With Every Heartbeat (Forbidden Men 4)

“Wait, what?” Caroline broke in.

“Just…” I sighed and took her arm, urging her toward the door. “Take Blondie to your place, okay. We’ll take care of Belcher and the fucking whore.”

“But—”

After I nudged the two girls into the hall, I waved them good-bye. I had a roommate to find and worthless people to destroy.

But Blondie paused and glanced back at me with her huge, green, frightened eyes. “You’re going to tell him, aren’t you? You’re going to tell him everything.”

“He needs to know.” But I shrugged apologetically after I said it.

She nodded, and I kind of felt like shit for making her look so sad. “Just…” She looked up at me again, killing me with her sad eyes. “Please let him know I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for not telling him sooner.”

Noel, Asher and Ten were waiting for me when I unlocked my door and stepped inside my apartment.

Ten started in immediately. “Man, you seriously don’t think I fucked her, do you?”

My shoulders slumped, and I collapsed my back against the door as soon as I shut it. Closing my eyes, I fisted my hands down at my sides. So that’s what this was all about. A stupid intervention for our friends to make me forgive Ten...again.

“I told Zoey I believed her,” I said, though seriously I didn’t know what to believe anymore. I just knew I couldn’t trust my own instincts.

I had thought Cora would be faithful, that she’d loved me and wanted me to ask her to marry me. But look how wrong that had been. Then I had thought Zoey had been innocent and incapable of such betrayal, except everything I’d seen tonight pointed in the opposite direction. I still didn’t want to think anything bad of her, but...God. I honestly didn’t know what to think.

“I know you two didn’t do anything.” I said, anyway.

Mostly, I said it because I wanted him to leave me alone. I already felt bad enough. I already missed Zoey. I’d already debated with myself a million times over whether putting space between us had been the right move or not. Maybe if I’d just forced her to tell me why she’d been alone in that room with a shirtless Ten, and why she’d come out looking like someone had kissed her, we could’ve hashed it out and been over it by now. Together and over it. But I’d let Cora condition me into not asking questions, into respecting privacy.

“Well, it kind of sounds like you do think they hooked up,” Noel said. “Otherwise, why’d you break up with Zoey?”

I opened my eyes and stared at them. How did they know about that? “I didn’t break up with her,” I instantly said, though...crap, maybe I kind of had. I only knew I’d needed space. I needed to straighten my head out, and I hadn’t wanted Zoey to get caught up in any of my leftover hang-ups caused by Cora. But I had pushed her away, hadn’t I? I had asked for time apart...right after seeing her and Ten together.

“Blondie sure as fuck thinks you broke up with her,” Ten said.

“Your girl wasn’t very forthright with details about what really happened tonight,” Asher quietly added.

I glanced at him, frowning. What did he know about tonight?

Noel arched an eyebrow. “You ready to hear what really happened?”

Yes.

But I shook my head no.

Ten growled and marched menacingly toward me. “Well, too bad. You’re getting an earful, anyway. Fucking Whora, your fucking ex, found out about your fucking around with Blondie, and had fucking Belcher feel her up at the party tonight.”

I blinked, not expecting to hear that. At all. I didn’t even really process it at first. So, I shook my head to clear it. “What?”

“Yeah.” Ten went on. “Whora said something about how Blondie was so eager to share all their men, she should try out Belcher too, except when she left Blondie alone with him, Belcher didn’t want to stop ‘scaring’ Blondie, so he was trying to fucking rape her when I came across them.”

“What?” I said a little louder this time. This time, his words just barely began to sink in, yet they didn’t totally resonate in my brain. I stepped away from the door, ready to hurt him if he was joking with me.

“Her clothes were all messed up because Caine Belcher had just tried to rape her, and I was half dressed because I took off my shirt and offered it to her since hers was torn, but she was too intent on trying to find you to accept it.”

“You…” Ten could’ve pulled out a knife and stabbed me through the stomach and I don’t think it would’ve surprised me or pulverized me as much as this did. Actually, I would’ve preferred it if he’d stabbed me. That way, Zoey wouldn’t be—

I saw red. Every vein in my body turned into one angry, throbbing heartbeat. I killed Belcher inside my head fifty times between one heartbeat and the next, and then I killed Cora another fifty times within the heartbeat after that.

“Where is she?” I heard myself breathing hard. I felt my hands balling into fists, but I was so disconnected from my own body, it seemed like I was more of an observer than an actual participant in what I did.