I turn to her, worried. “What if we can’t overcome this?”
She gives me a sad smile. “Then you can say you gave it your best shot.”
I wonder if that’ll be enough.
57
ROXY
With my heartpounding in my chest, I turn the lock to my apartment. Sitting on the couch are Billy and Cam.
Anticipation makes my stomach flutter. I’ve missed Billy so much. Part of me wants to leap into his lap, but I manage to tamp that down because we have a lot to talk about.
He has something spread out across the coffee table.
Cam nudges him, and he finally looks up. I’m caught off guard by the anger in his eyes.
“What the hell is this?” Billy waves one of the pages at me. I’m guessing that’s his father’s contract.
“Nice to see you too.” Maybe my parents got this wrong, and Billy and I won’t have some big heart-to-heart. Here I am, trying to have an open mind so we can talk, and he’s barking at me like I committed a crime. My walls instantly go up. “That’s a gift from your father, who was also kind enough to share all those photos he took of you and Sam at your mom’s birthday dinner.”
Billy’s jaw goes tight. “Are you going to sign this?”
“Of course not.”
“This isn’t why you broke up with me?”
“We broke up because youliedto me. Because you stayed out all night that Saturday, presumably with Sam, who you fucked in high school. Because she’s in all these photos wearing your suit jacket, the one you can’t find. And because you wouldn’t prove your innocence by showing me your phone.”
Cam makes a face. “Bro, that sounds pretty bad.”
Billy glares at him. “I had reasons.”
I cross my arms and give him a look. “You wanted to talk, so here I am. Are you planning to share those reasons anytime soon or do you just want to get your stuff?”
He takes several deep breaths like he’s debating what to say.
The silence stretches out as humiliation crawls up my neck.
Fuck this. “You know what, why don’t you just get your crap and go. It’s obvious you don’t want to hash this out. Or maybe you can’t defend what you did.”
“It’s not like that, Roxy.”
“Then just spit it out. What’s so bad that you can’t say it? Did your father tell you he thought I was a trashy girl the way he told me? How I’m basically a slut for sleeping around? How your potential agent doesn’t like how I look with you because Marley isn’t yours? Is that what you’re hiding? Because I’ve already heard it straight from the horse’s mouth.”
Billy’s eyes widen, but I’m not done. “Apparently, the going rate for getting rid of your son’s girlfriend is fifty grand. He said that since I probably can’t satisfy you sexually because I just pushed out a kid, someone like Samantha could.”
His jaw tightens. “That motherfucker. Are you serious?”
“So did she? Satisfy you?”
“Rox. Come on.”
“This is the part that stumps me. Where did you go after dinner that night? Why was Samantha wearing your damn jacket? If everything was so innocent, why couldn’t you show me your phone? And why the hell were you dancing with her?”
“I never danc—” He stops suddenly. “Hell. Maybe I did.”
“Get your shit and go.” I move to the kitchen to get some water. I need something to do with my hands before I strangle him. Why won’t he just be straight with me?
