- Emmett -

Slipping away from Rachel and her friends, I found a seat at the table Clay had wanted. He was right. It was dark and cozy in the corner. And no one seemed to pay it any attention.

"Can I talk to you?"

I looked up from my phone to see Alfie standing on the other side of the table. Anger immediately took root in my chest. "Why would I ever want to talk to you?"

He pushed his hands into his pockets. "I want to apologize."

"Save your breath. I won't believe a word you say, anyway."

"Clay accepted my apology. Why can't you?"

"Clay is a nice person who wants to see the best in everyone. He doesn't know you like I do."

Alfie circled around and sat in the chair beside me, despite the lack of an invitation. "Please, Emmett. I'm sorry. I was bluffing when I said I'd out Clay. He understands I did it because of how much I love you."

I snorted. "Those words may have gotten to me last year, or hell, even a few months ago. Now they're as useless as your moral compass."

Alfie tried to grab my hand. I snatched it away. I leaned in close to keep my voice low. "I'm not going to make a scene because this night is important to Clay, and I love him. But make no mistake, Alfie. You are dead to me. And if you ever come after Clay again, I will ruin your fucking life. And that's not a bluff."

Alfie rolled his eyes. "Okay, Emmett. What are you going to do, tell people we were together? They won't believe you."

I smiled. I picked up my phone and went into my DMs, clicking on the ones from Alfie. "See, when Clay first told me what you'd threatened to do, I was planning on doing a little blackmail of my own to stop you. But Clay asked me not to go to you, and I respected his wishes. He wanted this to be on his terms. To come out his way. And I supported him."

I flipped my phone around to show him the screen, scrolling up through all the messages and pictures he had sent me. I stopped when I got to the video he sent me last year. "I had forgotten about this one. You say my name twice in this. I don't think your denials would work so well if I released that."

"Would you really show that to people?" Alfie's voice cracked, his terror-stricken eyes filling with tears.

"Would I? Hmm. Let me think." I tapped my chin, glancing off to the side, pretending to consider it.

"Emmett!" he whisper-screamed. His hand grasped my arm, which was lying on the table. His grip was too tight. When I glared at it and met his eyes, he released me.

I clicked out of our messages and swiped my finger across the screen to delete the only evidence of our relationship, making sure he saw me doing it. "No. I would never do that. And not just because Clay would hate me if I did."

Alfie looked so confused. "Why did you delete that?"

I laid my phone on the table and crossed my arms over my chest. "Outing someone is disgusting and evil. I just wanted you to understand for a second how you made Clay feel. Give you some perspective on the hell you put him through."

Alfie took a deep, shaky breath. He swiped at his watery eyes and cleared his throat. "I get it."

"I hope you do." I said sincerely.

Alfie stood up and buttoned his suit jacket. "I really am sorry."

I shrugged. "And I really don't give a shit."

Alfie opened his mouth. It seemed like he wanted to say something else, but he thought better of it and turned around, walking over to a table where Whitley Montgomery sat in a floor-length purple gown, staring daggers at Carrie-I guess the coup worked. Alfie kissed Whitley's cheek, gaining her full attention. They deserved each other. He sat with her and started chatting and laughing. It made me wonder if he was so good of an actor that he could hide his pain, or if any of what he just expressed to me was even real. Either way, I was glad to be done with him.