Page 62 of Gravity of Love
Made my point?
Frankie opened her mouth, not sure what would come out of it.
Huh?she thought. Now she knew how Liam felt. He was always saying he never knew what she was going to say.
Would she say something scathing and make him cry?
Would she go with something more subtle, sarcasm perhaps, and there would be a good chance half of it would go over his head?
Or would she just be straight up and to the point, leaving no room for misinterpretation that, in the immortal words of Taylor Swift, they were never, ever, ever getting back together?
She had no idea, but they were both about to find out.
“I don’t care?—”
Before she got out her fourth word, which she felt would have really set the tone of her retort, her phone vibrated and lit up with a call. She glanced at the screen, and the relief she felt was so visceral she almost wept.
Zion was calling.
She’d never needed to speak to her bestie more in her life. He was back in the States, or at least within range of service.
Tristan leaned over her, trying to see her screen. “Who is that?”
The tone in his voice was not curious, it was suspicious.
“None of your business.” She angled the phone so he couldn’t see, her voice cool as a cucumber for the first time all night.
He gave her a look—half hurt, half annoyed—as he pointed to her phone. “Isthatwhy you’ve been so weird since we got here?”
Most of the things that had come out of Tristan’s mouth tonight had stunned her, but the nerve it took for him to say that was just un-fucking-believable.
“Weird? If I’m actingweird,it’s because you didn’t tell me you were coming to California with our parents, who are getting married in six days and who we have to act like a happy couple in front of.”
“Whose fault is that? You are the one who bounced out of state and stopped talking to me a month ago.Youare the one who didn’t want to upset your mom by telling her thattruth.”
“She was on vacation. In Europe. I didn’t expecther, oryou, oryourfather to show up on my porch. A heads-up that you were all coming to Hope Falls would not have been too much to ask for. You ambushed me.”
Tristan shook his head. “You act like you’re the only one with feelings in this relationship, like you’re the only one who was ambushed. I got home one day, and my fiancée was gone. I had to track you on your phone to find out where you were.”
She knew that he’d tracked her. She hadn’t told him where she was, and he kept asking her, but she knew he knew the entire time. It would have bothered him too much not to know.
Her phone stopped ringing and then vibrated again. She glanced down and saw it was a text from Zion with only a string of emojis portraying his shock and concern, including the face screaming in fear, skull, exploding head, astonished face, face with spiral eyes, and more. She’d sent him over fifteen voice notes, each at their two-minute capacity, explaining the entire situation. The only detail she omitted was that she and Liamslept together, but she included everything else—the hiking, meeting his family, him Mission Impossible-ing Yaya’s house, all of it. She’d told him about Tristan and Em, her mom and Dr. Sterling’s European adventures, and that they’d shown up at Yaya’s. She’d even texted him while packing up her things that they were all now staying at Liam’s for the week.
Her phone started ringing again, and she clutched it tightly to her chest, the bed suddenly suffocating her, the air in the room thick as syrup. She pressed her lips together, forcing herself not to scream as she swung her legs off the bed and walked toward the balcony.
“Where are you going?” Tristan demanded in accusation.
“To Disneyland,” she stated sarcastically.
Tristan scoffed. “Yeah, run away. You’re good at that.”
“Why don’t you go have sex with your clients and then rate them with fleshlights? You’re good at that,” Frankie shot back, she hadn’t planned on bringing it up, but he pushed her to her limit. She was so tired of him pretending to be someone he wasn’t.
Tristan shot up to a sitting position. “What?! What are you talking about?!”
“Save it, Tristan. I don’t even?—”
“I’m serious, Frankie.” He got out of the bed and started walking towards her. “I haveno ideawhat you’re talking about.”
