Chapter 435 - One More Second

Chapter 435: Chapter 435 - One More Second

She pulled away from the door so fast she nearly stumbled off the porch.

"Huh?"

Her hand caught the edge of the wall, but for a second Roxie couldn’t even feel her fingers against it. She stared at the door like something inside it might rearrange itself if she waited long enough.

She saw them.

Kissing.

Her chest tightened so suddenly that the next breath barely came in. Roxie tried again, dragging air through her mouth, but it felt like nothing was reaching her lungs. Her heart was beating too fast, her face felt cold and her legs had gone strange beneath her, almost numb even though they were somehow still holding her up.

The door was still slightly open, but Zac and Dylan had moved out of the narrow space she could see through. There were sounds inside, Dylan crying, something shifting, Zac saying something, but all of it sounded distant now, like Roxie was hearing them from somewhere deep underwater.

No.

There was no fucking way.

She tried to make herself understand what she had seen. Zac had leaned closer because Dylan was talking quietly. Dylan moved. Their faces came together.

Their mouths.

Roxie swallowed hard, but her throat felt almost closed.

Maybe she saw it wrong.

She had to have seen it wrong.

The thought came quickly, almost desperately, but her body didn’t believe it yet. Her stomach had tightened into a hard knot, and every time she tried to take a deeper breath she only got another short one.

She should look again. All Roxie had to do was step forward, look through the door and see what was actually happening instead of standing there panicking over half a second.

She looked at the opening.

Her body moved backward.

That scared her more.

Roxie gripped the railing when she reached the first step because her legs suddenly felt too weak to trust. Somewhere inside her head she knew this was stupid. She had spent the whole night screaming at Zac because she wanted proof. She wanted his messages, wanted explanations, wanted to know exactly what every girl meant and why they were comfortable around him.

Now there was an answer ten feet away and she couldn’t make herself look at it.

Because what if she looked again and they were still kissing?

The thought hit so hard that Roxie’s stomach rolled.

"No."

She backed down another step.

Maybe Dylan kissed him.

That possibility came through the panic first because it was the only one her brain could tolerate. Dylan had liked Zac before. He had just been humiliated by his father in front of half the neighborhood, called disgusting, told he wasn’t his son anymore and left sobbing so hard Roxie had heard him from outside.

Maybe Dylan did something stupid.

Maybe Zac hadn’t.

Maybe Zac froze.

Maybe he had already pushed him away.

But Roxie hadn’t seen that.

She had pulled back before she saw what Zac did.

That realization made everything inside her turn cold again.

She looked toward the door.

Go back.

One more second.

That was all she needed.

Instead, Roxie stepped off the porch and walked toward the sidewalk.

She needed to get away first. She didn’t even know from what exactly, because nobody knew she was there and nobody was chasing her, but every part of her body was screaming at her to leave.

By the time she reached the sidewalk, her phone was already in her hand. Her fingers shook badly enough that she pressed the wrong pickup point once before fixing it and requesting the first Uber available.

Four minutes.

"Come on."

Roxie stared at the little car on the map and tried to force her breathing to slow down.

Behind her, Dylan’s house was still there.

She could turn around.

She could cancel the ride.

She could walk back and find out.

Roxie glanced over her shoulder and immediately looked away again.

Fuck that.

She wrapped an arm around her stomach and started walking farther down the street while she waited. Her body was still buzzing with panic, but now that she had put some distance between herself and the house, her brain finally started trying to explain what happened.

Zac loved her.

That was the first thing it grabbed.

Zac loved her. He wouldn’t do this to her.

He had left his phone at home because he was furious that she questioned him. He had told her to read everything.

A guy hiding something wouldn’t do that.

He had been holding Roxie less than two hours ago, telling her he missed her. She had felt how much he still wanted her when she sat on his lap.

So no.

There was no fucking way Zac had suddenly decided he wanted Dylan.

Maybe Dylan kissed him.

That had to be it.

Roxie held onto that thought for maybe three seconds before another one followed.

What did Zac do after?

Her stomach dropped all over again.

She didn’t know.

Because she fucking left.

Roxie stopped walking and stared back toward the house.

"Why the fuck did I leave?"

Now that she was farther away, it seemed so stupid she almost laughed.

Who saw their boyfriend kissing someone and decided the best response was to look away before finding out what happened?

Apparently her.

She should have stayed for one more second. If Dylan kissed Zac and Zac pushed him away, this whole panic would already be over. If Zac froze because he was shocked, Roxie could understand that too.

But if she looked again and Zac stayed there willingly...

Her stomach cramped.

That was why.

Roxie stopped pretending she didn’t know.

She had run because she was terrified of seeing Zac kiss Dylan back.

Headlights finally appeared at the end of the street. Roxie felt relief so strong it almost made her knees weak again. The car pulled over, she checked the plate and climbed into the back before she could change her mind.

"You Roxie?"

"Yeah."

Her voice sounded strange even to her. The driver pulled away, and Roxie immediately turned toward the window. Dylan’s house stayed visible for a few seconds before disappearing behind another building.

Panic hit again.

She had really left.

"Wait."

The driver looked at her through the mirror. "What?"

Roxie opened her mouth.

Take me back.

She almost said it.

Then she remembered the door, Dylan moving, their faces together, and her stomach rolled hard enough that she covered her mouth.

"Nothing. Sorry."

The driver muttered something and kept going.

Roxie leaned her head against the window and tried to breathe through the nausea.

Maybe she had seen it wrong.

Maybe Dylan had moved toward Zac’s cheek.

Maybe their mouths barely touched.

Maybe the angle made it look worse.

The excuses came faster now, and Roxie knew exactly what she was doing. She was trying to talk herself out of what she saw because believing it meant too much.

If Zac kissed Dylan back, then what?

Had there always been something there?

Were all those nights at Dylan’s different from what Roxie thought?

Was that why Zac always ran to him?

Was that why Dylan had confessed in the first place?

The questions came so quickly Roxie almost felt dizzy.

"No."

She shut her eyes.

She wasn’t doing that.

One second did not get to rewrite everything she knew about Zac.

He loved her.

He had always loved her.

She knew that.

The car turned sharply, and Roxie’s stomach lurched so violently she sat forward.

The driver glanced at her. "You okay?"

"Can you pull over?"

"What?"

"Pull over."

"We’re almost at the light."

"I’m gonna throw up."

The driver’s expression changed immediately.

"Jesus. Hold on."

Roxie pressed her hand harder against her mouth while he moved toward the side of the road. Her stomach cramped again before the car had fully stopped.

"Please, not in the car."

"I’m trying."

The second they stopped, Roxie shoved the door open and leaned outside.

She barely made it.

Her stomach emptied onto the roadside while she gripped the door with one hand and held her hair back with the other. She coughed, tried to breathe and immediately threw up again.

Behind her, the driver groaned.

"Come on."

Roxie wiped her mouth and turned enough to glare at him. "I told you to pull over."

"You could’ve warned me earlier."

"I fucking did."

The driver went quiet.

Normally Roxie would have kept arguing, but she had nothing left for him. She stayed leaning outside until the nausea finally eased, then slowly pulled herself back into the seat and grabbed tissues from her bag.

The driver cracked his window.

Roxie stared at him.

"I didn’t puke in your car."

"Just making sure."

"Great."

She wiped her mouth and leaned back against the seat.

The car started moving again.

For a while Roxie only watched the dark road outside and tried to get her body under control. Throwing up had taken some of the pressure out of her chest, but now she could think more clearly.

That was almost worse.

Because underneath all the panic, there was still one simple fact.

She had seen Dylan’s face against Zac’s. Roxie closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against the window.

She should have looked again.

She knew that now.

But she also knew why she hadn’t.

She was scared that if she stayed for one more second, she might see something she could never explain away.