~ Zoie's POV ~
Zoie didn't have an answer. She couldn't even react. She just stood there with her mouth hanging open.
"I'm right, aren't I?" Landon pressed.
"N-no," she tried denying it, but her own voice was cracking, giving herself away.
"Zee, I know it is him," Landon said, nodding his head. "I know,"
Zoie couldn't deny it anymore. The look on Landon's face said it all. Even if she said no, he already knew the truth.
"I should've seen the signs earlier, but I didn't wanna believe it," he continued. "I didn't think it was possible, but then... I met this girl and she told me she saw you and Asher kiss..."
"What girl?"
"Her name's Karlie,"
"Karlie's a pathological liar, ask anyone!" Zoie scoffed and crossed her arms.
"Is she lying about this, though?"
For this part, Zoie couldn't fight back.
"It made sense then why you didn't wanna tell me about him," he said again. "How you were suddenly cool with him and he was cool with you. Why you ran after him, followed him out to the cemetery, and after he was gone, you were looking for him there too... It made total sense,"
Zoie threw her glance away. It was too hard to keep looking at Landon's face knowing her cover was blown.
"And then, there's Mr. Unicorn," Landon said with a bitter smile."The only people in the world that knows about it are your family, me, and Ash,"
Zoie took a deep breath. There was no point denying this now. She shook her head, holding back the tears from falling, and she said, "Land, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to lie to you. There were so many times when I wanted to tell you everything, but I... I didn't know how to talk about this without..."
Without breaking apart.
Tears were pooling in her eyes again and Zoie hated it. She hated crying about Asher, she thought she was over it.
Just when I thought I finally made it through, why did he have to do this and bring me back down again? Why?
"Do you still love him?" Landon's voice cut through her thoughts. His eyes were locked on hers, studying her expression.
"No," she said firmly.
Landon cocked his head to the side and said, "Really?"
Zoie couldn't lie twice. She wanted to, but her throat went dry.
"That bastard," Landon hissed, glancing away. His eyes went glassy too. "He's supposed to be protecting you and yet..."
"It was my fault too," Zoie admitted, pausing for a beat before saying, "I wanted it to happen, so I let it happen..."
For a while, there was just silence between them. Landon was processing his thoughts and so was she. Zoie was too scared to speak, so she waited until Landon made the first move.
"So, what does this mean? Him sending you the doll?" he said.
"I don't know," she shook her head. "And I don't think I wanna know,"
Landon went silent again. His brows were furrowed like he was thinking hard. Zoie studied his expression, wondering about what he must be thinking right now. He must be so upset. Both at Zoie and at Ash.
"Landon..." she spoke finally, slowly and cautiously. "...What's gonna happen to us now?"
Landon let out a sigh. Then he looked her right in the eyes and said, "I think what we need now is... some time and space away from each other,"
"...What?"
"I thought I can be here for you to help you get through this, but I realized I can't make you move on from something you don't wanna move on from," he said, shaking his head.
"But I wanna move on, that's why I burned the doll and everything!" she argued, taking a step closer, but he took a step back.
"What about the necklace?" he shot point-blankly.
"What necklace?"
Landon's hand reached out to her neck. He pulled the necklace from behind her sweater and the pendant sat on her chest.
"I've been meaning to ask you about this too," he smiled bitterly. "A is for Asher, right?"
Zoie didn't even realize she was still wearing this necklace. It was a habit and it just became part of her. She never took it off. Even when she threw out everything that belonged to Ash, she never threw this one out.
"If not with me, just be honest with yourself, Zee," he continued. "Admitting it is the first step,"
Zoie couldn't hold back the tears from falling anymore.
"I... I'm really sorry," she croaked.
Landon let out another sigh. His hand reached for her face, gently caressing her cheek. Zoie leaned her face into the palm of his hand and he gripped her face tighter.
"I love you, Zoie," he said. "But I can't keep staying here and letting you live in denial. I feel like I'm just enabling you. At some point, you have to wake up and face the music on your own,"
Zoie narrowed her eyes, waiting for an explanation, but Landon didn't say anything else. He let go of her face and walked away, walking out the door. Zoie followed him as he went into his room. He started taking out his bags and putting his clothes into them.
"Landon? What are you doing?"
Landon didn't respond. He just kept putting clothes into the bags until he got all of them in there. Or most of them, at least. And once he was done, he zipped up all the bags and held them in his hands. He then walked to the door where Zoie was standing.
"I'll tell your dad to send another bodyguard for you," he said to her. "There should be one that comes in the morning,"
"You're leaving?" she asked.
Landon let out another smile.
"When you're finally ready to be real with me, give me a call. I'll be waiting for you,"
With that, he leaned closer and planted a soft, short kiss on her lips. She closed her eyes as she received the kiss. But once she opened her eyes, Landon was gone. He walked out the door and never turned back.
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~ Asher's POV ~
"First place, baby! Fúck yeah!!!"
Cheers, claps, and laughter filled the air as Asher and his team walked into the garage. They had won their first race and a celebration was waiting for them. Hayden and Malcolm were hoisting the gold trophy high in the air as they high-fived the people and fans waiting in the garage for them. There was alcohol and music blasting too, courtesy of Mikey and his bar.
"...Holy crap, when it came to the last lap, I was seriously, like, about to shit my pants. It was this close," Hayden said, using his fingers to show the people how close the two cars were to colliding when Asher pulled a drifting move to secure the first place spot.
Malcolm, Hayden, and Mikey were in the middle of trading stories about the race with the people around, when suddenly, Mikey noticed Asher wasn't even in the room.
"Yo, where the hell's Ash?" Mikey asked.
"Dunno," Hayden shrugged.
"I think I saw him going to the office," Malcolm replied.
"Seriously?" Hayden scoffed. "He got, like, mad bitches in here and he's in the office?"
Asher had fans waiting for him in the garage. He even had groupies. Some girls were wearing their team uniform and the number 70 was painted on their faces.
"What's he got in that computer anyway? Gay porn?" Hayden joked, but no one was laughing. Malcolm nudged his elbow scoldingly and Hayden piped down.
Mikey looked around the room and sighed. He then grabbed a bottle of whiskey and some glasses before making his way to the back office. The back office was this dimly lit room behind their actual office. The room only had one purpose, which was to house the computer connected to Zoie's CCTV camera. From the glass window, Mikey saw Asher sitting on the desk, looking intently into the screen.
"Okay, that's it, get out," Mikey said as he burst through the door. Asher wasn't paying any attention to him, so Mikey went a step further. He pulled out the electric cord so the computer went dead.
"Yo, what the fúck?!" Asher yelled.
"I hacked into her CCTV camera so you can get some peace of mind, but every damn night, you're just sitting there, watching her on that computer. Enough is enough, Ash. Not tonight," Mikey said, crossing his arms firmly.
Asher didn't even respond to that. He bent down to plug the cord in and turned the computer back on, but it was gonna take some time to load. Mikey let out a sigh and walked around the desk, putting himself in between Asher and the screen.
"Ash, we won our first race ever with a car we built with our hands," he reminded him. "This is six years in the making and I think that calls for a celebration,"
"Mikey," Asher said warningly.
"She's still gonna be there," Mikey replied, holding out the bottle of whiskey to Ash's face. "Just one drink with the fellas,"
Asher stared at the whiskey bottle and at Mikey.
"Fine. One drink,"
Mikey clapped his hands in excitement and stood up straighter. Asher reluctantly stood up too. He took one last look at the computer screen that was still loading before following Mikey out of the room.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
~ Zoie's POV ~
* KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! *
Zoie woke up to a loud pounding on the door. She rolled over to her side, checking the time on her phone. It was five in the morning. Letting out a tired groan, she rolled off the bed and got up to her feet.
* KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! *
The pounding on the door never stopped. Zoie rubbed her eyes as she looked into the peephole. There was a man standing in front of her, wearing dark sunglasses, a black suit, and tie.
Oh. That must be the new bodyguard. Well, that was fast.
Zoie unlocked the door and swung it open.
"Hey, you must be the new guy," she said. "Come in-"
Before she could say another word, the man suddenly grabbed her and put a handkerchief over her nose and mouth. It smelled like chemicals and that was the last thing she remembered before everything turned black.
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- - - - - - To Be Continued - - - - - -