West grins and bends down as Gayle scuttles away, wailing and screeching, with snot leaking from her nose. “Stop,” she croaks, her voice cracked and hoarse. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I demand, pressing record on my phone. “Confess or I’m exacting punishment my way.”
She owns up to it all, explaining how she came by my place last night to ask me to go to prom with her. She happened to see West storming into the gym and followed him. She heard everything that went down. Enraged, she spent the night concocting a plan to get back at me and Kendall for making her look foolish.
As if either of us owed her anything.
As if what happened between us was any of her business.
She didn’t stop to consider how damaging her actions would be. It wasn’t even about getting revenge on me. Which it should have been. I didn’t treat her right, and I wouldn’t have blamed her if she took it out on me. But she didn’t. This was done to humiliate Kendall because Gayle can’t stand the thought I wanted her instead. She’s a hot mess by the time she’s finished, sniveling and whining, but I don’t care. We have the proof we need. “You’re pathetic.” I pocket my cell. “You just couldn’t let it go, and now you’ll pay the price.”
“I’ll tell my daddy. He won’t let you do this to me.”
I chuckle as I retrieve my bag. “Youdid this to you. Not me. I just gave you a little incentive to come clean.”
“You almost choked me.” She starts crying. Normally, I’m moved by a woman’s tears, but her tears have no impact on me. Irrespective of how I feel about Kendall now, I never wanted the news about us to come out or for the truth of our relationship to hurt her in any way. Curtis and Gayle have ruined that, but I’m going to get him back too. I know where he parks his Mercedes at night, and I plan to pay him a visit before I skip town. He helped set the match that has burned my world down, so it’s only fair I repay the favor.
“You won’t tell anyone because I’ll instruct my father to sue you for slander if you do,” I lie. “If your father attempts to come at me, please remind him who my father is. I’m pretty sure Miles knows my dad has criminal affiliations and what that would mean for anyone who crosses him or his family.” No one outside my small inner circle knows about my fucked-up relationship with my father, so she’ll buy this. I unlock the door as West grabs his bag. “Prove you’re not as foolish as we think,” I say, opening the door. “Shut your mouth, accept responsibility, and walk away.”
West drills her with a look. “This ends now.”
Slowly, she nods, and we step out of the bathroom.
“This changes nothing,” West says as we walk toward the vice principal’s office to hand her the video.
“I know.” I drag a hand through my hair. “I’m leaving tomorrow. You’ll never have to see me again.”
His face betrays no hint of shock or relief or any other emotion. He nods his head tersely. “Good.”
As I walk out of the school gates for the last time an hour later, I can’t wait to put hundreds of miles between me and Colorado.
48
VANDER - 8 YEARS LATER
Istand in front of the painting with my hands shoved into the pockets of my pants, staring at the woman who has held a recurring role in my dreams since the time I first met her when I was fifteen.
“She’s beautiful,” Mara says, materializing beside me.
“She is.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see her tilt her head and look at me with sad brown eyes. “She’s the reason you don’t date. Why you aren’t interested in me.”
Jesus, not this again. Turning to face her, I nod. “It’s always been her. No other woman has ever interested me. Kendall is the reason I’m here.”
She tucks strands of her jet-black hair behind her ear. “As in Portland or were you speaking metaphorically?”
“The answer is yes to both.” It wasn’t until my senior year I learned Kendall had visited Yale on the down low and organized for me to receive full financial support. That was the year I sold my first big NFT and I contacted the financial aid officer to stop my funding as I no longer needed it. Now, my digital art business is my main source of income, and I have opened galleries in three different locations purely for the joy of showcasing my paintings in my own space and granting opportunities to new artists to present their work. I have ambitious plans for expanding into other states, and I’m busy building a team around me who can help to deliver that goal.
Mom left me a sizable inheritance when she passed from lung cancer two years ago. One month ago, on the day my father was sentenced to life in prison, I sold my latest NFT for ten million dollars. I’m extremely fortunate I don’t have to worry about money anymore. I have more than enough to last several lifetimes.
“We’re not open yet.” Mara calls out as footsteps resonate behind us. “The exhibition starts at eight. You can come back then.”
“I was hoping to have a word with the artist in private,” someone with a familiar voice says, and I whirl around, coming face to face with West for the first time in eight long years.
“That’s out of the question.” Mara’s prickly voice confirms she’s ready to go into full-on military mode.
“It’s okay,” I tell my assistant. “I know him.”
