Chapter 3

"Hey, hey. Why are you getting so worked up?"

Only then did I notice Zoe had come with him.

She gave Landon an exasperated look, caught him by the sleeve, and tugged him back behind her before turning to me.

"Can you do me a favor and stop digging your heels in for once, Quinn?"

My gaze dropped to the way her fingers were still curled around his sleeve, but I said nothing.

Zoe hesitated, then tried again in a coaxing tone.

"Haven't you been wanting him to move back? I spent all night talking him into it.

"He handed in his resignation this morning. You won't have to keep traveling back and forth to see each other anymore.

"Come on. That should make you happy, right?"

I gave a faint smile.

For six months, I'd begged Landon to apply for a transfer back. Every time, he'd brushed me off with the same excuse: the project wasn't finished yet, and he didn't trust anyone else to take over.

Yet the moment Zoe asked, suddenly even his job didn't matter.

Zoe shot Landon a meaningful look.

"I'll let you two talk. I need to use the bathroom."

With that, she disappeared down the hall.

I picked up the black bag from the floor and held it out to Landon. Inside were the toiletries and other things he'd left at my place.

"We're already broken up. There's nothing left for us to talk about."

Landon impatiently knocked the bag aside.

"Can you stop threatening to break up with me every time you want to test me?"

"Ah! There's a roach! Landon!"

Zoe's scream came from behind us.

Landon's expression changed instantly. He brushed straight past me and rushed into the bathroom.

A moment later, he scooped Zoe up with one arm hooked high beneath her thighs and carried her into the bedroom.

A flash of bare skin caught my eye.

I looked toward the bathroom.

Her underwear and skirt were still sitting on the counter by the sink.

She wasn't wearing anything from the waist down.

For a second, my mind went blank.

Before I could even process it, Landon came back out, reached past me for her clothes, and handed them into the bedroom. This time he stayed in the doorway instead of going inside, but the tips of his ears had turned red all the way down his neck, and there was a heat in his eyes I couldn't ignore.

Zoe laughed softly from inside.

"Oh, please. It's not like there's anything you haven't already seen when we dated. Why are you acting shy now?"

Nausea surged up my throat.

I couldn't take it anymore. I stormed into the room, grabbed Zoe, and started dragging her toward the door.

"Get out! Both of you, get out! I don't want to see either of you!"

"Quinn, you're hurting me!"

Zoe cried out and struggled against me.

The words had barely left her mouth when someone shoved me hard.

I went down, and my forehead slammed into the corner of a cabinet.

Pain exploded through my head, and my vision went black for several seconds before I could finally focus again.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Landon checking Zoe's reddened wrist with obvious concern.

When he turned to me, all that concern was gone. His face was filled with anger.

"Why can't you just talk things out like a normal person? Did you really have to get physical with her?"

I braced a hand against the wall and forced myself upright.

When I touched my forehead, my fingers came away sticky.

Tears slipped down my face as an inexplicable ache tightened in my chest.

"Zoe, what have I ever done to you for you to treat me like this?"

Out of all the men in the world, she had to choose my boyfriend to blur every boundary with.

"Don't forget, if my parents hadn't supported you back then, you wouldn't even have made it through college!"

Zoe's face went pale. She pushed Landon away, and within seconds her eyes were even redder than mine.

"Quinn, Landon and I are never getting back together. You're reading too much into this."

"Yet you've never once turned down all the things he does for you!"

All that attention, with absolutely no sense of boundaries.

Zoe pressed her lips together as tears began spilling down her cheeks. It took her a long moment before she finally spoke.

"I'm sorry. I'll leave."

I hadn't even had a chance to respond before Landon stepped in front of her.

As if she were the one who'd been wronged.

"What right do you have to throw her out?"

"If Zoe hadn't found out you had a crush on me back then, she never would've broken up with me!

"And that company you joined after graduation? She was the one who asked me to pull strings and get your resume in front of them, all because she wanted to set us up!

"She's always treated you like her best friend and gone out of her way for you. You're the one who gets jealous over every little thing and turns it into a huge fight."

My mind went completely blank.

I stared at Landon, unable to tear my eyes away from him.

"So what are you saying?

"You only accepted my confession and got together with me because Zoe told you to?"