Page 22 of Rebellious

He flinched. “I don’t deserve your consideration, but I don’t know…if you call me sorry—”

“I wasn’t going to,” she snapped, swiping at her uncooperative tears. “I was going to tell you that you should’ve asked yourself how important sex was to you. I told you I wasn’t ready. If you felt the need for it, you shouldn’t have agreed to go steady with me. You aren’t sorry. You’re a miserable motherfucker. A cheater. And that’s worse than being fucking sorry.”

“Rebel—”

“I don’t want to hear it,” she said, sobbing softly, wanting to let it go but unable to. She’d asked to see him because he was familiar. Comfortable, and she needed what she knew. She thought his presence would help her. It only upset her more. “You hurt me. I don’t take kindly to that. Add in the humiliation and I wanted to fucking torture you this entire week.”

“I’m sorry—”

She shook her head, exhausted. “You aren’t. You’re sorry you were found out, so don’t hand me that fucking tired line. Fuck you. Fuck you in every orifice in your fucking body. Fuck you upside down and inside out. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you.”

“I thought when you wanted to see me…” he tried again.

Grabbing tissue from the box on the rolling cart, Rebel dabbed her eyes. “I miss you so much. I miss our friendship. I wanted to see you. Kaia. My friend. That’s why I asked Diesel to get you here. Not the cheat and the liar, who didn’t have any regard for me, even as a friend, if you slept with Fia a second time.”

He left the foot of the bed and came to her side, holding out his hand, leaving it up to her to take it.

She turned her head.

He drew in a deep breath. “We can be friends. I swear I’ll win you back, if you just give me a chance.”

“I gave you two fucking chances. Whether you want to count your lies about how we met or your lie about sleeping with Fia the first time is up to you, motherfucker. I’ll be nice and ignore the one you choose not to recognize.”

“Rebel, babe, I don’t recognize me over the past few days. You’re a kid so you probably won’t understand.”

She frowned.

“I-I got my first paycheck and, suddenly, I felt like the king of the world.”

He was using the money Momma gave to him to become a dick. Did he not realize that? “Money changes people,” Rebel told him, refusing to point out the obvious to him. He had a brain. He needed to use it. “You might say it doesn’t, but your statement proves otherwise.”

“At my old job, it would’ve taken me six months to earn what Meggie paid me for two weeks. I paid a grand for the suit I wore to Diesel’s party plus what I spent for the shoes and cashmere sweater.”

“What does that have to do with anything? Nothing,” she snapped. “Stop deflecting. Who cares what you spent? You know you were getting more money.”

“As long as I pursued you.”

Rebel stiffened, wishing she wasn’t so tired and emotional, wishing CJ was there to pound Kaia into the ground or Diesel was there to shoot him. “No, motherfucker, as long as you were honest with me. My mother didn’t pay for your fucking dick on my behalf,” she snarled. “She needed help.”

“But you liked me. That’s why she hired me.”

“Get out, and don’t fucking come back. Fuck you. She hired you to keep an eye on you, jackass,” Rebel barked, finally figuring it out. “If Daddy and my brothers orchestrated our meeting that you agreed to for free, probably as a fucking favor to CJ, then she brought you in for the same reason she hired Bishop. To be able to monitor me with both of you. She wasn’t going to block me but she sure the fuck wouldn’t encourage me. Unlike those jackasses who saw you as the lesser of two evils. Me and you or me and a dating app.”

“Wait. Meggie was trying to play chaperone while helping me out?”

Rebel threw him a dirty look. “Who’s the fucking kid and who’s the fucking adult between us?”

“Don’t make me sound like Diesel. I resent that.”

“Resent it. Choke on it. Suffocate. I don’t fucking care. You’re smart, Kaia. Act like it.”

Without warning, he hugged her. She remained stiff, though she breathed in his fresh, clean cologne. “Rebel, babe, listen to me. Please. I’m sorry I misread the situation. I’ve just never been valued for me. For anything. No one has ever helped me just because of me. I’m sorry I hurt you so badly. I swear I won’t—”

Determined not to fold into him, Rebel started to cry again. She almost caved and said she believed him. “You won’t because I won’t let you. Cheating is a hard no for me. It’s right up there with hitting. There’s no excuse for either,” she sobbed, thinking of her mother, Lolly, and her aunts, and the respect they demanded from their husbands. “I trusted you so much, Kaia. I trusted you.”

“I always felt as if I competed against Diesel. Maybe if you hadn’t made me feel that way, I wouldn’t have gone with Fia.”

“Maybe,” Rebel agreed, thumping his shoulder so he’d release her. Thankfully, he did. “Diesel is marrying Jana. He was no competition. He’s my brother. My parents will never accept him as anything else and I wouldn’t give them up for him.”