The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 20: Chapter 20 - Secret’s Out

It was Zac.

For one second, Roxie just stood there.

Across the road, under the streetlight, Zac Prescott looked completely wrong in her neighborhood. Too tall, too clean, too Briarwick football golden boy for a street with broken porch lights, rusted mailboxes, and men smoking outside houses that had stopped being painted years ago.

Then it hit her all at once.

Zac was standing outside her house.

He had seen the porch with the sagging steps, the busted fence, the kitchen light still on behind her. He had probably heard whatever escaped through the walls before she slammed the door.

Her party life was supposed to stay at the party.

Her school life was supposed to stay at school.

Her real life was supposed to stay locked inside that house where nobody from Briarwick High could look at it and start making that face.

That soft, careful face.

The one that said they felt sorry for her.

Roxie stepped off the porch fast, wiping under one eye before anything could fall. ”What are you doing here?”

Zac looked at her, then at the door behind her. His jaw was tight. ”I followed you.”

”You shouldn’t have done that.”

”Roxie.” He stepped closer.

She moved back before she could stop herself.

Zac stopped immediately.

The front door opened behind her, and Roxie closed her eyes.

Please, no.

”Roxanne?” her mother called.

Her mother stepped onto the porch, one hand on the doorframe, her oversized shirt hanging off one shoulder. The kitchen light behind her made her eyes look too bright, and the smile that pulled across her face did not match the yelling from two minutes ago.

Then she saw Zac.

Her smile changed.

”Well,” her mother said. ”Who is this?”

Roxie’s stomach dropped.

Zac looked from her mother to Roxie. ”Hi, ma’am. I’m Zachary.”

Her mother’s eyes moved over Zac, then back to Roxie, and her smile turned mean.

”So that’s why you came home looking like that?”

Steve appeared behind her mother in the hallway. ”Where is she?”

Roxie saw Zac notice him.

That was enough.

She moved before anyone could say another word.

”Roxie,” Zac called.

She did not answer.

She ran down the sidewalk with her eyes burning and her chest too tight, because now he knew. He had seen the house. He had seen her mother. He had seen Steve standing in the hallway like he belonged there.

Everything she worked so hard to hide was right there in front of him.

The clean hair. The perfect uniform. The captain voice. The cold smile. The girl everyone at school thought they understood.

All of it was a lie, and Zac Prescott had just seen behind it.

He probably felt disgusted.

Worse, he probably felt sorry for her.

”Roxie!”

His footsteps came after her.

She walked faster, then almost ran again, but he caught up near the corner and reached for her hand.

She tried to pull away.

”Don’t,” she snapped.

Zac held on, gentle but firm enough to stop her from bolting into the street. ”Where are you going?”

”Away from you.”

”That’s not safe.”

”I’ll be fine.”

”Roxie.”

”Leave me alone.”

”I can’t.”

She finally looked at him, furious and humiliated and shaking so badly she wanted to scream. ”Why?”

His eyes moved past her shoulder, down the street. ”Because this neighborhood is dangerous.”

Roxie stared at him.

Then she laughed once, sharp and ugly.

”Yeah,” she snapped. ”This is my fucking neighborhood. I know.”

Her voice carried farther than she wanted.

Across the road, two men sitting on a porch looked over. One had a cigarette between his fingers. The other leaned forward, watching them like they had become free entertainment.

Roxie felt their attention crawl over her.

Zac saw them too.

His expression changed.

”Come on,” he said, pulling her closer to his side.

”I’m not going anywhere with you.”

”Yes, you are.”

”No, I’m not.”

He looked down at her, voice lower now. ”You want to get away from here? I’ll take you.”

Roxie’s throat tightened.

She wanted to run. She wanted to shove him off and disappear into some street where nobody knew her name. But she also needed him quiet.

That was the real problem.

She had not suffered through years of Briarwick High, years of Kendall and her little circle, years of holding her head high like nothing could touch her, just for Zac Prescott to open his mouth and ruin her by accident.

One wrong comment from him and her life would become lunchroom gossip before Monday.

Zac noticed her silence.

Some of the tension left his face. ”Come on.”

She hated that he sounded relieved.

”I’m only going because I need you to shut up,” she said.

”I can do that.”

He let go of her hand, but he stayed close as they headed back toward the creek path.

Roxie kept her arms tight around herself. Her house was still behind her. Her mother was probably still on the porch. Steve was probably still in the hallway.

Zac had seen all of it.

Her throat burned again, so she walked faster.

Zac kept up without saying anything.

They reached the creek path, and Roxie slowed before she could stop herself. The trees looked worse now. The bridge was darker from this side, and the gravel disappeared under it.

Zac looked at her once. ”My car’s at Mason’s,” he said. ”We just have to get back there.”

”Sure.” She muttered looking straight ahead.

Then he shrugged out of his letter jacket.

Roxie frowned. ”What are you doing?”

He held it out. ”Take it.”

”I’m fine.”

”You’re shaking.”

”I said I’m fine.”

He did not argue. He only stepped closer and placed the jacket over her shoulders.

Roxie went still.

The jacket was warm and smelled like him. It fell heavy around her arms, big enough to swallow half of her, and for one second, she hated him for acting like a gentleman.

She hated herself more for falling for it.

Zac looked away and started walking first.

He did not make stupid remarks. He did not say anything about it. He stayed on the side closer to the trees, putting himself between her and the darker edge of the path.

Annoyingly, it helped.

Roxie followed.

The gravel crunched under their shoes. The creek was loud beside them. Every few steps, his jacket slipped from one shoulder, and she fixed it without looking at him.

She should have felt humiliated.

She did.

But she also felt warmer.

Safer.

That was the part she could barely stand.

The same path that had made her run earlier felt different with him beside her. It still looked ugly. It still smelled like wet leaves and dirty water. The bridge still sat ahead like the worst part of the walk.

But Zac stayed close, quiet, and careful.

Zac didn’t ask about her mother or Steve or why she had lied to Karen.

He just walked beside her like silence was the only decent thing he had left to offer.

He just walked.

Roxie kept her eyes on the ground, stepping around mud and broken gravel, trying to keep her breathing steady.

The silence made her chest ache.

By the time the party music started coming back through the trees, Roxie’s hands had stopped shaking so badly.

She still did not look at him.

She stared straight ahead until Mason’s street came into view, bright and loud and full of people who had no idea what had happened a few blocks away.

Roxie stopped near the edge of the lawn.

”I’m not going back in there,” she said. Her stomach turned.

Zac looked at the house, then down the street where his car was parked two houses away. ”You don’t have to.”

Roxie followed his gaze.

His car sat under a streetlight near the curb, away from the porch and the people smoking by the driveway. Close enough to reach. Far enough that nobody had to talk to them unless they tried.

”Just walk,” Zac said quietly. ”We’ll pass them.”

Roxie gripped the front of his jacket and kept her head down.

Every step felt too visible. The music got louder. A girl laughed from the porch. Someone shouted from inside the house, and Roxie’s whole body tensed like the sound had been aimed at her.

Zac moved closer on her left, putting himself between her and the party without saying anything about it.

She sighed.

They passed the driveway first. Nobody called her name. A couple near Mason’s truck barely glanced over, too busy arguing about something on the girl’s phone. Near the porch, Mason’s front door opened, spilling out music and warm light, but Roxie kept walking.

Zac matched her pace.

He only reached the car first and unlocked it before she had to stand there too long.

The lights flashed.

Roxie opened the passenger door and got in fast, pulling the jacket tighter around herself as she sat down.

Zac got in on the driver’s side.

The doors shut, and the party noise dropped into a low thump behind the glass.

Roxie just stared at the dashboard and tried to breathe like a normal person.

Zac started the engine.

He kept his hands on the wheel and looked straight ahead.

”Where do you want to go?” he asked.

Roxie swallowed.

Her voice came out smaller than she wanted.

”Anywhere.”