Page 141 of Gabriel
Through all of it, Felix keeps his dark brown eyes locked on mine, waiting until I answer him.
I don’t have the right words. My initial panic drains out of me with him near. Felix is safe. He’s … notmyfriend. He’s Gabriel’s. But I trust him in a weird sort of way. I know he won’t hurt me. He isn’t an unknown. He’s never been anything but friendly.
Swallowing hard, I shake my head. It’s the best I can do right now to assure him that I’m okay.
It’s enough.
Felix turns his attention back to Wyatt and Terrance, and though I can’t see the expression on his face, I can hear the clear authority in his voice. “Here’s what’s going to happen,” he says to them. “I’m going to take Cecilia home.”
Wyatt opens his mouth, but Felix cuts him off.
“Your date is over. If you weren’t a complete asshole, maybe she’ll call you.” He shrugs. “But I wouldn’t hold my breath because you, my friend, you fucked up.”
I guess it’s a good thing I wasn’t hoping for a second date after this.
Wyatt’s brows draw together, and the corners of his mouth dip down into a frown, but Felix saves him from asking the question that’s clearly written across his face.
“You brought her here. To Zeta Pi.”
My stomach tightens. He wouldn’t say anything. Would he?
Wyatt looks even more confused now than he did before, and I silently pray he stays that way. It’s bad enough with the number of people who do know what happened to me. I’m not in any rush to add to that list.
“Look, man—“ Terrance interjects.
“No. You look.” Felix’s voice takes on a menacing quality. “This is your house.” Felix spreads his arms wide. “These are your brothers. Right?” He waves at the crowd hovering around us. Most of them are pretending not to eavesdrop, and thankfully, the music is loud enough that they’d have to strain to hear our words. But there are a few people openly gawking. I can only imagine what they think of this right now.
Felix draws a lot of attention, even when he’s not trying to. And right now, he’s damn near putting on a show.
“Yeah, what of it?” Terrance says.
“You need to clean house.” There’s an edge in Felix’s voice. One that feels a lot like a warning.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Wyatt asks, but Felix keeps his gaze trained on Terrance. Stabbing a finger in his direction, he adds, “You know what went down here this past summer. What happened to her. This is your house. There’s no way you don’t know.”
An oily feeling slicks down my spine. No. Please no. Why is Felix saying all of this? Why can’t we just leave? I don’t want to be here for this.
Terrance looks at me in question, and I see the second recognition slams into him. His eyes go wide and he curses right before his jaw hardens.
He wasn’t in the room. Wasn’t one of the guys who—I can’t even think of it. It hurts too much.
But he wasn’t there.
He lives with them, though. He belongs to the frat and was probably here that night. At the party. If not, I’m sure he heard the stories. The rumors. Austin would have made sure of it. He was proactive when it happened and made sure everyone knew his version of the story.
Felix is right. Looking at him now, it’s obvious Terrance knows. Because Austin did what he set out to do. He painted me as the villain. The liar. The fraud. And it’s just as obvious that Terrance doesn’t believe my side of what happened to me.
“Nah,” Terrance shakes his head. “You got it all wrong?—“
My back stiffens even though I knew this was coming.
“No.” Felix barks. “I don’t.”
Terrance doesn’t look convinced, and a part of me hates that. I don’t even have to voice the words to know he’d never believe me. I’m just a cleat chaser to him. A floozy. As far as he’s concerned, I got exactly what I wanted that night.
Felix makes a sound of disgust at the back of his throat and shakes his head. “¡Que te jodan, cabrón!”Fuck you, asshole.“Does her behavior line up with someone making shit up?”
He doesn’t give Terrance the chance to answer, but I can see that he’s thinking about it now. Probably replaying whatever stories he’s been told and trying to match them up with whatever he thinks he sees in me now.
