Fold

“Condoms,” Asher exclaims. “My brother doesn't have sex without them ever. Our father was super strict about us not knocking anyone up before we turned thirty. Preston always uses them, and I know he used them with Becca because he told me he did. He might have liked her at one point, but he knew better than to trust her.”

I roll my eyes. “Right, because condoms never tear or malfunction.” I fold my arms across my chest. “Condoms or not, your brother confirmed the baby was his while we were trapped in the elevator.”

Asher shrugs. “Well, then he lied to you for some reason. Probably because he didn't want you to freak when you figured out that Becca not only cheated on you with him but some random guy too while confined in a small space together.” He twirls a finger around his head. “Can't say I blame him, you are kind of crazy.”

I swear there must be something in the Holden DNA that is specifically designed to piss me off. “Or maybe he lied to you so you wouldn't give him shit about abandoning his kid before he left town, ever think of that?” I throw my hands up. “Oh wait, of course not...because condoms. Swear to God, people like you are the reason we have warning labels.”

“Enough, Kit,” Breslin grits through her teeth as Landon narrows his eyes at me.

Asher leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Look, my brother isn't exactly a saint, and I don't understand why he does half the shit he does most of the time, but he wouldn't do that. He was devastated when the paternity results came back and he found out the baby wasn't his. I don't think I've ever seen him so upset.”

“Paternity results?” I whisper, or at least I think I do. All I can hear is my pulse drumming in my ears as I replay the last part of our conversation in the elevator.

“And that right there is what you should have started with, Asher,” Landon says as I close my eyes.

It doesn't make any sense...at all. Why would he let me believe Becca's lie instead of telling me the truth? And why would he hook up with her again after she lied to him about being the father?

I take a step back as the realization hits me like a hot pan to the face.

The arrows only point to one direction. Preston did all that...to hurt me.

Worse than hurt me—he wanted to destroy me.

It's also why he kissed me. He wanted me to question my sexuality and have feelings for him. This way, my fall would be that much harder.

I trusted him.

I try to breathe past the tsunami of pain that floods my chest, but I can't. Becca's betrayal was an undertow. But Preston's is a riptide...and it's pulling me under.

I'm drowning, just like he wanted me to.

I need to get out of here.

I'm halfway down the hall when Breslin catches up to me. “Becca's even more of a bitch than I thought. I seriously want to kick her in her petri dish of a vagina for fucking with you.”

I brush off her words and keep walking. I can't be around her or anyone else...I don't want to. I want to push everyone away because I'm so tired of being hurt. I'm tired of being used. I'm tired of giving everyone my heart and watching them stomp on it.

I'm tired of never being good enough.

And I'm so tired of everyone I love leaving me in one form or another.

Maybe I should be the one to do it first this time.

Breslin doesn't need my friendship anymore. She's happy and in love with not one, but two people now. And considering college is almost over and we'll no longer be roommates, there's no reason for her to keep in touch.

Therefore, I'm cutting the cord before she does and sparing myself the torture of having her slowly unravel it.

“Kit,” she screams, and I turn and face her.

“What?”

She gapes at me. “What do you mean what? I'm trying to talk to you and make sure you're okay.”

I press a finger to my lips. “Sorry, I'm having trouble keeping up. A week ago you ripped me a new one for being okay and not dying when your boyfriend decided to attack the person holding us at gunpoint...and today you're worried about my well-being?”

Guilt sweeps over her face. “You know I didn't—”

“No, I don't know. And to tell you the truth, I'm not so sure I even care.” I jut my chin out before I deliver the very same words she said to me. The words I know will either piss her off or push her away. “Don't follow me when I turn around.”

I go to walk again, but her arms wrap around me, holding me in place. “I was beside myself. All I could think about was Landon and how much it would kill me to lose him. I was terrified and needed someone to blame because the person I wanted to was dead.” Her voice quivers and she tightens her grip. “But I was wrong and I'm sorry.”

My head hurts and whatever's left of my heart twists, but I wrench out of her hold anyway.

“I don't know what you want from me or why you're choosing to apologize now.” I leer at her. “Oh, wait, I get it. Now that Landon is fine, and you and your boyfriends have worked things out and you're all one big, happy orgy—everything in the world must be great again, huh? Well, news flash, B. The world doesn't revolve around you.”

There's no mistaking the offense on her face, and I want to take the words back the second they leave my mouth, but I refuse to.

“I have shit to do, see you around.”

She yanks my arm. “Jesus Christ, Kit. What else do I have to say or do to prove how sorry I am?”

I look her right in the eyes. “You can start by leaving me alone. For good.”

She blinks. “You can't be serious. You're my best friend.”

“Things change.”

Her face falls. “This isn't you, Kit.”

She's right...it isn't. This is the new Kit. The Kit who can walk right out those hospital doors, ignoring her best friend's pleas for her to come back.

Adrenaline courses through me, causing my body to shake as I run out to my car.

God, I'm so angry. So fucking angry at the both of them.

A choked sob tears from my throat. At him.

I'm sticking my key in the ignition when my phone rings and I see my Na

I promptly hit the ignore button and peel out of the parking lot.

Because this is the Kit who no longer gives a fuck about anything or anyone.

The Kit who doesn't get hurt...ever. Because she no longer feels a damn thing.