“What do you wanna do?”
“Strangle her,” I grind out. “She fucking played me.” I sit back in my seat. But how did she do it?
“Have you heard from Becky?”
“I did earlier.” She stopped calling when she realized I wasn’t gonna pick up.
“And what does she have to say about it?”
I glare at him. “Since when did you become a nosy little bitch?”
He chuckles. The bastard has been in a good mood today for some reason. And I know it’s not because he got laid last night. They do that every night, and he’s still always a moody fucker. “Just wondering what you’re gonna do to pay Demi back. I could use some excitement.”
“I’ve been thinking the same thing. I can’t kill the bitch, and I can’t physically torture her.” I mean, I could, but then what? I’d have to get rid of the body somewhere. And I’d look suspicious. Too many people know I’ve slept with her now. I doubt Becky would mind if I offed her sister, though. Hell, she’d probably help me.
“You could make her fall in love with you,” Cole states.
I throw my head back, laughing at that. “Funny.”
He levels me with that blank stare he does so well.
“You’ve got to be joking?” I ask when he says nothing.
“Why not?” He leans forward, placing his forearms on the table. “Isn’t that the best kind of payback? Make her fall in love with you and then leave her for Becky?”
My brows pull together. “You make it sound like you have experience in this department? We both know you’ve only ever loved one girl.” Austin. And he’s marrying her.
He looks away from me, and his jaw clenches as though he’s thinking of a similar situation. When he looks back at me, that blank stare is back in place. “Austin said it the other night. A jealous woman is irritational.”
“How in the fuck would I get Demi to fall in love with me? She hates me.” And why would I want her to love me? The girl is fucking crazy.
He snorts. “Obviously not. She just gave you her virginity.”
My teeth grind. “It was clearly to piss off Becky. Not for her benefit.” Fucking bitch.
“She’s young. Naïve. A rich little girl who has been sheltered all her life.” He smirks. “You’re Deke Biggs.”
“You say that like it means something.” I growl.
He arches a brow. “Doesn’t it?”
I let out a long breath and lean back in my seat. “There’s only one flaw in you plan. It’ll never work because I will never get back with Becky.”
We hear the front door open seconds later. “Cole?” Austin shouts his name.
We both jump up at the same time as she enters, all but running in. “What’s wrong?” he asks her, already rounding the table.
Breathing heavily, she slams down a black and white notebook on the table. He looks at it and then at her. “Did you read this?” she demands, pointing at it.
“Yes,” he answers, crossing his arms over his chest, and I know this isn’t gonna be good.
She picks it back up, waving it in his face. “All of it?”
“No, just a few pages …”
She storms over to our junk drawer and yanks it open. I frown when she pulls out a lighter. Is she gonna smoke? Austin doesn’t smoke cigarettes. But instead of pulling a pack out, she walks over to the sink and lights the corner of the book on fire.
“What the hell are you doing?” Cole demands.
“What I should have done a long time ago,” she answers, still holding the lighter to it even though it’s already up in flames.
“What the fuck, Austin?” He snatches it from her hands and turns on the faucet, putting it out.
“I told her to burn it.” She reaches for it, but he holds her back with his other arm. “And she didn’t. And she lied to me. Told me she didn’t read it. Fucking bitch.” She’s shouting, and her fists shake. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Austin this pissed. And we’ve put her through some very sketchy situations in the past.
“Who?” I ask, confused by what the hell is in that notebook and why she wants to burn it.
She looks at me as if she’s just realized I’m also in the room. “Becky.”
I frown. “What’s in it?”
She opens her mouth, but her phone begins to ring. She pulls it out of her pocket, looks at it, and then silences it. “Fuck!” she shouts.
Cole turns off the water and drops the now soaked notebook into the sink. He places his hands on her shoulders and looks down at her with concern in his eyes. “Sweetheart, what’s going on?” he asks softly as though he’s talking to a child.
She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself. “I went to go see Demi, to tell her that she could talk to me, and she had my journal. When I was in the hospital, I asked Becky to burn it. I didn’t want you finding it,” she tells him. “But she kept it. She read it. She told me that you read it.” She pokes him in the chest. “And neither one of you ever told me. Then she tried to tell me that I’m with you for money.” She pushes Cole away with disgust. “Like I give a fuck about that shit.” She starts pacing the kitchen. “Then she began to tell me that the only reason I fell in love with you was pretty much because I was broken and enjoyed abuse.”
Oh, shit. I can’t believe Becky would say that to her.
He runs a hand through his hair nervously. “Austin—”
“I slapped her,” she interrupts Cole.
My eyes widen. “What?”
She looks back at me. “And I told her that she is not welcome here.”
“Austin ...”
She ignores Cole and walks over to me. Her green eyes have tears in them, but I can’t tell if they’re from sadness or anger. She licks her lips and the look on her pretty face makes me think she’s about to break down and sob. “I’m sorry, Deke, but I cannot forgive this. I will never tell you who you can and can’t date, but she’s not allowed back in my house.”
“Sweetheart?” Cole steps up behind her.
She spins around and looks up at him. He opens his mouth to speak, but whatever he sees written on her face makes him pause. He reaches out to cup her face, and she shoves him away. “How could you?” she asks, and her voice breaks.
“I—”
“No,” she interrupts him. “That was private. You had no right.” Then she turns and storms back out of the kitchen just as fast as she entered, but I don’t miss the tears running down her face.
“What the hell is in that damn thing?” I ask.
Cole runs his hand down his face, releasing a sigh. “Things her stepdad did to her. And everything we did to her. From the point she saw us on New Year’s night committing murder in the cemetery up until the night before Kellan shot her.”
Fuck! No wonder she’s mad. “You told her you only read a few pages.” Had he been lying?
“I read enough,” he says through gritted teeth, knowing none of it was pretty. “I gotta go talk to her.”
“Good luck,” I offer, thinking he may be the thing she sets on fire.