Page 104 of Revenge Is a Dish Best Served… Wearing Heels?
"Astrid doesn't look too happy about your glitter bomb, Aria." My oldest sister gave me a sharp glance. "I think, despite everything, she's caught feelings for Tristan. You know, the classic falling-for-your-bully trope."
I stuck my tongue out at her, because she could really be a brat sometimes, making me resort to our childhood antics.
"What if he's not my bully though?" I asked, bracing myself for impact.
For a beat, the only sound was the gurgling water competing with the mellow, handpan music playing in the background.
All eyes were on me, two bodies in oversized massage chairs twisting toward me, Annalise the first to speak. "What do you mean?"
Here we go.
"What I mean is..." Oh, boy, where to start? "Tristan showed up after my show, outside the venue when I was leaving. He figured out who I am."
Shocked gasps from both of them, mouths open, eyes wide.
Right?
"How?" Annalise breathed out. "How did he figure it out?"
You know, that was a good question that I'd forgotten to ask him. "I'm not sure, honestly. But that's not even the main thing."
"There'smore?" Aria asked.
"Oh, there's more."
Squirming in my chair, I did something totally unladylike and tugged at my bra. God, my boobs were so sore. Could I just start my period already?
"Astrid!" Annalise tapped me on the arm. "What else?"
My focus was all over the place lately. And no wonder after the busy week I'd had, getting everything ready for Nordstrom. All while thinking abouthim. It didn't help that he'd been so persistent with his apologies all week, never letting up for even a day.
"So he told me that he actually wasn't the one who put up the cow posters."
Aria let out a surprised "What?" while Annalise's eyes narrowed in confusion.
I glanced between them. "He said that Preston and Sloane were the ones who did it, that they just stowed the extras in his locker, that he had nothing to do with it all."
"Then why did he confess? Huh? Tell me that," Annalise said, her tone so similar to my lawyer dad's that it was scary. "That makes zero sense. An innocent man doesn't confess."
"Because..." I swallowed. "Apparently, hewantedto get expelled because he knew his parents would send him off to boarding school. And remember how I told you when this all started that his parents' divorce was nasty?"
They both nodded, faces rabid with curiosity.
"Well," I hesitated. "I couldn't sleep that night he told me, so I looked it all up, did some digging."
"Did you find anything?" Aria asked.
That same confusion I'd been feeling since that night—honestly, since all of this started—hit me. "I did," I said with a sigh. "That same week, there was a DUI charge filed under his dad's name. No details, no mugshots, just an arrest record that was sealed, probably because of who they are. But the timeline matches. It was the day before the posters went up."
"Oh, my God," Aria said, her expression softening. "So he took the blame for something he didn't do? To protect himself?"
I nodded. "He told me how sorry he was. That he should have told me a long time ago, but he didn't think it mattered who did it."
Annalise crossed her arms in front of her. "Or he could be lying about all of this, trying to manipulate you now that he knows who you are."
"Or maybe," Aria cut in, "just maybe he's actually telling the truth, being open and honest now that he knows who you are. Not everyone's a sociopath, Annalise."
Watching them bicker, my brain buzzed with familiar doubt because even after mulling it over for eight days, I still didn't know what to believe.
