Chapter 434 - Should Have Left

Chapter 434: Chapter 434 - Should Have Left

Roxie lasted twelve minutes after Zac left.

She knew because she checked the time twice.

The first time, she was still standing in the living room staring at his phone on the couch. The second time, she had already sat down and picked it up before immediately putting it back like it had burned her.

She couldn’t do it.

For the last hour she had demanded to read everything, convinced herself she needed proof before her own brain destroyed whatever was left of the night. Now Zac had handed her exactly what she wanted, left the phone unlocked and practically dared her to find something.

Roxie couldn’t even open the messages.

She already knew what she was probably going to find.

Football.

Coach.

Dylan.

Maybe Sienna asking for help with something stupid before deciding to call him handsome because apparently women on this campus had no shame.

What scared Roxie more was finding exactly that.

Nothing.

Because then Zac had been right.

She had taken every lonely night, every missed lunch, every girl who smiled at him and turned it into something he had to defend himself against when the man was barely sleeping.

Roxie covered her face with both hands.

"Fuck."

The apartment felt wrong without him.

His water was still sitting on the table. The show they had been watching was paused in the middle of a scene neither of them cared about anymore, and his phone kept sitting there like evidence of the fight she suddenly wished she could shove back into her mouth.

She tried telling herself to wait.

Zac said he would come back.

Dylan needed him.

They could finish the fight when he got home.

Except Zac had left angry.

Really angry.

And without his phone.

The thought bothered her more every minute she sat there.

What if something happened on the way? What if Dylan’s dad was actually violent? Zac had said the man showed up, and after everything she had heard about Dylan’s family lately, that could mean anything.

Roxie stood.

She sat back down.

Then stood again.

"This is stupid."

She grabbed her jacket.

She wasn’t going there to spy on him.

She wasn’t going there because of Dylan either.

She just couldn’t sit in the apartment waiting while their fight stayed like that between them. She needed to tell Zac she hadn’t read the phone. She needed to apologize for some of the shit she said before she spent the whole night replaying his face when he left.

Maybe she would wait outside.

Maybe she would tell him she was there and let him decide when he could talk.

Anything felt better than sitting alone with his unlocked phone and her own thoughts.

By the time Roxie reached Dylan’s place, she heard the shouting before she even got close enough to see who was outside.

A man’s voice carried across the street.

"You think you can embarrass this family and still come home?"

Roxie slowed.

Several people were gathered near the front yard. Porch lights were on up and down the street, and at least three neighbors were standing outside pretending they weren’t watching while very obviously watching.

Then she saw Zac.

He stood near the walkway between Dylan’s father and the front door, still wearing the same clothes he had left their apartment in.

Dylan’s father looked drunk.

Even from where Roxie stood she could see the way he swayed when he moved and how another man kept grabbing his arm whenever he tried stepping closer to the house.

"You stay the fuck away from him," Zac said.

Roxie stopped completely.

She had rarely heard Zac use that voice.

It wasn’t loud. That somehow made it worse.

Dylan’s father pointed toward the house. "He’s my son."

"You told him he wasn’t."

The man’s face twisted.

Then the yelling started again.

He called Dylan disgusting. Said he had humiliated the family. Said he was going to hell. When somebody tried pulling him back, he started shouting about what Dylan had done to their name and how everybody in the neighborhood knew now.

Roxie’s stomach turned.

So, this was what Zac had walked into.

While she had been at home screaming about Sienna.

The shame came so fast she almost turned around right there.

One of the relatives tried to calm Dylan’s father, telling him enough people had already heard and he needed to go home. That only made the man angrier.

"I don’t have a son like that!"

Zac stepped forward.

"Then leave him alone."

Dylan’s father shoved him.

Roxie’s heart jumped.

Zac barely moved.

"Go home."

"Who the fuck are you to tell me anything?"

"Somebody who actually gives a shit about him."

The punch came so fast Roxie barely registered the movement before Zac’s head snapped sideways.

"Zac!"

The name almost left her mouth, but she caught it before anyone heard.

Everything outside exploded at once.

Two men grabbed Dylan’s father when he tried moving toward Zac again. One woman started yelling at him to stop while another relative pushed between them. Zac touched his mouth, looked at the blood on his fingers and immediately tried stepping forward again before somebody caught his shoulder.

"Leave it," the man told him. "Just leave it."

Dylan’s father was still shouting while they dragged him toward a car.

More insults.

More shit about hell.

More about shame and family and what kind of son Dylan was supposed to be.

Roxie stood near the edge of the neighboring yard feeling sick.

People were watching from windows now.

A woman across the street whispered something to her husband while staring toward Dylan’s house. Another neighbor slowly closed their front door when they realized the worst of it was ending.

God.

Dylan had been dealing with this while Roxie was worried about some stupid message.

She wanted to disappear.

Zac remained near the walkway until the car finally pulled away. One of Dylan’s relatives said something to him and touched his shoulder. Zac answered quietly, wiped his mouth again and looked toward the house.

Dylan still hadn’t come outside.

That made Roxie feel worse.

Whatever happened before Zac arrived must have been bad enough that Dylan couldn’t even face the yard.

The relatives slowly left too. One of them picked up something that had been knocked over near the steps before giving up and setting it beside the porch.

Eventually the street went quiet again.

Roxie stayed where she was.

She should leave.

That thought felt obvious now.

Zac had a split lip because he came here to protect his friend, and Roxie had followed him after accusing him of having another girl.

What was she even supposed to say?

Sorry I followed you because I couldn’t sit with our fight, but wow, your night is clearly worse than mine?

She felt like an asshole.

Roxie almost turned around.

Then she looked toward the house.

The front yard was a mess. One of the plastic chairs had been knocked sideways, a planter near the steps was cracked and dirt had spilled across the walkway. Something that looked like a picture frame lay broken near the porch.

She stepped closer without really deciding to.

Maybe she could at least tell Zac she was there.

Tell him his phone was safe at home.

Tell him she hadn’t touched it.

Then leave.

Roxie reached the walkway and stopped again when she heard something from inside.

Crying.

Her stomach tightened.

Dylan.

The front door was slightly open.

Roxie stood there listening, suddenly unsure whether walking any closer would be cruel.

Dylan was crying hard enough that she could hear him from outside.

Not quiet crying.

The kind where breathing stopped working properly between words.

Roxie looked toward the street behind her.

Maybe she should go.

This wasn’t her moment.

She and Dylan were okay now, but they weren’t close enough for Roxie to walk into his house while he was breaking apart. After what his father had just done in front of half the neighborhood, the last thing he probably needed was another person watching him.

Especially her.

She could text Zac.

Except his phone was sitting on their couch.

"Fuck."

Roxie moved closer to the door.

She would only get Zac’s attention.

That was it.

She could knock quietly, wait for him and tell him she would go home.

As she reached the porch, Dylan’s voice came through the opening.

"I fucking hate him."

Roxie stopped.

Zac answered, quieter than Dylan.

"I know."

"He said it in front of everybody."

"I know."

"He fucking hates me."

Roxie swallowed.

Dylan started crying harder.

For a few seconds, Zac didn’t say anything. Roxie imagined him sitting there the way he did when somebody was upset and he had no idea what words were supposed to fix it.

Then Dylan spoke again.

"What did I even fucking do?"

"Nothing."

"My whole family thinks I’m disgusting."

"They don’t all think that."

"My dad does."

"Your dad’s drunk and angry."

"He meant it."

Silence.

Roxie’s hand hovered near the door.

She should leave.

Everything inside her was telling her this was private.

Then she heard Zac again.

"You still have people."

Dylan laughed through his crying, but it sounded awful. "Who?"

"You know who."

"No, I fucking don’t."

"Me, idiot."

Roxie closed her eyes.

The guilt hit all over again.

Of course Zac came.

How could she ever have asked him not to?

She started backing away from the door.

She could talk to him later.

Their fight could wait.

Then Dylan said something too quietly for Roxie to hear.

Zac answered, "What?"

Roxie hesitated.

She should keep walking.

Instead she glanced through the narrow opening in the door.

Dylan was sitting on the couch with his face red from crying, both hands gripping the front of Zac’s shirt.

Zac was crouched in front of him.

His split lip was already swelling.

Dylan said something again.

Zac leaned closer to hear him.

Then Dylan’s face was on his face.