“I don’t care what you think!” she snapped, her voice rising to a pitch I hadn’t expected. “Even then, you can do the opposite of what I said, if you’re that worried about it. Try to get through the challenge without giving him what he wants, for all I care. Go ahead and lose.”
Ignoring the bait, I mulled over what Silk had told her, my nose wrinkling each time I thought his name.
While I went over it in my head, Vivian breathed quietly, the pace still a little fast, but—surprise, surprise—lashing out at me had calmed her down a bit.
A few minutes later, she broke the silence. “Are you…” A forced puff of air came next, and I pictured her snapping her mouth shut and seething while her nostrils flared. “You better not tell anyone about this.”
I arched a brow, frowning at her implication, even though she couldn’t see it. “Why would I?”
“Oh, please. Like you wouldn’t jump at the chance to knock me down a few pegs after what I did to you?”
My brow rising higher, I shook my head as I realized she honestly believed that. I mean, it’s not like I hadn’t wanted to do it. Knock her down a few pegs.
But I wouldn’t broadcast someone’s trauma.
Not even hers.
Except...Vivian hadn’t questioned it.
As if everything in her world came down to a tit-for-tat mentality. One I never would’ve understood until Kingston had shared more about their world with me. If someone did something nice or helped her, did she automatically assume she’d owe them for it?
If someone knew her weaknesses, she seemed to genuinely believe they’d exploit that.
Maybe because she’d do the same.
Or maybe, thinking of what Izzy had shared with me, because of what she’d been shown.
That just made me…sadfor her.
Had she never even had one friend who didn’t keep score? And what about her parents? Was that how they always were with her? Or, worse, were they like Kingston’s father?
Izzy had given the impression that her mother was hard on her, but how much further did it go than that?
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.
But Kingston had seemed puzzled by her motivations and intentions, so a part of me wanted to figure her out. I satisfied the war in my mind by declaring it was because of that.
Knowing my enemy was smart, that was all.
I needed to figure out what she was hiding, so I could make sure she didn’t get in our way.
That was it.
Wasn’t it?
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to think about it for long because Landon came to release us. And I didn’t know how to explain the unsettling feeling in my gut as Vivian scrambled from the tub and rushed out into the main area.
When it was just him and me, Landon arched a brow, and I shrugged.
“You okay?”
He stepped back to let me pass, holding out his hand.
But I didn’t move.
“Don’t put her back in here alone.”
“What—?”
