Trace stood next to me and squeezed my arm. “We’ve got your back.”
“You all should have my back. She’s the one who’s pretending to be innocent, while the whole time she’s just scheming to steal my partner,” Sofia said, seething.
“Me? Scheming?” I scoffed. “I’m not the one who basically forced Grant to pick me so you’d be paired with Eli today.”
“Is that true?” Trace asked.
“No,” Sofia said stubbornly.
I said a silent prayer that she’d drop this soon. “Yes, it is. Grant told me.”
“And you believe him?” Sofia demanded.
“I do,” I responded simply.
“I believe that too, and I don’t even like Grant,” Rachel chimed in.
“Look, Sofia, I’m sorry things didn’t work out between you and Eli, but you just can’t keep blaming me for it,” I said.
She pursed her pouty lips and stuck her chin high in the air. “We kissed. Did you know that? Stop acting like I’m delusional. We had something, until you sunk your claws into him.”
Trace gasped. “Really?”
Sighing, I sidestepped Sofia and moved further into the large room, attempting to gain some space. Typically, I hated confrontation. It gave me a rash. But I was too exhausted from the day to even get a spiked heart rate from this conversation.
“I knew you kissed, but that doesn’t change anything. I never latched my claws into Eli, or whatever mastermind plan you think took place. We just got to know each other, that’s all. It’s not my fault he picked me.”
“You picked him too,” she hissed, meeting me where I stood and getting a little too in my face for comfort.
Someone would step in if she tried to slap me, right? I hadn’t been in a physical fight in my entire life and I didn’t intend to break that streak today.
“So what? I’m allowed to pick him.” Lifting my chin, I refused to back down. But I did notice her long nails, and I wondered what kind of damage they could do.
“It’s pathetic, you know that? You’re pathetic.”
“Watch it!” Rachel said. She was at my side now.
“No, everyone is thinking it. Maybe people are hyping you up to your face and telling you how cute you and Eli are, but I’ll tell you what everyone is really thinking.”
My throat flexed as I braced myself for the jab.
“Eli can have any woman he wants, and he pretty much has. Maybe you’re holding his interest here because his options are limited, but it will pass, I can assure you. I know guys like him. Your sweet little innocent act might be catching his eye now, but after he spends time with you, and really gets to know you, he’ll drop you so fast you won’t knowwhat hit you.” She laughed like some villain in an animated film.
“What the hell are you going on about?” Eli jogged into the room. His eyes narrowed as soon as he caught sight of Sofia and me.
“Nothing,” I responded, but it came out like a croak thanks to how dry my throat was. Sofia’s words hit me like a freight train. They were everything I had already been thinking, but to hear the words regurgitated back to me gave them new life. Grant’s pep talk back in the woods faded further from my mind as Sofia’s venomous words latched onto my brain like a leech.
“What did she say to you?” Eli questioned.
“The truth,” Sofia said.
“No!” Rachel exclaimed. “She’s just spewing bullshit, as usual.”
The rest of the guys filtered in. I felt frozen in place. I was just what I had been afraid of being on this show, a spectacle. Someone whom everyone pitied.
“Calla, what are you thinking?” Eli reached out and grabbed my arm, but I instinctively backed away. His face crumpled at my reaction, but I was too in my head to know the right thing to say or do in the moment. I just wanted to be alone.
“Sorry,” I said softly to Eli, hating to see the hurt etched in his features.
