"Get the fuck away from her," Domino growled.
"Dom, what's going on?" She asked, looking back and forth between them. She noticed that her friends had moved to stand closer, as though they were worried about what was going to happen.
"It's not worth it," Sabrina said quietly, taking Domino by the upper arm, but Zoey overheard.
"What's not worth it?" Zoey demanded.
Archer bristled, standing taller. He was nearly seven inches taller than Domino, but Zoey's money would always be on Domino. That woman was scrappy as hell.
"Archer is the one who leaked the details about you and Pia," Domino bit out.
"Excuse me?" Archer said, looking offended.
"What?" Zoey asked, looking between the two of them. She nearly laughed at the absurdity of the situation. "No. Archer is harmless."
"That's what my sources told me," Domino said. "It was a man named Archer."
"You have sources?" Meg said, sounding impressed.
"Is this true? You sold details about Pia and I?" Zoey asked.
"Explains the bottle service," Isla growled.
Archer held his palms up. "Of course not."
Zoey looked between Domino and Archer.
"Why would I lie about this?" Domino asked.
She had a point.
Archer looked more and more uncomfortable.
If it were true, it meant that Archer had been the demise of her entire relationship with Pia.
"Do you understand what you cost me?" Zoey asked, her voice dipping as rage flowed through her body.
"I didn't think it was that big of a deal," Archer said finally, trying to seem unaffected.
Sabrina had already waved over a bouncer. "Can you kick this man out? He's threatening my friend."
The bouncer looked at Archer. "Are you threatening our guests?" He asked.
"What? Of course not," Archer said, shaking his head, his eyes wide. He pointed to Domino. "She's threatening me."
"I'm sorry, sir, but she outranks you here," the bouncer said. "You're going to have to come with me."
Archer snorted in amusement, turning on his heel. It wasn't long before a second bouncer appeared and they each grabbed one of his arms as they led him towards the door.
"Wow, did you really just pull celesbian rank at a nightclub?" Meg asked, turning to Domino.
Zoey watched Archer be escorted out of the club.
"What sources are we talking here?" Isla asked, sipping from her drink.
"I let Domino text a journalist at the tabloid that originally ran the story," Sabrina said, sounding proud of herself.
"Let?" Meg asked.
"Well, she's an old friend," Domino said, rubbing the short hair at the back of her neck.
Meg and Isla laughed, knowing exactly what that meant.
Zoey wanted to join in on the conversation, the familiar teasing of Domino, but she felt numb all over.
Which was a huge change from all of the grief and pain and rage that she had been feeling over the last two weeks.
"Are you sure?" Zoey said, turning back to Domino.
Domino pulled out her phone, opened a text, and handed it to Zoey. "Here," she said.
Meg leaned in to read over Zoey's shoulder.
Zoey scanned through the text message exchange, including one from the woman — Courtney — that claimed she could get in huge trouble for revealing a source.
Domino had reminded Courtney of a particularly... explicit... favor. Zoey's eyes flicked up to Sabrina after reading it.
"Yeah, I read it," Sabrina said, rolling her eyes. "Believe me, that's tame in comparison to what we—"
"Breen," Domino said, giving her a sharp look.
Zoey laughed, the feeling bubbling up inside of her for the first time since... well, for awhile.
"Keep reading," Domino said, rolling her eyes.
Courtney: We made the check out to a man named Archer. That's all I'll say.
Zoey's grip tightened on the phone.
"I can't believe this," Zoey said. "I thought he was so nice."
Meg put a hand on her shoulder. "You've always seen the best in people," she said.
"Yeah, remember when you tried to convince Vero's ex to try to win her back?" Domino said with a grin.
Zoey felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment. "I didn't know that Vero and Billie were serious," she said, defending herself for the millionth time.
Zoey handed the phone back to Domino. "Why didn't you tell me when you got these?"
"Remember when I interfered with Billie and Vero's relationship? I just don't want to fuck anything up between you and Pia in case..." Domino started, her voice trailing off.
Zoey shook her head. "Not gonna happen."
An awkward silence fell over the group, as it always did whenever one of them mentioned Pia in a positive light.
"Should I tell her?" Zoey asked, chewing on her bottom lip.
All four women gave her a shrug in near-perfect synchronization.
"Do whatever you think is best," Domino said. "We trust you, and we'll support you no matter what."
It took Zoey until the following afternoon to work up the courage to call Pia.
Pia answered after only a few rings, sounding slightly alarmed. "Hello?"
"Hey, Pia. It's me. Zoey. It's Zoey," she said, pacing in the hallway between her bedroom and living room.
Cool your jets, Zoey.
"Yeah, I know, your name shows up when you call," Pia said.
Zoey wanted to slap her palm to her forehead. Why was she being such a spaz?
She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to steel herself against the emotions that were threatening to break through the brand new dam she had been working on to keep them contained.
"What's up?" Pia added. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah. Everything's fine. Kind of. I had a weird thing happen last night," Zoey began, then recounted the story.
"What the fuck," Pia said, and Zoey could picture her scrubbing a hand over her face, her exasperated expression.
"Yeah, so, I just... I wanted you to know," Zoey said, still pacing. She fidgeted with her hair, tightening the clip that held it up and off her neck.
"Well, thanks," Pia said. She almost sounded as if she was in shock.
"Okay, yeah," Zoey said, unsure what else to add, but she wanted more than anything to just stay on the line. To keep talking.
Pia cleared her throat. "Okay. Well, I'll handle it on this end. Thanks again for letting me know."
"Sure, sounds good," Zoey said. "Okay, I'll talk to you... later... sometime. Okay."
Why in the world could she not stop the words that were coming out of her mouth?
"Alright. Thanks again, Zoey," Pia said.
"Yeah, no problem. You're welcome. It's... yeah, you're welcome," Zoey said, finally clamping a hand over her mouth.
"Okay. Bye, then," Pia said, her voice softening.
Zoey held the phone away from her ear and hit the red button, wanting to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment.
Wow, played it so cool, McCarren.