Page 98 of Villainous Summer

“Van?” I called out, my spirits lifting as he marched down the hall.

Framed by the open door, Cory stood on the landing, staring at me.

Summer

Dark shadows colored the bags under his bloodshot eyes, and his normally gelled hair was sticking up in a mess on one side.

“What—” I glanced at the open door and swallowed hard. “What are you doing here?”

“You think you’re the only one who can be a detective?” He cocked his head, his red-rimmed eyes narrowing. “How do you think, Summer? I followed you. I saw you leave work and figured we could have this conversation at your place. But, no. You came here to, what, whore yourself out to whatever man will take you?”

“Fuck you,” I spat. “You don’t know anything about me or Van.”

“Oh, I know plenty. After your little stunt at The Boathouse, I started doing some digging. It took me a little while to connect everything. Do the math. My free time, my reputation in my neighborhood, that was an annoyance. My friends making fun of me because of the embarrassing pictures I somehow posted. Frustrating. I had to change my number because of all the calls I was getting. Whatever. But then my fiancée tells me she has proof I’m cheating on her.”

“You were cheating on her.”

“She didn’t need to know that? Why couldn’t you let it go? Why did you have to ruin my life?”

“Your life isn’t ruined. Take some responsibility for your actions. There was nothing I did to you that you didn’t have coming.”

“You’re a heinous bitch.”

I shrugged. “I prefer tempestuous.”

“They fired me this morning. I moved here for that job. Security had to escort me off base. They’re opening a case against me.”

I raised a brow, not even trying to school my features. “How would they know if you didn’t tell them, Summer? Why couldn’t you leave me alone?”

Losing my temper was the wrong call, but I couldn’t contain it.

“Why should I? You made your choices. You think you can go around hurting people, and no one would want to fight back? Was I supposed to lie down and take your deception? The invasion of showing off pictures of my body and not fight back?”

“Yes.” He screamed. “It’s not my fault you were a slut who sent me those photos. It’s not my fault you fucked me without asking me if I had a girlfriend. And it’s not my fault you wanted a relationship out of me.”

“All I want from you is for you to get out of my boyfriend’s home.”

He stepped toward me, then another, his pace languid as if he were a large cat stalking his prey. “No. I’ve got you, and you’re going to pay for what you did to me.”

“This is Van’s house. He’s going to be here any minute now.”

I hated using another man to get him to back off, but the closer Cory got to me, the more obvious his gaze was too frantic to hear reason, his body too tense.

“No, I don’t think he will.”

“He will. He gets off work at five, and I asked him to meet me here.”

Cory tsked at me. “No. He’s still at work. I put a location tag on his car.” Cory brought out his phone, checked the screen, and turned it to face me. “See, still fifteen minutes away. His car hasn’t moved in five hours.”

He advanced closer to me, and my shoulder hit the shelf of Glyndon’s teacups, rattling them against their saucers.

“I’ll have plenty of time with you.”

“What do you want from me, Cory? An apology? I’m sorry you were found out.”

“It’s too late for an apology, and we both know that wasn’t one.” He shuffled his foot between mine and yanked a chunk of my hair, jerking my face to his.

“I want to know what makes you think you have to right to fuck me over like this? Huh? A little fucking nobody. Barely graduated high school, still works in service, has done nothing with her life. Who the fuck do you think you are.”

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