Who Breaks First (Clearwater University)

West and I both turn to look at him, and West’s expression of confusion and concern matches mine. What’s Trent getting at? Is he going back to his old “vengeance” shit again? Goddammit, I hope not. I thought he worked that shit out with Emma. Even if she was the one who told his dad about the kiss, that was in high school. It’s time to let it go… and I thought he had.

So what’s up his ass now?

West opens his mouth, probably to ask that exact question, when a pounding on the door interrupts him.

“Let me in!” Emma screams from outside, nothing but rage in her voice.

“Oh, fuck,” I breathe, my gaze flying to the door.

Something’s not right, and I don’t know what it is. But I’m a little in awe of the force of Emma’s voice. I’ve never heard her sound like that before.

“I said, let me in, Trent!”

Trent casually walks to the door and opens it, and as soon as he does, he unleashes a torrent. Emma flies into the house, a fury of fists and shouted words.

“What have you done? What the fuck have you done?”

“Hey, calm down.” Ignoring her tone, Trent holds up a hand casually.

“No, I won’t calm down, you fucking asshole! Explain what’s going on! Tell me what’s going on!” Emma yells, batting his hand away and pounding against his chest.

“What the hell is going on?” West asks, glancing between the two of them with narrowed eyes. His body is tense, like he wants to come to someone’s aid, but he doesn’t know who to help.

Emma glances at him, her eyes widening as she temporarily stops beating against Trent’s chest. I don’t think she even realized West and I were here at first, but she also doesn’t look like she’s planning to divert from her war path now that she does know.

“Yes, Trent,” she turns back to him, her voice lowering to something like a hiss. “Why don’t you tell us all what’s going on?”

“I will when you calm down,” Trent replies with a mocking smile.

As if those were the magic words, Emma erupts again, throwing herself at him with all her might, fists flying.

“You managed to flunk us out of Anthropology! I know it was your fault, you bastard!”

Shit, this is really getting serious. It occurs to me in an awful flash that what I thought was the restoration of our friendship is actually the opposite. Emma is coming between us, yet again. I can’t believe this is happening.

“You had it coming, Holloway.” Trent grabs her wrists to make her stop whaling on him. Then he releases her with a sneer, walking back toward the couch. But Emma is right behind him.

“What do you mean?” she demands, chest heaving as she breathes hard from rage and exertion. She’s fucking gorgeous like this, but I can’t focus on that right now. Not when I’m trying to figure out what the hell is happening. What did Trent do? He didn’t tell me shit about this, and from the look on West’s face, I don’t think he knew either.

Trent takes a seat beside me as if nothing at all is wrong. At this point, all three of us guys are sitting, and Emma is standing, her fists clenching and unclenching as she glares down at Trent. It’s like she’s facing a tribunal or something.

Trent leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he meets her gaze dead-on.

“You purposefully introduced my mom to your dad. You set them up like a fucking matchmaker. And then, once we caught them kissing, you told my father so that you could break up their marriage. Don’t pretend you don’t know all of this, Emma.”

Her face goes blank and pale as she absorbs his words.

“Trent, what are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. Don’t play the fucking innocent.” His gaze hardens just like his voice. “Do you want to deny it? I forgave you when I thought all you did was tell my dad. I convinced myself maybe it was even for the best. But I never understood why you kept denying it, when I’d already told you it was forgiven. Why keep lying? And now you’re going to deny this too?”

There’s a moment of silence that seems to hang in the air forever. Then Emma speaks.

“Yes, I introduced our parents. I did it because… ” Her voice trails off like she can’t complete the sentence. Then she squares her shoulders, pressing her lips together. “But I didn’t tell your dad about what we saw that night. I’m not lying! Why won’t you fucking believe me? Why won’t you trust me?”

“Because I just found out my mom has been lying to me for two years,” Trent shoots back, his voice hard. “Trust is a little fucking hard for me right now, Ems. Especially with proven liars.”

Her brown eyes flash, and she leans closer to him. West and I shift in our seats, both ready for violence to erupt again. But she doesn’t launch an attack. Her voice is low and shaky when she speaks.