Chapter 29 Dinner with friends

The night before the dinner, Zoe hadn’t slept well. Derek’s words had plagued her mind all night, making her toss and turn in her bed as she tried to reconcile the image Derek had painted with the man he knew. A shark. Messed-up. Cruel.

Rationally, she knew that Derek could be right. Zoe didn’t delude herself into thinking that she was someone special, that she was the only one who could see the real Martin—or that Martin had been softer only with her, which was a possibility she wasn’t allowing herself to entertain, for fucksake.

But Zoe still had trouble believing the rumors and other people’s opinions over her own observations. Over her own instincts. She’d never felt safer in her life than when she was with Martin. Could she really be that delusional?

It didn’t matter. She and Martin, whatever the two of them had, it was over. Over. Done with. She shouldn’t even be thinking about Martin anymore. She needed to get her self together and forget about him.