“I’m sorry,” I say. “It’s just, you have to admit that it’s funny. I mean, clearly Chloe’s vagina is the hellish pit you plunged yourself into for love.” Both Chloe and Gage gawk my way as if I let the ultimate insult fly. “Wow, I had no idea Chloe’s ass was a hard line I was never to cross.”
Chloe gags as she struggles to get a proper rebuttal out of her throat. “Gage would never liken any part of my body to a hellish pit, Skyla. Clearly, he was talking about what he has to endure for the boys because you’ve made his life a damn nightmare. You’re the ultimate, bitter psycho bitch who doesn’t understand how to grow up and be a mature adult when someone decides that they’ve outgrown you, that they realize what a mistake it was to be with you to begin with. It was all about winning with Gage and some stupid rivalry he had with Logan. He couldn’t see the lines. They blurred under his innate desire to be the leader, because he is a leader. And once he discovered the real reason he was stuck with you, he decided to man up and leave.” She pulls him in close with one caustic move. “He looked deep in his heart and decided life was too short not to be with the one he truly loved.”
Now it’s me choking up a river of responses. “I don’t even know where to begin, Chloe.”
Logan tries to pull me toward the gym, but I resist. “Skyla, don’t,” he pleads lower than a whisper.
But Gage tips his head back as if to saybring it, and I will.
“Chloe”—I pause to catch my breath—“Gage Oliver’s love for me was genuine. It was more of a reality than your mere existence. And you’re wrong. Gage didn’t wake up one day and discover his life was short, nor that his life was over. Clearly, there are a few kinks in the resurrection armor that need to be ironed out before there is a mass revival because things have gone very wrong with his gray matter.” I shift my gaze to Gage and glower at him. “Is that a line you’ve fed her? That I was some prize to be won between Logan and you?” My heart beats so fast, the sound of the blood rushing through my ears is deafening. “A competition you had to win?” A wicked laugh brews in my chest and it frightens me. I take a bold step in close to Gage, closer than I’ve been in months, and every cell in my body catches fire from the mere proximity. It feels unsafe, dangerous, like a hellish pit I might fall into. “I have news for you, Gage Oliver”—I can feel it coming, the urge to go for the jugular, for his low hanging fruit, and it far outweighs any desire I might have to take the high road—“you were never in the lead. You were second best.” My voice shakes as I say it and Logan barks my name from behind like a reprimand. “It was never you I was drawn to. It was Logan. The only reason I tolerated you was to keep the Counts at bay and protect my relationship with the one my heart truly belonged to.” His features smooth out, his eyes widen a notch, glowing in the night. Chloe’s jaw unhinges, but I press on. “There was no competition. I married Logan first because that’s where my heart was. The only reason I even considered you was because he was dead. My first choice was gone. Eliminated. So you see, not only was I second choice to you as evidenced by the fact you so boldly righted your destiny with Chloe, but you were my second choice as well. Clearly, I should have gone with Marshall or Ellis to pass the time. FYI, Marshall is much better in bed. I’m sure Chloe knows this herself. There was a reason I wandered into his arms each night once I fell asleep. I needed a real man to finish what you started.”
A circle of gasps surrounds us. A crowd has amassed, but I don’t dare take my eyes off his. I want to see the hurt in his eyes, see the rage brewing beneath the surface, but there’s nothing hiding behind those empty blue flames. Gage himself has become the unknowable hellish pit.
“Let’s get inside.” Logan wraps an arm around me like a vice and Chloe steps in our path before we can make a single move.
“How dare you insult my husband that way.” Her entire being seethes with anger. “Gage gave you everything. And thank God he woke up and realized what a good-for-nothing, lazy bitch you really are. Thank God his eyes were opened to the fact that he was doing nothing but wasting time with you, spinning his wheels with a woman he didn’t really want in the first place. I’m so very glad you spoke up tonight.” A dark chortle escapes her. “I’m so glad everyone is here to listen to your madness. Thank you for making it evident that I was right about you all along. You are a user. You never loved Gage. You wish he had stayed dead. You hate him as much as you hate me, and now you want both of us off the planet. Well, guess what, buttercup? It’s not happening. Welcome to reality, Skyla. The world does not revolve around you. Gage and I have found our way home. We have each other, our family is growing, and we are living the dream. Do you know what he told me in bed after he finished making love to me the other night? He said I’m so glad that hell on earth with Skyla is over and now I’m in heaven with you.” She pulls his arms around her like a seatbelt and bleeds a wicked smile.
I look up at Gage, his lids are lowered, his expression set to stone. He’s either bruised and battered or expending pure hatred for me right now. I can’t read him anymore. I’ll go with hatred.
“I’ve spent months wondering what you saw in her.” I shake my head. “And now it’s obvious she is indeed the right one for you.”
I head into the gym, my head pounding and my heart malfunctioning with every other beat. Purple and green lights flash in an alternating manner, ready and willing to give every alumnus here a seizure. The music is so loud it pulsates through me in thick, heavy vibrations.
Logan spins me into him and that pained look in his eyes says it all. “Not what you had planned, I’m guessing. But I certainly don’t blame you. Next time, just give me a heads-up and I’ll drown them both in a well and spare you the trouble of lying through your teeth.”
A wry smile comes and goes. “You can’t kill Gage.”
“I’ll find a way to keep him under. I’m going to run back and do some damage control. You might have cracked the armor, and, who knows, his head might explode like a piñata. I don’t think we want to see what’s on the inside.”
“Do what you need to.”
Logan takes off and I spot a heavy crowd of women clustered around a tall, handsome as hell Sector, so I make a beeline over. Marshall is in the thick of the dance floor and I pluck him from his harem without giving it a second thought. Those intense vibratronic waves move through me like a deadly current of orgasmic proportions and yet, my body refuses to take it to completion and it only frustrates me all that much more.
“Have you ever thought about turning down the testosterone?” I can’t seem to quantify it with a smile, and God knows I don’t really mean it. In this sexual desert I’ve found myself trapped in, my dirty dreams are the only thing offering me an iota of relief these days.
Marshall gives my hand a squeeze, assuring me he’s heard it all. “My dear, my love—though I am loath to do this, might I suggest a flesh-on-flesh tryst that takes place in the waking hours?”
“God yes!” I practically scream above the music. “You don’t know how much I appreciate this, Marshall. I have had one mean itch and no one to scratch it with. I mean, I could have Logan scratch it, but that would take us straight to the deep end. With you at least I can fool myself into believing there are no strings, but with him it would be a net that neither of us could ever get out of. And, honestly, I was just the world’s biggest witch to the dynamic dipshit duo outside—pardon my French—but I think even that can be traced back to my lack of sexual healing.” I cock my head toward the mouth of the exit. “On second thought, it was completely justified and they totally deserved it.” A dark corridor that leads to the boys’ locker room catches my eye. “So where do you want to do it? I vote for right in front of Gage Oliver’s old locker. That will be the ultimate FU while I’m getting the ultimate FU in the process.” I give a flirty smile, rather proud of my euphemism.
But Marshall’s features harden, and I’m hoping other parts are hardening as well, because I couldn’t think of a better way to escape this West Paragon, Chloe-Gage hell I’ve locked myself into.
“Skyla,” he roars it out like a reprimand. “I can hear your every thought.”
“And I hate it,” I hiss. “Look, Marshall. I’m going to cut to the chase. I have unleashed all of my good senses outside of that gym tonight. I have stepped far outside of sanity’s bounds and I want what I want.” I pull him in by the tie. “And what I want is a nasty, bumpy, all-out aggressive ride on the Sector Express. I want you to knock my head so hard into that locker that I leave an impression in it. I want to see stars. I want to pass out from the ecstasy and the agony of it all. I want blood, sweat, and tears. And I secretly want someone to film the entire thing and upload it to YouTube. I want to go freaking viral. I want the staff and the student body, past and present, to say,Holy shit, we knew it. She’s been screwing him this entire time.And then I want every man and woman who ogles that dirty sex tape to note the size and girth of that vulgar cucumber you’re harboring in your pants—and I want Gage Oliver to cry a river of tears because your baseball bat truly is bigger than his.” At least it is in my dirty, dirty dreams.
And then reality sets in like an unwelcomed slap in the face.
Okay, so all of that might have been the second series of lies I’ve sputtered tonight because I really am ready to step into my time with Logan, but my hormones, my rage, and myinsanityhave all gotten the best of me tonight. Just seeing Gage with Chloe makes me jumpy and unpredictable.
Marshall lifts a brow, amused by my tirade before, removing his tie from my death grip and offering me a platonic pat to the hand.
“The time has come,” he pushes the words out with a sigh.
“Oh, thank God.” My entire body sags with relief. “I thought you’d shoot me down. We totally don’t have to do that whole locker room revenge thing. A quickie in the woods will do just fine.” My God, it’s as if I don’t have any say over what comes out of my mouth anymore. And like with all things lately, I blame Gage.
“Ms. Messenger, get ahold of yourself.”
“I can’t! The music, the lights, the assholes from West. It feels as if I fell into the portal of some psychedelic nightmare.”
