You've Got Fail(65)

“Okay.” I put her down and crowded her into a corner of the entryway. “What do you need to tell me?” I rested my palm on her chest, the rapid beat of her heart matching mine.

“I think”— she closed her eyes slowly, as if trying to gather her thoughts, then opened them—“I think you have the wrong idea about me. I’m not who you think I am.”

“Who are you, then?” I rubbed my thumb over her collar bone and enjoyed the goosebumps that rose beneath my touch.

She peered up at me, a strained look in her eyes, as if something momentous was about to roll off her tongue. I didn’t care what it was as long as it ended with us tangled together in my bed.

“I’ve been conning you all along.” She straightened her back, her words rough. “You’re just a mark.”

“Is that so?” I moved my hand up to the back of her neck and cupped her there.

Her breath hitched. “Yes.”

“What’s the end game?” I didn’t believe her for a second. This was just another attempt to deny her feelings and push me away.

“I—” Her chin trembled as she stared into my eyes.

I softened my hold on her and stroked her cheek. “What’s wrong?” Seeing her hurting opened a matching wound inside me.

“I can’t do it.”

“What?”

“This. You.” A single tear rolled down her cheek.

I wiped it away gently. “I’m going to need more to go on.”

“I had this all planned out. I intended to blackmail you. To threaten to tell the world that you were pretending to be Scarlet Rocket. That’s why I agreed to do this whole thing. It’s what I’ve been working toward.”

Taken aback, I simply stared at her for a few beats, her words not making sense. Then a ripping pain shot through me. “Why?”

“I need money. Fifty-thousand dollars.”

Everything inside me went cold, and I let my hands drop from her. She was serious. This wasn’t just a ploy to make me back off. “Blackmail?”

“Yes.” More tears fell, streaking her cheeks.

“The flirting, the sex?” I stepped back. Unsure of her. Unsure of myself.

“No. That was—”

“What? Just part of the con? You wanted me to fall in love with you so you could shake me down for money.” I shook my head, trying to clear it, but the pain thudded in every molecule. I couldn’t escape it. “But I guess I should have expected it. Given the first time I saw you, you were stealing from innocent people.”

“Please.” She reached out. “I’m sorry.”

My eyes stung. “It worked.” I held my arms out at my sides. “I’m in love with you. Well played. You made a fool out of me.” Rage and pain weaved a dark pattern inside me.

“Willis, please—”

“Do you still intend to go through with your plan?”

“No.”

“Why not?” I ached to hear the truth, but feared it just as much. How could I trust her?

“Because I fell for you, too.”

What should have been a happy moment was, instead, murky. “Is this the finishing move of your con?”

“No.” She moved toward me, but I backed away.

“Tell me you love me, and you’ll get the money from me that way? Is that it?”

“No.” Her eyes glistened with tears, but I couldn’t bring myself to comfort her. Not when everything inside me was ripping to shreds. “I’m sorry.”

“Everything all right?” Jason approached, concern lacing his voice.

“No, we’re done here.” I turned my back on her, though it ripped out my already bleeding heart. “Do me a favor and make sure Scarlet gets home. I’ve got to go.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.” I glanced to the right and saw Jina standing ten feet away, her fingers flying on her phone. She’d heard it all, no doubt. Fuck.

Scarlet stepped closer. “Willis, I can explain. Hannah got in deep with Pauly and I…”

Her voice faded as I walked out into the rainy night. I didn’t look back. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to walk away from her. Despite what she’d done, I still wanted her, still loved her.

She’d conned me right out of my heart.





25





Scarlet





Hannah stroked my hair as I lay curled up in a ball. The morning sun streamed through the tiny window at the back of my bedroom, the never-ending dust swirling through the rays. I hadn’t slept, just lain awake and cursed myself for all I’d done.

“He’ll come around.” She lay down beside me, the big spoon for the first time in her life.

“I don’t think so.”

“He loves you.”

“I know.” I sniffled. “But it wasn’t enough. He saw me, the real me, and he hated it.”

“That’s dumb.”

“What?” I wiped my nose with a tissue.

“What you just said was dumb. He saw the real you lots of times before you did your big ‘look at me, I’m an asshole’ reveal.”

“I am an asshole.”