What You Don't Know, Can't Hurt You

James paid for the cab and grabbed my hand as we headed towards the house. By this time the tears were flowing down my face, once we got inside into the light he saw that my eyes were overflowing.

“Come here, hun,” he said as he pulled me in for a hug.

“I’m so fucking stupid James! I should have seen it coming,” I said in between cries.

“Nobody saw it coming, don’t blame yourself. You’re amazing Zoe. It’s his fault for fucking up the best thing that ever has and will happen to him.”

I didn’t even know what to say to that. I just sat on the couch and cried until I could cry no more.

Eventually James said, “Come on. It’s close to three in the morning, we need to get to bed.”

I nodded in agreement, we began to walk towards my room but I suddenly stopped. “You’re staying with me tonight,” I said.

“I planned on it. I still need you and you obviously need me right now.”

He stripped down until he was only wearing his boxers and I changed into shorts and a tank top. We were both comfortable in front of each other so it was really no big deal.

We climbed into bed and I instantly began to cry. So many memories came back to me all of a sudden, all the great times I had with Brayden, especially in this bed.

“Holy fuck I can’t sleep here,” I said and hopped up out of bed. “Come on, we’re sleeping in your bed.”

“Not a chance in hell. Do you know how many times I fucked Mona in that bed? I doubt I will ever be able to sleep there again.”

We decided that we would sleep in the guest room, even though the bed was only a double – which seemed so small compared to both of our king sized beds. We would have to make do.

We seemed like we were really close to each other, which was fine by me. I needed him as close as I could get him. My life was crumbling apart and he was the only part of me that never left.

We just lay there cuddling. it was close to four o’clock now, and I knew I wasn’t going to get very much sleep tonight. I was replaying the freak out I had early in the night, wishing I would have said more things to them, and all of a sudden the tears starting flowing again.

“Don’t cry sweetheart. He isn’t worth your tears.”

By this time he had me in a tight hug. We were facing each other and he leaned in and kissed my forehead. “I’ll always be here for you Zoe. We’re going to be 90 years old, sitting outside in rocking chairs, carrying on a regular conversation like we always have. I’m never going to leave you, ever.”

We both were staring deep into each other’s eyes. I knew he meant what he said, and that must have been the little push that I needed because all of a sudden I leaned in a kissed him. Nothing like that had ever been done between us but he didn’t pull away – instead he carried on. It was a long but light make out session. Eventually we needed a minute to catch our breath.

“James. We should stop.”

“Shut up, Zoe. We both are hurting, we both want this. Don’t try and tell me you don’t, I know you way too well.”

I didn’t even get a chance to speak before he was kissing me again. He was right, I did want this. I had for a long time. Brayden was a distraction to keep me away from James but the plan didn’t go as I wished because I ended up falling hard for Brayden and ended up being fucked over in the end.
We continued to make out and before I knew it I was on top of him and he was fidgeting with my tank top. He brought it up over my head, which left me in shorts and a bra. It wasn’t long before those were gone to, and before I knew it we had taken our friendship way further than it ever should have gone, but he was right, I did want it.

The last time I looked at the clock, it read 5:48. “Holy fuck,” I thought. “What just happened?” We both woke up to someone pounding at the door. I looked over and saw it was 11:30 already. I got up and quickly pulled some clothes on while James still lay in the bed, now playing on his phone.

“If it’s Brayden, tell him to go fuck himself and to get out of my house,” James said without even looking up.

I went to the door and sure enough, Brayden was standing there. He looked like shit – almost like he got less sleep than I did.

“Can I come in?” he asked. I didn’t even get a “hello” or “I’m sorry”.

“No,” I said in a very bitchy tone.

“Zoe, I’m sorry. Please! Just let me come in.”

“No, Brayden.”

I could feel someone standing behind me. I don’t know why I had to look because it was obviously James. He was standing there in sweats and no shirt on. “Brayden she doesn’t want to talk to you right now. You need to leave,” James said calmly.

“Why don’t you two go fuck a little bit more?” were the exact words Brayden said as he slammed the door, and practically ran to his car.

Once again I started to cry. James pulled me in for a hug. “Don’t worry beautiful, he doesn’t actually know. He was just trying to deal you a cheap shot.”

“I don’t know what to do James. I need answers,” I said, trying not to look like a complete idiot.

“The only way you are going to get any truthful answers are through her. There’s just one problem – we don’t know her name or her address.”

Just then it hit me. Brayden probably had it programmed into his GPS. He was so stupid that he couldn’t even remember how to get to James’ house half the time.

“You’re a fucking genius!” I said as I leaned up and kissed him, he seemed a little hesitant but went along with it.

“I know, and sorry that was awkward. Finally being able to kiss you seems like a dream.”

I punched him and giggled. I then walked into my room to get a change of clothes. James followed right behind me. “So what’s your plan?” he asked while I took off my tank top and put on a t-shirt.

“I’m going to call up Claude and get him to make Brayden go have a nap or take a bath or some shit. Then, Claude will get me Brayden’s keys to his car and I will go hack his GPS.”

“Claude going to go along with that?” James questioned.

“Please, Claude would do anything for me.”

“I’m pretty sure after what Brayden did to you, any guy on our hockey team would do anything for you. We need to prove that we’re not all assholes,” James said as he threw a pillow at me.

I picked up my phone and dialed Claude’s number. He quickly agreed with the plan so I told him I would be there in 15 minutes and he told me he would make sure Brayden was in the bathtub.

When I arrived Claude had lived up to his promise. He brought the keys outside and told me to be quick just in case.

I ran to his car, turned on the GPS and looked at his recently traveled routes. Last night, along with many other times in the past few months, he had gone to a certain address. I quickly typed it into my phone and noticed that attached with the address was a note. I opened it up, all he had put in it was a numerical code and apt. 215, so I assumed it was the password to get into her building.

I ran the keys back into Claude and thanked him.

“No problem. Anytime you need anything at all let me know. And Zoe, for the record, I really didn’t know anything.”

“I know. I trust that this was all him. And I’ll be seeing you. Thanks again,” I said.

“I’m serious, Zoe,” Claude said.

I nodded my head and headed back towards James who waited in the vehicle.

“Get it?” he questioned.

“Oh fuck yeah. Did you ever doubt me?” I said seductively.

“Not a little bit.”

He drove to the address and sure enough it was an apartment building. I told James to wait in the car and that I would call him if I needed him. I got up to the front door, typed in the code I found in Brayden’s GPS and it worked. I made my way up the stairs and found her apartment. I knocked at the door and I could hear mumbles coming from the other side so I knew somebody was home. She opened the door and another girl stood beside her.

“I think we need to talk,” is all that I said. She seemed apologetic and motioned for me to come into her place.