Page 20 of Vexatious Queen

“My mom said you’d try this,” she said, and I lifted an eyebrow at her.

“Try what?”

“Pretending you’re nice to get on my good side so you can turn me against her.”

I blew out a long, steady breath and looked down at the ground.

“What? Do you have nothing to say to that?”

“What is there to say, Vicky? You’ve chosen to believe what…whatever your mother says about me. It just gives you another excuse to…to hate me. Not that you needed any. I won’t try to convince you otherwise. If you can’t tell what type of person I am by now…then you never will.”

She opened and then closed her mouth. Whatever she was going to say was left unsaid as Nash walked up.

“Hey, is everything okay?”

He looked between us, and Vicky turned away.

“Yeah. Are you coming with me?”

He hesitated but then nodded.

“Yup, you have me all to yourself. Blake is tutoring. Theo and Liam are heading to a meeting at Ethan’s office. Until Ethan is back on his feet, Theo and Mr. Spector are trying to keep the wheels turning.”

Nash fixed his stare on Vicky.

“Are you joining us, Vicky? Or do you just like standing nearby to feel like you’re still important?”

Vicky sucked in a deep breath, and her eyes filled with fire.

“Excuse me? I’m still relevant, and I have every right to see my father.”

“Keep telling yourself that, Vicky, maybe you’ll start believing it. Do you really think he wants to see you, after you took off with that bitch you call a mother? You didn’t even have the decency to show up at Ella’s funeral.”

Vicky’s teeth ground together, but her eyes held hurt or maybe guilt. It was hard to tell with her.

“She was one of his best friends, and Ethan and his family have always treated you kindly, despite you being…well…you.”

“I didn’t know about the funeral until after. My mom didn’t tell me.”

God help me, there was some small piece of me that felt sorry for Vicky. It had to suck being trapped like a rope between two parents who hated one another while they played tug-of-war with her emotions. Not that Eddie meant to, but it happened naturally when you had one parent as horrible as Patricia.

“But I’m sure you sent Ethan, Theo, and Blake a condolence card. Did you offer your condolences to Ren for watching yet another parent die, or are you so self-absorbed you skipped over that, too?”

“It’s okay,” I said, grabbing Nash’s arm.

“No, it really isn’t. Someone needs to call her out on the shit she does, or she’ll end up with a bullet right between her eyes.”

“Are you threatening me?” Vicky fumed.

“Just stating facts. When everyone hates you…you never know where the knife is coming from. You no longer have the Kings as protection, you might want to remember that,” he snarled and stepped toward her.

Vicky moved away, shaking her head.

“Forget this, I don’t need this abuse,” she said, marching for the front doors of Wayward and disappearing inside.

I lifted a brow at Nash, and he gave me a half-hearted shrug with one shoulder.

“She needed to hear it. It’s not my fault she can’t handle the truth.”