4. Gavin

FOUR

gavin

“SO HOW WAS it waking up in Daire’s bed?” Travis said as our driver, Scotty, drove us to Astor the next morning.

Normally, I’d have more to say to that, since Travis was only trying to provoke, something he excelled at. But I was too busy trying to read the description of the espresso machine I’d pulled up on my phone to care. “I slept on the couch.”

Travis gasped. “Daire. You made sweet Gavin sleep on the couch?”

“Better than the floor,” Daire replied, and it made me smirk.

It had been a little strange waking up somewhere new, but it was a relief not to wake up to bumping, grinding, moans, and God knew whatever else. All I’d heard was the faint sound of Daire’s shower running when I woke up, and that was something I could definitely live with.

…this machine textures the milk to your specifications and creates a foam so silky it’s perfect for latte art…

Ooh, latte art sounded fun. Then again, I doubted Daire would care about getting a heart drawn on his coffee.

I swiped to the next espresso machine, hated the color of it, then moved on to the next.

Excellent reviews… Forty hot and cold brew specialties…

Yep, this was the one.

“Hey, East, hope you don’t mind getting your hair wet,” West said as the Sprinter came to a stop.

As the door opened, I glanced up to see the snow was coming down even heavier now. I tucked my phone into my jacket for the moment and made the freezing trek into Astor with the rest of the guys, barely listening to whatever they were saying. The second I was inside, I pulled my phone back out and kept reading the reviews of the machine I wanted to buy Daire. He’d mentioned his espresso maker had broken, and that wasn’t something either of us could live without, so I figured—why not get him a new one as a “thanks for letting me move in” gift?

I could even wrap it in a big red bow⁠—

No, he’d hate that. He’d probably already hate my buying him anything, but too bad.

Without any more hesitation, I clicked add to cart and quickly filled in my information, putting Daire’s name on the shipping address.

I smiled to myself and hit buy, and as the purchase went through, I heard Travis say, “Fuckin’ hell.”

It didn’t occur to me to ask what he was talking about, since they’d all been shooting the shit since we got out of the Sprinter. It wasn’t until I almost ran into Travis where he’d stopped abruptly that I bothered looking up.

Everyone had gone silent and was staring in the direction of a group I knew all too well and had hoped to avoid. When my eyes caught on Joey’s face, though, I gasped and almost dropped my phone.

“Joey?” Horror filled me as I stared at the twisted direction of his nose, and his right eye that was the same gruesome shade of purplish-black that Daire’s was.

Holy…shit.

No. Daire wouldn’t have done this. He couldn’t have done this. He told me last night he hadn’t.

I stepped away from our group, closer to the tight circle gathered around Joey. “What happened to you?”

A cruel smile twisted the lips I’d once kissed as Joey narrowed his swollen eyes on me. “You know exactly what.”

I shook my head, disbelief filling me as the evidence in front of me pointed to one thing and one thing only. But still, I refused to believe it. I’d sat with Daire last night, given him an ice pack as he assured me someone like Joey couldn’t possibly have gotten a hit on him.

“I… No. What are you⁠—”

“Save it, slut,” Carl snarled. “We know you sent him.”

The horror I’d felt seconds ago got swallowed up by an uncontrollable anger as I spun around to Daire.

This was the last thing I’d wanted, the last thing I needed, and as the bitter taste of betrayal and humiliation crashed over me, the pain felt far worse than anything Joey had done to me.

“You did this?” My body practically vibrated as everyone else in the hall vanished from view and I aimed all of my emotion in Daire’s direction.

“He—”

“Did you do this?” My voice was unrecognizable as I cut Daire off, not wanting to hear any more excuses. How stupid was I to think he’d actually keep his promise? How naïve? I felt like a complete fool, and now everyone at Astor would think I was too weak to stand up for myself. “Un-fucking-believable.”

I shoved past the rest of our group until I was toe to toe with Daire, my chest heaving with barely contained fury as I glared up at him.

“You promised.”

Daire’s dark eyes seemed to map every corner of my face before coming back to land on mine. “I lied.”

Something snapped in me. Those two words were so easy for him to say and so fucking painful for me to hear. Before I knew it, I shoved him as hard as I could in the chest.

Daire stumbled back a couple of steps, the force of my anger catching him off guard. But instead of apologizing, he angled his chin up in stony defiance.

Great. That was just great. The one person I’d trusted turned out to be the last person I should’ve.

I could feel the eyes of everyone on my back. The silence in the hall was deafening, and all I wanted to do was disappear.

So that was exactly what I was going to do.

I stormed past Daire without a second glance, and as I made a beeline for the exit, I could’ve sworn I heard Joey say, “Good luck fucking him now,” and that ache in my stomach returned with a vengeance.

I should’ve known. I should’ve known better than to believe anything that came out of Daire’s mouth. He was a selfish bastard—he was the first to admit that. So why hadn’t I trusted my instincts last night when it came to that damn bruise on his face?

Because you trusted him, an annoying voice chimed in inside my head.

Yeah, fat lot of good that had done. Cabinet door, my ass. It was clear as the broken nose on Joey’s face that Daire had gone after him, tracked him down when I’d specifically asked him not to, and for what? Not me. For himself. And now everyone in our group—hell, the school—knew what had happened, or could at least guess.

This was the exact thing I’d wanted to avoid—a public showdown between my friends and Joey’s. But thanks to Daire, my breakup was now up for public discussion. Not to mention the reason why.

I ducked into one of the small alcoves away from the rest of the students making their way to class and clutched my bag to my chest, as the anger and humiliation turned to a bone-deep disappointment.

I’d woken up happy this morning, something I thought was next to impossible with the way my week had been going. But after last night and the easy connection I’d felt with Daire, I’d really thought that things were about to turn around for me. That I’d be able to start over in a new space, free of Joey, and finally be able to come into my own.

I could kiss that goodbye now. Daire had completely shattered my trust and made things with Joey a million times worse, because now he thought I’d ratted him out to my friends.

All I’d wanted to do was move on. I’d handled things, was ready to forget that one horrible night, and now, thanks to Daire, it had all come crashing back in.

Ding!

I pulled my phone out of my pocket, hoping against all hope that news hadn’t traveled that fast through the halls of Astor. But no, what I saw was almost worse. It was confirmation for the espresso machine I’d just ordered for Daire. The thank-you gift for him being so awesome and helping me out.

But now as I stared at it, all I felt was the bitterness of betrayal, the hurt of being lied to by the one person I’d trusted with my secret, and I couldn’t help but think how, in the blink of an eye, everything had changed.