One Night

The One Where The Night Ends

"We've talked before?" I ask, the slightest bit of surprise in my voice. Surely, I would have remembered speaking with Elliott before, but the longer I rack my brains, trying to recall it, the more confounded I became. "When?"

Elliott smiled sadly. "Last year at the Christmas Ball," he explained, looking down at where his hands were wrapped around my center. "You were stood at the drinks bar and I walked up to you and asked if you wanted to dance with me. You didn't even look up when you told me that you had a boyfriend and that you were in love with him. Still, that's not what broke my heart. It was when you pointed out your boyfriend and I saw that it was Markus Levine. Of all people, him."

When Elliott talked about Markus, I noted that his voice was filled with anger, but it was beyond any anger that would extend just to me. There was something else that ignited the fury that Elliott was feeling.

"Elliott-"

"He dated Aubrey," Elliott suddenly said, making my heart stop in the process. "When my sister got hooked on prescription drugs, my parents went through Hell and back to get her clean. There were some nights that I would stay up, sitting at her bedside to make sure that she didn't OD while she was asleep. We threw out every drug we had in the house but somehow, Aubrey was still getting them from somewhere. Want to take a guess where?"

I didn't need to. Elliott's face was furious, his fists clenching around my coat and his knuckles turning white. Shock surged through me as I processed his words. Markus had not only dated Aubrey, but he was also responsible for her descent into addiction and the reason she spent years away at a rehab center. I couldn't believe that the guy I once thought I loved could do that to someone.

Actually, with Markus, after his confession earlier, I could totally believe it. He's an asshole for treating Aubrey like that, and I was glad that I'd found the strength to sock him one earlier. It had been months in the making, but had I known then what I knew now, I would have put more force behind the punch.

"I didn't know," I stupidly say. "I mean, I... Elliott, I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?" Elliott snorted, shaking his head at my words. "It's not like you knew. No one did. No one does. Aubrey doesn't talk about it with anyone and neither do I. Plus. it's not like Markus goes around shouting it from the rooftops. When he found out that I was planning on asking you out-"

I gasped. "You were going to ask me out?"

"Yes," he nods in confirmation. "After almost six weeks of staring at the back of your head and obsessing about you, I finally figured that maybe I should actually talk to you. I was going to ask you out on a date but Markus got there before me. I was furious. He knew what he was doing, too. I have this reputation for sleeping around," Elliott says, looking at me to gauge my reaction. I give him a small smile and nod, showing him that although I knew about the rumors, I didn't care. "When people found out that I was actually interested in a girl, beyond wanting to just sleep with her, word spread. I guess Markus heard and that's why he went after you. Every now and then, I'd hear stories about how he was using you, and then the text and videos and pictures started."

I frowned, confused about what Elliott had meant by texts, videos and photos. Yes, Markus had mentioned his so-called friends had sent Elliott a video of the break up, but Elliott made it sound like it was more than just a one-off video.

"What do you mean that he'd send you texts and photos and stuff?" I asked, needing to know the full story that I hadn't already received from Markus. Elliott shook his head at me, refusing to tell me exactly what he meant, but I had to know. "Tell me!"