Page 78 of The Jealous Girl

Janine’s words echoed in my brain, except it wasn’t just her voice I heard now. It was Charlotte’s too.

‘No wonder she was relieved when you met Ryan,’ she continued. ‘At least you had someone to lean on. Someone to get you through it.’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ I spat the words out. ‘Ryan and I, we were in love. We were⁠—’

‘Right,’ Charlotte cut through my words. ‘That’s how you got him to go to Malta with you. Being so in love and all.’ She scoffed. ‘I mean, it’s not like you could have gone alone, is it? God, Janine was so terrified for you, even with Ryan there. Another country? Another language? So far away from where she could keep an eye on you. Protect you.’

Heat crept into my face.

‘No wonder you came back with Ryan when his family needed him here.’ Charlotte spread her hands in front of her. ‘It’s not as though you could stay there without him, could you?’

My stomach dipped sharply.

‘Following him to the stables, being surrounded by horses that completely terrified you, was less scary than staying in Malta alone.’

‘That’s not true,’ I objected. ‘I came to support Ryan. To be there for him.’

‘Right.’ Charlotte dragged the word out, disbelief dripping from her voice, as she stepped closer.

‘I did,’ I said defiantly. She didn’t know what she was talking about.

‘Janine was so worried about what would happen if something went wrong and she wasn’t there to fix it. It wasn’t as though your dad was going to rush to help, was it?’

I flinched.

‘Dad’s got nothing to do with this,’ I snapped. How could she be so callous? From the little I knew about her relationship with her own father, she should have been more understanding. More sympathetic.

But then, she never had been.

Charlotte nodded. ‘Hmm, from what Janine said, he doesn’t really have a lot to do with anything concerning you, does he?’

I gritted my teeth. How dare she talk about my dad, like she knew anything about him? About us.

‘I guess he’s not really bothered about you at all. He⁠—’

‘Shut up!’ I snapped.

I couldn’t stand it any longer.

The long night. The lack of sleep. The endless questions about Blackwater. The signature I didn’t remember writing. Ben’s reaction. And now this.

It was all too much.

My pulse roared in my ears.

‘You don’t know anything about me. About my family,’ I said, my voice rising. The control I’d been clinging to was starting to slip and I was unable to restrain the years of built-up hostility for the woman that kept interfering in my relationship. In my life.

‘Did I say something wrong?’ Charlotte asked innocently.

The frustration that had been building threatened to erupt. That sickly sweet smile of hers. I knew who she really was. What she was.

Vindictive.

Cruel.

Destructive.

‘Just get out of my way,’ I snapped, shoving past her towards the door.