Page 40 of How to Get Revenge on a Cheating Ex
I blink at the hard edge to his tone. “What? No. I mean, I don’t know?—”
“Well, you’d better figure it out.”
His harshness has me backing up a step as I glower up at him. “I’m allowed to have some doubts here, Zack. I mean, it’s not like you’re known for your brilliant plans?—”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
I throw my hands up. It’s not him I’m angry at. I know this. But the words still come flying out. “It means, you do whatever you want whenever you want without a thought for repercussions. You don’t even know the meaning of the word responsible or?—”
“And you do?” He laughs, but it sounds bitter. “Following other people’s orders doesn’t make you responsible, Bailey, it just makes you a sheep.”
I gasp, but he’s not done.
“I know what’s really bothering you about this plan.” A muscle in his jaw twitches with his anger. “You want his permission?—”
“I do not,” I cut in.
“You do. You always have.” His eyes are hard when they move over my face, down my neck to the collar of his T-shirt and back up again like he’s seeing me—reallyseeing me.
I back up a step, my insides twisting.
His tone is just short of pitying. “You need his approval, Bailey, but this is one time when you’re not going to get it.”
“I’ve never needed his approval.” I hate the way my voice shakes.
“Youalwaysneed approval.” His words land like a punch. The disdain and the knowing—it hurts. It hurts more than I want to admit.
“You’re wrong.”
“Am I?” He starts walking toward the far edge of the dock where the water gets deep and I hurry after him to say my piece. But before I can tell him again how wrong he is, he glances over at me over his shoulder and says, “So then I guess it won’t bother you that when this is all said and done, everyone will thinkyou’rethe cheater?”
I open my mouth and close it.
That...hadn’t occurred to me. A sudden wave of doubt has me stumbling over my own two feet and I catch myself by reaching for Zack. My hands land on his bicep and I don’t let go.
He’s come to a stop at the edge, and the way he’s looking at me makes me want to curl up and hide. He’s staring at me like he knows me better than I know myself.
He’s looking at me like he doesn’t like what he sees.
It hurts, but it also makes me furious, and I latch onto that anger.
He eyes me from head to toe and I drop my hands from his arm. “You always talk about how mature you are,” he says. “How responsible. But really, all you care about is what people think of you.”
“This coming from the man-child who refuses to take anything seriously.” I hate that my voice is all high and tight while he sounds like he’s talking about the weather. I sound too defensive and I know it. “You’re the one who doesn’t think about the future. You’re the one who doesn’t even try.”
“Maybe,” he agrees. “But at least I’m doing it on my own terms. I’m not waiting for permission to do what I want. I don’t give a crap if anyone approves of me, and I don’t change who I am just to please my boyfriend.”
My lips part on a sharp inhale. Howdarehe? “This is just you justifying your childish lifestyle.” I’m so angry it’s hard to breathe. “You make it sound like you’ve got it all figured out,but you’re just hiding. You’re like a kid who thinks if they cover their eyes, no one will see them.” My breath is coming short and choppy. “You pretend like you don’t care, but that’s just an excuse so you don’t have to try.”
He doesn’t flinch. He barely reacts. But I see the dark haze of anger in his eyes. “You’re always telling me what a child I am, Bailey. But maybe it’s timeyougrow up.”
My whole body is shaking and the rush of adrenaline makes me dizzy. “Or maybe it’s time I start acting like a child. Like you.”
I don’t think. I’m beyond thinking. I just reach out and shove.
He stumbles backward and lands in the water with a giant splash that gets water all over this T-shirt. It’s cold enough to make me gasp, although that might be my shock over what I’ve just done.
Zack surfaces with another splash and he’s…
