Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Landon

Listen to Traitor

by Olivia Rodrigo

A foggy mist shrouded my brain as I stared at the flickering video. It looked like one of those made with a hand-held camera rather than an iPhone. The picture went in and out, with some blurred images. The view jerked in choppy motions and there was loud laughter and noise in the background. At first, I thought it was a joke or even a mistake. I didn’t know anyone on the video—a group of strangers were drinking shots, partying, and dancing in a hotel room. But as I squinted, the camera turned with a bunch of shushing. A drunken voice whispered “Let’s see what’s going on in there.” The camera lifted and lowered in a sickening wave, illuminating the dirty rug, the hallway, then a closed door.

More laughing. More shushing.

The door opened.

Max was on the bed with some girl. I could only see her long blonde hair spread over the bed as he moved on top of her. He groaned, throwing his head back, his perfect face in shadow. The camera zoomed in.

“What the fuck man!” he roared.

He should have jumped off the bed and stopped, but I guess the sex was too good to stop or he was too far along. The woman beneath him twisted and arched, feet digging into his back, and he groaned again, lowering himself down and pulling the sheet quickly over them.

“Assholes!” he yelled.

“Maxie, you have a good night?” a voice asked, laughing hard. “Come on, give it to the camera.”

A pillow shot off the bed and hit the lens.

The camera dropped.

Various voices intermingled amidst cursing and sex jokes. I strained to listen hard, wondering if I recognized any of the men speaking, but I couldn’t tell because everything was muffled.

Then the video went dark.

I stared at the screen. A part of myself registered the proof of Max cheating, but the other part was firmly in denial. It was a set up. It was fixed or edited to make him look guilty. Maybe Max kissed someone or fooled around, but there was no way he could have sex with some drunk stranger when he said he loved me.

Right?

“Miss? We’re here.”

I shook my head as the Uber driver pulled up to my apartment, muttering a quick thank you and falling out the door. I watched the video in full before I went inside.

Once I unlocked the door, I kicked my heels off and watched it again.

Then ran to the bathroom and threw up.

My throat felt raw when I was done, and I tasted sour bile. I brushed my teeth, still fighting the lull of alcohol which lured me to forget about it all and sleep to forget. Things would be fixed in the morning.

Instead, I watched the video again. This time I paused it and zoomed in on the woman’s features. I didn’t recognize her. Max had the look on his face right before he was going to come.

I raced back to the bathroom and got sick again.

I’m not sure how much time passed as I sat on the couch and looked around in a daze. I’d cleared out half of my bedroom drawers and a quarter of my closet. I’d made a shelf in my bathroom for his personal items and even added a hook on the bathroom door for his robe. He liked to wear one on weekends and I always teased him about looking like a creepy young Hugh Heffner.

Coop and Elle were planning to move in together. After all the plaguing doubts and worry, I’d put my fears to rest and decided to trust Max and our relationship. I’d been the one to feel guilty about Adam. I was the one in the wrong, and it had made me even more determined to put all my emotion and motivation into my relationship with Max.

But Max had slept with another woman. Lied about it. Made me think I was crazy to believe in a video being shown to other people for them to laugh and make fun of his stupid girlfriend who believed in him. His dick had been inside someone else, yet he looked me in the eye and swore he’d been faithful.

My insides shriveled and dried up, taking my tears with me. I wished I could cry. I wanted to call Elle and tell her what happened. I wanted to scream at Max and call him a thousand names and make him hurt like he’d hurt me.

What was a lie between us and what was truth? How much could you love someone if you could cheat? The questions twisted my mind until I held my head, pressing fingers to my temple to stop the pounding. What was I going to do?

I thought of moving forward and putting it behind us. I thought of confronting him and allowing his apology so I didn’t have to blow up a relationship I’d believed in. I thought of lying next to him each night after we had sex and wondering who he’d slept with and forgotten. What was her name? Did he know? Did he even remember the incident or would he swear she didn’t matter and he loved me?

And even worse? What if it was true? That in his mind, it meant nothing? Could it mean nothing to me?

I rocked back and forth and let the wild thoughts tear me apart, until my broken heart began to harden. This was his choice. I didn’t know if there was anything left in my trust to try again, or if I wanted to. The future that I’d believed in was shattered.

I just didn’t know what came next.

I couldn’t sort through the firestorm of emotion. I should go to bed and sleep things off so I could make the best decision, but the raw grief was too overwhelming to fight. Anger bled away the rest, and I reached for my phone, fingers shaking as I pressed the button.

His voice was rough and sleep edge. “You okay, babe?”

It took me a while to answer. I gripped the phone so hard I was surprised it didn’t shatter in my hands. “No. I’m not okay. I’ll never be okay again.”

I pictured him on full alert now, sitting up in bed, blinking away the drowsiness. “Landon, what’s wrong? Do you need me to come over?”

A horrible laugh escaped my lips. “I know, Max. I know .”

Silence. “What are you talking about, baby? Know what?”

A sob rose up. I hated my emotion—wished I could be cold and ruthless and cut him off like an Olivia Rodrigo song. “I know about the video.”

A sharp breath flooded over the line. “Landon, there is no video. I’m coming over and we’ll fix this.”

The words he used exploded my temper like a lit match to dynamite. “You bastard. You disgusting, lying asshole prick. You stay away from me. Don’t even think of moving one sock into this place because we’re done.”

Satisfaction surged as I heard the panic in his voice. Good. He was finally taking me seriously. “There is no video! I don’t know who you were talking to, babe, but they’re probably jealous of what we have because I’ve done nothing wrong. I love you and we’re moving in together. It’s okay to be scared to take the next step, but don’t make up excuses. I got you.”

I got you.

The final betrayal hurt me like a pummel of fists. Red mist shrouded my vision. He was still lying, even when I confronted him with the truth. Did Max have any respect for me? Was the past year just a surface fling, and I was stupid enough to believe I was special?

I lowered my voice to a fierce whisper, my entire body shaking with rage. “If you come near me, I’ll cut off your dick—I swear I will. You disgust me.”

“Landon—”

“We’re done.”

I hung up. Immediately, it kept ringing while the stream of texts flooded my messages. I read the excuses and denials and the gaslighting, allowing him to dig his own grave. Then the final text pinged in.

I’m coming over.

I forwarded him the video and waited to see what he did next.

The texts stopped.

The silence was almost worse than the denials. I stumbled to bed and climbed underneath the covers, burying my head in the blankets. The room spun, my heart was in shreds, and I’d lost the man I thought was meant for me—the man I loved.

Nothing would ever be the same again. How could we come back from this? And why did I feel like I was grieving not only the loss of Max, but the entire breakdown of our group?

I shut my eyes as tears streamed down my cheeks and wondered what I was going to do next.