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“Wh-what do you mean?” My voice shakes.
His expression turns pained. Averting his gaze to the floor, silence hangs in the air as he contemplates his choice of words, the noticeable tension in his body wrapping a tight band of unease around me. “Hadley and Mason. They teamed up and conspired to break us up. They planned the whole thing. Mason gave Hadley ecstasy and told her it would help seduce me. He then convinced her to blackmail me into having an affair with her.”
My head jolts back as I stare at him in disbelief.
He’s lying. He has to be.
Hadley and Mason joining forces makes little sense, but as I go over the strange events of the day, doubt creeps up on me when I think back to witnessing Hadley and Mason’s interaction in the school parking lot.
“I don’t believe you.” I try to convey with conviction but am failed by the uncertainty laced in my tone.
“You know me,” he says earnestly, meeting my eyes with a solemn stare. “I wouldn’t lie about this.”
He is right. I know him, and I can tell by the look on his face that he is telling me the truth, but maybe it’s because he genuinely believes it himself. But that still doesn’t make it true. Mason wouldn’t do this. Perhaps he got the wrong information? Besides, Logan mastered the art of lying when he cheated on me for six months.
“Who told you this?”
“Lily,” he replies without hesitation, and my hackles rise.
Well, that explains the smug looks and snide comments she has been subjecting me to. The bitch must have made this up and manipulated Logan into falling for whatever devious little scheme she has cooked up.
“No.” I shake my head vehemently. “He wouldn’t do this. I don’t believe you. I’m going to go and find him.” I turn and start walking away.
“Ava, that’s the other thing,” he says, and I stop, reluctantly turning back to him.
“What?”
“He’s with Hadley right now.”
“W-what?” My throat constricts. “Where?”
His eyes dart to the top of the staircase, making my heart plummet, and without speaking another word, I spin around and dash up the stairs, ignoring Logan’s calls for me to wait. I run down the long hallway, not even bothering to stop and check any of the rooms on the way. I keep going until I reach the door.
That door.
The door I opened up all those months ago and had my heart shattered into a million pieces. Pausing for a moment, I brace myself as the memories of the grunting and moaning I heard last time I stood in this very spot hit the forefront of my mind.
This time there is silence.
I take a tiny bit of comfort in that, hoping with every ounce of my being that this is all just one big misunderstanding. Reaching up and gripping hold of the knob, I inhale a shaky breath and turn, pushing the door open with enough force it almost hits the wall.
Every ounce of air residing in my lungs escapes with the intensity of a gale-force wind, eliciting a gasp from my mouth as I take in the sight before me. Mason and Hadley’s naked bodies lay wrapped in a tight embrace on the bed. Hadley’s head is resting on Mason’s chest, with her arms and legs wrapped around his body like an anaconda.
She glances my way, a small smile forming on her lips as Mason lifts his head and looks at me with a blank expression. My heart thunders in my ears as the emptiness in his eyes penetrates right through me. They look so indifferent it’s as if I’m not even here. Laying his head back down, he wraps his arms around Hadley tighter and closes his eyes. Hadley peeks up at him for a moment before looking back at me, that smug smile of hers growing wider.
“Looks like I wore him out.” She giggles. “That’s fine. I want him well rested for when we go for round two.”
Bile burns the back of my throat as I choke out a sob, and clasping my hand over my mouth, I shake my head in disbelief. I must be dreaming. This can’t be real. It must be a nightmare, and any moment now, I will wake up, feeling an overwhelming sense of relief that it’s not real. I just need to wake up.
“Ava,” a voice speaks softly from beside me, and I turn to see Logan standing there watching me, his hand outstretched as he tries to take mine.
“No.” I shake my head, stepping away from him. “Don’t touch me.”
“Come on, baby.” He tries to reach out to me again, but I shake my head furiously as tears stream down my face. “You don’t need to see this.”
Looking back toward Mason and Hadley, I watch as she nuzzles her cheek against his chest. The same chest I spent many nights sleeping on—basking in the safety and security of his warm embrace. My stomach twists violently as pure devastation rips through me. My body starts to heave with involuntary gags, and I clasp my hand over my mouth, trying to fight back the vomit that’s rising to the surface.
Unable to hold it in any longer, I turn and make a mad dash down the hall, blinking back the tears that are clouding my vision and making it hard to see. The sound of Logan’s footsteps thump behind me, and when I reach the stairs, I spot Lyndsey and Eric standing in the foyer, both their heads swinging in my direction when they see me running down the stairs.
