Okay, suddenly I get it, why Brody isn’t defending himself to Todd – because he doesn’t need to. Actions speak louder than words. Todd might be trying to make Brody feel like he isn’t a big deal, but it’s not true, Brody is a big deal, more than I realised, and he’s comfortable enough with himself to not let Todd’s words bother him. Oh, to be able to harness that sort of power. I swear, sometimes I feel like I form opinions of myself based on how other people see me, rather than how I actually feel.
I should take a leaf out of his book, and stop obsessing over when Todd and Nikki got together, whether they cheated on us,because what does it matter now? It doesn’t matter when, just that they did, and the best thing I can do for myself is move on.
Problem is, with each day that passes, I’m not sure Todd and Nikki have moved on as well as they think they have.
We might have to test that theory…
21
‘I’m so glad you find me so amusing,’ I say sarcastically.
‘I’m not laughing at you,’ Brody insists. ‘I’m in awe of you, if anything, because this is a stroke of genius.’
I smile – just enough not to give him the satisfaction.
I’m enjoying myself though, as twisted as it sounds, this is just so therapeutic. We get wronged by people all the time – probably every day – but how often do we get the sick satisfaction of actually getting revenge? I don’t want to get Todd back, Nikki can have him, but I do want to get him back in the other way. I want to make him pay.
How? Well, tonight it’s by putting my work skills to good use – or using them for bad, I suppose, depending on how you look at it.
We’ve rushed back to the cabin, ahead of Todd and Nikki, so that we can set the scene.
It feels a bit like staging a house – staging the cabin – although this is sort of like doing the opposite of what I usually do at work.
Instead of setting it up to look appealing and inviting, I’mstaging it to look like Brody and I have destroyed the place, by getting it on, all over the suite. Making the place feel uninhabitable. Uncomfortable. A place you’d take one look at and immediately wish you could bleach everything – including your eyeballs. A UV light would have this place glowing purple from wall to wall. Well, that’s the story I’m telling anyway. That Brody and I can’t keep our hands off one another, that things in the bedroom – in every room – are so hot, driven by animalistic, unrelenting lust.
And say what you want about Brody – I know I do – but he’s down for it. He’s peeling off his shirt, tossing it nowhere in particular, like it came off in the throes of passion.
‘Come on, Jessa,’ he says, smiling like a madman. ‘Commit to the bit.’
He’s right. We were just with them – they know what we were wearing. This needs to look real.
I shrug off my dress and fling it. It lands on the coffee table, so messy and yet so perfectly staged. Then I run to the bedroom and grab underwear – mine and Brody’s – and bring it back in, scattering it around like horny confetti.
He pulls a face at me.
‘Well, obviously we’re not going to take our actual underwear off, are we, perv?’ I say.
He just laughs at me.
‘Hey, I think you’re doing a great job,’ he says, knocking over a lamp, chill as you like, sort of like a cat would.
‘Nice touch,’ I tell him.
‘Thanks,’ he replies. ‘Hey, by the way, are you sure you’re okay?’
His question catches me off guard.
‘What?’
‘Are you sure you’re okay, with all of this, with Todd, and?—’
‘Absolutely fine,’ I insist, pausing for a second. ‘I’m over him, it’s all good.’
He stares at me for a beat longer than feels normal.
‘I mean, all of this is fun, I’m down for it, so long as it’s coming from a fun place, not a hurt one,’ he replies.
I push over an artificial plant.
