“Looting the supplies, huh?” Her eyes narrow on the bottle in my hands. “Not surprising. You probably can’t afford your own. And trashy, gold-digging home-wreckers have to seize every opportunity, I suppose.”
“Why don’t you tell me?” I snap sweetly. “I mean, after all — you’re the one who worked Chase over for a big payoff.”
She sneers and steps closer, her black, strapless sheathe gown glittering in the low light. “You’re going to pay, bitch.”
“Would it surprise you to hear you’re not the first person to tell me that, this week?” I roll my eyes. “And, frankly, it’s not nearly as scary the second time around. Maybe I’m getting immune to threats.Oh!Or, maybe your threats just suck.”
Her eyes narrow. “Did you really think you could just take him from me? That I wouldn’t put up a fight?”
“I hate to break it to you, but he wasn’t yours to take. Chase has been trying to ditch you for years.”
“He’s going to forgive me, eventually, and then you’ll be the one out on your ass.” Her eyes gleam as she steps even closer, causing me to press back against the bank of sinks. “We belong together — I know it and he knows it.”
“Sorry, but bytogetherdo you meansleeping with someone else behind his back? Orgetting him fired from his job? Or, my personal favorite,hurting him so bad, he fled the freaking country for five years?” I shake my head. “Somehow, I think Chase will have different ideas about a reunion tour with you.”
“You don’t know anything!Anything. You’re just some little slut he’s interested in this week. A flavor of the month. A shiny new toy he’ll use until it’s thoroughly broken in. Until something newer and shinier comes along to replace you.”
Her words hit me like a slap across the face. It takes effort to keep from showing any reaction.
“You’re kidding yourself if you think this is going anywhere. He’s never going to settle down with a nobody like you — he said so himself, only days ago. Oncamera.” She laughs, a malicious sound designed to inflict pain. “We both know how this ends, Gemma. And it’s not with some happily-ever-after ride into the sunset.”
I bite the inside of my cheek to keep myself from snapping back at her.
“Chase is a Croft. He’ll fuck you and use you and when he’s done, he’ll toss you away.” She smiles, pleased with herself. “And when he does decide to settle down, it’ll be with someone good enough for him. Someone his family can be proud to be connected to. Someone likeme.”
My heart’s racing inside my chest, a mad tattoo of panicked beats I worry she’ll be able to hear across the five feet between us. I try to fight the truth in her words, try to tell myself she’s wrong. I know she’s exploiting my vulnerabilities, voicing my deepest fears of inadequacy and inferiority… but that doesn’t make it easier to dismiss her words.
She steps closer, her voice dropping lower. “So, have your fun. Let him use you up, until you’re half in love with him. Let him take everything you have before he throws you away.” She grins. “Maybe you’ll even last the week. But six months from now, sixyearsfrom now… do you really think you’ll be the one standing by his side?”
I open my mouth, prepared to refute her words even if I worry they might be true, but I never get the chance. The sound of a stall door being thrown open, hard enough to rattle the hinges, makes me jump half-out of my skin. Vanessa and I turn at the same time to look at the brunette gliding from the stall, who’s clearly been eavesdropping on our conversation and, from the looks of it, isn’t at all sorry about it.
“Vanessa.” Phoebe grins, but it’s got an edge I haven’t seen from her before. “Nice to see you again. I’m Phoebe West — remember me?”
Vanessa’s face pinches with discomfort and goes suddenly pale.
“No?” Phoebe’s grin widens. “I’ll refresh your memory, then. I was the one at the Children’s Hospital Benefit last summer, who caught you and a certain married gentleman with his pants around his ankles in that back hallway. Very daring of you, considering his wife was in the next room, and all.”
“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Vanessa snaps, though her voice lacks any real conviction.
“Oh, I think you do. Flagrant infidelity in a public place isn’t the kind of thing a girl forgets!” Phoebe steps closer. “Then again, I suppose a classy, well-bred lady like yourself thought she was just doing her civic duties, since he was a city official, and all. Tell us, are your services factored into the state budget?”
Vanessa huffs in outrage, turns to glare at me one last time, then stomps to the exit and disappears. My wide eyes move from the door to Phoebe, more than a little impressed that she managed to annihilate Vanessa with a few casual words.
“That was way too much fun,” she says, stepping up to the sink beside mine, her eyes dancing with mirth. “I hate that girl. Always have. She bounces from one eligible bachelor to the next, trying to sink her claws in. The month she chose my older brother, Parker, as her target was one of the worst times of my entire life.”
My world stills at the mention of her brother.
Mybrother.
She makes a disgusted sound. “She was like a leech. Following him everywhere. Showing up at the house. Swimming in our pool in a barely-there bikini, hanging all over him in front of me, calling him sweetheart and baby and boo-boo —blech!What self-respecting girl calls a man boo-boo?”
“What self-respecting man lets her?”
Phoebe grins. “Not Parker. He ditched her.”
I hesitate a beat. “Is he… Is he dating anyone, now?”
“Why?” Her eyebrows lift. “You interested? I thought you were with Chase.”