“Rude,” Rory grumbles.
“What?” Marie shrugs. “I’m not entirely convinced that you’re trainable, but Chrissy seems determined to keep trying.”
Tiff bites her lip. “I don’t think this is an appropriate conversation considering…” Her eyes flick to me and her words trail off.
Rory bumps her shoulder against Tiff’s. “It’s okay, buttercup,” she says, borrowing Jean-Michel’s nickname for hiswife. “I’ve done the work and I know my besties would never actually try to slap some sense into me.” Her gaze comes to mine. “The elephant in the room sweet Tiff is trying to avoid is that my ex was abusive.”
Rage coils in my belly in a sudden rush. “Hewhat?”Someone tried to dim the beautiful spirit of this woman?
“Whoa, Tiger,” Rory says, her hand settling on my knee. “I’m okay. Truly. I’ve had a lot of therapy and I found someone”—her eyes slide to King—“who loves me and makes sure I know it.”
“I’m glad.”
“What about you?” she murmurs. “Have you had therapy?”
I rock back slightly. Is it that obvious I’m fucked up?
She squeezes my knee. “I don’t mean to be pushy?—”
Marie snorts.
Rory glares but goes on. “But it’s clear you’ve been hurt and I have a killer recommendation for a therapist?—”
My gaze flies to Brooks. “He didn’t?—”
“Hedid,” Marie interjects quietly.
“Fine,” I say. “He hurt me—not physically, of course. And I know he thought he was doing it to protect me, so how can I be mad?”
“Because you’re normal?” Rory asks. “And because it seems like a lot has changed in a short amount of time and you probably don’t know how to process it?”
I nibble at the inside of my mouth.
She’s not wrong.
But I hurt him too.
Notjustphysically.
I stole from him, turned over incriminating information to people who don’t hesitate to dish out pain. And I know he says he’s not worried, that the stuff on there doesn’t directly involve him, just shit his dad did, I know it can’t be that simple.
They wouldn’t have wanted it so badly if it didn’t have the power to hurt him.
“We don’t have to talk about this,” Tiff says.
I smile at her, though I know it’s a facsimile of my normal one. “Thanks. I’m okay. I’m just…I guess I don’t actually knowwhatI am.”
“Fair,” Rory says with a laugh. “I think we’ve all been there.”
“And you guys are being so nice—toonice.” I turn to Chrissy. “Especially after I crashed your event and was supposed to…”
Rory lifts her eyebrows. “To…”
My stomach starts to twist but I can’t form the words.
Chrissy touches my arm. “Pascal told me.”
“Told you what?” Rory asks, protectiveness bleeding into her tone.
