“She had to take a call. She’ll be right up,” Kendrick explains. “Smells good in here. What’s for dinner? You still haven’t told us what Haze’s cooking.”
We stashed some of the food we ordered into the fridge while we waited for them to get here. I could hardly see myself leaving all that expensive food out on the table for an hour.
“Why does it have to be Haze? Is it so hard to believe that I cooked?”
Kendrick raises an eyebrow. “Well, yeah. Considering there isn’t any sign of a fire.”
Haze muffles a laugh, and I elbow him.
“None of us cooked. We were out all day. We ordered in,” I say. Kendrick doesn’t have a chance to reply, cut off by a loud, insistent knock on the door.
At first, I find it weird that Allie would knock.
Then I understand. My instincts were right.
She wouldn’t knock.
And the person hounding my door isn’t Allie at all.
“Stop. You need to go home. Now!” is the last thing I hear before the door bursts open and someone tumbles into my apartment.
Caleb.
Correction: a very drunk Caleb.
Squeezing a liquor bottle, he can barely stand. Allie comes in seconds after him, out of breath and panicked.
“Cale, you need to go. I’m serious.” She turns to us. “I’m so sorry. I couldn’t stop him.”
He must’ve been the one she was talking to on the phone.
“A tattoo?” Caleb shouts so loud I jump back a step. “You let her get a fucking tattoo?”
We all follow his hateful glare to Haze. So many questions emerge in my head. How does he even know about that?
I glance over at Allie, who shamefully stares at her feet. He found out from her. Only logical explanation. I texted her a picture of my tattoo as soon as we left the shop. Told her all about its meaning.
“Since when do you have a dog?” Caleb spits at the sight of Waze.
“Today. Haze got it for my birthday,” I reply.
Caleb’s eyes burn with fury. “Are you fucking serious right now? A dog and a tattoo? How far are you going to take this?”
What’s his problem with Haze?
“Cale, please, it’s her birthday. Don’t do this,” Allie begs.
“You think I don’t know that? I know it’s her fucking birthday.” He turns to me. “We used to spend all of them together, remember? Or did your perfect boyfriend make you forget that, too?”
Guilt twists my stomach.
“How long are you going to keep this up, huh?” Caleb shouts at Haze again. I expect for Haze to be unaffected, careless. What I sure as hell don’t expect… is the look in his eyes.
He’s scared.
No, he’s terrified.
“How many more ways are there for you to lie to her?” He rushes forward and pushes Haze, who barely loses his balance.