His words are like a punch to the gut, knocking me a step back.
“What?”
“Look, we had fun, but it would never work out. I’m not the type of guy who settles down with someone. This was fun, that’s all.”
“Fun?” I scoff. “But you called me your girlfriend. You told me you loved me, and what, all that meant nothing to you?”
“I lied.” He shrugs, a douchey smirk on his face. “The whole love thing, it isn’t me. I said what I needed to say to keep you around.”
My teeth dig into my bottom lip, and within seconds, I taste blood. I won’t let Zeke see me cry. I won’t let him make me cry.
He stands up, crowding my bubble.
“Avalon, we both know this wasn’t gonna last. In a year, I’ll be heading to the NHL. I’ll have a world of women to choose from; why would I stay with you?”
And there it is, the final blow.
“Fuck you,” I whisper, the tears now being fueled by anger.
“You already have.” He smirks. “Multiple times.”
It’s like I don’t have control of my body as my hand swings across the air. The contact of Zeke’s skin against my hand burns.
He laughs.
He fucking laughs.
“Your mom would be ashamed of you.” I know it’s a low blow, but he deserves it. I don’t care anymore that he’s hurting, that he lost the most important person in his life. It doesn’t give him an excuse to be a self-righteous ass. “Her death doesn’t give you the excuse to be an asshole, Zeke. I get that you’re hurting, but that doesn’t mean you can say and do whatever the fuck you want. She’d hate the guy standing in front of me. But like you said, she’s dead; what does it matter, right?”
I look him over once more. His smirk is gone. He’s watching me, waiting for my next move. My handprint slowly imprints its mark on his skin.
I take a breath before turning around, “Goodbye, Zeke.”
I slam the door behind me and don’t even stop to say goodbye to anyone else. As far as I’m concerned, these last five months never happened.
Zeke Harris is dead to me.
fifty-two
Avalon
Itold you, Ember, whatever we had is over,” I play with the straw of my milkshake.
“I know, Aves.” She sighs. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him. I’ve tried to talk to him, to get through to him, but every time I see him, he’s—”
“Wasted.”
“Yeah.”
“Take it from someone who knows,” I begin, “you can’t help an addict, and Zeke’s slowly becoming one.”
“And I’d never put you in that position.”
“I know.” I run my hands through my hair. “God, standing there, seeing him like that, I felt like a little kid again. I told him I couldn’t stand around and watch him become exactly like my mom, and he didn’t care. There wasn’t an ounce of sympathy or pain in his eyes.”
“He’s hurting, Avalon.”
I sit back in the booth and cross my arms.