Chapter 21: Chapter 21

“England is.”

After a long pause, he says, “She won’t go to England.”

I give him a fuck-off look. “What the fuck do you know? You’ve known her for, what, two days?” I’m about to really go off when the obnoxious beep of the microwave interrupts us.

“I know Carol, though, and she wouldn’t go to England.”

So he’s back to being the annoying drunk he was yesterday.

“Tessa isn’t her mother, and I’m not you.”

“Okay,” he says and shrugs.

Chapter thirteen

TESSA

Molly.

I pray that her presence here is a complete coincidence, but when Steph appears behind her, I sink back into the booth.

“Hey, Tessa!” Steph says and sits across from me, scooting in close to the wall so her “friend” can sit next to her. Why would she invite me to have lunch with her and Molly?

“Long time no see,” Molly the skank says to me.

I don’t know what to say to either of them. I want to get up and walk out, but instead I half smile and just say, “Yeah.”

“Have you ordered?” Steph asks, completely ignoring the fact that she brought with her my biggest—my only—enemy.

“No.” I reach into my bag to pull out my phone.

“No need to call Daddy, I’m not going to bite.” Molly smirks.

“I wasn’t calling Hardin,” I tell her. I was actually going to text him; there’s a clear difference.

“Sure you weren’t,” she replies, and laughs.

“Stop,” Steph snaps. “You said you’d be nice, Molly.”

“Why did you even come?” I ask the girl that I loathe more than anyone in the entire world.

She shrugs. “I’m hungry,” she says matter-of-factly, clearly mocking my emotions.

I grab my sweatshirt and move to get up. “I should just go.”

“No, stay! Please, you’re moving, and I won’t see you again,” Steph says, pouting.

“What?”

“You’re leaving in a few days, aren’t you?”

“Who told you that?”

Molly and Steph look at each other before Steph answers. “Zed, I think; it doesn’t matter, though. I thought you’d tell me.”

“I was going to; there was just a lot going on. I was going to tell you here . . .” I say, then look at Molly as if to explain my reluctance to continue.

“I still wish you’d’ve told me. I was your first friend here.” Steph sticks out her bottom lip in a way that makes me feel bad but still seems a little comical, so I’m thankful when a server arrives to take our drink order.

While Steph and Molly are ordering their sodas, I text Hardin. You’re probably passed out, but I’m at lunch with Steph, and she brought Molly :/ I hit send and look back up at the two girls.

“So, are you excited to be leaving? What are you and Hardin going to do?” Steph asks.

I shrug and look around the room. I’m not discussing my relationship in front of Satan’s daughter.

“You can talk in front of me. Trust me, I’m not interested in your boring-ass life,” Molly scoffs, taking a sip of her water.

“Trust you?” I laugh, and my phone vibrates.

Come home. Hardin texts back.

I don’t know what I expected him to say, but I’m disappointed in his advice, or lack of it.

No, I’m hungry. I reply.

“Look, you and Hardin are cute and all, but I don’t really give a shit about your relationship anymore,” Molly informs me. “I have my own relationship to worry about now.”

“Great. Good for you.” I feel bad for whoever the idiot is.

“Speaking of which, Molly, when are we going to meet this mystery man?” Steph asks her friend.

Molly dismisses her with a flip of the hand. “I don’t know; not right now.”

The waitress returns with our drinks and takes our orders. As soon as she leaves, Molly turns to me, her real prey. “Anyway, so how pissed at Zed are you that he’s planning to put Hardin in jail?” she asks, and I nearly spit out my water.

The idea of Hardin going to jail sends ice through my veins.“I’m trying to stop that from happening.”

“Good luck with that. Unless you plan on fucking Zed, there’s nothing you can do.” Again she smirks, tapping her neon-green fingernail on the table.

“That’s not an option,” I growl.

I’ve got something you can eat here. Really, though, come home before something happens and I can’t save you.

Save me? From what? Molly and Steph? Steph is my friend, and I’ve already proved once before that I can take Molly, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. She’s annoying and I can’t stand her, but I’m not afraid of her like I once was.

I can tell by Hardin’s perverted message that he’s still intoxicated.

I mean it, leave there, his next message says when I don’t reply.

I shove my phone into my bag and direct my attention to the girls.

“You’ve already done it before, so what’s the difference?” Molly says.

“Excuse me?” I say.

“I’m not judging you. I’ve fucked Hardin. Zed, too,” she reminds me.

I’m so frustrated that I want to scream. “I didn’t sleep with Zed,” I say through my teeth.

“Mm-hmm . . .” Molly says, and Steph glares at her.

“Did someone say that—that I slept with Zed?” I ask them.

“No,” Steph answers before Molly can speak. “And anyway, enough talk about Zed. I want to know about Seattle. Is Hardin coming, too?”