The Art of Seduction - Zayn Malik AU

Chapter 38: Trust Me

Thanks for reading!

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Zayn's POV

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My body jumped into a stiff position as I read Cora's text. For days I had been waiting for her to text or call, but not about this. 

Why the hell is she asking about Ethan? She shouldn't even know who he is let alone be curious about his back story. 

"Cora, are you with him right now?" I send back and cross my fingers she says no. 

"Does it matter?" she replies seconds later. 

"Cora, Ethan is not who you think he is." I reply. 

"I have no idea who I think he is! That's why I'm asking you!" her replies are almost instant. 

"Just tell me if you're with him." 

"Yeah, we're on our way back to his apartment right now."

My throat swells as I read her words. It's bad enough Cora's even with the guy and now he's taking her back to his apartment? 

"Stay put, I'm on my way." I text back. 

I wait for her ridiculous response about how I'm over reacting or how she will be fine, but it never comes. 

I swing on a pair of sweatpants and a black hoodie and snatch my car keys from the pocket of my leather jacket. I don't bother telling my mom where I'm going since she's already been asleep for over an hour. 

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The entire drive to Ethan's I ponder things to say to Cora. Do I talk about Ethan? Or do I talk about us? This will be the first time in a while that I will have had time to sit down with Cora and talk to her about things, not that it will even fix anything. We never seem to fix anything. 

20 minutes later I arrive at Ethan's apartment. The familiar red bricks and cement staircases mock me of ugly memories. 

"Hey, I'm outside. Don't tell Ethan it's me though, say it's Cole or something."

I text Cora and park just down the street from Ethan's apartment door. 

I constantly look over my shoulder to see if Cora has come out yet. I do it every 5 seconds yet minutes go by without a text back or her silhouette walking towards my car. 

Cora's POV

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I read Zayn's text as Ethan unscrews the cap of a bottle of beer with his bare hands. He offers me one but I decline. How do I let him know I'm leaving without being weird about it? He offered to take me home later but that was before Zayn told me he was coming. Also, why doesn't Zayn want Ethan to know it's him? Ugh the questions and uncertainty of their relationship makes my head pound. 

Ethan sighs as he takes a seat next to me on the couch. I've been almost completely silent since the diner and I think Ethan's picked up on my discomfort. 

"Look, Cora. I don't want to creep you out or make you angry when I don't answer your questions. I'm not one to talk about my life story all the time, especially to borderline strangers. The reason I know a lot of names is because I've lived here my entire life. I went to Covington High School, I worked at the grill, and used to live down in the city too before I moved out here. I knew your name because I know your brother, not well, but we're acquaintances. I'm pretty good friends with Liam and that's how I know who Kenna is. The others I just heard by ear or something. I don't mean to be secretive, I'm just not used to people picking at my background story." Ethan explains.