I turn the key, put the car in reverse and slam my foot on the gas, kicking up rocks. “Where’s Jayce?” I ask.
Her eyes drift to the side mirror and then to the rearview mirror. “I don’t know.”
Lie one.
“He went into the woods looking for you, I think. You didn’t see him?” I glance at her before focusing back on the road.
“No.”
Lie two.
“How long have you been fucking my boyfriend?” I ask as I enter the highway.
Her head snaps in my direction. “What the hell are you talking about? I’m not fucking your boyfriend.”
Lie three.
Three strikes.
“I was there,” I say, my foot pressing the gas to the floor. “I saw you in the warehouse.”
Her face goes blank, and she gawks at me with stunned silence before saying, “Fuck, Tessa. I’m so sorry. We didn’t mean for it to happen. We didn’t mean to hurt you.” She reaches for me, and I pull my arm away.
“How long?” I ask.
She doesn’t reply right away, as if she’s debating whether to lie or tell me the truth. Her phone pings in her cleavage, and she glances over at me as she removes it, her eyes welling with tears. “It’s Jayce.”
He sent her a text, not me. My phone is silent. He doesn’t care as much if I get caught, that’s clear to me now.
“Do you love each other?” I ask, my hands gripping the wheel tighter, my head starting to pound as my blood pressure rises.
The tension in the air grows even further. If I had a knife, I could slice it right down the middle, creating a larger divide than she and Jayce have already created.
“Yes,” she murmurs as she frantically types on her phone.
I snatch it from her hand and read the screen.
She knows.
She didn’t hit send yet. I delete the message, roll down the window and chuck her phone onto the highway.
“Hey,” she yells, glancing over her shoulder. “Do you know how much that cost?”
“How could you do this to me, Maureen?” I press the gas harder, the gauge surpassing eighty.
“Tessa, slow down.” Her hand grips the dashboard. “Please. I’m sorry. We’re sorry. We were going to tell you. I swear.”
I grit my teeth, forcing words through them. “I’m only going to ask you this one more time. How long?”
“Almost a year,” she blurts.
A single tear rolls down my cheek as my mind goes blank and emptiness fills the void where my heart should be.
I hate her. I hate them both, but I hate myself even more for being so blind to what was happening right under my nose. The bridge ahead has a fast-moving creek below, and I think about driving off it, killing us both.
“Tessa, I’m sorry. You know I love you like a sister.”
The car jerks to the right as I turn and scream in her face, making her tightly clutch the handle above her. “A sister wouldn’t have fucked my boyfriend, whom I love. A sister wouldn’t have betrayed me. A sister wouldn’t have lied. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you!”
