With Every Heartbeat(112)

I gasped out a sound, garnering a strange look from Cora. But I darted my attention away.

As soon as we reached the ground floor, I shot out of the slowly opening doors and dashed for the exit, barely thanking Terrance when he let me out of the building. I didn’t know how to do this, how to pretend I hadn’t spent the entire night in Quinn’s bed.

And then, as if thinking about him had conjured him, there he was, across the parking garage, standing by his truck. I jerked to a stop, not sure what to do. The wind whipped through his hair and flattened his T-shirt against his front, showing off every rippling muscle he had and reminding me what they’d felt like under my fingers.

Suddenly, I could feel him again inside me, could taste his kiss on my tongue, smell his perfect scent. My body reacted; I wanted him so bad, wanted him pressing me into his mattress and covering me with his hard warmth.

When he stepped forward, a hopeful yet uncertain expression, a shudder of longing tore through me. He’d followed me.

But then Cora said his name, and I nearly jumped out my skin. She raced past me, rushing to him, and horror filled his face. He turned away, yanking open his truck door, and slamming himself inside. When he started the engine, she banged on his window, but he sped away without slowing down.

I didn’t know what to think, what to do. I just knew he’d come here for me, not her.

He’d wanted me.

Maybe he had been talking to me when he’d spoken in his sleep. Or maybe I was making a mountain out of a molehill. He’d probably just come to apologize and tell me he regretted everything.

“Well, come on already,” Cora yelled at me, her hands on her hips.

So...we went. I still had her life to save.

I was so silent in the passenger seat I think it made Cora nervous. She finally huffed out a sigh, and grumbled, “I suppose you want to talk about last night, huh?”

I jumped. Last night? My brain immediately brought forth a dozen images in my head of last night: of Quinn on top of me, under me, behind me, pinning me to the wall. I paled and shook my head. “Not really.”

Cora lifted her eyebrows. “Seriously? And here, I was so sure I’d get the self-righteous, indignant speech about fucking around and being unfaithful. I was actually expecting a bunch of questions like why. Why, Cora, why?” She finished the last three words on a whine as if trying to imitate me.

I shrugged and turned to stare out the window, ignoring the insult. She had a lot more to insult me about than she could ever guess. “I guess I’ve stopped wondering why you do things that make no sense to me.”

She didn’t have an answer for that. She made a huffy sound, and then said, “Well, I certainly didn’t know he was going to propose.”

I shot her a dry glare because she was still lying to me. “Oh, so you would’ve been faithful if you’d just known he was so serious about you?”

She shrugged, letting me know she wouldn’t have been faithful, no matter what. She didn’t apologize for it, I noticed. She acted haughty and justified, as if she’d done absolutely nothing wrong, as if she hadn’t just broken the heart of a man who’d been seconds—seconds—away from asking her to be his wife.

Just then, I hated her. And I didn’t feel sorry for sleeping with her ex-boyfriend. And worst of all, I didn’t feel bad about having such awful, terrible thoughts like I usually did when a stray awful, terrible thought entered my head. I just felt disgust for the woman sitting across the car from me.

But then the second passed, and the guilt and shame crashed down. I cowered in my seat, needing a distraction. “What kind of checkup am I getting today?” I asked quietly.

I’d already been through the physical exam. A doctor had looked me over from top to bottom, thoroughly, even going as far as to scrutinize every mole on my body to make sure they didn’t look cancerous.

“Psychological, I think.”

“Psycho...?” A cold sweat misted my skin. I turned to look at her, feeling like I might vomit. “What? No. I...I can’t. Not today. Can’t I do something different this time?” Anything different.

I could already picture the shrink drilling me for the truth.

Just how jealous of Cora are you? How much do you resent her perfect parents, her perfect social graces, her perfect boyfriend? Just how sore are you between the legs from stealing him from her and having sex with him all night long?

Today was the absolute worst day ever for someone to go picking around inside my brain.

Cora just sent me a dry glare, no pity whatsoever in her hateful gaze. “I didn’t set the appointments. You’re going.”



“So, Zoey. Why do you want to give Cora your kidney?”