Page 17 of The Monster I Loved
Eden looked at Ashley, Daisy, and then me. “I don’t think Thad meant it. Just like you didn’t mean what you said either. You won’t throw yourself in front of a wrecking ball.”
Rolling my eyes, I sighed. What would it take for everyone to see Thaddeus as I did? He wasn’t some cute, charming guy. He was calculating and brutal. Fury shot through me every time I thought about how my friends had entertained the idea of a coming-home party. There should have been no question of whose side they were on. Mine or a murderer’s. The fact that I’d once laid in bed with that man made my stomach turn.
“Let’s not talk about him anymore,” Daisy suggested.
Ashley’s best friend Mimi, whom I never liked, and I figured only tagged along since all the women left, didn’t take the hint. “I don’t get it,” she said. “It sounds like you’ve both got reasons to be upset?—”
I poured wine down my throat.
“There was more to the story than both their parents dying,” Daisy continued. “Summer’s dad had a drinking problem. He accidentally hit Thad’s mom with his car. He panicked and left her there to die. Summer and Thad were engaged at the time.”
I nodded and pressed my lips together.
Ashley patted my thigh. “This is all my fault.”
I sighed. “It’s not. You didn’t kill my dad, and you didn’t know.”
Mimi’s face wrinkled. “I guess Thad believes in an eye for an eye.”
The way she saidThadlike she’d known him forever was jarring.
“Henry never told me the details of why Thaddeus was incarcerated,” Ashley said.
I understood. The conversation stuttered, but somehow, we managed to steer it to a different topic.
Ashley phoned her house across the street. Minutes later, Felix arrived with containers of food.
“No sense starving while they fill their bellies,” Ashley stated.
She’d clearly worked hard on the meal. Why should the men enjoy all of Ashley’s hard work?
The food was delicious. I felt terrible about the way the dinner had gone. I’d have to bake her one of my homemade cakes to make up for ruining her evening. She and Wylie especially loved the German chocolate. The idea of decorating a cake with skulls came to me. Wylie would think that was great. He was a good kid.
My thoughts turned to what Thaddeus’s skull would look like.
“Summer, why are you smiling?” Daisy asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
“Can you believe Halloween is almost here?” Eden asked.
Everyone shook their heads. This year, time just seemed to move so quickly.
Ashley lifted her glass into the air. “Eden, what are we doing for your birthday?”
“Nothing. I don’t want to celebrate turning thirty. Let’s just grab a bite,” Eden said, then looked over at me. “Girls only.”
“That sounds like a good idea,” Daisy said.
How long could we split off into two groups, though? Ashley being married to Thaddeus’s best friend made that impossible.
Mimi seemed to take great pleasure in saying, “So, you’re throwing away your husband for the group?”
“My life doesn’t revolve around Henry,” Ashley firmly stated.
It was exactly as I’d both dreaded and expected: Thaddeus getting released meant everything had changed. He would be every-fucking-where. Nervous energy coursed through me. I paced the room while everyone watched.
“Summer, isn’t there someone else at work who can fight with Thaddeus over the Starlight building?” Eden asked.
