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“Fuck!” I snap, turning away from her, raking my fingers through my hair as I start pacing the room. She patiently waits while I attempt to pull myself together, and after a moment, I stop, meeting her eyes and silently pleading with her—hoping to somehow reach that sweet girl who was once my friend.
But she’s not there.
The woman standing in front of me, watching me with an amused twinkle in her eye, is a stranger. A stranger who appears to be enjoying this and taking pleasure in my discomfort. All these years, we have been friends, and this is a side to her I’ve never seen. Sometimes you don’t know certain people as well as you think.
“Lily,” I beg. “Please don’t tell her.”
“Hmm. Let’s see,” she responds in a condescending tone and taps her chin, pretending to ponder. “Well, that all depends.”
“Oh, what?”
“On what you are going to do to buy my silence.”
The familiarity of her words is like a punch to the gut. She really did hear everything that was said between Hadley and me.
I swallow hard. “What do you want?”
“I want you to take my virginity, Mason,” she states bluntly.
All the air leaves the room as my eyes widen, and I stare back at her in disbelief. “What the fuck? You’re kidding, right?”
Her expression turns sour. “No, actually, I’m not. I don’t want to go to college a virgin, and thanks to your girlfriend’s little pack of bitches and that ridiculous nickname they gave me, no guy in school would even give me the time of day.”
“Ava had nothing to do with that, and you know it,” I argue.
“She’s guilty by association,” she counters.
“No.” I shake my head, looking away. “I will never cheat on her.”
She walks toward me, speaking softly, “She will never find out.”
“Not fucking happening!” I roar and move away from her, pacing back and forth again. “Why would you do this? We have been friends since middle school. What the fuck have I ever done for you to turn on me like this?”
“Why?” she cries. “You chose her over me, that’s why! Don’t tell me you didn’t know I was in love with you all this time.”
“What the hell? In love with me?” I shout, bewildered. “No! I didn’t know, and I didn’t choose her over you. It’s her, and it’s always been her. You were never a choice, Lily!”
She winces as if in pain, and if she weren’t trying to completely fuck up my life, I would feel some ounce of sympathy for her, but as it stands, I feel nothing but anger at her maliciousness. Taking a deep breath and pulling my anger in check, I make another attempt to reason with her “Lily—”
“No,” she croaks, putting her hand up and looking away, her bottom lip trembling.
“Please,” I beg. “Don’t tell her, Lily.”
Her eyes meet mine, the vulnerability that was there a moment ago fading fast, and she walks toward me, her expression morphing into one of smug satisfaction. She has me by the balls, and she knows it.
Stopping a foot away from me, she places a hand on my chest. “Only if you give me what I want,” she murmurs, her eyes boring into mine. “Make love to me, Mason. Give yourself to me for one night, and I promise you that she will never find out about any of this.”
My stomach twists and bile burns the back of my throat. Shaking my head, I turn my back on her and walk to the window. I place my hand on the glass and look down at Ava in the backyard with Nix and Aliana.
“Let me be the one to tell her. At least give me that. Hopefully, I can find some way to…”—I swallow down the acid forcing its way into my mouth—“some way to convince her to forgive me.”
Lily snorts. “Really? This was all your idea, Mason. You were the one who gave Hadley the ecstasy and encouraged her to use it to seduce Logan. You were the one who convinced her to blackmail him into having an affair. You played a massive part in helping Hadley succeed in taking Logan away from Ava and breaking her heart. Do you really think she is going to look past that?”
It feels like a fist has clamped down on my heart and ripped it from my chest. She’s right. Ava will never forgive me for this.
“My parents are going out to dinner on Sunday night. Be at my house at six o’clock. If you don’t give me what I want, I’m letting the cat out of the bag first thing on Monday morning.” My shoulders slump in defeat as I hear her walking away.
“Oh, and Mason,” she calls out. I look over my shoulder to her standing at the top of the stairs. “The clock is ticking, lover. Ticktock.”
