Fallen Crest Public (Fallen Crest High #3)(92)

“What?”

She wanted to murder me, but I was going to change her mind in the next second. “Right before Nate told me what you guys wanted to do with Sam, he told me something else.”

She froze. Her chest stopped moving as she stopped breathing.

Kate started under her breath, “Nonononononon—”

My voice lifted over Kate’s protests as I told her friend, “There’s a reason why Nate wanted to be the one to go to Kate’s house. He told me about the video Kate said she had. That video of you two. That bluff started this whole thing.”

Kate’s voice rose in volume. “Nononononon.”

“Oh my god,” Parker was connecting those dots too. Her eyes were glued to Kate as she started trembling. Then her phone beeped again. Her attention was torn away as she checked it once more. When she hit a button and noises came over the room, this was it. It was a matter of moments before the rest exploded into the room.

“What is this?” Parker asked as her eyes got even bigger. They were bulging out of her face as she thrust the phone at Kate. “What the HELL IS THIS?”

She pressed a button, and the volume rose so everyone could hear.

“Come on, Nate, Parker doesn’t have to know. Come on. I’ll make you feel good.”

“Get away from me, Kate. I know you’ve been going to the other guys, too.”

“Only you. You help me. I’ll help you.”

“You can help me by telling me where the video is.”

A seductive laugh came next. “There’s no video, but there could be. Of you and me. If you’d like.”

“There’s no video?”

Her voice grew louder, as if she had taken a step closer to him. “You’re hurting. I know Parker hasn’t come to see you since the accident. I’ll make you feel good.”

“There’s no video?”

“No—”

The recording stopped after that, and Parker remained holding it in the air. Her hand gripped it tightly as her chest lifted up and down. She was seething as she stared at her friend. A strangled laugh came from her next. “Were you with him? Nate’s mine. MINE. You went to him and—” she choked off again.

Kate jumped back, as if expecting to be attacked. She hissed first, “I needed help. I had to find it from somewhere. I had to create it. We had nothing. I didn’t think beating her up was going to be good enough. We needed something to make sure she stayed away. I did it for us. I needed him to help us get something on her. We needed to destroy her.” As she said the last word and her lip curved in a snarl, she looked at Sam. Everyone knew who she meant. “She took him away from me. She took all of them away from us. I had to do something. We were nobodies in school again. I did that for you, too.”

“You bitch—”

“He didn’t believe you about the tape. He wasn’t going to help, but I needed help from somewhere. It’s the only reason I went to Nate. I promise. That was it. You would do the same thing …”

A door banged shut in the hallway.

They were coming, but I said first, “You did it for power, Kate. Don’t delude yourself. You wanted to make Sam’s friends turn on her so I did it to you first. I just used what you were already doing. I didn’t blackmail you. I didn’t have to threaten you, drug you, or video you. I didn’t have to do any of that. You handed it to me on a silver platter.”

“What else did you do?”

She snarled at me. She shouldn’t waste the energy. She would need it to run from her friends. “You went to each of the guys: Nate, Ethan, Strauss, even Derek. You tried it with each of them.”

“I didn’t do anything with them.”

“But you tried, even after they reminded you about your friends. Nate hooked up with Parker. Ethan and Jasmine used to do the same. I know Natalie’s fond of Strauss. You went after their guys.”

“They weren’t exclusive.”

I grinned at her. “I doubt they feel the same.”

Then the door flung open and Jasmine stood there. She locked gazes with Parker, who said heatedly, “She hit on Nate. She hit on Ethan too?”

“Yeah,” Jasmine clipped out.

Ethan stood behind her, a Cheshire Cat grin on his face. “It was a nice little recording.”

“Guys.” Kate began to back up.

The two joined forces and started after her.

Kate continued to back up. Her hands lifted in the air. “Come on, you guys. I needed their help.”

“NO,” Parker barked out. “It’s just like Mason said. You wanted power and you went crazy for it. Fuck you, Kate. You lied about the video and then you hit on him? Did you suck him? You made sure to tell me to do that. You said it’d make him do whatever I wanted. That he’d be wrapped around my little finger. It didn’t work, did it?”

Her voice rose on the last statement, but it didn’t matter. Kate shoved past them, past Ethan and up the stairs. The two took off after her.

The room remained in silence for a beat. Then Tate started laughing. She stood next to Logan and hung on him, bending over as more laughter spilled from her. Shaking her head, she tried to calm down, but couldn’t. More and more kept coming until Logan was holding her up. She clung to him and then took a deep breath, tears rolling down her cheeks from the laughter. “Oh my god. I can’t believe that happened. You just ruined her life, Mason. Holy shit.”