Don't Play With My Soul

Zenia's

POV

"Zenia! Zenia, sweetie get in the car."

"LEAVE ME ALONE, EJ!" I yelled as I walked along the sidewalk and he drove alongside me in the street in his stupid Audi, matching my pace. How many cars does he own?

"Zenia, you're being stubborn. I want to talk to you."

"Well I don't want to talk to you!"

"Damn it!" I heard him yell, and, the next thing I knew, I was upside down hanging from his shoulders.

"EJ, put me down!" I protested but it fell on deaf ears. I was placed in the car and he quickly fastened my seat belt.

"Is everything alright over here?" a voice asked as EJ got back in the driver's seat.

"Yes, officer."

"Are you alright, ma'am?" he asked me with concern.

He must be thinking EJ is kidnapping me.

"Yes officer, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, she's sure," EJ butted in.

He eyed EJ and his face quickly became friendlier.

"Ah, young Hollen, how are you doing?"

"I'm great."

"Drive safely."

"Always."

I shook my head as they exchanged handshakes before he stepped on the accelerator.

"Why are you so difficult every time?" he asked.

He stopped the car at the park, with us inside.

I remained silent.

"Zenia?"

Silence.

"I'm talking to you."

"Are you certain I'm the one you should be talking to?"

I knew I was being petty, but to hell with that. I was rather upset about him telling Madison about his celebration before me.

"Baby, listen to me. I'm sorry, okay? I should have told you earlier, but Mom planned it at the last minute. Mads only got the invitation because I saw her this morning on my way to work." I pouted.

"Zenia, at least look at me."

My eyes remained straight ahead.

"Zenia."

Silence.

He turned my chin gently towards him. I was instantly melting into his grey eyes. They screamed sorry.

"EJ, Madison completely blew everything out of proportion. That's not what happened," I defended when he had told me exactly what she had said to him.

That snake in the grass.

I explained how everything happened at the boutique earlier this morning, not leaving out a detail. EJ listened to my every word.

"Just forget it ever happened, okay?"

"Okay," I responded.

"Why were you lashing out at Alex?"

Alex had come by at around 2:45 p.m. Ashley broke into tears again when she saw him, but he turned a cold shoulder to her.

"I was only trying to find out why he was becoming distant to Ashley."

"Oh."

"Did he said anything to you?"

"Not much."

I knew he was hiding something from me.

"EJ, what did he say?"

"He just said that Ashley gives in too easily, and he can't see himself in a serious relationship with someone like that."

"WHAT?!" Something lit inside me.

"I'm just saying what he told me. Alex is very different. He doesn't settle. I've never seen him in a committed relationship, and when things are going well, he always sabotages and jumps into the next pair of legs waiting for him." "Man whore."

EJ laughed. "That's just the way he is, and those girls aren't learning how to just leave him alone. He wouldn't fall for easy girls or girls he bangs on the same night they meet. It's kinda of a guy thing. Most guys wouldn't settle down for an easy chick."

I felt a pang in my chest. My heart squeezed and I fought to hold back the tears.

"Are you okay? I know she's your best friend, and Alex is mine. I wouldn't like a big wedge between us."

"EJ, can I ask you something?"

This is it. This would determine the future for us.

"Sure babe, what's going on?" He must have seen the tears welling up because he pulled me against his hard chest and planted a kiss on my forehead.

"Would you fall for someone you had sex with on the first night you met her?"

He opened his mouth and then shut it. I looked up at him, heart racing, waiting for his answer.

"Ummm, I really don't know." He looked deep in thought. "To me, I don't judge a woman like that. The one you sleep with on the first night could very well be a perfect wife, while the one who made you wait for could be a total slut. Or vice

versa.

"So I wouldn't judge. But, for the girl on the first night, there would really have to be a strong connection or feeling for her because I would have trust issues. It's messed up but true. I would wonder if she's always that easy for other guys." His answer made me sit on the fence of telling him the truth or keeping it away from him until I went to the grave. Jasmine already knew. But, unlike me, she wouldn't dare say a word without my permission. "Hey." He shook me from my thoughts.

I forced a smile.

"I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere. You're very beautiful, and I'm falling for the perfect girl. You're not like those other girls out there."

Other girls out there? Oh, EJ. My heart took a trip to my toes. I felt like a slut. Was that the word he used?

How would I break something so terrible to tell him?

How do I tell him I slept with him the first night I met him?

How do I tell him I got pregnant?

How do I tell him I lost the baby because I drank myself drunk?

The tears poured down. The haunting feelings came back. My heart squeezed harder and harder as if it would explode at any minute. The feeling I hated and dreaded so much came, hitting me all over again. "Baby, stop crying. Alex and Ashley will patch things up. We're their friends and we want to see them together. Stop crying."

He comforted me against his chest.

I heard my sister's voice in my head: "You need to tell him Zenia. You need to tell him the truth."

"EJ, there's something I have to tell you."

"What's that?"

Before I could utter another word, his phone rang.

"Hey Mom... Yeah... No, I'm actually with someone right now... I know that Mom... Okay, I'll be there as soon as possible.

"Babe, can we continue this discussion another time? Mom needs me home.

And you're officially invited to my party. I'll send someone to get you, be ready at seven."

I nodded my head.

I guess seeing Ashley in a tight fitted dress can make you fall in love. She and Alex were dancing awfully close together and looked like eternal lovers as they swayed to the music.

I sat down at a table, having a glass of water and feeling pathetic. EJ stood at the far end of the yard next to his father and several other men. Evan was among them.

I kept my eyes peeled for Madison, but she was nowhere to be found.

Snake.

After several minutes, Ashley joined me at the table while Alex went to join EJ.

"You've patch things up rather quickly," I teased.

"I can't stay mad at him. He's too sweet. He's like a baby."

She just had to use that word.

Tears began to roll down my face, and I quickly wiped at them before she caught them.

"Hey, what's the matter with you? Zenia! Zenia!"

She was right next to me but she sounded like she was yelling from a far distance.

"I'm fine," I lied.

"Oh no, you're not. Do you wanna go somewhere and talk about it?"

I nodded. Talking to Jasmine helped me. I could trust Ashley, she was my best friend. I knew some of her secrets and she knew some of mine. I could trust her with this one.

We headed inside to a downstairs guest bedroom where the music wouldn't drown out our voices. I told Ashley everything: the one-night stand, the pregnancy, the miscarriage, and what EJ said about girls who gave it up too easily and quickly.

Madison's POV

Emma, EJ's mom, had sent me to one of the guest bedrooms to fetch two extra chairs for her.

I opened the door but stopped slightly when I overheard Zenia and her friend talking. I didn't want to even see them again, but my curiosity got the best of me as to why they were talking inside a quiet room.

My eyes almost popped out of my head when I heard her say she was pregnant with EJ's child, and he wasn't aware of it since they had a one-night stand at a party, and she had a miscarriage because of heavy alcohol consumption. I closed back the door, hid and waited until they were out the room.

You stupid whore. Just wait until I tell this to EJ.

He'll hate you like the devil.