The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 215: Chapter 215 - Her Story

Nathan stood in the hallway, staring at Zac’s hands around Holly’s arms.

Zac released her immediately.

Holly stepped away from him and pressed herself against the wall beside Nathan. Her face remained flushed from the argument, and red marks showed where Zac had held her.

”What the hell is going on?” Nathan asked.

”She went through my room and kissed me.”

Holly turned toward him. Her eyes widened, then filled so quickly that Zac almost admired the performance.

”He’s lying.”

”What?” Zac stared at her.

”I came in here because he wanted to talk.”

”You broke into my desk.”

”I didn’t break anything.”

”The letter opener is still on the table.”

Nathan looked past them into the bedroom. Papers covered the desk, and the drawer hung partly open beneath it.

Holly caught Nathan’s arm. ”He came home upset. I was trying to calm him down.”

”You were reading my letters.”

”You showed them to me.”

Zac laughed because the lie was so stupid. ”I found you holding one.”

”You gave it to me.”

”When?”

Holly’s mouth trembled. She looked at Nathan instead of Zac.

”He said nobody in this family understood him. He wanted my opinion because he knew you would agree with your parents.”

Nathan’s expression hardened. ”What opinion?”

”Ask her why she kissed me,” Zac said.

”I didn’t.”

”You put your mouth on me.”

Holly covered her face with one hand. A broken sound escaped her before she leaned closer to Nathan.

Zac felt his anger rising again.

”You’re really going to cry?”

”Stop,” Nathan warned.

”She’s lying to your face.”

Holly dropped her hand. Tears ran down both cheeks now.

”He came closer while we were arguing. I told him Roxie was making everything worse, and he got angry. Then he kissed me.”

Zac stared at her.

”You kissed me.”

”I pushed you away.”

”You touched me after I told you to stop.”

”That’s when he grabbed me,” Holly continued, speaking directly to Nathan. ”I tried to leave, and he wouldn’t let me.”

”You blocked the door.”

”You were hurting me.”

”Because you kept trying to come back into my room.”

Nathan moved between them. ”Both of you shut up.”

Zac pointed toward the desk. ”Look at the drawer. She forced it open.”

Holly shook her head. ”He opened it.”

”You knew where the key was?”

”There wasn’t a key.”

”There was a lock.”

”I don’t know anything about your desk.”

Zac stepped forward.

Nathan put one hand against his chest. ”Back up.”

”She’s standing there inventing everything.”

”And you’re screaming at her.”

”She kissed me.”

Holly started crying harder. She leaned into Nathan’s side while rubbing both upper arms.

Doors opened farther down the hallway.

Miranda appeared first, wearing a robe over her nightclothes. Arthur followed several steps behind her.

”What is happening?” Miranda asked.

Her gaze moved across the hallway and stopped on Holly.

Holly cried beside Nathan. Zac stood in his bedroom doorway with his fists clenched. Papers covered the desk behind him, and the damaged drawer remained open.

Miranda looked at Zac.

”What did you do?”

The question struck harder than it should have.

She had entered seconds ago and already decided.

”I didn’t do anything to her.”

Nathan glanced at Holly’s arms. ”I found him holding her.”

”She wouldn’t leave my room.”

Holly shook her head. ”That isn’t what happened.”

Their dad stepped closer. ”Then tell us what happened.”

Holly took a breath that shook through her entire body.

Zac knew she was preparing the story.

”He came home upset,” she said. ”I heard him upstairs and asked whether he was okay. He said nobody listened to him anymore. He wanted someone to talk to about the university.”

”What university?” Miranda asked.

Zac’s attention snapped toward Holly.

She continued before he could stop her.

”He asked whether I thought he should leave. I told him he needed to speak honestly with all of you instead of hiding things. He became angry when I mentioned Roxie.”

”That’s a lie.”

Miranda lifted one hand. ”Let her finish.”

Zac stared at his mother.

Holly pressed closer to Nathan. ”He said Roxie was the only person who supported him. I told him I didn’t think she was helping. He moved closer while we argued.”

”You moved toward me.”

”I thought he was trying to intimidate me. Then he kissed me.”

Nathan’s arm tightened around her.

Holly looked down as if the next part was difficult to say.

”I pushed him away. He grabbed my arms when I tried to leave. Nathan came out before anything else happened.”

The hallway became silent.

The lie sounded believable because Holly had placed the truth around it.

She had been in his room.

They had discussed Tennessee.

She had claimed to understand him.

Zac had held her arms.

Everything between those facts belonged entirely to her.

”You came into my room while I was showering last week,” Zac said.

Holly looked up sharply. ”No, I didn’t.”

”Yes, you did. You were sitting on my bed when I came out wearing a towel.”

Holly shook her head. ”He’s changing the story because you caught him.”

”You’re twenty five. You’re engaged to my brother. Why would I want you?”

Her crying became louder.

Miranda stepped toward her. ”Zac.”

”What? I’m supposed to pretend this makes sense?”

Holly wiped at her face. ”He kept making comments that made me uncomfortable. I ignored them because he’s Nathan’s brother.”

”I barely speak to you.”

”He knew I couldn’t say anything without creating problems between Nathan and the family.”

”You’re creating them now.”

Nathan shoved Zac’s shoulder.

”Stop talking to her.”

Zac caught himself against the doorway. ”She kissed me.”

”I saw your hands on her.”

”Because she refused to get out.”

Arthur looked at Nathan. ”You saw him holding her?”

”Yes.”

That answer settled something in their father’s face.

Zac recognized the expression. The same one appeared whenever a teacher complained, whenever Coach Hayes called about his temper, or whenever Zac tried to explain what happened after his father had already decided.

Miranda placed an arm around Holly’s shoulders.

”You’re safe now.”

Zac laughed once, unable to stop himself.

Every face turned toward him.

”She broke into my room, and you’re comforting her.”

Holly looked toward the desk.

”He was already angry because of the university.”

Nathan followed her attention. ”What university?”

Zac moved toward the doorway, but Nathan blocked him.

Arthur entered the bedroom.

”Stay out of my stuff.”

His father ignored him.

He picked up the letter Holly had left open on the desk. His eyes moved across the heading before his expression hardened.

”What is this?”

Nobody answered.

Holly lowered her voice. ”He said he’s going to Tennessee instead of the academy.”

Zac looked at her.

The satisfaction had disappeared from her face, but she had chosen the worst possible moment to reveal it. She had read everything and saved the information until she needed the family against him.

Miranda stepped into the room. ”Tennessee?”

Their father continued reading.

”You accepted?”

”I made my decision.”

”When?”

”A while ago.”

”You allowed us to arrange the academy interview while you were planning this?”

”You arranged it before asking me.”

Nathan looked toward the papers scattered around the desk. ”Roxie knows?”

Zac said nothing.

Nathan’s answer came from the silence.

”Of course she knows.”

”Leave her out of this.”

Miranda picked up one of the pages from the floor. Roxie’s name appeared several times in Zac’s handwriting beside housing questions and estimated costs.

Her expression changed.

”This is all about her.”

”It’s about my future.”

”You planned your entire life around supporting that girl.”

”You read one page.”

”I can see her name.”

”Because she’s my girlfriend.”

Holly made a quiet sound beside Nathan.

Zac looked at her. ”Stop pretending to cry.”

Nathan stepped closer. ”Watch how you speak to her.”

”She’s lying.”

”You let this family arrange interviews and meetings while you secretly prepared to leave with Roxie.”

”You all planned my life before I made one decision for myself.”

”With Roxie,” Nathan said.

”I said leave her out of it.”

”She’s involved in every bad decision you’ve made.”

Zac felt his hands close.

Nathan saw it and kept going.

”You skipped the academy interview because of her. You’re fighting with Mom and Dad because of her. You stopped caring about football because you’re too busy following her around.”

”I still care about football.”

”You care about whatever Roxie tells you to care about.”

”She didn’t choose Tennessee for me.”

”She didn’t have to. She just made sure every plan included her.”

Zac stepped forward.

Nathan refused to move.

”Maybe you should’ve just fucked that bitch and gotten it out of your system instead of putting your dirty hands on Holly.”

Zac shoved him.

Nathan stumbled one step before catching himself.

Miranda screamed Zac’s name.

Nathan drove both hands into Zac’s chest and slammed him into the doorway.

”You don’t ever touch me like that.”

”You brought Roxie into it.”

”You put your hands on my fiancée.”

”Your fiancée kissed me.”

Nathan punched him across the jaw.

The impact turned Zac’s head and sent him into the dresser. Pain exploded through the side of his face.

Zac hit him back without thinking.

His fist landed near Nathan’s cheekbone.

Nathan lunged forward and drove Zac against the dresser again. The mirror shook above them, and several bottles fell across the floor.

Zac grabbed Nathan’s shirt and twisted, using his weight to throw him sideways. They crashed into the desk.

The Tennessee folder slid from the edge.

Papers scattered beneath their feet.

Nathan struck Zac in the ribs. Zac folded around the punch, then drove his shoulder into Nathan’s stomach.

They hit the wall hard enough to knock down a framed football photograph.

Glass broke near their shoes.

Miranda screamed for them to stop.

Neither listened.

Nathan caught Zac around the shoulders and forced him down. His knee pressed into Zac’s thigh while his forearm drove against Zac’s chest.

Nathan was stronger than Zac remembered.

Zac twisted beneath him and punched blindly. His knuckles connected with Nathan’s mouth.

Nathan jerked back.

Zac shoved him away and climbed to his feet.

Blood marked Nathan’s lower lip.

Zac barely saw it before Nathan punched him again.

The fist landed directly against Zac’s already damaged mouth.

His lip split open.

Blood filled his mouth immediately.

Zac touched it and looked at the red across his fingers.

Something inside him snapped.

He drove Nathan against the wall and punched him in the ribs. Nathan tried to cover his side, and Zac hit him across the face.

Nathan’s head struck the wall.

Zac raised his fist again.

His father caught him from behind.

One arm locked across Zac’s chest while the other dragged his fist down.

”Enough.”

Nathan pushed away from the wall.

Their father kept holding Zac.

Nathan remained free.

Zac fought against the arm around him. ”Let me go.”

”You’ve done enough.”

”He hit me first.”

”You shoved him.”

”He called Roxie a bitch.”

Nathan wiped blood from his mouth. ”You attacked Holly.”

”She searched my room.” Zac pointed toward her. ”She read everything. She kissed me, and she lied because I rejected her.”

Holly stepped behind Nathan.

”He’s frightening me.”

Nathan started forward again.

Their father tightened his grip around Zac.

”Take her downstairs,” he ordered.

Nathan looked at Zac for another moment before turning to Holly.

”Come on.”

”Ask her why she was in here,” Zac said.

Nathan placed one arm around Holly and guided her toward the stairs.

”She broke the drawer open.”

Nathan kept walking.

”She kissed me.”

He never looked back.

The realization hurt more than Nathan’s fist.

Nathan had already chosen her.

It did not matter what Zac said or what the damaged drawer proved. Nathan had seen one moment, heard Holly cry, and decided the rest.

Miranda stepped carefully through the broken glass and began gathering the papers from the floor.

”Leave those.”

She ignored him.

Her eyes moved across the pages until she found Roxie’s name again.

Zac had written the notes himself. Roxie had argued against depending on him and insisted they needed backup plans. None of that mattered once Miranda saw housing, expenses, and Roxie written on the same page.

Her mouth tightened.

Arthur finally released Zac.

Zac wiped the blood from his lip with the back of his hand.

His father picked up the Tennessee letter and folded it once.

”Give that back.”

”No.”

”It’s mine.”

He looked at Zac’s bleeding mouth without any concern.

”Get cleaned up. We are going downstairs to discuss exactly what you have been planning.”

”There’s nothing to discuss.”

His father’s expression became completely still.

”Then there is nothing keeping you in this house.”