Page 131 of Outlaw Heartstrings
Raya sighs heavily, like we’re the ones burdening her with our questions. “Because I know you, Alba,” she says impatiently. “If I didn’t give a name, you’d just keep pushing and pushing and pushing. Annoying as hell. And besides, lying to you is so easy. I could tell you that the sky was suddenly tie-dye and you wouldn’t even peek out the curtain to double-check.” She rolls her eyes.
I hate how dismissive she’s being about this. I hate how she’s weaponizing Alba’s loyalty against her. What’s the psychological diagnosis for someone like Raya Anderson?
Alba angrily wipes at the tears forming in her eyes. “Well, excuse me for wanting to see the best in you when no-one else had faith in you. Excuse me for loving you and giving you the benefit of the fucking doubt,Raya.”
I know that Raya is shaken by her sister’s words, she’s moved by Alba’s kind heart. But because she’s such a cold she-devil, she can’t let herself show it. “Ha! Maybe you’re just not as fucking smart as everyone thinks you are,Alba. Never understood why people thought you were so damn special.”
Alba’s eyes go hard and she pins her twin sister with a look, like she just figured something out. “Raya—who is Jagger’s father?” she says, dropping all patience.
A flash of fear streaks across Raya’s face. “I don’t know…”
“You’re lying!” Alba shouts, leaping to her feet. “Tell me who it is.”
Raya’s nostrils flare. “I don’t know, Alba.”
“No, you do!” Her voice trembles. “And I’m starting to think that I do, too.”
Raya’s forehead wrinkles and she forces a laugh. But now that Alba is onto her, Raya’s nonchalant vibe is crumbling quickly. “Oh, you do, Ms. Smarty Pants?”
“You were the one who was always jealous ofme,” Alba accuses. “Everything that was ever mine, you tried to take it away from me. Every time I was happy, you found a way to piss on my parade with your drama. Hell—in the back of my mind, I always thought the main reason you went after Easton to begin with was because he was my friend. You forced me to disconnect from him after he left town. You knew how much our friendship meant to me and you tore us apart all while knowing that he wasn’t Jagger’s father. Given your track record of trying to sabotage everything good in my life, there’s only one other person the father could be. One other person who was mine. One other relationship you’d want to destroy just to hurt me.”
The name falls from my mouth before I’ve even processed it in my head. “Christopher…”
Raya’s eyes shoot in my direction and the fear of god flashes across her face. Suddenly, she’s not so fucking smug anymore.
“Christopher…” Alba repeats.
Christopher ‘Fuckface’ Madison, the third is Jagger’s father.
Raya sets down the chips on the coffee table, holding her hands up in surrender. “L-look, Alba. I—”
“You slept with Christopher!” Alba’s chest heaves as rage floods her features. She shakes her head erratically, tears free-falling. “I was walking around, wearing that guy’s promise ring, and you were busy getting pregnant by him behind my back!”
Raya’s lips flap open and closed.
“SAY SOMETHING, BITCH!!!” Alba demands with a stomp that shakes the whole building.
“Yes, okay? Yes, I was sleeping with Christopher!” Raya finally explodes. “Because it wasn’t fair. You got to be the golden child, and I was the disappointment, the one everybody looked down on, the one nobody loved.” She drags a fist through her tears, smudging the black makeup lining her eyes. “Sneaking around with Christopher made me feel a little bit better about myself. Like maybe your life wasn’t so perfect after all.”
I move up to Alba’s side as she clasps a hand over her mouth. “So you got pregnant by my boyfriend, then you handed his child off for me to raiseafteryou convinced me to cut ties with my friend, someone I cared so much about?! I loved you so fucking much, Raya. Despite all the evidence staring me in the face, I refused to believe that the person I shared my mother’s womb with for nine months was actually a monster. Andthisis what it got me?!”
“You’re no better than me, Alba. You always thought you were, but you’re not,” Raya insists, and I swear she’s only trying to convince herself. “You’re a whore. Just like me.”
“Is that what you need to tell yourself to feel better about who you are?” Alba wheezes out.
“You were a stuck-up, goodie two shoes bitch and you deserved to be humbled. So that’s what I did. I humbled you!” Raya seems perfectly satisfied with that justification.
Slowly, Alba shakes her head. “Fine…I’m no better than you.” Without warning, she charges and leaps across the living room, flying hellcat-style.
“Whoa!” I yell, springing into action. Still too late to keep my Tiny Tiger from taking her sister down to the ground, though.
The two of them begin tussling on the carpeted floor. Alba’s got the upper hand, and I’m tempted to let her get a few punches in. Raya more than deserves it.
But I’d never risk letting my girl get hurt. That’s the only reason why I intervene, pulling the women apart, just as two of my brothers come bursting into the house.
“Everything okay in here?” Rocco asks, promptly stepping in front of Raya as a shield, stopping her from hurling herself at Alba.
“What are you guys doing here?” I ask as I toss my girl over my shoulder, easily restraining her flailing arms.
