Faking with Benefits : Chapter 66

“Josh,” I say warningly, “now isn’t the time.”

He ignores me, getting in Zack’s face. “What. Did. You. Do,” he repeats, each word scarily precise. “I went to the brunch this morning. My brother said he saw you dragging her out into the gardens last night. He said she left crying.”

Zack doesn’t say anything, staring down at his best friend, breathing hard.

“She won’t answer my calls,” Josh snaps. “She won’t answer her front door. I spoke to the front desk, they said she didn’t come home last night.”

My stomach dips. I suppose it’s hardly surprising that Layla didn’t want to go back to her flat, with us living a few metres away across the hall. But where did she go? Is she safe? Did she just disappear in the middle of the night, wandering London in the dark in her tiny silk dress?

I close my eyes and force myself to breathe. Layla is smart. She won’t be walking the streets or taking the Tube. She’ll have booked a taxi and gone to a hotel, I’m sure. She’ll be fine.

I really, really hope she’s fine.

“Get off me,” Zack mutters, shoving Josh away. His red eyes are hard. “I just told her the truth. That we weren’t going to do this anymore. That all of this teaching BS is done.”

“Actually, he did a bit more than that,” I add. Josh turns to me, and I recount the events of last night as quickly as I can. When I tell him about Zack sleeping with her in the gardens, he closes his eyes. When I get to my conversation with Layla in the hotel room, he looks like he’s about to have a hernia.

“You idiots,” he hisses, dropping heavily onto the sofa and running his hands over his face. “What the Hell is wrong with you?”

“Obviously, we went about it wrong,” I say. “But I think it was for the best. She said that she was falling for us. It would be cruel to keep playing this stupid game, knowing that she’s developed feelings.”

Josh’s head jerks up. “She said that?”

I nod.

“And then you left her?”

“Well—”

“Let me get this straight,” he says, his voice rising. He points at Zack. “She told you she loved you after you slept together, so you dumped her while your prick was still wet.” He jabs a thumb at me before Zack can answer. “And she told you she loved you right after she overheard her childhood teacher calling her ‘easy’ — and instead of reassuring her that she wasn’t, you just dumped her, too?” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “And neither of you thought that, given her past, that might affect her?”

My phone buzzes in my pocket.

“What were we meant to do?” Zack snaps. “We can’t love her. I can’t love her. I can’t. I said it from the beginning.”

Josh shakes his head, his face creased in frustration. “You’ve not just rejected her, you idiot, you’ve hurt her. You’ve hit her where she’s weakest. Can’t you see that?”

“At least I was honest with her,” Zack mutters. “What was your plan? Just keep on shagging her and kissing her and not telling her that you’re literally in love with her? You don’t think that’s kind of shitty? Maybe, if she’d known you’ve been obsessed with her since the day she moved in here, she wouldn’t have been so quick to agree to going down on you. You ever think of that?”

I blink between the two of them. “Wait,” I say slowly, ignoring my phone as it vibrates again. “Josh. You’ve had feelings for her all this time?”

Josh starts to speak, but Zack interrupts him. “You seriously didn’t know?” He snipes. “He’d been trying to psych himself up to ask her out for months before we came up with this stupid segment. That’s why he was always so pissy when she went out on dates with other guys. He was jealous.”

I look at Josh. “Is that true?”

A muscle twitches in his jaw, but he doesn’t say anything, fixing his gaze to the floor. My stomach sinks.

I don’t know who I feel worse for, honestly. This situation must be breaking Josh’s heart, but Zack’s right — it was seriously unfair to Layla to not tell her about his feelings before offering to help her.

God, what a mess.

Zack sighs, shaking his head. “Look, man, if you want her, go for it. You haven’t broken up with her.”

“I can’t,” Josh counters. “She doesn’t want me. Don’t you get it? She wants this.” He waves between the three of us. “She wants us. All of us, or nothing. I’m not enough for her.” My phone buzzes again, and he groans. “For God’s sake, will you answer your damn phone?!”

I pull my mobile out of my pocket, checking the screen. Amy’s been texting me. I scan through the messages, my blood going cold.

My heart suddenly pounding, I tap to open the photos.

They’re all pictures of Layla at the wedding. Layla kissing all three of us.

There’s one of me, standing next to her and brushing a kiss over her cheek. A handful of her with Zack, laughing as he pulls her against him, nuzzling her neck. And three or four very blurry pictures of her with Josh. She’s clinging to his lapels as he dips her down into a deep kiss, half-hidden by some huge vases of flowers. They’re not professional photos; they look like someone snapped them surreptitiously with a phone camera.

This is bad.

Swiping on Amy’s contact, I call her back. She picks up on the second ring.

“Luke—” 

“Where did you get those photos?” I demand.

“Hello, Amy, how’s the honeymoon?” She drawls, sounding irritated. “I hope the flight was okay. What’s the weather like in Madrid?”

“You’re the one who decided to spend the first day of her honeymoon looking for incriminating photos to gossip about,” I spit. “Where the hell did you get these?”

She scoffs. “I didn’t take them, if that’s what you’re accusing me of. I had better things to do at my own wedding than spying on your little girlfriend.” She sniffs. “It turns out a few of the guests recognised you from your show. They saw the opportunity to pap you, and they took it.”

God. My skin feels cold. How could we have been so stupid? The wedding was a public event. We were all so caught up in Layla that we forgot how our relationship might look on the outside. “You have to delete them. Don’t share them with anyone else, okay? They make Layla look terrible.”

“Do they?” She says, her voice acidic. “It’s not like they’re doctored, Luke. If they make her look terrible, it’s because she is terrible. You need to wake up from this stupid fantasy and realise that she’s cheating on you.” 

“I told you, it’s not like that! I knew she was with Josh and Zack. They’ve kissed her in front of me plenty of times, for God’s sake.”

There’s a long pause. “Oh my God,” Amy says eventually. “Are you serious? I think I’ve heard of guys who like to see their girls get with other men… what the Hell is that called…?” 

“I don’t have time for this!” I burst out. “Just tell me that you’ll delete the pictures!”

“It’s too late, hon. You’re all celebrities now, remember?” 

“What does that mean?”

“They’re all over social media. That’s where I found them in the first place. Surprised you haven’t seen them yet, honestly. I—” 

I hang up and slam the phone onto the coffee table. Josh and Zack have stopped arguing and are both watching me warily. “Check our Twitter,” I tell Josh. He’s the one who controls all our shared socials.

He frowns. “What? But—”

“Now,” I snap.

Frowning, Josh fishes his phone out of his pocket and taps at it a few times. His face goes slack as he stares at the screen. “Oh my God.”