second, Dylan was waiting for me across the street from the apartment building I’d just walked out of.

My phone beeped with a new text and I looked down to read it as I walked toward the sidewalk.

Dylan: I missed you.

When I heard a car, I looked up from the screen and saw Mark’s black SUV coming toward me. Without sending a reply, I stuffed the phone in my back pocket and nervously waited for him to come to a stop right in front of me.

As I climbed up into the passenger seat, unbeknownst to me, Dylan took a few steps forward and stared at the car in shock. I didn’t know he was waiting across the street so he could walk back to the apartment with me. I didn’t know he’d wanted to surprise me.





Chapter Twenty-Five





Zoe





Mark unlocked the apartment door and gestured for me to go in first. I hesitated.

“Go, Zoe,” he said through gritted teeth.

Since Dylan had moved in, Mark had never once come to the apartment. There had been a handful of times he’d invited me to meet somewhere far away from campus—far away from watchful eyes—but more often than not, he had stood me up. In months, I’d seen him a total of three times, or maybe four. On the most recent occasions, he had barely even looked me in the face. The guy who acted like he was interested in getting to know me had disappeared somewhere between my sophomore and junior years, and I was an idiot.

I stepped inside and panicked for a moment as I wondered where Dylan was.

Mark didn’t waste any time walking past me into the living room. His posture was rigid, his knuckles already white.

“Tell me what this is all about,” he ordered when I was standing close enough.

“What?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself, Zoe. Where did this thing about telling Dylan everything come from?”

He couldn’t be that blind, could he?

“I like him,” I said slowly. “We’re more than just friends.” Just saying it out loud made my stomach tighten in the best way possible. If I hadn’t been staring at Mark’s angry face, I’m sure I would’ve grinned.

“You can’t be this stupid.”