She Likes It Irish (21 page)

“I already admitted that.”

“You then posted the video to the internet and made sure Sean saw it.” Kristin’s stomach pitched at the toxic anger and grief swirling through her body. “Oh, God! How could you do that to me? You know how much I love him.”

Zoe’s voice stayed calm, but her eyes flashed defensively. “The person who stole my laptop must have—”

Kristin leveled a steely stare at Zoe. “I know about your deal with Randy, so don’t even bother denying it.”

Zoe opened her mouth as if to deny it further, then changed her mind and closed her mouth. She got up from the bed and walked over to Kristin.

“Yes, I posted the video and had Randy tell Sean about it, but I deleted it after—”

Before she could stop herself, Kristin sliced out with her hand and slapped Zoe across the face. The sickening smack of skin against skin ricocheted off the white walls. A ruby imprint of her hand materialized on Zoe’s pale cheek, the physical blow knocking her backward a few steps.

Zoe’s eyes widened in shock, and then quickly narrowed, drawing in her eyebrows and pulling her mouth into a tight pout. “Now you know how it feels to be betrayed by someone you love.” Her voice spiraled higher with each word, showing she was on the verge of tears.

Rigid with rage, Kristin fought hard to keep from striking Zoe again. “I never did anything like this to you.”

“Bullshit! Ever since you met Sean, all your time went to him. I asked you to sit with me at the movies, and you wouldn’t because you’re sitting with
him
. I asked you to have lunch with me, and you couldn’t because you’re meeting
him
. I asked you to double date with me and you said no because you want to be alone with
him
. I want to have sex with you and you said no, you only want sex with
him
. We were happy, you and me, before he came along.”

“You and I were friends, roommates. I’m in
love
with Sean. I wanted a relationship with him, was building one with him, until you destroyed it.”

“If he broke up with you just because you had sex with a woman, that relationship wasn’t going to last anyway.”

“It’s not because you’re a woman, it’s because I slept with someone while he believed we were in an exclusive relationship. He thought I cheated on him. And you know that. It was all part of your plan.”

Zoe reached out to Kristin, grabbing her hand. “I did it so you and I could be together again. I even broke up with Mason so it could be just us.”

Kristin scowled at her and jerked her hand away like she’d touched something foul. “There
is
no
us
. You intentionally hurt me, Sean, Mason, and Randy—all for your selfishness. I don’t want to be around someone like that.”

“But all those times we made love, you said—”

“It was just sex. I was never in love with you. I was never going to be with you that way. We were roommates. Friends. Occasional sex partners. And now…”

“And now, what?”

“Now, we’re nothing.” Kristin pulled her suitcase out from under her bed and laid it open on the comforter. She dug into her closet, pulled out clothes, and piled them into the suitcase.

“What are you doing?” Zoe rushed over and grabbed her arm.

“I can’t live here after what you did. I can’t even look at you without wanting to hurt you.” She shrugged Zoe’s hand off and moved back to the closet for her shoes, but Zoe wrapped her arms around her, not letting her move.

“You can’t go!” Tears streamed from Zoe’s panic-stricken eyes. “I love you. Don’t leave me. Please!”

Kristin broke her grip and pushed her aside.

Zoe collapsed onto her bed and curled up in a ball, crying, begging her, over and over, not to go.

Kristin packed enough to last until she could come back for the rest of her things when Zoe wasn’t there. She zipped her suitcase, lifted it onto the floor, grabbed her backpack, and headed for the door.

“Oh, God, Kristin, don’t go!” Zoe jumped off the bed and wrapped her arms around her waist. “Please!”

Kristin stared down at her. “How do you feel right now, knowing that I’m leaving and there’s nothing you can do to stop it?”

“I feel like I’m dying inside.”

“That’s how I feel, too, because Sean broke up with me. It’s how I feel because there’s nothing I can do or say to convince him to take me back. What makes it even worse is that it was my best friend who helped bring this pain down on me.”

“I’m so sorry! I’ll fix it. If I can fix it with Sean, will you stay?”

Kristin shook her head. “It can’t be fixed. He said so.”

“I can’t live without you.”

“You’ll have to learn because we’re done.”

Kristin stepped out of Zoe’s grip, opened the door, and walked out, closing the door behind her. She heard Zoe’s wild cries all the way down the hall. Only with the closing of the elevator door did they stop.

****

Sean jolted up in bed at the pounding on his door and grabbed his phone. Bleary eyes scanned the time, barely four in the morning. He cursed the early visitor.

“I’m not leaving, so you might as well open the fucking door.”

The shouted words were slurred, but he recognized Zoe’s voice. She’d wake the whole damned dorm if he didn’t answer. He flipped on the lamp before crawling out of bed, storming to the door, and flinging it open.

“What the fuck do you want?”

“Get out of my fucking way and I’ll tell you.” Zoe pushed the door open and stumbled past him into the room.

She smelled like she’d showered with tequila and looked like she’d been tossed by a couple of wind storms. Her normally styled hair was in wild disarray, a big hole in the knee of her leggings showed smears of blood, and her unbuttoned sweater hung off her bare shoulders, giving her no protection from the biting cold weather.

She tripped over her own drunken feet and fell to the floor on hands and knees. She was laughing so hard she could barely move but managed to roll over and sit up.

Sean picked her up and set her down on his desk chair, then pulled the throw off his bed and wrapped it around her shoulders. Her skin felt like ice, and her lips held a blue tinge. He shook his head as he stepped away from her. Arms crossed over his chest, he glared at her.

She glared back, her eyes traveling up and down his nearly naked body. “You know, I hate your guts, but Kristin was right…you’re totally hot, and I can see why she was horny for you twenty-four/seven.”

The sounds of a crowd forming outside his door made him turn around. Mason, Randy, and several other guys from the floor had gathered in his doorway.

“Mason, Randy, get in here. Rest of you, go back to your rooms.” He thought it would be a good idea to have witnesses, seeing that he had a drunken woman in his room at four-fucking-o-three in the morning.

Mason and Randy, shivering in their boxer shorts, T-shirts, and bare feet, shuffled inside blinking their sleepy eyes at the light. Sean shut the door.

“Mason.” A smiling Zoe started to rise from the chair, but the movement seemed to make her dizzy because she plopped back into the seat. “I miss you. I never shoulda broke up with you. Come kiss me.” She listed to the right and almost fell out of the chair, but Randy, who was closer, rushed to her and caught her.

She looked at the hand on her arm and followed it up to the worried face above her. “You dick. You broke our deal.”

Randy jerked his hand away and moved back to stand by Mason, crossing his arms over his chest.

“What’s she talking about?” Sean glared at Randy. “What deal?”

Randy shrugged like he didn’t know, but his wide eyes told another story. “She’s fucking drunk, man. She’s doesn’t know what she’s saying.”

Mason stepped forward and knelt in front of Zoe, taking her hand in his. “Zoe, what—”

“Oh, Mason. Mason. I love you soooo much.” She leaned in to kiss him, but he dodged her sloppy alcohol-soaked mouth.

“What are you doing at Sean’s at four in the morning?” he asked.

“Sean? Oh…the fucker.” She stood, but her legs weren’t cooperating. She swayed, falling into Mason. Her hand moved to her head. “I don’t feel so good. I think I’m going to…” Her hand moved to her mouth.

Sean grabbed the trash can and handed it to Mason, who sat Zoe back down and put the can between her knees.

“God, I feel like shit,” she said after the moment passed.

“How much have you had to drink?” Sean asked, eyeing the pallor of her face.

Zoe’s bleary eyes found Sean across the room, and she took in his angry stare. “Not enough,” she responded. “I can still…feel.”

Drinking to kill the pain. That was something he knew about since losing Kristin. Sean shifted on his cold feet, staring at them instead at the eyes that were burning a hole in him. “Why are you here?”

“I did it.”

“Did what?”

“I broke up you and Kristin.”

His face tightened, and his arms dropped to his side and into balled fists. “Did she send you here? Well, it’s not going to work. I’m not taking her back, no matter what you confess to.” He opened the door and motioned for her to leave. “Go back to her and tell her—”

“Kristin didn’t send me here. She…” Zoe hiccupped once, her face scrunched up, and tears flooded out of her eyes. “She’s gone,” she moaned.

Panic sliced through Sean and forced the question from his mouth in spite of his efforts to hold it back. He shut the door. “Gone where?”

“I don’t know,” she said, wiping her tears and her runny nose on her sleeve. “I don’t know,” she said again, the words filled with panic, right before she leaned into the trash can and threw up.

Mason held her hair back for her, then pulled off his shirt and gently wiped her mouth and tear-streaked face when she was done expelling the alcohol her body hadn’t absorbed.

“Why are you telling me this?”

Mason turned angry eyes to Sean. “Leave her alone. She’s not in any condition to answer a bunch of questions. I’m taking her to my room.” He held her around the shoulders and helped her to her feet.

“She came to my fucking door!” Sean bellowed. “She’s not going anywhere until I know why.”

Mason sat her back down, but kept one arm around her in a protective stance Sean half admired, considering she’d dumped him and, hell, cheated on him with Kristin.

“She found out about my plan and she packed her things and left. She hates me! Says she can’t even look at me.”

“Your plan?” Sean asked.

Her gaze zagged to Randy, who looked away and shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“Zoe, what plan?” Sean repeated.

She looked back to Sean when he barked at her and answered him sharply. “Kristin was mine before you came along. We studied together, partied together, ate together, worked out together, had the hottest sex together. We were happy until you ruined everything!”

Mason was the only one in the room stunned by Zoe’s confession. He dropped his arm from her shoulders and rounded on her. “You and Kris were lovers?” He turned away, putting his hands on his stomach as if
he
were going to be sick. He turned back to her. “You’re a lesbian?”

“No, I’m not a lesbian. I just…I like sex. I love you…and I love Kristin. And she used to love me until
Sean
came along.” She said his name like a curse.

Mason stumbled away from her and slid down the wall onto the floor, his head in his hands, trying to absorb this biting new reality.

“Okay, so you don’t like me much,” Sean said, prompting her to continue and not get sidetracked. “I get that. What did you do about it?”

“I thought of a way to break you guys up so I could have her to myself again. And it would have worked if
somebody
hadn’t sold me out.” Her eyes shot venomous darts at Randy, who wilted under her assault.

“What was your part in this?” Sean stared down at the slighter and shorter man who looked like he wanted to disappear into the wall.

“She said you were the only thing in the way of me having Kristin to myself. So I agreed to help her break you guys up. Plus she offered me sex.” His eyes darted to Mason, who looked like he wanted to beat the shit out of him. “Sorry. She’s really persuasive. And scary.”

“We know what she did for you. What did you do for her?” Sean asked.

“Told you about that video of her and Kristin.”

“So it came from her?” His chin pointed to Zoe.

Randy nodded.

“Did you tell anyone else about it? Show it to anyone?”

Randy looked like he’d been insulted. “No. I would never do that to Kristin.”

Sean turned back to Zoe, who was all but falling asleep in the chair. “Zoe!”

Her eyes popped open and found his.

“Why are you telling me all this?”

“I have to stop the pain.” She clawed at her chest and stomach and started crying again. “When Kristin left, I told her I felt like I was dying. She said that’s how she felt when you left her. How could you do that to her, you bastard! She loves you so much. She thought you loved her, too. She said you were the one.”

Sean knew the ache of betrayal, the feeling of wanting to die because it would stop the pain. “If she loved me so fucking much, she wouldn’t have cheated on me,” he shouted.

“You’re an ass!” she yelled back then laughed. “That video was from the day after you walked her home from Randy’s. Can you believe it? She’d known you a few hours—hadn’t even gone on a date with you yet—and she wanted you. She was already fantasizing about making love with you. She was already…”

Zoe’s breath caught in her lungs at the words she had to say. “She was already falling in love with you. It was my hands, my mouth, that made her come, and she called out
your
name! You wouldn’t take care of her, but I did.” She poked a finger against her chest. “I did. And she still wanted you more.”

“Did she have sex with you after that?”

She covered her mouth with her hand as if she were going to be sick again. “I tried to…after your breakfast, after your stupid walk in the rain, after the night of the movie…” She shook her head as if trying to fling away the memory.