The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 211: Chapter 211- Monday

Zac’s POV

Zac reached school Monday morning without hearing from Roxie.

He had checked his phone throughout Sunday.

Several times, he opened their conversation and started typing.

Did you get home?

He already knew she had.

I’m sorry.

The words looked useless on the screen.

Can we talk?

That sounded like he expected her to make the conversation easier for him.

He erased every message.

By Monday morning, their conversation still ended with Roxie telling him he could not avoid her all day and then decide when she needed him.

She had been right.

Zac promised to pick her up. He checked the time at Kyle’s house, stayed for another game, and kept drinking until he could no longer drive.

Then he said nothing.

Calling meant admitting that he remembered his promise and chose the party anyway.

Roxie went all Sunday without contacting him.

He had started the silence. That did nothing to stop the anger each time he found an empty screen.

Zac checked his phone again before getting out of the truck.

Nothing.

He locked it and shoved it into his pocket.

His jacket stayed open over a dark shirt. The longest scratches Roxie had left crossed the side of his neck and disappeared beneath the collar.

He could have covered them.

He had studied them in the mirror that morning and left them visible.

They proved Roxie had wanted him Friday night.

She had pulled him closer. She wrapped her legs around his waist and asked him to move harder.

Her wrist proved what happened before that.

Those marks remained hidden beneath her sleeves.

Two girls from Kyle’s party noticed him before he reached the school entrance.

The girl who had touched his arm near the pool stepped into his path. Her friend stood beside her and looked directly at the scratches.

Zac moved around her.

She stepped with him. ”You disappeared before the party ended.”

”I was still there when you left.”

”So you noticed.”

Her friend laughed.

Zac looked toward the school doors.

Going public with Roxie had made some girls leave him alone. But others had become worse. Before the hallway kiss, they could pretend they thought he was single. Now they knew about Roxie and approached him anyway.

The first girl caught the sleeve of his jacket.

”You should come alone next time too.”

”I have a girlfriend.”

”She wasn’t there Saturday.”

”She was busy.”

”And you were having fun.”

Zac removed her hand from his sleeve.

”I said I have a girlfriend.”

Her smile slipped.

Zac walked around her.

He saw Roxie near the entrance.

Karen and Angela stood beside her. Roxie wore her coat zipped high, with both hands hidden inside her sleeves.

Her attention remained on the girls behind him.

Zac had no idea whether she heard him reject them.

He wanted to tell her immediately.

He wanted Roxie to know that nothing happened at the party.

Explaining the girls before apologizing for leaving her would sound like another excuse.

”Roxie.”

Her eyes moved across the scratches on his neck.

Then she looked at the girl still watching him.

Zac started toward her.

Roxie moved closer to Karen and entered the building with them.

He followed.

The hallway was crowded enough that he could catch up to her. Yet, Zac just shoved both hands into his jacket pockets.

Roxie turned toward the science wing with Karen and Angela.

Zac went ahead to AP Chemistry.

By the time Roxie entered the room, he was already sitting at their table.

She removed her coat but kept her sleeves pulled over her wrists. Karen and Angela sat at the next table.

Roxie lowered herself into the chair beside Zac and placed her notebook between them.

He watched her take out a pen.

She never looked at him.

”Roxie.”

”Have fun?”

Zac glanced toward the front of the room.

Mr. Callahan had not arrived, but several students sat close enough to hear them.

”You said you had another ride.”

Roxie finally faced him.

”You said you were coming.”

His stomach tightened.

”I know.”

”You weren’t there.”

”I stayed too long.”

”At the party.”

”Yeah.”

”And then Sunday happened.”

Zac rubbed his thumb against the edge of the table.

He could tell her he had checked his phone all day.

That would only show that he waited for her to end the silence he started.

”You didn’t message me either,” he said.

Roxie stared at him.

The words sounded pathetic as soon as he heard them.

She had waited for him.

Now he was blaming her because she had not chased him afterward.

”I played another game,” Zac said. ”Then another. I drank more than I planned.”

Roxie gave a quiet laugh.

”That makes everything better.”

”I couldn’t drive.”

”You could text.”

”I know.”

”You could have asked whether I got home.”

”I know.”

”You could have said anything.”

”I know.”

Each answer made him sound worse.

Roxie faced the board again.

Zac moved his hand across the table, then stopped before touching her sleeve.

Her wrist was beneath it.

He pulled his hand back.

”How did you get home Sunday night?”

Roxie’s pen stopped.

Zac knew the question sounded wrong.

He still wanted the answer.

”What?”

”After work.”

She looked at him again.

”You ignore me for two days, then start asking where I was?”

”I wanted to know you were safe.”

”You had two days to check.”

”I should have.”

”Then why didn’t you?”

Zac looked down at the notebook between them.

He had been ashamed.

Every hour made contacting her harder.

Part of him had also wanted Roxie to message first. He wanted proof that she still needed him after he failed her.

He could not say that without sounding as bad as he felt.

”I don’t know.”

Roxie looked away.

Zac lowered his voice.

”Was it Ethan?”

Her expression hardened.

”That’s what you care about?”

”No.”

The answer came too quickly.

Ethan was part of what he cared about.

Roxie slid her notebook farther toward her side.

”You left me waiting while you drank around girls. You don’t get to come back and question me about Ethan.”

”I didn’t do anything with those girls.”

”You didn’t tell me where you were.”

”I know.”

”You looked happy in the pictures.”

Zac stared at her.

She had seen them.

”That girl outside was at the party,” Roxie said. ”She looked comfortable touching you.”

”I moved her hand.”

”Today.”

”At the party too.”

Roxie’s mouth tightened.

Zac wanted to explain everything.

He had rejected the girl beside the pool.

He had spent most of the party thinking about Roxie.

Every extra game had been his attempt to prove he could enjoy one afternoon without waiting for Roxie to need him.

None of it changed the promise he broke.

”I should’ve left,” he said.

”Yes.”

”I should’ve called.”

”Yes.”

”I’m sorry.”

Roxie faced the board.

The apology sounded smaller after leaving his mouth.

Mr. Callahan entered carrying a stack of papers.

The room quieted.

Roxie placed her left hand beneath the table.

”I don’t want to talk to you.”

Zac looked at the sleeve covering her wrist.

He wanted to keep talking until she looked at him differently.

He wanted to tell her the girls meant nothing.

He wanted to know whether Ethan had taken her home.

He wanted to touch her and feel her move closer instead of away.

None of that would fix Saturday.

”Okay.”

Mr. Callahan began reviewing the assignment.

Zac faced the front.

During the lesson, Roxie kept her left hand beneath the table. Purple bruising appeared whenever her sleeve shifted.

Zac’s neck remained uncovered.

Mason and Kyle had laughed when they saw Roxie’s scratches. Girls at the party stared at them and smiled.

Nobody would smile if Roxie pulled back her sleeve.

They would look at him differently.

He should have covered the marks on his neck.

Instead, he wore them into school because they reminded him that Roxie wanted him later.

He kept using that part of the night to avoid thinking about what happened first.

Zac looked down at his notes.

Mr. Callahan handed out a short lab activity near the end of class.

Zac and Roxie worked beside each other without speaking.

When they reached for the same glass dropper, Zac stopped first.

Roxie took it.

She measured the liquid, recorded the result, and passed the dropper toward him without allowing their fingers to touch.

The space between their hands was small.

Zac felt every inch of it.

When the bell rang, Roxie packed quickly.

Zac stood beside her.

”Can we talk after school?”

”I’m working.”

”After.”

”I finish late.”

”I know.”

Roxie placed her bag over one shoulder.

Karen and Angela waited near the door.

Zac lowered his voice.

”I’ll wait.”

Roxie looked at him.

Her expression gave him nothing.

Then she joined Karen and Angela.

Zac watched her leave.

At eight forty, he drove to the grill.

The sign still glowed above the windows. A few customers remained inside.

Zac parked across the lot where his truck would be harder to see from the building.

He felt like a creep.

He stayed anyway.

Roxie moved between the kitchen and dining room in her work clothes. She carried dishes, wiped tables, and disappeared behind the service window.

Zac watched the front door.

He could go inside.

He could order something and wait until her shift ended.

The thought of Roxie telling him to leave in front of everyone kept him in the truck.

By nine thirty, the last customers were gone.

The sign changed to CLOSED.

Zac lowered himself in the seat when Roxie appeared near the windows.

Ethan joined her carrying several printed pages.

Roxie placed her bag on the chair beside her and removed the college folder.

She already had it.

Zac stared through the windshield.

She had gone back for the papers.

After the bruises, the party, and the entire weekend of silence, Roxie returned to the exact thing that started the fight.

Ethan sat across from her.

Roxie opened the folder and added the new pages. Ethan pointed toward a date near the top of one sheet.

She leaned closer.

Zac’s hands tightened around the steering wheel.

He wanted Ethan to be the whole problem.

Ethan had pushed the papers at Roxie after she tried to return them. He interfered inside the grill and acted like Zac had no place in her future.

Now he was helping her again while Zac sat outside.

Zac had given him the opening.

He promised to take Roxie home and left her waiting.

He spent Sunday refusing to call.

Monday morning, he asked who drove her home before giving her an apology that meant anything.

Ethan had shown up.

Zac had not.

His stomach tightened.

Inside the grill, Ethan wrote something along the margin of a page.

He pushed another sheet toward her.

She placed that one inside the folder.

They were colleges.

Schools Zac knew nothing about.

His father had planned the military academy before Zac agreed to anything. Meetings appeared on the calendar. Forms arrived with his name already printed.

Zac hated being handed a life somebody else had finished planning.

He had done the same thing to Roxie.

He found the Tennessee schools, apartments, and jobs. He thought the details would make her feel safe.

She had seen another person deciding first.

No wonder she had gone back for the folder.

Zac understood that.

He was still furious that she had gone back to Ethan too.

She refused to speak to Zac all day, then sat across from another boy and planned what came next.

The guilt stayed in his chest while the anger pushed around it.

She knew Ethan wanted her.

Maybe Roxie only saw a friend.

Ethan did not look at her like one.

Zac reached for the door handle.

His fingers closed around it.

He imagined walking inside.

He could take the chair beside Roxie.

He could tell Ethan to leave.

He could ask why she kept letting another guy plan her future after everything Zac had tried to give her.

Then he saw the sleeve covering her wrist.

His hand released the handle.

Walking inside angry had already ended badly once.

Zac pressed both palms against the steering wheel and forced himself to remain seated.

Roxie laughed at something Ethan said.

Zac could not hear the sound through the glass.

He saw the change in her face.

She had barely looked at him all day.

She could laugh with Ethan.

Ethan had not bruised her.

Ethan had not left her waiting.

Ethan had not spent two days pretending she did not exist.

Zac looked away from the window.

His teeth pressed together until his jaw hurt.

When he looked back, Roxie was still smiling.

Ethan was getting the version of her Zac wanted back.

She gave Ethan her attention. She leaned across the table. She let him help.

Zac sat outside because he had ruined every reason Roxie might have given him to walk in.

His fist closed against his thigh.

His nails pressed through his jeans.

He kept his hand there until the dining room lights began switching off.

Roxie placed the folder inside her bag.

She kept it.

Ethan put on his jacket and followed her toward the back exit.

Zac started the engine.

Ethan’s motorcycle was parked near the employee entrance.

He unlocked the storage compartment and removed a second helmet.

Roxie hesitated when he offered it to her.

Zac leaned forward.

She said something.

Ethan answered.

Roxie accepted the helmet.

Zac’s jaw locked.

She could have called him.

After everything he had done, expecting that call made him feel worse.

Roxie climbed onto the motorcycle behind Ethan and adjusted the bag against her side.

Her hands rested near the back of the seat.

Ethan pulled away.

Roxie grabbed the sides of his jacket.

Zac struck the steering wheel with the heel of his hand.

The horn gave one short blast.

Pain shot through his palm.

Roxie turned toward the parking lot.

Zac dropped lower behind the windshield.

His heart slammed against his ribs.

For a second, he stared at the hand he had used.

The skin across his palm had turned red.

He pressed it between his knees until the pain settled.

The motorcycle reached the road.

Zac shifted the truck into drive.

He told himself he needed to make sure Ethan took her home safely.

He already knew where they were going.

The bungalow stood in the opposite direction from Zac’s house.

Zac followed the red taillight anyway.