Page 19 of Keeper of Hearts
I was, since I missed the first test date for movie shit last year.
"Right," I smirk at her, leaning forward like I have a secret to tell her. Her friends lean in around us, trying to hear. I pitch my voice low, ensuring it doesn't carry beyond our little group. "I tested on the same day and at the same facility. You weren't there. Cassidy was, though. You two may look enough alike to fool someone who didn't grow up with you, but you can't fool me." I pause. "You won't be able to fool the cops when I have photo proof, either."
Victoria jerks like I slapped her, her entire body going rigid. She's pale, her face drained of color as she tries to come up with a lie or some excuse that'll save her ass. There isn't one, though. Not this time.
I'm done playing nice with her. If I have to take her and her sister down to shut her up, that's precisely what I'll do.
"Gage, I…"
I smirk viciously when she trails off, unable to come up with a damn thing to save herself. "Stay the fuck away from Troian, Victoria. I'll never choose you over her. That girl is my whole goddamn heart. You're just a bitch I can't wait to never see again. And I will ruin your life with a smile on my face if you even look at her again."
For once, Victoria and her friends are dead silent. Victoria doesn't say a word. She just nods, actual fear in her eyes, as if she knows that I'm not just threatening her. I'm fully prepared to follow through to ensure she never says another goddamn word to or even looks at Troian again.
Maybe I could have let her get away with cheating her way to college before. It's what Troian would have wanted me to do, because she isn't vindictive or cruel. Even when Victoria isa world-class bitch, Troian never tries to hurt her. But I'm not Troian.
She called my girl a thing today, like she isn't even human. My girl ran out of the library, so broken down by this chick that there was no light in her eyes, no fight or fire. For the first time, she was just…defeated.
I'll destroy Victoria's life if that's what I have to do to protect Troian. It's what I should have done a long time ago, even if Troian would have hated me for it.
I shoot a sharp, warning glance at Victoria's friends, daring them to test me. They shrink back, just as pale as Victoria is. I don't know how many of them knew what she did before today. Honestly, I don't really care. She controls them like they're puppets on a string, and they let her do it. They can sink together for all I care.
I spin on my heel, preparing to head out, only to stop when I see Troian lingering just inside the doorway, her eyes locked on the scene before her.
Fuck. How much did she hear?
I quickly decide it doesn't matter. Everything I said was the truth. She is my heart, and I will ruin Victoria's life if she doesn't back the fuck off. Troian doesn't have to like it. I already know she won't. But she's suffered long enough. I'm not letting it continue.
Her gaze shifts from me to Victoria and then back again, nervous and full of questions, as I jog toward her. Victoria, wisely, keeps her head down, her eyes on the scuffed floor at her feet.
"You ready to go home, butterfly?" I ask, tipping my head down to look at Troian when I reach her side.
"I…" She bites her lip and then nods, allowing me to lead her from the gym. Halfway out the door, she glances over hershoulder at Victoria again, her eyes full of worry, but she doesn't ask.
She finally breaks when we're halfway to her place.
"What do you have on her?" she asks, the first words she's spoken since she climbed into the truck beside me.
"It doesn't matter."
"It matters to me," she argues softly.
I hesitate and then sigh. "Remember how she bombed her SATs last year but then did really well when she took them at the beginning of this year?"
"Yeah. So? She studied this summer."
"No, she didn't. She didn't take the test the second time, butterfly. Her older sister, Cassidy, did."
Troian blinks wide eyes at me. "How do you know?"
"I tested the same day. Victoria wasn't there. Cassidy was."
For some reason, my comment makes her flinch. She curls in on herself, hiding behind her hair, but I feel the hurt pouring off her, and I don't understand it.
What did I say?
"Talk to me," I plead quietly when she says nothing, not even when we pull in her driveway. "Tell me what I said that hurt you."
"Who says you hurt me?" she asks, her voice whisper-quiet as she reaches for her bag.
