Chosen (House of Night #3)(69)

"Go ahead, honey," Damien said, patting my shoulder again. "We're all here now. Tell us what's wrong." I couldn't speak. All I could do was stare at Erik. His face was a handsome, unreadable mask. Or at least it was unreadable until he started speaking, then his blank expression changed to disgust. His deep, expressive voice was a sneer.

"You want to tell them, honey, or should I?"

I wanted to say something. I wanted to yell at him to stop-to please forgive me-that he'd been right and I'd been so damn wrong that it was making me sick. But the only thing that came out of my mouth was a whispered no, so soft that I don't think Damien even heard me. Soon I realized it wouldn't have mattered if I'd shouted. Erik had come there to get back at me, and nothing was going to stop him.

"Fine. I'll tell them." Erik looked at each of my friends. "Our Z's been f**king Loren Blake."

"What!" the Twins said together.

"Impossible," Damien said.

"Nu-uh," Jack sputtered.

Aphrodite didn't say anything.

"It's true. I saw them. Today. In the rec hall. You know, when all of you thought she was oh-so-upset because I'd Changed? Yeah, Zoey, I saw how upset you were. So upset you had to suck Blake's blood and ride him like a horse."

"Loren Blake?" Shaunee said, sounding utterly stunned.

"Mr. Luscious? The guy we've been talking about eating like he was a Dove chocolate bar all semester?" Mirroring her twin's tone, Erin gave me a shocked, horrified look. "You must have thought we were completely pathetic."

"Yeah, why didn't you say something?" Shaunee said.

" 'Cause if Zoey'd told you how in love they were, you might not have been cool with her using me and pretending like we were together so she could sneak around and be with Blake. And anyway, she probably liked laughing at you two," Erik said cruelly.

"I wasn't using you." I said to Erik, surprising myself with how strong my voice suddenly sounded. "And I never laughed at you two, I promise," I told the Twins.

"Yeah, and your word is something they can really trust," Erik said. "She's a lying slut. She used all of you just like she used me."

"All right, time for you to shut up now," Aphrodite said.

Erik laughed, "Oh, that's perfect. One slut standing up for another." Aphrodite's eyes narrowed and she lifted her right hand. The branches of the oak closest to Erik's head swayed down toward him and I heard the warning sounding cracking of wood. "You do not want to piss me off anymore," she said. "You claim to care so much for Zoey, but you've turned on her like a mangy-ass dog because she hurt your little ego. And I can verify for the masses that it is little. You did what you came here for, and now it's time for you to leave."

Erik's brilliant blue eyes flicked back to me, and for a second I thought I saw the old Erik in them-the great guy who had been falling in love with me-but then the pain in his expression drowned out the last of his gentleness. "Fine with me. I'm outta here," he said before walking off. I looked at Aphrodite. "Thanks," I said.

"No problem. I know what it's like to f**k up big time and have people hold it against you forever."

"You've really been with Professor Blake?" Damien asked.

I nodded.

"Holy," Shaunee said.

"Shit," Erin said.

"He's really, really handsome," Jack said.

I took another deep breath and blurted, "Loren Blake is the biggest f**king ass**le I've ever known."

"Wow. You cussed," Aphrodite said.

"So he was just using you for sex?" Damien said. He was back to patting my shoulder again.

"Not exactly." I paused and wiped a hand across my face like I could make myself magically say the right thing. It was time to tell them about Stevie Rae. I wished I'd had a chance to practice what I was going to say. I glanced up to see Aphrodite watching me, and felt ridiculously glad she was there. At least she could back me up and maybe help Damien and the Twins understand.

Then a weird sound came from somewhere on the wall behind me. I wasn't sure I'd actually heard anything at all until Damien looked over my shoulder and said, "What was that?"

"It's the trapdoor," Aphrodite said. "It's opening." A terrible premonition shivered down my spine. I was standing up, making Nala complain loudly and the Twins give me crinkled-forehead looks of confusion when Stevie Rae's voice came from the other side of the opening door.

"Zoey? It's me."

I sprinted for the trapdoor, yelling, "No, Stevie Rae! Stay on-" And, frowning at me, Stevie Rae walked through the trapdoor in the wall that surrounded the school. "Zoey? I-" she started to say, then she noticed everyone who was standing behind me, and she froze. On the ground beside me Nala yowled, and with a wickedly arched back she started to hurl herself at Stevie Rae, hissing and spitting like psycho cat. Thankfully, my fledgling reflexes allowed me to grab her before she got past me. "Nala, no! It's just Stevie Rae," I said, struggling with the freaked-out cat and trying not to get scratched or bit. Stevie Rae had lunged back and was crouching defensively in the shadow of the wall. All I could clearly see of her was the glowing red of her eyes.