Page 118 of Never Ever Getting Back Together

He gives me a thumbs-up, and I continue to the bedroom and throw myself facedown on the bed.

Eventually, I fall asleep.

The next day, Jordy and I are mixing it up by watching a TV series while he does bicep curls—which is a massive change from the usual routine of watching a movie while he does crunches—when Isaac knocks on our door instead of the other way around.

“Hey,” Isaac says. “Can I borrow Maya for a sec?”

Jordy drops the dumbbell to his side and frowns. “Can’t it wait? We’re just about to find out the identity of Madame Featherblanket. We’ve waited four hours for this.”

“Great,” Isaac says. “You can keep building the tension, then.”

“Come on, man,” Jordy says, turning on the charm—white-toothed smile, dimples, crinkled eyes. His body language, on the other hand, is a little threatening—shoulders straight, arms folded, chin raised. “Be cool.”

Isaac blinks rapidly, then gives him a sweet smile. “It’s Charlotte Ciderberry, the best friend’s aunt. If you haven’t figured that out by now, then god help you, honestly. My five-year-old niece got it by episode three.”

“Dude!”

Before Jordy can yell at him—which it looks like he’s gearing up to—Isaac grabs my wrist and hauls me out of the room.

“Is it really Charlotte?” I ask as we head down the hall.

“Oh, Maya, sweetie. Of course it is.” He lets us into the room, and directs me to sit back at his table, which has a laptop set up on it. “So. You might have figured this out already, but did you know that when Gwendolyn asked Jordy for candidates, he told her you needed to be on?”

I startle. “He… did? He told me it was important to him that I come on, but honestly, I assumed he was bullshitting me.”

“Mm, don’t change your bullshit battery yet. He told Gwendolyn you needed to come on this show because you were totally unhinged, and you’d give us plenty of drama content.”

I push my hair out of my face and run my tongue across my teeth. “Ah. Huh.”

“Yeah. He told us to put you in with Skye. He didn’t give us details, but hedidsay you couldn’t stand her. He thought it’d be priceless to see how you’d react.”

Something is bubbling and boiling. Churning and rolling and heating up, spilling over. Jordy flew me over here. To go on TV. So the world could laugh at me.

Jordy put me in a bedroom with Skye. Because he knew how that would destroy me.

Because he cheated on me with her, and heknowshe did.

He fuckingknowswhat he did to me.

And he thinks it’sfunny.

And now he’s stolen Skye from me, too, all because he’s so fuckingfragilehe can’t go on a reality show without using the royal family to strong-arm the producers into framing him as the good guy. So I have to sit here, instead of being with the girl who meanseverythingto me, just to stop him from getting away with his behavior. Because he knows, heknows,that if people saw him as he really is,bam.All the sponsorships, the interviews, the freebies, the adoring fans. Gone, in a heartbeat.

Now Skye is hurt and alone, because of him.

And so am I.

“I’m going to fucking eviscerate him,” I say to Isaac. “That is happening. Okay? One way or another, I am making it happen.”

“I’m not here to stop you,” Isaac says. “I’m just here to suggest we go bigger.”

In response to my questioning look, he turns on the laptop, and opens it to a movie, then presses play.

It’s Jordy, telling Skye she’s beautiful the way a sunset’s beautiful.

Then saying it to Perrie.

Then Lauren.

---