Page 34 of Ghost Among Lies

I didn't heed Anita's warning. I was too far gone in my pissed-off state to register I had a crowd.

"A whore? Really, Toby? I guess that's one way to describe being forced to lose your virginity to your fiancé's best friend while said fiancé's recovering from getting the shit kicked out of him by his drunken father." I laughed manically. My sanity was completely shot, and I was left with nothing but venom in my veins. "But sure. Let's call me a fucking whore rather than admit you're a fucking rapist." My rant left me gasping for air, and my heart racing like I just ran ten miles. I wanted Anita to let me go so I could finish what I started.

"He fucking raped you?"

The little air left in my lungs evaporated, and the reality of my situation hit me like a ton of bricks. I made a colossal mistake. Anita tried to warn me, but I hadn't listened. In my fucked-up state, I forgot Hayes was in the room with me. This was exactly what I tried to save him from. But in the end, it was no use. I, once again, hurt him.

When I turned around, Hayes was being held back by Beckett. My anger flitted away, and now my only concern was settling Hayes down before he did something he couldn't take back.

"Hayes." I tried to get his attention, but his was locked in on Toby.

"Is it fucking true?"

"Hayes…" I tried again to get his attention, but he wouldn't even look at me.

"Tell me, Toby. Is it fucking true?"

Toby had the nerve to laugh even as his face was covered in blood from my attack. "How does it feel knowing I had her before you, huh? Perfect little couple. The rich girl and the poor boy," Toby mocked. "Everyone was so sure the two of you were what relationships were made of, but I proved them wrong. I showed them all how fickle her love really was."

"Fickle my ass," I snapped. "You stripped the best fucking thing from me and left me with a mess to clean up."

"Sloane!" Anita didn't give me the opportunity to shake her warning off this time. She was in my face and shouldering me to the corner before I could continue my rant. "You might want to think for a second before you finish that train of thought," she hissed.

I took a big gulp of air and trapped it in my lungs. If it weren't for Anita stopping me, I would've exposed another one of my secrets. And I was damn sure this one would break Hayes in a way he would never be able to heal from.

Thankfully Hayes didn't pay any attention to me. He was too focused on Toby to hear my blunder.

"This whole fucking time you knew why she left and you acted like she was the problem." Hayes didn't stop in his attempt to get to Toby. Nyx had abandoned her post and was helping Beckett keep him contained. "When, really, it was your damn fault. How could you? We were fucking friends."

"Friends?" Toby sneered. "We stopped being friends when you ditched me for that bitch." He jutted his chin in my direction. "A pretty girl comes along, and suddenly, you're too good for us over in Kennedy and started spending all your time in Rosemount."

Kennedy was the shit part of our area or like the kids used to call “the wrong side of the tracks.” It was where Hayes and Toby had grown up. My family was from Rosemount, a high-class, gated community that only the elite could enter.

Hayes hadn't actually spent time there since no guard in their right mind would've allowed it without prior approval from the HOA. Hayes did, however, start spending more time with me downtown. Mostly in the library, diner, or movie theater.

"I asked you to come with me every damn time, but you refused. You had the chance to avoid that hellhole as much as I did, but you wouldn't do it."

Hayes' words surprised me. I hadn't known at the time he asked Toby to come with him. It didn't mean I never met his best friend. There were certainly a handful of times while I dated Hayes that Toby was around. But I always got the feeling Toby hated me. He proved me right the night he raped me.

"And be your third wheel? No fucking thank you. They were pity invites, and you know it. Besides, I liked Kennedy. You were the one who felt you were too good for that place. Always talked about getting out when there was nothing wrong with our lives."

I scoffed loud enough to get Toby's attention. "Sure, because getting the shit kicked out of you on a weekly basis was completely normal."

My parents were by no means great. They lived in such a way I would never agree with, but at least I could say they never physically hurt me. Psychologically, sure, but not physically.

"Bitch, you don't know fucking shit," Toby rasped. "But I was more than happy to teach you a fucking lesson that night. I made sure your happily ever after went up in smoke."

I watched the color drain from Hayes' face the second he realized what Toby's words meant, and I wished more than anything I could take his pain away.

CHAPTER TWENTY

HAYES

I was the reason Sloane got raped that night.

It was all my fault.

"I sent you to tell her what happened to me." The whispered words dropped like a bomb in the silent room. Sloane's teammates stood by quietly listening to our exchange but barely interjected.