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Everyone is quiet, until realization crosses over Becca’s face.
“That’s where I know you from! I knew you looked familiar!” she slurs to Grayson.
“Huh?”
“Bec!” I try to interrupt, but she’s like a freight train and can’t be stopped.
“You’re the little boy in the picture! The one in Savannah’s locker!”
I’m not sure if I want to run and hide, or play it off as if she’s just drunk and doesn’t know what she’s talking about. However, as soon as Paige chimes in, telling Becca she’s right, I know the second option is off the table.
“Damn.” Carter shakes his head. “With how much you two hate each other, I figured there had to be some kind of history.”
Jace looks dumbfounded yet intrigued. “So, what the hell happened then?”
“Nothing,” the two of us answer in unison, but while mine sounds sincere—his is forced.
Our eyes meet the second the word leaves our mouths. There’s something unspoken about the look he’s giving me, something sinister. It’s as if he would set me on fire if given the chance. I shiver as I look away, until his next words slide into my chest like a knife.
“We lived across the street from each other as kids. That’s it. Nothing special,” he explains. “She was just as annoying and fake then as she is now.”
I glare at him, knowing I shouldn’t poke the bear but not able to hold back. “Fuck you. Why don’t you go crawl back into the hole you came out of?”
His eyebrows raise. “Speaking of holes, should we talk about yours?”
Everyone thinks it’s some sexual dig, but I know the underlying meaning. He’s holding my secret over me like a guillotine. One wrong word and the rope will snap, cutting off my head in the process. My breath hitches as I prepare for impact, but he remains quiet.
“I’m all out,” he acknowledges, looking down at his cup. “Anyone want another drink?”
Everyone shakes their heads, and he walks over toward the keg. Carter brings the conversation back to something neutral, like I can always trust him to do. As soon as their attention is off me, I slip away and to the hall I saw Grayson go down.
“You didn’t tell them,” I say as I see him leaning against the wall.
He takes a sip of his drink. “Nope.”
“Why?”
The storm brewing in his eyes is intense and dangerous as he stares me down. I swallow hard, wondering how I wasn’t aware that the boy I used to call my best friend was capable of such hatred.
“Because this is more fun.” He takes a step closer. “When they find out—and they will—I want to make sure you feel it. I want it to hurt.”
10
Grayson
To be in possession of the exact thing that could cause Savannah’s downfall feels like glorious retribution. Not only could I turn all her friends against her and strip her of the people who make her strong, I can make her anticipate and fear the moment her world comes crashing down. While I had the perfect opportunity to break her tonight, my plan is to play her like a fiddle.
When Travis wrote down the address, I thought there must have been a mistake—until he told me what a piece of shit her father has become. Originally, I was going to come after him once I was done with taking down his daughter, but it appears that won’t be necessary. At the rate he’s going, he’ll drink himself to death before Savannah graduates high school.
In all actuality, he’s probably getting drunk and high to block out the guilt of what he did to his best friend. My father was hurt, being forced away from his family like that, but nothin
g was quite as painful as the betrayal of the man who helped frame him for the crime. I don’t believe he ever got over that before the riot that took his life just six months later.
I watch as Savannah sways from side to side, too intoxicated to realize she’s dancing alone. At some point after our little conversation in the hallway, she switched from beer to something stronger. I don’t know what exactly is in the drinks Carter keeps passing her way, but I can only assume his motives are less pure than I’m willing to allow.
She may be a liar—a deceitful little bitch—but she’s mine and mine alone.
“So, you know a little more about Montgomery than I thought, huh?” Jace appears next to me.
