“Either that or get a personality transplant,” Vivien deadpans, and inside, I’m grinning large. This is the real Vivien. I want to see more of this girl, not the pale imitation my twin forced her to be.
“I’ll talk to him,” Ash says, beseeching me with her eyes to cut the crap. “We were coming to get you because we kicked everyone out except our friends. We’re up on the roof, and the guys are going to play their guitars. Let me knock some sense into this dumbass, and we’ll follow you up.”
“If he says one more nasty thing to me or he calls me fucking princess again, I’ll throw him off the roof and make no apology for it,” Vivien says.
“Come on, Grace. Let’s get fucked up,” Ro says.
I bet he’s loving being her knight to my devil. Enjoy it, brother, because it won’t be lasting long. Even in my inebriated state, the seeds of an idea are forming.
“Sounds like a plan.” Vivien links her arm through my brother’s and pointedly ignores me as they exit her bedroom.
22
AGE 20
I’m nursing the mother of all hangovers the following morning as I lie in my bed, absently watching the TV in the background, as I consider everything I learned last night. The more I think about my new plan, the more I’m convinced it’s the best course of action. Now that I’m sober, I see the situation for what it is. Vivien and Reeve are broken up, but he’s fighting to get her back. That puts a completely different spin on things. She hasn’t been sent here to spy on me. I’m guessing she probably knows nothing about me. Simon said it himself. Neither of them want the world knowing I exist, so I doubt Reeve even told the girl he grew up with. It wouldn’t exactly paint him in the best light.
No, the more I think about it, the more I realize I’ve gotten it all wrong. Vivien doesn’t know Reeve has a secret twin brother. She has come to Ireland to get away from him and all that Hollywood bullshit. That’s why Ash told me to go easy on her last night, admitting she is brokenhearted and my shitty treatment of her is only making things worse. It still blows my mind she ended up befriending my sister, but maybe karma is on myside this time. Because the perfect opportunity for revenge has landed in my lap.
My plan is genius. I’ll make Vivien fall in love with me and send her back to him even more heartbroken than she is now. Reeve wants her back, but he can’t have her. I’m going to make hermine. She’ll be so in love with me she’ll never want him back. Let him feel the eviscerating pain of rejection and abandonment. I am at least owed this much. Reeve Lancaster has taken everything else belonging to me, so it’s only fair I take something that belongs to him. Something so precious he won’t ever recover from it.
Guilt battles with smug satisfaction inside my head and my heart. Now I know Vivien doesn’t have an agenda, I can’t help feeling empathy for her. Reeve has already done a number on her heart, and it’s not fair to plan to do the same, but life isn’t fair. I’ve learned that lesson, and it’s time she did too. I don’t want to hurt her, but this is war, and there are always casualties during war. Always innocent victims.
Vivien is collateral damage, pure and simple.
She will pay the price for my revenge, and I hate this will hurt her, but I don’t have a choice. Only a fool would let this opportunity pass them by.
“You missed a great session last night, mate,” Jamie says when he returns home a few hours later. I’m sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room, jotting some lyrics down.
“I already told him.” Ro pokes his head out from the duvet he’s hiding under on the sofa.
We’re both hungover as fuck today, and I’m guessing Jay is the same. Conor still hasn’t emerged from his room, so I’m betting he’s royally fucked too.
“Vivien has the voice of an angel.” Ro’s dreamy face whenever he speaks of her is really starting to get on my nerves.
“So you’ve said,” I drawl, narrowing my eyes on him. “At least ten times.”
“It’s true,” Jay says over a yawn, kicking his boots off and dropping into the other chair. “I got the biggest hard-on when she started singing.”
I have a sudden urge to wrap my hands around his throat and squeeze. He deserves it for his obnoxious flirting with Vivien last night. Except I know he did it on purpose to wind me up. Despite my protests, he knows I have a thing for her.
“We should totally get her to sing with the band. She could be our secret weapon,” Ro adds.
“Nah, she’ll never go for it,” Jay says. “She was serious when she said she’d hate the attention.”
“You her best buddy now or something?” I snark, doodling on my notepad. Maybe I shouldn’t have been such an ass to the princess last night. I hate that I missed out on what appears to have been a bonding session.
“I got to know her more last night,” Jamie adds. “She’s cool, and I don’t think she’s playing Ash. I don’t think that girl has a bad bone in her body.”
“Grace is amazing, and she’s so fine,” Ronan says, his tone matching his dreamy expression.
I chuck my notepad at his face.
“Ow,” he moans, swatting it away after it hits him in the nose. “What’s that for?”
“You sound like some teenage girl mooning over 1D.”
“I like her. How is that a crime?”
