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“What’s not fair is you blaming Will for that,” Maya said softly. “It’s a terrible situation, and I feel sorry for you, but you can’t come here yelling blame where it’s not justified.”
I was shocked to hear that my half-brother had been an addict. I’d automatically assumed he’d be some sort of executive in his dad’s business, and that he’d done well with his life. Maybe he had a family and a home. I’d assumed that because he’d had a father in his life. How wrong could I have been? It seemed I was assuming a lot of shit the last few days.
Steven looked at each of us in turn, and then went to the front door, and pulled down the handle. I breathed a sigh of relief. He was about to walk out, when he stopped and turned around, pointing his finger at me. “It should have been you,” he snarled. “You should have been the fuck up, not him.”
Then he was gone, slamming the door behind him.
“I think that’ll be the last you’ll see of him,” Maddy commented.
Reaching out an arm, I wrapped it around her and pulled her to me, kissing her temple. “You could be right, sweetheart, but can’t say I care.”
“Are you okay?” Maya asked, cautiously.
“Fine, babe. Absolutely fine.” When she gave me a soft smile, I didn’t feel one ounce of regret. “We’re just having a beer. You want one?”
“That would be lovely. A toast to Ana,” she said looking lovingly at Maddy.
“Yes,” Maddy said on a sigh. “And you.”
“Me?” Maya asked. “Why me?”
“Moving in with us, of course.”
“You asked her?” Maya rolled her eyes at me. “I thought you weren’t going to do it today. You said you’d leave it a couple of days.”
“Maya, it’s fine. I needed some good news after today.” Maddy slipped from under my arm and went to Maya and hugged her. “It’s going to be great having two of us to gang up on him.”
I knew that they would do exactly that, but I really didn’t give a shit. In fact, nothing would make me happier.
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Maddy
“Now you know exactly what you’re going to say, don’t you?”
Zak rolled his eyes and then with the drawstring of my hoody pulled me in for a soft, gentle kiss which made me sigh with satisfaction.
“We’ve been over it a hundred times,” he said. “I know exactly what I’m going to say.”
My nerves were jangling as Zak pulled his phone from his pocket. He was going to call Connie and try and get her to confess. With Dad, we’d come up with a plan, because he was right, I did need to hear her say it. I knew that Zak was telling the truth, I trusted him, but if I didn’t hear it, maybe there would always be a tiny niggle in the back of my mind.
“I’ve got this,” he added, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.
“I know.” It was my turn to kiss him and then I patted his chest. “Okay, let’s do it.”
He gave me a short, sharp nod, and then pressed the screen. A couple of seconds later the ringtone sounded out.
“Don’t forget we’re on speaker,” Zak said quickly. I nodded and we waited for her to answer.
Finally, she answered. “Zak,” she said breathlessly, and I could just imagine her flicking her hair over one shoulder and checking her lip gloss, like he could see her. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just wanted to check in with you.” His face was hard but his voice soft and cajoling. I almost felt jealous, but he reached for my hand and pulled me closer. “I also have something to tell you.”
“You do? What?” I detected a waver in her voice, and it was clear she was nervous. Surely she must have wondered if he’d seen the picture. Then again, she probably didn’t even care if he had.
“Maddy and I split up.” Zak swallowed hard and I knew it was because he hated saying the words. We’d argued about it. He just wanted to confront her, but I knew a sneaky bitch when I met one, confrontation didn’t always work with them, sometimes you had to be just as conniving.
“Oh no. God, why?”
