I lean back against the headrest and stare at the ceiling of the car.
Mila wanted to destroy me.
She failed.
Chapter Twenty-Five
DEVON
Jade doesn't speak at all on the drive home, and I can’t say I blame her. She must feel horrific, and I want to destroy Mila fucking Harris.
I know I kissed her—fuck!—but I hate Mila doing this to Jade and making everything between us worse.
But Jade believes me. That feels better than anything in the world, knowing she found out herself that I was telling the truth. I’m so mad with myself for even putting her in this position.
Jade stares out the passenger window, her fingers still trembling in mine, and I keep glancing at her like I'm afraid she'll disappear if I look away too long. To be honest, I’m just grateful she’s holding my hand. I think about how close I came to losingthis. To losingher.
Because of onestupidkiss. One night of weakness that Mila has been using against me ever since.
I’mneverdrinking again.
"She’s deranged,” Jade finally says as I pull into our driveway. Her voice is empty, like she's still dealing with what happened in the coffee shop with Mila. "Devon, the way she looked at me when I caught her lying—it was like watching a mask crack."
I kill the engine but neither of us moves to get out.
"Tell me everything."
So, she does.
She tells me about the piercing trick—how she invented it on the spot, gambling that Mila would fumble because she'd never actually seen me naked.
God, she’s brilliant.
How Mila's face contorted when she realized she'd been caught. How she started crying, then screaming, calling Jade weak and pathetic and everything Mila used to whisper in the locker rooms and when I wasn't looking.
Hatred bubbles deep in my chest. I wish I’d have known this—I would have ended Mila for daring to hurt my girl.
"She said you only stayed with me because you felt sorry for me," Jade says quietly. "That you'd leave when you realized what I really was."
Jesus fuckingChrist—Mila has no soul, I’m sure of it now. “Jade?—"
"I know it's not true." She turns to face me, and her eyes are fiery. "That's the thing, Devon. Iknow. For the first time in my life, when she said those words, I didn't believe them."
I’m so fucking proud of her right now, but I’m also ashamed. Because I'm the reason she had to face that woman alone. I'm the reasonanyof this happened.
"I should have been in there with you."
"No." Jade shakes her head. "I needed to do it myself. I needed to prove—to her and to me—that she doesn't own me anymore."
I lift her hand to my lips and kiss her knuckles, one by one. "You're incredible. You know that?"
She almost smiles, but then her phone buzzes.
We both freeze, our eyes locking.
Jade pulls it from her purse, and her face goes pale. "It's her."
"Don't—"
