Chapter 357 - Again

Chapter 357: Chapter 357 - Again

When the final bell rang, Roxie had spent most of the afternoon trying to convince herself that Lily was fucking lying.

Believing that felt easier than accepting that Steve had somehow crawled back into her life through Bianca after Roxie had spent months thinking she would never see him again.

Karen had asked more than once who Steve was, and Roxie gave her the same answer every time. He had been one of Claire’s boyfriends. That was enough.

She couldn’t make herself explain how Steve had forced her bedroom window open while Claire slept outside drowning in pills, or how Roxie had sat in the corner holding a knife with both hands because they were shaking too badly for one.

She couldn’t tell Karen that when Steve started climbing through the window, Roxie had been so terrified she could barely say Zac’s name.

Karen eventually stopped asking, although the way she kept looking at Roxie made it obvious she knew there was more. She followed her across the parking lot while Roxie checked Lily’s message for the third time, reading the same information even though she already knew every word.

According to Lily, Steve worked as a handyman at the Reeves Grand, one of the oldest properties owned by Bianca’s family. He handled maintenance around the hotel, helped with repairs, moved equipment for events and sometimes worked outside when the grounds crew needed another pair of hands.

Lily had seen Bianca meet him there several times, and on the first occasion she went with Bianca, she waited near the café while Bianca disappeared toward the employee area and came back carrying an envelope.

Lily never saw what was inside.

After Claire’s photographs appeared in the gym, she started wondering whether she already knew.

Roxie was still staring at the message when she noticed Zac waiting beside his truck.

Mason stood with him.

Roxie stopped walking and looked immediately at Karen. "Why is Mason here?"

Karen stared back at her as though she had no idea why Roxie was blaming her, then pointed toward Zac.

Mason frowned. "Good to see you too."

Zac pushed away from the truck. "Karen told me where you were planning to go."

Roxie slowly turned toward her best friend.

Karen shrugged and kept chewing her gum.

"You seriously have to stop doing that."

"Doing what?"

"Reporting everything to him."

"You were planning to go looking for Steve without telling him."

"That was intentional."

Zac stepped closer, and the anger already sitting in his expression immediately proved Roxie’s point. "You were going to walk into a Reeves property looking for that asshole by yourself?"

"I have Karen."

Karen lifted both fists. "Eight fists are better than four."

Roxie looked at her. "I’m concerned about your math."

Karen shrugged again.

Zac barely reacted. "You’re not going there without me."

Roxie folded her arms. "This is exactly why I didn’t want you coming. The last time you were around Steve..." She glanced toward Karen and Mason before choosing her words. "Ugly shit happened."

Zac’s jaw tightened. "He deserved worse."

Before Roxie could argue, he pulled her toward him and wrapped one arm around her waist. His other hand settled against her back, and his voice lowered enough that Mason and Karen had to make an effort to hear.

"I can’t let you stand in front of him while he talks to you like nothing happened. I’d rather smash his fucking face before he gets the chance."

Roxie grabbed the front of his shirt.

The reaction came before she was ready for it.

Until that moment, Steve had only been a name on Lily’s message. A terrible name that belonged to a night Roxie rarely allowed herself to think about.

Going to the Reeves Grand meant seeing him.

Her stomach tightened.

She remembered sitting against the bedroom wall with her knees pulled against her chest, the knife trembling between both hands while Zac shouted through the phone for her to keep it up.

She remembered Steve’s face appearing behind the glass and the smile he gave her when he reminded her that the window never locked properly.

Her fingers tightened in Zac’s shirt.

She had spent months imagining Steve somewhere far away from Briarwick. Claire was dead from an overdose, yet somehow the man who made her afraid of her own house was fixing lights and carrying boxes at a Reeves hotel as though that night had never happened.

Then the other memory followed.

Steve in the dirt beneath her window.

Blood on his face.

Zac above him, hitting him again while Steve tried to cover his head.

Roxie swallowed and looked up at Zac. "That attitude is exactly what I’m talking about. You’re eighteen now. If you beat him half to death again, throwing money at the problem might not fix it."

"I’d rather go to jail than let you go alone to meet him."

"I’m not meeting him. I want to know if Lily is telling the truth and if the Steve working there is actually him."

"And when it is?" Zac asked. "What are you going to do?"

Roxie looked down because she had spent the entire afternoon avoiding that question.

If Steve really had sold Claire’s pictures to Bianca, what could Roxie actually do once she stood in front of him? Ask why he hated her enough to keep hurting her months later?

Demand that he admit Bianca paid him? Threaten him with the police when the Prescotts had already paid him after Zac nearly put him in the hospital?

"I don’t know," she admitted. "But I need to know."

Zac watched her for several seconds before some of the anger left his face. When his grip around her loosened, Roxie looked up again and saw what had been underneath it the entire time.

He was scared for her.

He knew what Steve had done. He knew what seeing him again might bring back.

"Then I’m coming with you," Zac said.

Roxie studied him. If she had seen nothing but anger in his face, she would have refused and driven away without him. Instead, he was looking at her like he was already worried about what might happen when Steve stood in front of her again.

She let out a slow breath. "Alright, but you stay beside me when we get there."

Zac nodded. "Fine."

"And you let me talk."

His expression tightened slightly.

"Zac."

"I heard you."

Roxie pointed at him. "That sounds too fast."

Mason opened the passenger door. "I’ll keep him out of jail."

Zac looked at him.

"That’s why I’m here, right?"

Karen opened the rear door. "Basically."

The Reeves Grand occupied almost an entire block near downtown Briarwick, and Roxie had been there enough times that the place should have felt familiar. The Reeves family had owned the hotel for decades.

People in town used the ballroom for weddings, fundraisers and school events, while the restaurant and café remained open to anyone throughout the day. The original brick building faced the main street, and a newer events wing wrapped around a large courtyard behind it.

Roxie stared at the Reeves name above the entrance while Zac parked.

The connection between Bianca and Steve still bothered her.

Maybe Bianca had started digging into Roxie after their feud got worse. Maybe Steve had already been working here and Bianca eventually heard enough from him to recognize Roxie’s name. Maybe Steve had heard Bianca complaining about her first.

Whatever happened, the fact that they found each other felt wrong.

Roxie had believed Steve belonged to the past.

Apparently, Bianca had pulled him straight back into it.

They entered through the main lobby together, with Zac beside Roxie while Mason and Karen followed. At the front desk, Roxie asked whether someone named Steve worked maintenance.

The receptionist nodded almost immediately. "Steve Mercer?"

Roxie felt Zac’s fingers tighten around hers.

"Yes."

"He’s in the courtyard. One of the outdoor fixtures was damaged last night, so he’s been working there most of the afternoon."

Roxie thanked her, and they headed toward the glass doors at the back of the lobby.

Mason waited until they were farther away before looking between Roxie and Zac. "You two know this guy pretty well?"

Roxie kept walking.

Zac answered for both of them. "Enough."

Something in his voice made Mason leave it there.

The courtyard was busy when they stepped outside. Guests sat beneath large umbrellas near the café, employees prepared tables for an evening reception, and several people moved between the restaurant and lobby. The number of people around them should have made Roxie feel safer.

It did, until she saw the maintenance cart near the far wall.

A man crouched beside an open electrical panel wearing a dark Reeves Grand work shirt.

Roxie knew him immediately.

Her steps slowed.

Then stopped.

Zac stopped beside her.

Steve looked up.

Roxie’s body reacted before she could think.

Her fingers locked around Zac’s hand so hard her knuckles hurt. Her chest stopped working properly, and the warm air in the courtyard suddenly felt cold against her skin.

Steve stared at them.