Page 95 of Payback
Hilary gasps in shock as I stare at Rosalie, blinking slowly with a small, satisfied smile.
“Or are you here to get Parker back?” Rose continues. “You think you can show up in a slutty red dress and he’ll forget he loves me more than you?”
Her last comment has me rolling my eyes toward the ceiling. “Rose, I am not your competition.”
She glowers at me, crossing her bony arms across her chest. “You ruined my day for me. I had to have my mother walk me down the aisle. Do you know how humiliating that was?”
“Rose!” Hilary exclaims, her eyes wide with hurt feelings. “I thought it was a really special moment for us today.”
“Mom!” she growls, turning her eyes on Hilary in warning.
I shake my head at the sight. “I had nothing to do with my father backing out on you. If youarelooking for someone to blame for ruining your picture-perfect day, you can blame yourself for not understanding the concept of boundaries.”
She barks out a laugh. “Oh, and you’re the moral compass on life after filming a sex video with a random stranger?”
“He’s not a stranger,” I volley back, my own anger spiking hard and fast at any reference of Roan coming from her mouth. “He’s a real person with responsibilities and he didn’t deserve what you did to him.”
She laughs, turning away from me and back to Parker, who looks horribly uncomfortable with the entire conversation. Rose hits me with a withering stare over her shoulder. “So, is that why you’re here? To tell me I ruined some guy’s life?”
My body recoils from her vindictive tone. She has no remorse. No reaction or feelings. No memory of any time in our lives that she didn’t hate me. She’s filled with nothing.
I exhale heavily and step right up to her, my heels giving me an extra inch of height that makes me feel like an Amazon warrior princess. “I’m here to show you that you didn’t break me.”
She narrows her eyes, not believing anything I’m saying.
“I’m here to show you that I will find my place in this world, and the laundry list of malicious, horrible things you’ve done to me won’t ruin my life.”
She laughs maniacally. “Well, I’m sure I didn’t ruin your man’s life either. He probably has a line out the door by now of all the over-eager women ready and willing to be his rebound. You’ll be easily forgotten, Allie. No shocker there. After all, Parker forgot about you before you even split up.”
I open my mouth to reply, but the reality of her words suddenly penetrates the thick skin I’ve been wearing since the moment Roan walked away from me at Tower Park.
Rosalie is right. Roan will move on. He’ll find someone else. He’ll love another woman, and she will get to dance with him and laugh with him. She’ll sleep in his bed and enjoy the way he tries to rub away her worry lines. She’ll probably go to his games and wear his jersey. She’ll go to Cape Town and meet his gran, and sightsee with his mom and sisters, and make love to him on a creaky sofa bed. She will have Roan’s children.
My hands move to my stomach because the idea of another woman being with him, loving him, and starting a family with him guts me to my very core. My insides begin to churn, and I suddenly feel sick and desperate to get out of here.
I take one more look at Rosalie before I turn to leave. She looks smaller somehow, like a cracked porcelain doll that could break at any moment. How did I let her have this power over me? Why?
My body begins to shake as the true nature of my feelings become crystal clear. I’m not even here for her or Parker. In the grand scheme of my emotional state, they are microscopic fleas of annoyance. Nothing more.
I have been a fool once again. I thought this payback plan tonight would help me move on and feel strong.
But I was wrong.
Because it wasn’t the video or this stupid red dress that made me strong.
It was Roan.
His touch, his presence, his faith in me was all the revenge I ever needed. I need him.
My watery eyes lift as I make my way toward the exit and glance past an attractive man in a suit standing at the threshold. The familiar figure registers in my mind and I feel my heart stop.
It’s in that moment that the entire world freezes.
Roan.
Roan DeWalt.
Is here.
