Never Sweeter (Dark Obsession #1)(73)

“Wow. You are really good. I’m impressed.”

“You shouldn’t be. I’m barely following this conversation.”

She stopped then—though not because she was falling for this, because she totally wasn’t. There was just something about the word barely and the word conversation that made her want to push him, hard. Get real answers out of this fake-puzzled jackass.

“Are you honestly going to claim that you had no idea Tate was just screwing with me? That you’re not talking to me so he can screw with me some more? That’s really the play you’re going to make right now?”

“You guys broke up because he was screwing with you? Like, as in a joke?”

Man, she didn’t like his tone at all. He sounded almost as horrified as she felt.

And still with that confusion, too.

She couldn’t stand his confusion.

“Of course as in a joke. You know I mean as in a joke.”

“I don’t see how I could when he goes around looking like he wants to die.”

“Okay, you know what? It was really nice listening to this little fairy tale you’re spinning, and my estimation of your IQ has definitely gone up a few points. But I’ve got to get to class now.”

She stood up to leave—too fast, she knew. It didn’t feel like the right reaction.

There was something panicked about it, rather than outraged.

“Letty, just hold on a second. Just wait, okay? I don’t think you’ve got it right. If you did, if it was just some kind of prank, why would he be like this? He doesn’t talk to anyone, he’s dropped too much weight—Coach says that if he doesn’t straighten out he—”

“I don’t care what your coach says. I don’t care what any of you say.”

“Letty, some guys stopped by the gym.”

He said it right as she was at the door back to the building, which really should have kept her walking. He was so clearly just trying to keep her talking, and probably not for good reasons. Maybe Tate was just waiting over the hill behind them, in a truck with a grille like the teeth of some vicious animal. She carried on doing this, and pretty soon he would mow her down.

And yet.

Yet.

She was listening.

“They looked like pretty bad news. I heard one of them say that if he didn’t throw the next one, they were going to take action—and I don’t think they meant a pat on the back. I think they meant serious f*cking business, but Tate didn’t even seem to give a shit. I tried to ask him after they were gone if he was going to do what they want, and he just shrugged. Like it didn’t matter. Like nothing matters. If he didn’t care about you why would he be like that? Why would he do that?”

“You say that like there’s no way you could be full of shit, too.”

“I can tell you know I’m not. I know that you—”

“You don’t know anything about me, Chad. You don’t know what it was like to waste away half your life wondering when the next blow was going to come and how hard it was going to put you down. You’re good-looking and popular and built, so you’ll never understand what it’s like to have someone take videos of you and pictures and send them to people with email addresses like [email protected]. That just isn’t your reality. So at least have the decency to not pretend you have insight into me and who I am.”

“You’re right. I don’t,” he said, and she knew, she just knew something else was coming. A screenwriter couldn’t have scripted a more pregnant pause if she tried. He even let his voice dip at the end of the don’t, as if he knew just how to get her.

Turned out, he did.

“But I do know that email address belongs to him.”

It hit her like that truck once had, though she tried to pretend otherwise. To herself, mostly, but to him, too. She didn’t allow herself to turn completely—she only looked over her shoulder. And when she spoke, she jammed every bit of derision she could into her stupidly wavering voice.

“Oh, come the f*ck on.”

“I’m serious. Check it out if you don’t believe me. I bet you know his password, right? He uses the same probably shitty one for everything—I f*cking know he does. I once saw him write his goddamn PIN on the back of his hand, so I’m willing to bet that address pops open for whatever garbage he’s using now. Just try it, Letty. You’ll see,” he said.

But she was already disappearing through the door.

“Goodbye, Chad.”





Chapter 24


She came very close to not asking. It seemed ridiculous to, for all kinds of reasons. And besides, Lydia was busy right at the moment she most wanted to do it. She was gathering up her shit, ready to leave for her babysitting job. Her jacket was almost on. She was checking her hair in the bathroom. It would have been so easy to just let it go, no matter how much it was nagging her.

Oh god, was it ever nagging her. Ever since the run-in with Chad, it had built and built until finally here she was, blurting it out just as her friend went for the door.

“Why didn’t he laugh?”

Lydia turned the second Letty spoke. Expression carefully neutral, but obviously just for show. She knew what Letty was talking about. It was obvious, despite the question she went with.

“Why didn’t who laugh?”