Page 95 of Believe it or Knot

My voice cuts off and Grayson sneers at me for a long minute, like he’s waiting for me to either deny it or beg for his forgiveness. But I won’t do either of those things. He’s made up his mind about me, about who I am in a split second. If I deny it, it’ll only solidify my guilt in his eyes.

And I refuse to beg for forgiveness for something I haven’t done.

I hold his cell out to him. “So that’s it, huh?” My voice is measured, nearly monotone.

He scowls and snatches his phone away, tucking it into his inner jacket pocket. “That’s all you’re going to say?”

I shrug and fumble with the mic clipped to the collar of my shirt. “There’s nothing else to say, right? I’m a lying evil beta intent on using you and your pack for my own gain, for money and fame and no other reason. I couldn’t possibly be with you because I actually lo-like you. You’ve decided it, so it must be true. Nothing I say will change your opinion of me.”

“You could try,” he grits out, and I swear there’s a hint of pleading in his voice, like he wants me to prove him wrong. But the way I’m feeling right now, I’m not even sure I want to.

Do I want to be with a pack that is so quick to believe lies about me? That will ignore everything I’ve shown them, all my quiet secret parts, and abandon me the moment they see something they don’t like?

What if I fix this now, prove that I’m not who he thinks I am, give them more of myself, more of my broken pieces, and something like this happens again? Will they be just as fast to toss me aside then? To break me so long as they stay safe?

I stare at Gray, at the hard line of his jaw and the steely glint in his eyes and I have my answer. Yes, without a shadow of a doubt this will happen again, because as much as they told me they thought of me as pack, they didn’t actually believe it. It’s not actually true.

Gage was right.

I’m not the girl they’ll keep.

They’ve had their fun.

Now they’ll move on to someone more worthy.

Not a low-class backwoods slinger of fast food, too scared to show her face in her own goddamn videos.

I shake my head again as I yank at the wire, finally disconnecting it from the battery pack at my back and pulling it out of my shirt. “No, I really can’t.” I unhook the sound pack from my waistband and drop the entire mess on the floor. “I don’t want to, Gray. I don’t want to prove my innocence to you. After this, I’m honestly not even sure I want you anymore.”

He rears back like I hit him. But I couldn’t give a shit. I’m done with smiling to make everyone else comfortable. I’m done with bowing and scraping and just hoping beyond hope that it’ll be enough for someone to deem me worthy, to want me, to keep me. Never a-fucking-gain.

“Have a real nice life, Gray,” I mutter, before turning on my heel and striding away from him. I find my purse and my jacket in the green room exactly where I left them. Only both items aren’t mine. Not really. The Cordova pack gave them to me, and I don’t want them.

I don’t want anything they gave me. I pull my wallet and my cell phone out of the purse. Then grab the black credit card Gray gave me this morning, despite my protests, out of its little slot in the wallet and slip it into one of the inner zippered pockets of the bag. I pull off the diamond earrings, the tiny heart necklace, the gold bracelet with the rose quartz and moonstone beads on my wrist and add those to the purse, too. All gifts from the Cordova pack.

If I could strip off all of my clothes and return those too, I would, but I can’t exactly wander around the city naked. So I leave them on, with a vow to send them back along with every other gift they ever gave me… Except for maybe Clarence. I might keep him. But I doubt they’ll miss him, since he only cost five dollars and a bit of Rafe’s skill.

When I come across the PA who helped me get mic’d up early, she greets me with a glare very different from the simpering smile she gave me earlier. I don’t have the energy to deal with a mean girl attitude, so I don’t waste time shoving the jacket and the purse into her arms. “Can you make sure Grayson Cordova receives these, please? I think he’s still around here somewhere.”

I have no clue if he is or not, but I don’t really give a shit.

“I’m not doing anything for you, you bitch. How could you do that to Liam? Use him like that?”

I roll my eyes. “Oh, yes, I’m a bitch. I get it. Because no one in the world's history—including yourself—has ever flirted to get something they want.” It’s not an admission, because that is definitely not what I did, but it’s pointing out the hypocrisy she’s raining down on me.

Her mouth drops open. “I would never-”

“Oh?” I cut her off. “You never flirted with a guy you had no intention of sleeping with to get a free drink? Not once?”

She says nothing in response, and I shove the jacket and purse at her again. “Just give these to him. He’ll probably reward you or something for keeping me from taking them.”

Now her expression goes a little hungry at the thought of doing a favor for the Cordova pack, and I know without a doubt she’s about to do what she just accused me of. Good luck with that, sister.

She rolls her eyes and snatches the items from me. “Whatever.”

“Indeed.” I nod and then leave her behind. I can feel eyes on me as I move, feel the glares and judgment from strangers who must know what happened and have concluded that I’m the evil genius who set out to seduce and manipulate America’s sweetheart omega and his pack.

Nevermind that it couldn’t be further from the truth, that they pursued me. That I tried on multiple occasions to refuse them, they just wouldn’t take no for an answer. I’ve been painted as the villain, and it’s only a matter of time before the entire world knows it.

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