Breathless (109 page)

“Just that,” she stopped, pale in her face. Then she looked away, shrugging once again. “Never mind.”

My mouth dropped open.

Angie’s eyebrows went high. “What? No, what? What were you going to say?”

“Nothing,” she mumbled.

“Marissa.” Her voice was harsh. “Come on. You just agreed with everything I said this morning and now you’re backing down? You don’t agree with me? I look like a fool.”

I frowned, but Marissa’s head shot back up. “That’s not true, and it’s not about you. You have an opinion on her life, but you’re forgetting that we’re not all as perfect as you.”

“I agree.”

Angie shot me a glare, but turned back to her. “Excuse me?”

Marissa visibly swallowed and tucked her hands under her legs. Then she looked up, a brave front. “You forget that some of us don’t have the perfect boyfriend. We don’t have the perfect relationship. We’re not you. We’re not as lucky as you are.”

Angie’s mouth dropped to the ground. She was speechless. Then she gurgled out, “Are you kidding me?”

She was right. Marissa was totally right, but when Angie swung her fierce gaze towards me, I looked down. I had escaped the lion’s den so far, and I sent a mental thank you to Marissa. However, a different tension filled the room now. Angie had been called out on something she didn’t want to hear, even I knew that much. Now it was the question of how she was going to take it.

“You are so stupid!”

Not well.

“Excuse me?” Marissa’s eyes flashed from anger. She sat like a queen now. There was no slouch at all in her posture.

“You heard me.”

“I can’t believe you. You don’t have any idea of what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, I do,” Marissa cried out. She was heated. “You’re so goddamn perfect all the time, Angie. None of us can measure up to you. And so what if Jesse and Alex are screwing around? If I did that with him, you wouldn’t care. You’d pester me for details and you’d even get excited, but you’d laugh at me behind my back. I know how you operate, Angie. Me, I’m just some stupid slut, but Alex, heavens no. She’s a saint to you. Wake up! She’s a mess. She has been since her brother died. I’m not surprised at all that’s she screwing him. He’s hot.”

A grin broke free from me. I couldn’t hold it back.

Angie growled from disgust. She blasted both of us with her frosty glare. “I can’t believe either of you two. You both are settling, and I think it’s revolting. I don’t want my friends to settle for less than what they deserve. You deserve a guy who loves you. You deserve a guy who will treat you openly and be honest with how he cares for you. You don’t deserve to hide or keep your relationship a secret.”

She stopped suddenly, but her chest kept heaving. Her shallows breaths were loud in the quiet room, but then Marissa hopped to her feet. Her chin was set and she flared in defiance. “I don’t care what you say. You don’t know me anymore, Ang. You used to, but some messed up crap has happened to me. You have no idea and you have no right to judge me anymore. I won’t stick around for it.”

“But—” Angie’s mouth dropped once again. When she saw that Marissa was about to leave, her long finger extended towards me. “We’re here for her, not for you and me. You called me, remember? You were the one who said we needed to get Alex out of the house and have a friend trip. What the hell? How did we get into a fight? This was all about Alex.”

I straightened at that. “Excuse me?”

Her mouth snapped back shut. “Nothing.”

My gaze whipped to Marissa. “What is she talking about?”

Her eyes were wide, fearful, but then she crumbled. She said so quietly, “I saw your parents at the airport, Alex.”

Nothing. I felt nothing.

There was no friendliness. There was no warmth. There wasn’t even pain. I’d gone numb again. But I choked out, “And?” I needed to hear it all, and from the torment on her face, I knew there was a bunch more.

I got myself ready.

“We know they ditched you for the holidays.”

Oh. They knew. Angie had already told me they knew, but this made more sense now.

“Well?” Both of them watched me.

“What?”

“That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?” Angie seemed dumbfounded.

I shrugged. “What do you want me to say? You already knew. You found their note.”

“But they’re here,” she cried out. “They’re here to see Jesse and they’re not including you in anything.”

“They’re married. That’s for them to do. This is like a second honeymoon or something.”

“And they told you with a note!” Her arms flung wide again. “I would be going crazy. I would be calling them and chewing them out. How dare they forget you! You’re their child. You’re their last kid alive. You’d think they’d go overboard with you since they lost Ethan.”

Pain ripped through me. A shudder of torment that I’d always suppressed broke free at hearing those words. They’d been thoughts that I had over the past year, but I’d never voiced them. I never said a word to my parents. They were grieving. They had lost Ethan too. So I gave them their distance. I became the good girl for them. I didn’t want them to worry about me either, but then it had gone too far. They stopped caring. They stopped loving. And now, as Angie said all of that, the main thought I had was that it felt as if I wasn’t their child anymore. They had always loved Ethan more, but after this year I was starting to wonder if they had ever loved me.

I didn’t want to burden them. I didn’t want to be a burden to them. It was best to remain quiet.

I shrugged again, but I couldn’t look at them. I couldn’t make eye contact. It hurt too much and I didn’t want them to see that. “Its fine, you guys.”

“It’s not!”

Then I gave up and surrendered. “What are you going to do about it?”

They stopped. They blinked. Their mouths opened. No sound came out. They were like owls. After awhile, Angie strangled out, “What do you mean?”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I…” She closed her mouth again. There was nothing.

“Exactly.” And for the first time, I let my pain shine through. I couldn’t hold it back. I didn’t want to anymore. Maybe it was because I was finally hearing someone defend me or support me, but I stopped hiding that pain. And I knew the instant they both saw it, because they gasped.

“Alex,” Angie whispered.

Marissa wrenched away. Her arms folded around herself and her shoulders hunched forward.

“Are you going to reprimand my parents for not loving me as much anymore?” Those damn tears started coming again. I barely felt them now. I whispered more, “Are you going to tell my mom that she was selfish when she tried to kill herself? Or tell my dad that he shouldn’t have to only worry about his wife, but his daughter too? They’re both grieving, Ang. We’re all still grieving.”

Suddenly, Marissa took off. The door slammed behind her.

“What?” Angie shrieked again. Her stricken eyes skirted from the door to me. “What the hell was that?”

It should’ve hurt that she had left, but it barely fazed me. She was the least of my problems.

“I can’t believe—Alex, what do I do here?”

I shrugged. They opened this can of worms. She should deal with it, but then I stood and brushed away the wetness on my cheeks. I was so tired of it all. “I’m going to go.”

“No, please.”

“Angie.”

“What?” She had conflicting emotions on her face. Concern, anger, and another unnamed one flitted over her. Then she shook her head and grabbed my arm. Her fingers wrapped tightly around it. “What do I do here? I have no idea. And what the hell happened with Marissa?”

“It’s not the first time when things got too real and someone bailed.”

Her fingers jerked in reaction. “That’s happened to you before, huh?”

“More than you want to know.”

My friend looked like the world had just beaten her at her own game. I swallowed all my pain down and patted her hand. “Why don’t you find Justin? I’m hungry. We could get something to eat together?”

She blinked back some tears of her own. “What about Jesse?”

I shrugged. “I’m here with you guys.”

“Really?” Some hope sparked back to her. “That was the intent, Alex. It really was. Marissa called and told me your parents ditched you, we were both so mad. I didn’t think about it, not really. She said she had the rooms already booked and I didn’t think about that either. I grabbed Justin and told him where we were going.” She sighed. A dreamy smile came over her. “He never questioned me or anything. He’s such a great guy. I’m lucky to have him. I really am.”

I nudged her towards the door. “Go get your dreamboat. I’ll meet you guys in the lobby.”

She skidded to a halt before the door and fixed me with a stare. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I will be.” The concern still lingered so I fixed a bright smile on my face. It blasted her. “I promise.”

Sadness filled her eyes, but she nodded. “You’re lying to me, but that’s okay. I’m going to be there for you no matter what, even if stupid and hot Jesse Hunt destroys you. I’ll be there.”

“You have to, Marissa just bolted.”

She grimaced. “Don’t remind me. I’m going to have a word with her later about that too.”

I grinned, but I knew I didn’t want to be in the room when that happened. I was about to ask her to give me a heads up when she was going to approach that topic with Marissa, but there was a knock at the door. Justin and Eric were both in the hallway, in jeans and tee shirts.

“Where’s Marissa?” Eric peered past our shoulders.

“Your girlfriend ditched. No idea where she is or when she’s coming back,” Angie snapped out. Her eyes flashed in anger.

Justin went into action. He threw his arms around his girlfriend, pulled her in close, and nuzzled her neck as he rocked her back and forth in his arms.

“Justin!”

He ignored her weak attempts at swatting his head and winked at me. “I’m starving, honey. I’m ravenous. I’m about to faint in the hallway. My stomach needs food, woman. It needs sustenance. I can’t handle this anymore.” And then he let loose and belted out, “I don’t need no more pain, no more game, no more drama.”

As he kept singing the song, Angie smacked his shoulder and stalked past him. We heard her mutter under her breath, “My boyfriend is a freak show. I can’t take him anywhere.”

Justin watched her go for a moment, with a wide smile on his face, and then he raced to catch up. The two were giggling together soon after and chased each other again down the hallway.

“So, Marissa took off?” Eric smiled at me, tentatively.

Oh right. I’d forgotten he was there and now the awkwardness ensued. He had wanted to date me, I evaded him, and now he was with the girl that had just ditched him. I kept my voice light. “Yeah, but don’t worry. She’s like that when things hit close to home with her. She’ll show up again.”

His shoulders didn’t relax.

I didn’t care.

“She’s upset about something.”

No shit, Sherlock. But I held my tongue. “She’ll come around. She always does.”

At the second reassurance, his shoulders sagged and he nodded. Some of the tension left him. “You’re right. She does.”

And if Angie had been there, she would’ve warned him that Marissa would probably show up with another guy wrapped around her. That was her pattern, but this was me. I held my tongue and didn’t say a word. He needed to learn. He would. Marissa always showed her true colors when it came to guys. They either cheated on her or she cheated on them. It wasn’t something we talked about or questioned her about, but it’d been happening more and more the past two years. And if I had been half the friend Angie was to me, if I hadn’t been dealing with my own problems, I knew that I should’ve been more concerned for Marissa. But I wasn’t. I couldn’t ignore the fact that I was still mad at her for all her betrayals, for going after Jesse, and then going after Eric. She had helped me avoid his attempts, but she hadn’t asked. She hadn’t cared. She picked him and she went after him.

As we continued to the lobby where Angie and Justin were waiting, holding hands, I also admitted to myself the other side of the coin. I might’ve dated Eric. I might’ve finally listened to my head and tried to move on from Jesse. Eric might’ve helped me avoid the disaster that Angie knew was coming later, but he was with Marissa now. And he was going to get his own heart shattered by her.

There was no sympathy inside of me for him. We were both going to get hurt.

Fifteen

Marissa disappeared during the day. We didn’t hear from her until later that night. I didn’t hear from Jesse either, so I assumed that meant he didn’t want to hang out either. After we ate, we spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool. Justin disappeared at one part of the afternoon. He came back a few hours later with fake licenses for us. Angie’s eyes went wide, but she took hers without a comment. Praise the Lord. When I took mine, there was a dip in my stomach. I knew I shouldn’t feel guilty. This wasn’t the right thing to do, but we were in Vegas. My parents had ditched me. One of my best friends had ditched me. The guy I loved, but couldn’t really have, had ditched me for the day.

I took the card and shoved all the other crap away. I wanted to have fun and those thoughts would only get in the way.

Eric was more excited when he got his. He’d been quiet most of the afternoon, but a cocky look came over him then.

Angie whipped around to look at me. Yep, she saw it too. I shrugged at the look, but good for him. Maybe I didn’t want him to wait around for the inevitable Marissa break-up scene? I had no idea, but when the four of us got ready to go out, I was determined to have a good time.

Angie giggled as she came into the bathroom with her make-up bag. “I can’t believe we snuck your bag out of Jesse’s room.”

I grinned at her in the mirror, but a pang of regret sliced through me. Since Marissa was still missing and there’d been no word from Jesse, we had decided the four of us would go out to the clubs that night. Even though I hadn’t considered my sleeping arrangements that night, I wanted to get ready with Angie. The guys were in Eric’s room, doing whatever they did.

I replied as I steadied my eyeliner, “I needed my things.” And that was it. That was the end of the story.