The Stand In

Chapter 27

"El...."

I nod my head to let him know that I could hear him. "I'm still here. I just-.."

"You're upset, you shouldn't be driving. Where are you? I will come and get you."

He makes Cole look like a prince.

He's a womanizer!

Compulsive liar!

Serial cheat!

"No, I've stopped." I tell him looking at him through the phone.

"Talk to me..." He urges.

He has a colourful past!

You're completely blinded!

The man is a charlatan!

I bump my head against the head rest as tears brew up again. I'm angry, I'm upset, I'm every freakin' emotion in between.

"Which one?" He says, his voice sounding a little harsher.

"Both.. I thought they were my friends. But friends, they don't do that. They do not do that." I tell him.

"Do what?"

I can look after myself!

Can you?

"Mia.. She overstepped the mark. She did digging..." I tell him, looking away because I don't want to see his reaction. I can't see his reaction.

"On me." He realises.

"She pulled up so much stuff and said some awful things." I tell him. "She said you.. She said that you had a colourful past."

My eyes are pulled to my phone screen because I want him to tell me that its all lies. That she is wrong, that she has the wrong guy.

"I see.."

I wipe my eyes quickly. "I'm so fucking angry and upset and hurt and... I don't know confused?"

He nods. "I understand..."

"Tell me she has it wrong, that the things she told me was BS, that it's all lies." I urge.

"Baby.."

"Oh god.." I breathe looking away.

"Elle, look at me. Look." I turn my eyes back to the screen. "I need you to listen and do as I say, can you do that?"

I nod.

"I need you to drive here. I want you to come to my home. I want to talk with you but not through a phone. I want to see you, properly see you."

Truth hurts.

See what your precious zak is really like.

"You're confused because you need answers, you want answers. I can give them to you, but I won't do this over a phone. You know me, you fucking know me! The real me. Please. Trust your gut, trust it right now.."

I take a breathe as my stomach feels like it's flipping around.

"If you want to end this, whatever this is between us, I understand. But if there is a chance, a small chance? Then I need you to come to me, or I come to you. I can drive to you. You just have to trust me."

My head thumps back against the head rest a few more times, I close my eyes and think. What did I want?
What do I need?

A crystal clear voice throbs through my head, telling me that I need answers. I need answers.