Page 64 of The Break-Up Pact

“I’m sure it is. And as I understand it, the two of you were drifting apart before the show started,” says Archie, with an authority that leaves no room for protest. “But you’re both good friends still, right?”

Sana warned me that in all likelihood, they were going to have an entire narrative of their own crafted to tilt in Griffin’s favor, but this feels low even for him. In hindsight, we should never have been together in the first place. But us drifting apart didn’t make it any more okay for him to go off and cheat.

“Sure,” I say, turning to Griffin with a steely-eyed smile. “We’re friendly.”

A vein in Griffin’s temple twitches, like I’m toeing a line. I hold his gaze steady. A warning that if he pushes any of this too far, I’m more than willing to cross it.

“But despite that, you dated a mutual friend of yours—Levi Shaw—to get back at Griffin,” says Archie, leaning back and raising his eyebrows in amusement.

I let out a sharp, stunned laugh. “There are a whole lot of reasons I’m dating Levi, but I can promise you none of them are to get back at Griffin.”

“No. No, of course not,” says Griffin, with a little too much ease. “That was all just in good fun, right, June?”

I know that syrupy tone. It’s Griffin in his element, Griffin at his most Griffin. It’s the same tone he used countless times when he was asking me for things without really asking, knowing full well he was going to get his way.

Which means whatever he’s going to say next, he’s planning to do just that.

Griffin turns to the host, and it almost feels like slow motion, the way he leans in, the way the calculating smile curls on his lips.

“I mean, get this—Levi and June have only been pretending to date.”

I feel my entire body go stiff before the words even have a chance to sink in. For all the scenarios Sana ran me through, we never once anticipated this. Hell, even as it’s happening, I can’t wrap my head around it. Like if I just will it away hard enough, I can make Griffin take it back, make him swallow whatever it is he’s gearing himself up to say next.

Archie raises his eyebrows with such comic surprise that there’s no way this wasn’t staged. “Is that so?”

“Yeah. I grew up with them, so I knew right away,” says Griffin, with that same charming smile that looks waxier than a Ken doll’s.

The adrenaline is buoying me now. Griffin’s expecting me to get flustered the way I did last time, but last time I came into a sneak attack. This time I came prepared. Maybe not for this, but prepared enough to handle it.

I say in a wry, even tone, “Well, shoot. That’s all news to me. Someone better tell Levi while we’re at it.”

“Aw, come on, June,” Griffin says playfully, turning to me. “It’s okay. Now everyone knows there really aren’t any hard feelings. We’re all friends.”

Archie leans in toward us, eyes gleaming at me. “So this entire Revenge Exes thing—was it a lie or not?”

“Well, first of all, we were never the ones who called it that,” I start, but Griffin doesn’t let me get any further.

“Oh, I have it on good authority that it is,” he says. “June and I come from a small town, after all.”

“You know what they say about secrets in a small town,” says Archie, with a nod toward the camera.

Griffin turns to me with what he probably thinks is an affable look. “And it’s not like people weren’t going to find out eventually,” he says. “Especially since Levi moved back in with Kelly and all. You guys had a fun time, and now it’s water under the bridge. I’m just glad we all got to have a laugh out of it in the end.”

I suck in a breath to let Griffin have it, but Archie interrupts me with the seamless authority of someone who’s watched a fair amount of people lose their shit on live television. “Well, folks, things are certainly getting wild over here—let’s see what else we can dig up on the Revenge Exes when we get back.”

I’m frozen in my seat, blinking at Griffin. The fury in me is so white hot that I feel like I could burn out every one of the studio lights aimed at us right now. I’m trying to decide who I’m angrier at, Griffin for throwing me under another bus or myself for being stupid enough to let him, when someone starts removing my mic.

“What—the interview’s not done,” I say.

“We’re finished with your portion,” says the producer firmly.

I shake my head, pulling away. “But I have more to say—”

“We’re finished with your portion,” she says again, her eyes flashing a warning. I understand right then that this is a fight I’m going to lose. Even if they let me stay on, there’s no way they don’t have a contingency plan to make me look even worse.

“Right,” I say.

Griffin has already stepped away. The moment my mic is off I’m hot on his heels, but I don’t need to be. He’s standing off to the side, his eyes finding mine so fast that it’s clear he wants a confrontation. And he’s going to get one.

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