Faking the Play (Hot Mess Harems #2)

32. Amelia

Chapter thirty-two

Amelia

I really didn’t like away games, especially ones where the guys were playing two nights in a row. Fortunately, this three-day trip had been the only one of its kind. Some sort of makeup game or something like that. Whatever it was, I didn’t want to go that long away from the guys ever again. Sure, there’d been times I’d gone a couple days without spending a lot of time with them, but I’d always seen them around on campus. And I always knew they were right there if I needed them.

For the past three days though, they hadn’t been nearby, and it had been the longest three days of my life. Well, the longest since we’d stopped being friends. Those had been some long and lonely nights.

This time, I’d tried to keep myself busy so I didn’t constantly check my phone or bombard them with texts while they were trying to concentrate, but it had been hard. I’d planned on surprising them, but I saw the bus leaving the stadium while I was on my way over and realized they’d gotten back sooner than they thought. While surprising them had been a fun idea, I was just glad they were home.

Using the key Logan had given me—the memory made my heart flutter—I let myself into the apartment.

“Guys? Logan? Ethan? Ryan?” I called their names as I closed the door behind me and came a few steps further into the apartment.

As I looked around, I realized that something had happened since I’d left here late last night. The place was a disaster. For one wild moment, I wondered if they’d gotten back even earlier than I realized, and hadn’t told me so they could have some big party, but I dismissed that thought even as it came into my head. Even if they hadn’t wanted to tell me the moment they got back, it would’ve been because they wanted to decompress or take naps or something, not have a party.

I beamed as I saw the guys coming down the hallway. “Hey, do you need a hand cleaning up? What happened here?”

“Don’t bother,” Logan snapped. “We know it was you.”

Startled by his tone, it took a second for his words to register. “What was me?”

“This.” He gestured toward the living room and kitchen. “And all the shit we found in our rooms.”

I frowned. “Someone trashed your rooms? And you think I had something to do with it?”

“Someone had sex in our rooms,” Ryan said, the hurt and betrayal in his eyes speaking volumes.

“I’m hoping you guys think I let people in here and they had sex in your rooms,” I said slowly. “Because that’d be bad enough.”

“Just stop!” Logan exploded. “We know you fucked Jason in our beds or showers or wherever. Probably all over the whole fucking apartment.”

I took a step back, pain lancing through me, sharp enough to make it hard for me to even breathe, but I managed to get the oxygen I needed to defend myself. “I haven’t even seen Jason since he got expelled, and I certainly haven’t fucked him. Here or anywhere else.”

“You’re the only other one with a key,” Ethan said quietly, unable to meet my eyes. “The lock wasn’t broken, so whoever got in here used a key.”

“Or picked the lock,” I countered.

“There’s evidence all over the place,” Logan cut in, stepping between me and the other two guys. “Condoms, clothes.”

“You want a DNA sample to compare?” My nails bit into my hands as I curled my hands into fists. “Or maybe I should give you my phone so you can check my call history and texts? I hadn’t realized you’d changed your major to criminal justice.”

“Yeah, well, you two didn’t bother being that subtle about it.” Logan held something up. “You wanna explain how Jason’s student ID ended up on the floor of my bedroom?”

I gaped, staring at the little piece of plastic. It really was Jason’s ID. I’d seen it a hundred times before. And I had no idea how it could’ve gotten into Logan’s room. All I knew for certain was that I hadn’t put it there and I certainly hadn’t been here with Jason.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But he threatened to destroy me for getting him expelled.”

And I had walked away from him, thinking he’d never be able to do anything that would hurt me as badly as what he’d already done.

I’d been so wrong, because I had no doubt at all that he was behind this.

Logan laughed, but it was a brittle, bitter sound, like no laugh I’d ever heard from him before.

“I didn’t do anything with him.” The strength faded from my voice as I saw in Logan’s eyes that he didn’t believe me. I turned to Ethan and Ryan. “I swear, I have no idea what happened here. This place was spotless when I left last night and I haven’t been back until just now.”

“We knew Jason was a cheater,” Logan said. “We just never imagined you would be too.”

Tears burned my eyelids. “You believed me before. Why won’t you believe me now?”

“Yeah, well, maybe that was a mistake,” Logan said.

I flinched. For a second, I saw a flash of guilt on all three faces, but it disappeared from Logan’s eyes almost immediately, replaced by something hard and unyielding. Something cold I’d never imagined could come from such a warm person.

“You should probably go,” Ethan said.

“We need to figure out what really happened.” I hated the desperation in my voice, but I couldn’t believe this was actually happening. “There’s a logical explanation for all of this.”

“You’re right,” Ryan said, “but it points to you not being the person we thought you were.”

“I’m not the only one,” I whispered. “Because the men I thought you were, my friends, my lovers, the men I was falling…”

I swallowed hard and shook my head to dislodge the blinding tears. I didn’t care if they saw them. Let them see what they were doing to me.

If they even gave a damn.

“We’re done, Amelia.” Logan crossed his arms over his chest, his face stony. “Leave the key and get the hell out.”

I took the key out of my pocket and set it on the closest surface. “I wish you’d kept walking that day.”

“Yeah, well, I’m wishing we’d never gone near the bookstore either,” Logan said.

I shook my head again, turning away from him before I clarified. “Not then. That day fourteen years ago when you stopped to help me pick up everything I’d dropped. I wish you’d just kept walking and left me alone.”

I’d never wished that before, not even when my heart broke seven years ago when I realized I’d lost my friends. But I meant what I said now. I wished our friendship had never existed.

I left without waiting to hear if they had anything to say to that. I didn’t care. I couldn’t care, not about anything. Not when I hurt like this. Before, it’d been a breaking of my heart, but this was more than that. It wasn’t even a shattering. No, this was like my entire heart had been ripped from my chest, leaving a raw, bleeding hole that I could only hope time would heal.

I somehow made it back to my dorm room without anyone stopping me. When I saw that Megan wasn’t there, I threw myself onto my bed, buried my face in my pillow, and sobbed. I let it all out because when I was done, I wouldn’t cry for them again.

I wouldn’t feel anything for them ever again.