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“He blocked me,” she bites out, her sharp gaze moving between me and Hannah. “So, which of you was it?”
Unease crawls down my spine, and heat suffuses my cheeks. “We don’t talk to him, Anae. He probably just remembered to block you since you’re out now—”
She shuts me down as quickly as Hannah did when I made the suggestion to her. “Dare isn’t sloppy. He didn’tforget. Blocking me now was his way of letting me know there’s a rat in my midst.” She scrutinizes me briefly, but her gaze lingers on Hannah the longest. “So, which one of you betrayed me?”
Hannah swallows, her face pale, her gaze aimed at the ground.
I don’t want to believe she would do something as insane as actually contacting Dare, even if it was just to let him know he had left a window open for Anae, but I knowI’mnot the leak, and the way Hannah is looking…
She looks guilty.
Anae willeviscerateher.
“It was me,” I lie.
Anae’s gaze snaps to mine, her eyes narrowing with suspicion. “You? Why?”
I can feel Hannah’s wide-eyed gaze on me, too. I know I’m poking a beast, but I’m not at her mercy the way Hannah is. “I reached out to Aubrey to let her know Dare had forgotten to block you. It seemed like an oversight. I believed it would be best for everyone if you just moved on, and I thought that might force you to.”
“No, you didn’t,” Hannah says quickly. “She’s lying to protect me, Anae. It was me. I messaged Dare.”
My eyes are nearly as wide as Anae’s, but Anae is significantly angrier.
“You and Daretext?”
Fear leaps in my stomach.
Hannah, what the hell are you thinking?
“No,” Hannah says quickly. “I don’t even have his phone number. I sent him a DM one night when I couldn’t sleep. I just wanted to ask him if it was a Cinderella tattoo. That’s all. Honestly, he hates me, so I didn’t even expect him to respond. And I didn’t do it to spite you, but I did mention that you noticed the tattoo in one of his pictures, so he knew you were looking at his profile. I thought maybe if the tattoo meant something else, he would tell me, and then we would know once and for all.”
Anae still appears angry and skeptical, but she’s too hungry for information about her former lover to pass up a chance at more. “What did he say?”
Hannah shrugs apologetically. “He’s Dare. He didn’t give me a straight answer.”
“But what did hesay? What else did you say to each other?” Losing her patience, her gaze drops to the phone in Hannah’s hand and she holds out hers expectantly. “I want to see the message.”
A frown flits across Hannah’s brow and her grip on her phone tightens. “I—I deleted it.”
“You deleted it?”
Hannah nods vigorously. “It was hardly a conversation, it didn’t matter. I just asked him if it was a Cinderella tattoo, and he… he didn’t give me a straight answer, so I still don’t know.”
“What did he say exactly? Word for word.”
“I don’t remember. Nothing important.”
“I don’t believe you. You slide into his DMs in the middle of the night like a thirsty little slut and then delete the message? I want to see your phone.”
Hannah’s grip on it tightens into something I would guess is much closer to a death grip. As hard as she tries to regulate her breathing, I can see her fear in the swift rise and fall of her chest. I’m guessing that means shedidn’tdelete the message, and she knows whatever it says would likely set Anae off.
“I’m not going to show you my phone, Anae,” Hannah says softly. “I told you what he said.”
“You’re leaving things out,” Anae states, her fury and viciousness growing. “If you think you can form some kind of secret connection with him and push me out, I swear to god, Hannah…”
“What are you talking about?” Hannah cries desperately. “You know I don’t evenliketalking to him. You were obsessing over the tattoo, and I thought maybe I could get an answer so you didn’t have to keep digging.”
“Bullshit,” Anae seethes, her eyes flashing with anger. “Dare belongs tome. I’m the one who knows how to keep him, not you vanilla bitches. Soon, he will be with me again—and when he is, you will pay for your betrayal. I will let him take every bit of aggression he has toward youout on youbefore exterminating you like the little rat you are, and I will enjoyevery secondof it.”
