Page 56 of The Revenge Plan

Even though it was not obvious, I could tell that she was breaking inside. Yet she presented this facade of aloofness that threatened to crumble. “Hailey.”

“It’s fine.” Her eyes were shiny with tears she dared not spill. “Were you part of this?”

“What? No!” Her telling me about the party earlier this evening was the first I had heard of it. I had thought that something was off when she told me that Sophie had invited her. That was why I had wanted to come. Had I known that they had planned to pull off a childish prank, I would never have let her come.

“Good to know.” She looked like she didn’t believe me.

“I’m not lying. If I had known, I would have—”

I was cut off by Dana, who came over to us and handed an empty glass to Hailey, “Here. I need a refill.”

People laughed. Some snickered. I looked around and realized that everyone’s attention was on us. On Hailey. She was the guest of honor at this horrid party. Sophie had a wicked smile on her face. Distaste filled my mouth. I grabbed Hailey’s hand, ready to rush her out of here when she softly wiggled my hold and took the glass from Dana. She went to the nearest server, took a glass of champagne and replaced it with the empty glass. “Here you go, Dana,” she said as she handed her the wine, “Anything else?”

Dana was so flabbergasted that she simply said a small ‘no’ and took the glass. After she had walked away and rejoined her friends, I turned to Hailey. She was stiff as a board, but the tears were gone now.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“No,” she said, “I was invited. It would be rude.”

“You don’t deserve—”

“I do.”

I couldn’t help but feel sad for her. Another odd feeling settled in; admiration. She held her head high as we strolled around and chatted with a few of her old friends. After a while, people stopped paying attention to her and it returned to a sort of normal party. That’s when she said, “Can we go now?”

“Lets.”

When we got back home I said, “You shouldn’t go to parties,” trying to make a joke, “you seem to have a terrible track record with them.” She had been quiet since the ride back, and I had been trying to cheer her up.

Her eyes widened, then a shadow of sadness passed under them, “you’re right.”

She made her way upstairs when I grabbed her hand to stop her. “I didn’t mean it like that.” I drew her close, “I’m sorry they did that to you. It was so… childish.”

“I thought you’d have enjoyed watching me getting humiliated.”

“Why the fuck would I enjoy that?”

She didn’t believe me. She looked like she didn’t believe me. I took her into my arms. I wanted to show her my sincerity, and I didn’t know how. Moments later she was sobbing. We stood like that until her sobs turned into sniffs.

“Let’s go to bed.”

She withdrew abruptly, as if I had struck her. Her face was contorted in disgust and resignation. Did she think I wanted to have sex with her?

“To sleep. Just sleeping.”

“Okay.”

I lifted her in my arms and went to my bedroom. There I laid her down on the bed and took in one look of her costume. It was beautiful. It hugged her curves well and made her look like the most devilish angel on earth. Slowly, I began to peel it off. She stilled my hand. “You don’t have to.”

“It’s okay.”

I continued taking off her costume. Once I was done, I put her in bed and laid down next to her.

“Sleep,” I said when she kept staring at me. For once, she did as I said and closed her eyes. For the first time in a long time, I felt like getting revenge, not against her, but for her.

33

The dream came to me again. This time it was more vivid. I was in the car. Next to me was Liam. Driving.

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