“He needs help!” I say, shouting at John, who flicks his gaze up and ignores me.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?!”
Mallory points the gun in my direction, and I jolt with a gasp. “Don’t speak to him.”
She lowers the gun and sets it on her knee, pointing it toward us. Heart in my throat, I eye it warily, then look up to find her staring at me. She looks sober, which somehow makes this all the more terrifying. So many questions pop into my mind at once, but when I open my mouth, only one comes out.
“How?” I ask. “They identified you. They used yourteethto identify you!”
“Yes, I know. You’d be surprised how cheap it is to get them replaced in Europe.” The proud smile she wears, showing all of her teeth are intact, makes my stomach turn.
“Why?” I whisper.
Tate inhales sharply as he adjusts in the seat beside me, and my heart stops for a moment when I glance over. He looks so uncomfortable.
“Can I have water?” he asks hoarsely. “Please?”
John shuts the magazine and leaves. He has two water bottles in his hands when he comes back and hands one to each of us. I thank him automatically. Tate grunts his disapproval, but uncaps it and starts drinking. I notice they’ve already been uncapped, and lower mine. I don’t trust them not to have drugged them. Maybe that’s why Tate looks that way. John takes a seat again and wordlessly goes back to his magazine.
“Is he making you do this?” I ask Mallory as John sits down and picks up the magazine.
She scoffs. “God, no. Let’s just say we have a mutually beneficial understanding.”
“Why would you do this?” I ask. “Do you know how difficult this has been on us?”
“Yes, I received all your lovely texts,” Mallory says. My stomach sinks. She smiles. “You were pretty upset to learn about me and Tate.”
“Tell her what you did,” Tate says between gritted teeth.
Mallory looks at him. “Which part?”
“About Gracie! About the drugs!”
She rolls her eyes. “Tate was drugged the night he made out with Gracie. She was an easy target. God, she hates you so much.”
“Gracie knew?!”
“No!” Mallory laughs. “John was there that night and got in her ear about how hurt you’d be if she went after Tate,” she says.
I look at John again, hoping my glare burns holes through his stupid face.
“I told you,” Tate says.
“Oh, shut up! Don’t act like you were a fucking saint,” Mallory says, eyes narrowed on him. “You let her kiss you before the drugs even kicked in. You always were an easy lay.”
Despite everything, her words make my stomach turn.
“You ruined everything!” he shouts.
“She never loved you!” she screams. “I gave you everything she wouldn’t and you still chose her!”
I inhale sharply. “Is that what this is about?”
“You used me!” Tate shouts. “You blackmailed me into hooking up with you!”
“I didn’t blackmail you into joining Onyx! I didn’t blackmail you into fucking those girls!” she shouts. “You loved every fucking second you spent with me!”
I press the bottle of water to my stomach and my other hand over my mouth, suddenly feeling very sick.
