Zoey studied Mac’s screen. “You weren’t lying about the hotness.”
I tried my best to avoid looking at Mac’s phone, even though I wanted to desperately. “What Imeantwas that he was smart. And sarcastic. Cutting. He could tear people to ribbons. It was amazing to watch.”
Zoey looked concerned. “That’s what you like in a person?”
“He used his powers for good.”
Until he didn’t.
“He was funny. He didn’t grow up with anything, so he wasn’t coddled like the rest of them. He was unexpected. Once you earned his trust, he was kind.”
Until he wasn’t.
“Long story short, he intrigued me, I was drunk, we connected, blah blah blah. I was dumb and dated him. For a while, things were good...”
The memory flashed back: one night during those first months when we couldn’t stand to be apart; the first night it snowed, a rare freezing Austin winter. His body draped over me in bed, hands cradling my face. The way he’d pulled back from kissing me, eyes suddenly serious. And I’d known in that moment what he was going to say, could read it plain in his eyes before his mouth formed the words...
For a while, things had been more than good.
“Then what?” Zoey prompted. I’d paused for too long. Annie was giving me one of her knowing looks.
I cleared my throat. “Then all the normal things that happen in relationships started happening. We argued, I didn’t trust him, he wanted more of my time than I was willing to give—”
“She started snooping through his phone,” Claire snorted.
“I won’t apologize for gathering evidence,” I said hotly. “People keep secrets in relationships, and I’ve learned I’d rather know what those are up front instead of waiting for them to hit me out of nowhere like a ton of bricks.”
I left out mentioning that in this particular case, the overly friendly texts from a classmate I’d found on Ben’s phone—the ones that had inspired me to cheat on him in revenge—hadn’t amounted to anything more scandalous than a study partnership. Oops.
Annie shook her head at me. I could practically see her diagnosing my trust issues. But so what. By the time my stupid heart had made the mistake of falling in love with Ben, I’d come by those issues earned and honest.
“Stoner thought Ben was cheating,” Mac said. “Or, like,thinkingabout cheating. So she went out and cheated onhimwith his law school rival right before his final exam.” Mac said this with a little too much relish. Apparently, dissecting my love life was a welcome change from her own.
Connor Holliday. I could still picture the moment I’d walked into that bar—the law students’ regular haunt—and locked eyes with him from across the room. Kept his gaze as I downed a shot of tequila. He’d smirked, and there’d been a dash of triumph in his expression that had nothing to do with me. We’d both known what would happen next.
Because that’s just who I am.
“Ouch.”Zoey grimaced. “His rival? Harsh.” She knocked Annie’s knee. “Never ever.”
Lee Stone: A Cautionary Tale.
“You know those days when you wake up knowing you’re going to get into some trouble, and nothing will satisfy you until you’ve gone and done the worst possible thing you can think of?”
A deck full of blank stares.
I sighed. “I was just doing it to him before he could do it to me. Everyone cheats eventually. It’s practically a scientific law.”
I remembered being sick with the certainty of it, sick with the lack of control: knowing one day, and probably soon, Ben would find another girl he liked as much as me—maybe a girl he liked more. And that would be that. Those texts from his classmate seemed to prove it.
Even though I’d accepted the inevitability, it still hurt. And that was the problem with Ben. Even though I knew it would end the same as the others, it was painful to think about. Knowing was supposed toshieldyou from pain, but it didn’t with Ben. Maybe because of the small, rebellious voice inside me that kept whispering,With him, it could be different.
Tiny baby idiot Lee.
Annie kissed the side of Zoey’s head and smiled. “Not us.”
“Oh, it’s coming for you.” I gave the two of them, sitting cozy under one blanket, a pitying look. So adorable and in love; so naive and trusting. “Just give it time.”
“If Simon cheated on me, I’d divorce him, take half his money, move back into the city and force him to take full custody of the kids.” Claire flopped back in her chair. “He knows a part of me would enjoy it. It keeps him in line.”
