The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 250: Chapter 250 - His Phone

Roxie barely remembered the drive back to the bungalow.

She sat close to Zac with his hand resting on her thigh while the restaurant lights disappeared behind them. The notification kept returning to her mind, but she pushed it away each time.

Holly was Nathan’s fiancée.

She had already caused enough problems between the brothers. Maybe she wanted to apologize. Maybe Nathan had done something and she needed Zac’s help. Holly could have sent the same message to everyone after a fight.

Roxie knew how stupid that sounded.

People did not usually tell their fiancé’s younger brother that they missed him so much.

Still, Zac had left his phone on the table. He had walked away without turning it over or hiding the screen. He returned from the bathroom relaxed, paid for dinner, and drove Roxie home with his fingers linked through hers.

A boy hiding something would have been more careful.

At least, Roxie wanted to believe that.

Zac parked the Tesla beneath the charger and looked toward her when she remained in her seat.

”You sleeping here now?”

Roxie blinked. ”I’m thinking.”

”That’s never good.”

She slapped his arm before opening the door.

The cold air helped clear her head. Zac connected the car while Roxie walked toward the bungalow, her heels sinking slightly into the ground. She unlocked the door and kicked her shoes off as soon as she entered.

The State trophy was still on the table near the television. Cynthia’s flowers stood beside it inside the only vase Roxie owned, their red and white petals beginning to open.

Roxie looked at both while removing her jacket.

Holly’s message felt small beside everything else.

Zac entered and locked the door behind him.

”You left your shoes in the middle again.”

”I’ll move them later.”

”You’ll forget.”

”Then you move them.”

He pushed them against the wall with his foot before walking toward her.

Roxie expected him to complain, but he caught her waist and pulled her against him instead. His mouth touched hers before she could say anything.

She kissed him back.

The notification tried to return.

Roxie wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed closer until there was no space left for it.

Zac’s hands moved across her back, then settled at her waist. The kiss remained slow, with none of the anger that sometimes made them grab harder than they meant to.

For a few seconds, Roxie felt stupid for allowing one message to follow her home. This was Zac. He had been beside her through State. He had shouted her name in front of the school that morning. He was sleeping at the bungalow again because he wanted to be with her.

Holly could miss him as much as she wanted.

Zac belonged here.

”I’m taking a shower,” he said.

Roxie released his shirt. ”You showered this morning.”

”I wore this all day.”

”So did I.”

”You should shower too.”

”Are you saying I smell?”

”Yes.”

Roxie shoved him.

Zac laughed and caught her wrist long enough to pull her into another quick kiss.

”Pick something to watch.”

”You’ll complain about whatever I choose.”

”Then choose something good.”

He walked into the bedroom and began unbuttoning his shirt.

Roxie followed and changed out of the red dress while Zac grabbed clean clothes. She pulled on shorts and one of his shirts, then sat on the couch.

Zac placed his phone near the pillow before entering the bathroom.

The door closed.

A few seconds later, water began running.

Roxie opened the streaming application on the television and moved through the choices without reading them.

Her eyes returned to Zac’s phone.

It rested only a few inches from her leg.

The screen was dark now, but she could still see Holly’s message across it.

I miss you so much, Zac.

Zac had told her enough about Holly to explain the fight.

Holly tried to kiss him. Nathan entered before Zac could move away. Nathan believed the worst and attacked him. Zac fought back, and Arthur blamed him for hurting his brother.

Whenever Roxie asked what Holly said, Zac became angry.

He told her Holly lied.

That should have been enough.

She believed him when he said he had not wanted Holly.

The notification bothered her because it sounded like Holly believed something continued between them.

Roxie looked toward the bathroom.

The shower ran steadily behind the door.

Why had Zac kept her unblocked?

Maybe blocking Holly would make things worse with Nathan.

Maybe Zac wanted proof of whatever she said.

Maybe he had forgotten.

Roxie returned to the television and chose the first movie that appeared. Loud music filled the room, but she lowered the volume until it became background noise.

She could ask Zac when he came out.

He would answer. Or he would become defensive before giving her half of the truth.

Roxie already knew how that conversation would go.

He would tell her the message meant nothing.

She would ask why Holly sent it.

He would say he had no idea what went through Holly’s head.

Roxie would keep asking until Zac accused her of searching for a reason to fight.

Maybe he would be right.

She had already ruined calm days by searching for problems that had not happened yet. Roxie reached for her own phone, but her hand touched Zac’s first.

She stopped.

The device remained dark beneath her fingers. Zac had once told her she could open it whenever she wanted. He had given her the password without being asked.

Her birthday.

Roxie lifted the phone and pressed the side button.

The lock screen appeared. She forgot about Holly for several seconds.

The wallpaper was a photograph of Roxie asleep. She lay curled beneath the blanket with her hair covering half of her face. Her mouth was slightly open, and one hand rested against the pillow near her cheek.

It was not a flattering photograph.

Roxie would have deleted it immediately.

Zac had made it the first thing he saw whenever he picked up his phone.

Heat moved into her face.

She glanced toward the bathroom as though he might catch her looking at a picture he had taken.

The water continued running.

Roxie stared at the wallpaper longer.

He must have taken it at the bungalow. She recognized the blanket and the dark shirt twisted around her body. It was one of Zac’s shirts, probably from a morning when he woke before her.

The picture made Holly’s message feel smaller again.

Zac could have chosen any photograph for his screen. He chose Roxie asleep in her own bed because that was how he saw her when nobody else was watching.

She pressed the button and darkened the screen.

The phone remained in her hand.

Roxie placed it beside the pillow.

She watched the movie for less than a minute before looking down again.

Zac said she could open it.

Using his permission while he stood inside the shower still felt wrong.

She knew she was searching. Even if she opened only the gallery, she was touching something private because he could not stop her.

Roxie picked up the phone again.

The wallpaper returned.

Her thumb hovered over the numbers.

She listened to the shower.

Still running.

She entered her birthday.

The phone unlocked immediately.

Relief came before guilt.

He had not changed the password.

A boy hiding another relationship would change it. He would turn off notifications and carry the phone into the bathroom. He would never leave it beside Roxie after receiving a message from the other woman.

Zac had done none of that.

Roxie stared at the home screen.

The messages application sat near the bottom.

She avoided it.

Opening Holly’s conversation would be different. Zac had given her access to the phone, but he had never told her to read every private message inside it.

Roxie opened the gallery instead.

She wanted the photographs from State.

That was all.

She had not seen every picture Zac took from the stands, and he would probably forget to send them. Looking through the gallery would save both of them time.

The newest photographs showed the assembly that morning.

Zac had taken one while Roxie and Kendall lifted the trophy. Another caught Coach Miller speaking into the microphone while the cheer team lined the front of the gym.

Roxie scrolled backward.

The State photographs appeared next.

There were blurry pictures from the routine, most of them focused on Roxie even when the entire team filled the frame. Zac had taken several when the final stunt hit. Roxie stood beneath Karen with her arms locked and her face lifted toward the flyer.

The next picture showed Roxie covering her mouth when Briarwick’s name was announced.

Her makeup had smudged beneath her eyes.

She looked horrible.

Zac had saved four versions.

Roxie smiled despite herself.

She selected the best one and sent it to her phone. Then she chose the photograph of the team holding the trophy and sent that too.

She continued scrolling.

The gallery was filled with her.

Some pictures were ones Roxie remembered posing for. Football games. Raven’s Point. The diner. The bonfire. The photograph from Homecoming where Zac stood behind her with one arm around her waist.

Others had been taken without her knowing.

Roxie studying at the kitchen table with a pencil held between her teeth.

Roxie standing outside the bungalow while the wind pushed curls across her face.

Roxie laughing with Angela and Karen near the cheer lockers.

Roxie sitting on the porch steps with her knees pulled toward her chest.

There were photographs of them together too.

Zac kissing the side of her face while she tried to move away.

Roxie curled against him beneath a blanket.

Their hands linked near the console.

Roxie resting against his chest at Raven’s Point.

There were very few photographs that had nothing to do with her.

The gallery felt like a private record of every time Zac watched Roxie while she believed his attention was somewhere else.

Her suspicion became embarrassing.

Holly had sent one message.

Zac’s entire phone was filled with Roxie.

She chose several pictures and sent them to herself. One showed Roxie asleep against him inside the Tesla. Another showed her sitting at the diner with a fry near her mouth while glaring at whoever held the camera.

She could put the phone down.

Zac would finish his shower. They could watch the movie, eat the cake Cynthia brought, and fall asleep without another fight.

The day could remain perfect.

Roxie looked toward the bathroom.

The water continued running.

Holly’s notification was gone, but the message remained somewhere inside the phone.

Roxie wanted to forget it.

She also knew she would lie beside Zac all night wondering what else Holly had said.

Her thumb touched the messages application.

The conversations appeared.

Holly’s name sat near the top.

No preview from Zac appeared beneath it. Only Holly’s message.

I miss you so much, Zac.

Roxie opened the conversation.

The first thing she noticed was the empty right side of the screen.

Zac had never replied.

Every message belonged to Holly.

There were no calls from Zac. No heart reactions. No single angry answer telling her to stop. He had ignored everything.

Relief moved through Roxie so quickly that she nearly closed the conversation.

Zac had done nothing.

Holly had been sending messages into silence.

Then Roxie noticed how far the conversation extended.

Holly had messaged him for days.

Several times a day.

Zac knew she continued contacting him, yet he had never mentioned it.

Roxie scrolled upward.

The latest messages were short.

I miss you so much, Zac.

I know you miss me too.

You can keep ignoring me, but I know what happened.

Roxie’s fingers tightened around the phone.

She scrolled farther.

You know I never meant for Nathan to see us.

I’m sorry he misunderstood what happened.

You didn’t have to push me away that hard.

I know you felt something before you got scared.

Roxie read them twice.

Zac said Holly kissed him.

Holly wrote as though Zac kissed her back until Nathan entered.

She could be lying.

Roxie already knew she lied to Nathan. A woman willing to accuse Zac of starting the kiss could rewrite anything inside her own messages.

Still, Roxie wanted to know what happened in the seconds Zac left out.

Did Holly walk into his room and kiss him without warning?

Had she been touching him before Nathan entered?

How long did it take Zac to move her?

What had Holly seen in his face that allowed her to convince herself he wanted her?

Zac would say none of that mattered because he rejected her.

He always decided the ending was enough.

Roxie kept scrolling.

Nathan has never understood me like you do.

I know you watch me when he isn’t looking.

You always acted different when we were alone.

You can stop pretending with me.

I keep thinking about you pulling me away from him.

Roxie’s stomach turned.

Holly sounded insane.

Zac had still spent years around her.

Family dinners. Holidays. Nights when Nathan brought her to the Prescott house. Roxie wondered whether Zac had ever enjoyed the attention before it crossed the line.

Maybe he looked at Holly once and she built an entire relationship from it.

Maybe he flirted without thinking.

Maybe Zac had known she wanted him and liked having that power over his brother’s fiancée.

Roxie hated herself for wondering.

There was no answer from Zac.

The proof was directly in front of her.

He had ignored every message.

Roxie scrolled lower again, returning toward the recent messages.

I know you’re ignoring me because you’re angry about what happened with Nathan.

I didn’t know he would attack you.

I only said what I had to say because he walked in at the worst time.

Roxie stopped.

Holly admitted it.

She had lied because Nathan caught them.

Whatever else happened, Holly knew Zac had not started the kiss. She had protected herself by turning Nathan against his brother.

Zac was telling the truth.

Roxie should have felt better.

Instead, she thought about the way he returned to the bungalow with a split lip, bruised face, and rage he refused to explain.

Holly knew every detail.

Roxie had received the cleaned version.

She scrolled again.

Nathan said Arthur is still furious.

Roxie’s thumb stopped.

Another message followed beneath it.

Your mother should have stopped him.

Then:

You didn’t deserve what Arthur did.

The bathroom water continued running.

Roxie listened for movement behind the door.

Nothing changed.

She looked back at the messages.

Zac had said Arthur took his truck after the fight. He claimed his father wanted to punish him for choosing Roxie and attacking Nathan.

Roxie knew Arthur had become violent.

She knew he had been spending more nights at Dylan’s because the house became unbearable.

He still went home. Last night, he had left the bungalow near midnight and told Roxie he was returning there.

Roxie scrolled farther.

Are you still staying with Dylan?

Her chest tightened.

The shower ran behind the wall while Roxie sat completely still.

I know Arthur kicked you out. You don’t have to keep sleeping at Dylan’s. You can stay with me. Nathan never has to know.

Roxie read it once.

Then again.

The words remained the same.

Arthur kicked you out.