I don’t know how to explain what really happened. How to untangle the thread of truth from the ball of lies Jamie just threw in myface.
Absurdly, my thoughts go to that astronomy course I nearly failed. Of the way planets collide so powerfully, they rip apart time, gnawing it open with theirjaws.
I wonder if this is how it feels to be trapped in that kind of wreckage. Like noiseless, dark energy sparking out ofexistence.
Ethan’s voice slices through the overwhelming silence in the room. But it’s not the voice of my boyfriend. It’s the man who interviewed me months ago. Harsh. Demanding. Angry. “What’s he talking about,Tori?”
My eyes dart between everyone in theroom.
Ethan, who’s pissed and confused, whose eyes beseech me to tell him that Jamie’s lying, that beg me to tell him he knows the realme.
Allison, who’s triumphant and conniving and likely planning my slowdeath.
And Jamie, who’s arrogant and so fucking pleased with himself he’s practically levitating off theground.
It’s his haughty smirk that pushes me over theedge.
I’m a car skidding off a cliff. Tires squealing. Dirt flying. Engineroaring.
I’m thatgirl.
Again.
The one who loses control and veers off theroad.
Untethered andunmoored.
Reckless.
But if I’m going down, I’m taking that asshole withme.
51
Tori
Flushed and feverish,I kneel down in front of Mila. “Honey, go find Uncle Logan. Stay with him, okay?” I don’t understand how I channel a gentle tone with Mila when the storm of emotion whipping through me iscresting.
She nods and skips off, completely ignoring Allison when she tells her tostay.
As I stand, I point to the path Mila took out the back door. “That’s what happens when you ignore your kids, Allison. They ignore you.” My voice gains strength. “And you can sweep in here and pretend like you’re mother of the year for all your friends, but let’s get one thing straight. I know you’re a shitty parent, but worse? So do Mila and Cody, and they’re the only ones whomatter.”
It’s her turn to sputter, but I ignore her and turn toEthan.
The distance in his eyes is devastating, but when he doesn’t come to Allison’s defense, I take that as a small victory and plow forward. Deep down, though, I’m preparing for the death blow to my heart when he learns the truth. “The question you should be asking is how Jamie knows so much aboutme.”
His attention shifts to his friend, and I continue, my anger rising. “The question you should be asking is why Jamie cares. By the way, I’m calling him Jamie because that’s what he told me to call him during the six months we dated.” Ethan’s eyes cut back to mine, his nostrils flaring. “I didn’t know he was married. I didn’t know he had children. I didn’t know because he lied. Abouteverything.”
Behind me, Felicia gasps, he and his wife shouting I’m a liar and a whore and a cunt, but I ignore them. This isn’t about them. This is about Ethanunderstanding.
“Remember when I told you about my ex?” I remind him. “Yes, part of what he told you about my past is true, which is why I never drove your kids anywhere except the one time youinsisted.”
“She’s lying,” Felicia screeches. “James has never cheated onme.”
Looking over my shoulder, I shrug. Jamie’s pale as I tell his wife the truth. “Then ask him how I know you have a tattoo of a fairy on your lower back, just above the dimple on your ass. Ask him how I know he boughtyoutickets to a Rangers game forhisbirthday last year. Ask him about how you came home early that day. How he shoved me in your bedroom closet so he could protect his dirty secret. Why he nearly choked you on his dick when I walked out to confronthim.”
I’d felt unhinged when I finally gathered myself and stormed out of that closet ready to tear into him, his marriage be damned. But one look at their naked bodies before me, closer this time, with his wife in his lap, taking him down her throat, and I was renderedspeechless.
I’d thought,That could be me. Completelyclueless.
