Chapter 52

Chapter Fifty-Two

Maddy

I f I'd thought that Zak's Uncle Mark's house was nice, Nick, his friend's, house was incredible. They even had an indoor swimming pool with changing rooms and a spa pool. The party itself was in a room specifically for parties, with a bar at one end with proper bartenders. At the other end of the room, a hotdog stand was in one corner, and a taco stand at the other. Above us on a balcony was a DJ with a huge set of decks blasting out every type of music. It was absolutely wild; in fact, it was carnage. Food and clothes in the pool, people passed out everywhere and I'd seen more than one couple having sex in a dark corner.

"And I thought we went crazy at parties." Liv said shaking her head.

"I just walked in on a boy blowing another boy in a bathroom. They didn't even stop, just winked at me." Emma grinned. "It was quite hot, actually. I almost stayed to watch."

We burst out laughing and all jumped back when someone shook a bottle of champagne, spraying it in our general direction.

"Where are Liam and Zak with our drinks, anyway?" Liv asked and looked over to the bar. It was at least ten deep, and I couldn't see either of them. All the boys around here seemed to be six feet plus, which meant Liam and Zak mingled in too easily.

I shrugged and was just about to say they shouldn't be long, when Emma nudged me hard in the stomach.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"Bitch at three o'clock."

All three of our heads swivelled that way and I groaned. "Why can't she just leave me alone." Connie was walking towards us, a smarmy smile on her face.

"Hey, girls," she said in her sickly-sweet voice that I'd grown to hate over the last couple of hours. Any opportunity to speak to us and she had and each time it had been to relay some memory of her and Zak together. So much for me avoiding her. "Still having fun." She turned and waved at a girl who was taking it in turn to kiss two boys. "That's Hattie, she's hilarious." She leaned closer. "A bit of a slag, but hilarious with it."

Liv sighed heavily and crossed her arms. "Where's your boyfriend? Not seen you with him much."

Emma snorted and muttered, "Trust Liv to be to the point."

I couldn't help noticing how Connie rubbed at her neck before plastering on a smile. "Around. We're not joined at the hip. Unlike you and Zak." Her eyes pinned themselves to mine, and she thrust her hands to her hips, like she was waiting for a response.

I didn't immediately give her one because she was wrong. I'd spent some time talking to Zak's friend Deacon and the girl he was seeing, while Zak went to play a game of pool while I'd had a long, funny conversation with his other friend Oscar. The party was crazy, but I felt comfortable enough not to hang on Zak's arm the whole time, so she had it all wrong.

"Zak and I are fine spending time apart." I hated that I sounded defensive, to the point that it came across more like a protest than a fact.

Connie arched her perfectly waxed brows, the edge of her plump lips twitching up into a smirk. "Of course you are. It must be weird, though, him knowing everyone here and them knowing him better than you do. At least you've got your little group with you."

God, she was such a bitch. Every word she said an insinuation, and I had no idea what Zak had seen in her, because there wasn't much pleasant about her from what I could see.

"We're having a great time," Emma told her. "Especially as we're just country folk up in the big city."

Liv and I chuckled because you could always rely on Emma to be her sarcastic best when you needed it. Connie gave her a tight smile, flicking her hair over her shoulders. She looked around the room and then whipped her head back to me.

"Just need to talk to someone. See you later."

As she tottered off in her sky high heels, Emma leaned in close. "She hasn't got anyone to see. Look, everyone of Zak's mates turns their back on her."

We watched, and she was right—not one person spoke to her, but generally turned away and carried on talking to someone else. She walked the full length of the room, being ignored, until she reached her boyfriend, who barely gave her a glance as he continued playing pool.

"Sorry, the queue at the bar was fucking horrendous." Zak stood in front of me holding out a bottle of beer with a chunk of lemon stuck in the top. He pointed at it and shook his head. "Throw that if you don't want it."

"It's fine." Grinning and feeling relief that he was back in front of me, I pushed the lemon inside the bottle.

"Here you go, Liv." Zak passed her something that looked like it was radioactive. "Oh, and my friend Teddy was asking about you."

Liv instantly went on high alert, craning her neck and looking around the room like her head was a periscope popping out of the sea. "Who is he, and what does he look like?"

Zak chuckled and pointed over towards the hot dog stand. "That's him with a hot dog in each hand."

Liv's eyes narrowed on her prey. "Hmm, blonde, tall, broad, pretty. The two hot dogs are a problem, but I can sort that out."

We all watched as she stalked across the room, dangling her bottle between her fingers, in the direction of Zak's friend. When she stood in front of him she pushed her shoulders back, grabbed one of the hot dogs passed it off to a passing girl and then landed her lips on Teddy's.

"Fucking hell," Liam cried. "She's going for it."

"I think she was getting bored," Emma told him. "Did you get me a drink."

"Oh yeah. Here you go." He handed over a mini bottle of Prosecco with a straw sticking out of it. "Fancy a game of pool, it looks like the table is coming free."

When we looked over, Connie's boyfriend and his friend had put their cue's down on the table and were walking away. Connie was walking behind them, well more dragging really, with her arms firmly crossed over her chest.

"Doubles," Zak said, taking my hand. "Let's go and beat them, babe."

"I'm rubbish at pool," Em complained.

"She is," I told Liam, laughing and then turning to Zak. "We're going to smash this."

Sitting in a quiet corner, of which there were very few, I had been waiting for Zak to come back from the bathroom for about twenty minutes. I wasn't bored, given there was a lot of people to watch, but I was starting to get a little concerned about where he was. Emma and Liam had disappeared straight after we'd annihilated them at pool. I had no idea where they were but had an idea it was a dark corner. He'd leaned over her quite a lot during our game, trying to teach her how to hit the balls. There was more rubbing up and down on her arse than teaching going on. As for Liv, she was kissing the face off Teddy against the wall opposite. I had a good view of her and knew that she was okay. As well as the necking on, there was a lot of laughing too, so I wasn't worried about her.

Taking another look at my phone screen, I saw another ten minutes had passed since I'd last seen Zak. He'd promised he wouldn't be long, mainly because it was almost two and we wanted to get some sleep before we needed to get up to investigate London.

I still felt okay, until I saw Connie's boyfriend walk past with a couple of his friends. The realisation struck me at the same moment my stomach bottomed out and my heart missed a few beats. The last time I'd seen Connie was just before Zak had gone to the bathroom. She'd been watching us from across the room, her eyes never leaving us, even when she dragged her boyfriend to her—Dan, I think his name was—and started kissing him. My hands began to shake as I stood up from the chair and stood to look around the room. The crowd had thinned out a little, but it was still busy, maybe just a little less wild. but there was no sign of Zak. Chewing on my lip, I started to push through everyone to make my way to the bathroom which was next to the pool.

"Excuse me." A guy wearing a hat shaped like a birthday cake looked at me and then tried to pull me to him. "I need to get past."

"Dance with me," he slurred. "Just one."

When he grabbed my arm, I snatched it free and threw him a glare as I carried on walking. The whole time I pushed past and dodged people, I was on high alert for both Zak and Connie, my heart thudding in time with the music pounding in my ears. The longer time went without spotting them, the sicker I felt. The harder my heart slammed against my breast bone. I had no idea why or how I knew that they were together, but I just did. When I rounded a corner there they were. I was right.

Zak was leaning with his back against the wall, and Connie with her side to it. She was twiddling her hair around her finger and giggling. My gaze snapped to Zak, and he was smiling and gesticulating with his hands, evidently telling her some funny story. He didn't look at all like he didn't want to be near her, that he thought she was a demanding, sarcastic princess. I didn't know what to do. When she placed her hand against his chest, bile rose in my throat. When that hand then trailed down towards the waistband of his jeans, I wanted to rip my eyes out. Zak moved a step to the side, but he continued chatting. He didn't pull her hand away or tell her to stop, he just carried on talking about whatever it was she found so fucking hilarious. When she stood on her tiptoes, and Zak lowered his head, I stopped breathing. Would my heart give up if they kissed? Would I scream or just burst into tears? When she whispered something into his ear the relief was huge, until he smiled. It was my smile, yet he didn't look in my direction, didn't sense my presence and that caused a pain in my chest like I'd never felt before. The moment he entered a room, I was aware of him. I knew that he was there and yet he didn't have that same second sense about me.

Knowing I had to do something I tried to take a step, but my legs felt like they were made of lead. I wasn't even sure what sort of step it would be if I could take it. A step towards them or away from them? Did I stay and confront them, or just run and pretend I hadn't seen anything, giving him the opportunity to lie about where he'd been. Then again maybe he'd tell me the truth.

I knew I shouldn't be warring with myself about it. I was strong. My dad had brought me up that way. He'd told me never to let anyone walk all over me or to make me feel inadequate. Yet, the idea of going over there and telling him that he was a dick for leaving me alone to speak to her, well, it scared me because of what he might say. What if he told me to go away? What if he said he'd realised that Connie was the one for him? What if…

It was too late Zak had spotted me, and as he lifted his eyes to mine he smiled at me. It wasn't forced, but it felt like he was surprised, so I did what instinct told me to do and what my legs finally allowed me to do…I turned around and ran away.