Page 89 of #Starstruck

The door opened, and I’d obviously woken up one of the roommates. I couldn’t remember his name. “Is Gavin here?”

He didn’t say anything. I heard muffled voices before Gavin came into the living room. “What do you want, Zoe?”

“I want to tell you you’re an idiot.”

“Thanks for that. Bye.” He moved to close the door.

I stuck my foot in the frame. He wasn’t going to get rid of me that easily. “Lexi is not in love with Chase. He was a childhood crush. She met him. Twice. And she didn’t go after him. In fact, after she met him, she pretty much stopped talking about him other than to make you jealous. If you haven’t noticed, Lexi can be insecure and needs constant reassurance. You are the only guy I’ve ever seen her serious about. I think she might even love you. She was mad because I lied to her. And she had every right to be mad. I shouldn’t have done it.”

“Did she tell you to come and plead her case?”

I resisted the urge to shove him in his stupid chest. “Of course not. You know she wouldn’t. She’ll just move on and pretend like she’s over you, even if she’s not. You’re perfect together. Don’t be a moron and screw up the best thing that’s ever happened to you.”

I yanked my foot clear of the door and almost lost my shoe. I shoved my foot back into it and started walking along the sidewalk away from his apartment.

“Hey, Zoe!”

I stopped and turned around to see what Gavin wanted.

“Maybe you should think about taking your own advice.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

Obviously I did some good, because later that evening as Lexi and I watched a Hallmark movie, somebody tried to break down our front door, making us both shriek.

“I have a gun!” Lexi called out as she grabbed her phone, ready to call 911.

“You do not.”

“Gavin?”

The chain was on, but the rest of it was unlocked, so he’d managed to open the door a couple of inches. “This was a lot less dramatic than I had intended.”

Lexi stood in his sight line, her arms crossed. Her face was defiant, but I could see her trembling. She wanted to hope but was scared to.

“Lexi, I love you.” I watched as her posture changed at hearing those four words. “I never should have accused you of having feelings for Chase Covington. I was so afraid of losing you that I broke it off, thinking it would hurt less if I ended it before you could leave me. It didn’t. I screwed up. Open the door, sweetheart. Let me make this right.”

She walked over to the door, gazed into his eyes, and then gently closed it on him.

Two heartbeats later she reached up and undid the chain lock to let him in. He grabbed her in his arms and lifted her against him. If my heart had to be broken, I was so glad my best friend’s would be mended. But it made me ache to see how much they loved each other, and I missed Chase all over again.

I went into our room and closed the door to give them some privacy for their reconciliation. I took my phone off my desk and looked at it. I had left it off because I was both afraid Chase would call and afraid he wouldn’t.

Holding my breath, I turned my phone on. The pings started almost immediately. Out of habit, I went into my Twitter app first. Nothing from Chase, but I had more than ten thousand notifications from people who had tweeted at me. I started scrolling through them, feeling sick. Some people hated Amelia the way Lexi did and declared themselves #TeamZoe or #TeamZase.

But then there were the people who believed the article. Who thought I was a home-wrecking gold digger. They said ... not nice things. Including the ever-popular death threat. I knew I should put my phone down, stop reading. But it was like a car wreck I couldn’t look away from.

Finally, I forced myself to get off Twitter. I had a bunch of e-mails to go through and thirteen missed calls. One from my mom, one from Stephanie, and the other eleven from Chase. There were voice mails, but I couldn’t bring myself to listen to them. Hearing his voice ... it would be too painful. Just seeing that he’d called made my hands shake.

I needed to focus on something else. I wondered what Stephanie wanted. I was planning on leaving in an hour to go into work. Couldn’t she just tell me then? It seemed odd.

Thinking of her reminded me of what had happened with Chase, and I tried to block my thoughts of his accusations and his cold expression, as well as the nauseating feeling they created in the pit of my stomach. I thought of what Stephanie had said. How she knew Chase and I were in a relationship, something she couldn’t possibly have known. I’d been so caught up in my heartache that I hadn’t stopped to consider how she got her information.

Then I remembered finding my laptop open after that design meeting when I was pretty sure I had closed it.

Lexi burst in the room and rushed over to hug me. “Gavin told me what you did. Thank you. You are the best friend in the whole world. If there’s ever anything I can do to repay you, you let me know.”

“There may be something Gavin can do.”

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