Page 18 of The Revenge Plan

“Whatshedid was childish. I didn’t push her. She was trying to gain your attention and clearly it worked.”

“You seem more bothered that I got her attention.”

She glared back at me, “I don’t care about whatever you two did or still do.”

“That doesn’t sound like someone who’s not jealous at all.”

“I thought we both agreed not to have affairs inside the marriage.”

“We did. And I’m not having any.” She was back to staring outside the window. Her arms were still crossed against her chest, pushing up her breasts. I wanted to laugh. If I was sleeping with Dana or anyone else, I wouldn’t be fighting the feeling I had right now of wanting to stop this car and dive into her delectably presented breasts.

Three weeks of living with her had done nothing to cool any latent feelings I had for her. If anything, they had flared up. The ironic thing was that, though she was constantly proving that she was the awful person I knew her to be, I was feeling more attracted to her despite of her deeds, not less. Everything about her, her body, her face, the way her hair was bellowing against the wind right now made my cock hard. And it made me hate her more. Instead of focusing on the subject at hand, I was thinking about positions I could get her in, in this car.Get it together, Caiden.

I cleared my throat, “You’re going to apologize to Dana.” I made it sound like a resolute statement and not a request, so she could tell I was serious.

She didn’t turn towards me this time. She merely muttered, “I already did.”

“She sprained her ankle. The least you can do is offer a proper apology.”

“I don’t take orders from you.”

“Do whatever you want Hailey, but if you continue to agitate my friends, I will end up doing something about it.”

She gave me an incredulous look.

“What’s so surprising?”

“That you and Dana are friends. I never thought the day would come.”

“Not everyone saw her as an object of ridicule.”

“I didn’t mean… It’s not like that.”

“Then what is it like? Hailey.”

“Oh, fuck you.” She whipped out her phone and began tapping and swiping furiously on it. I took it as a sign that conversation had ended. We drove on in silence.

Nate and Mya shouldn’t have thrown it. I shouldn’t have accepted. Hailey always was a destructive presence, and today she had shown that she was nothing more than a spoiled, infantile princess who, it still seems, liked to have fun at the expense of others.

When we got back home, I was ready to get away from her and shut myself in my study when I saw as we both got out of the car, that Hailey was limping. I shouldn’t care. I should let it go. If she had gotten hurt too, then it was karma, right? Except, when we were both in the elevator, I couldn’t help but notice that she was leaning heavily on her one leg. I looked down at her flip-flop-clad feet and saw that it was bleeding. The spoiled princess herself hadn’t made peep when she got hurt. I shouldn’t care. I really shouldn’t care. When the elevator doors opened, however, I took her into my arms and lifted her off her feet.

She squealed and squirmed in my arms. “What the hell?” she said.

9

"Why didn’t you tell me?”

I was so shocked when he scooped me up, I barely processed his question. One moment I was pretending to text on my phone, the next my feet were dangling and I was leaning into his chest.

“Tell you what?” I said.

Instead of answering, the second we entered the apartment, he went straight to the downstairs bathroom and dropped me on the counter. He opened the bottom cabinet and fished out a first-aid kit. I watched him as he gently removed my shoe, took out a gauze from the container, ran it under water and used it to clean my wound.

“That you were hurt?” he said. I had almost forgotten my earlier question.

“You don’t have to do it, it’s a small wound.”

“Don’t be silly,” he mumbled. When he finished cleaning, I could clearly see that half my toenail was gone, “It looks bad, I should call a doctor.”

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