Page 104 of Manhattan Secret

I don’t know if that’s a good thing. Knowing he’s moved on will kill me.

Is he dating? Is he having a good time at MIT? Does he talk about me?

I’ve made my stupid bed and now I have to lie in it alone.

Plus, I had to eventually change my sheets, so now my actual bed doesn’t even smell of him.

I go into week three knowing Greg Kingston is pleased with my work.

The new kids I have are doing good with their computer studies.

I’m talked into attending two birthday parties within the space of a few days and I drink too much tequila which almost…nearlyhad me drunk dialing Lachlan.

Thank god for my last shred of sanity for saving me from that embarrassment.

It also becomes clear by the end of the first month that the seniors are giving Riley a hard time.

She has a mouth on her, so she gives as good as she gets but her bravado soon drops once the gang disappears. She’s invisible to everyone and I can only surmise it’s Lachlan’s doing.

More and more I feel sorry for her.

“What the hell are you looking at?” She hisses at me one day, where we once again meet in the parking lot after school. She’s rummaging around in her bag for her keys, right after I just witnessed some girls taunting her.

I could ignore her. The girl blackmailed me, threatened my very livelihood because of her own jealousy, but the more I look at her aggrieved face, the more I feel bad for her. “Get in,” I tell her sharply, and her eyes narrow. “I don’t think so. You’re not my type.”

“Get in this car now, Riley.” I demand forcefully and shockingly she rolls her eyes, but walks over, slipping into my passenger seat.

“What’s this, no teenage boys for you to seduce so you wanna kidnap me?”

It’d be funny if it wasn’t spiteful.

Fortunately for Riley, I don’t hold grudges. I see the pain behind her anger.

“It’s that bullet firing mouth of yours that makes people dislike you,” I tell her, pulling out of my parking space. She turns red in the face. “I’m not kidnapping you, but I’ll soon bring you back if I were. Buckle up, I’m not getting a ticket for you.”

She buckles up and I take her for a coffee.

“I don’t understand why you’re being so nice,” she accuses. “Are you trying to set me up?”

“What would I set you up for?”

“Because I ruined your life.”

I ruined my own life. Riley’s blackmail was a mere domino in an entire formation of cowardly decisions.

“I’m healthy and more fortunate than some. My life isn’t ruined, Miss Baker. Yours, however, doesn’t seem to be so enjoyable at the moment.”

“Whatever,” she shrugs. “I don’t care.”

I think she cares a little too much.

“Are you going to tell Lachie so he can finish me off?”

As I thought. God, that boy of mine…

“No, I’m not.”

I’m far from being Riley’s friend, but it’s not the last time I take her for coffee. Between her loving the same man I do, and blackmail, yeah, she’s not friend material, but I can’t help myself by being civil to her. Especially when her ostracizing goes on. Her former friends treat her like a leper.

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