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“I don’t—I don’t think we should keep doing this,” Lilah replied, her voice tight, trembling on the edge of tears.

Victoria’s laugh slipped through the night air… Ali could swear the temperature dropped several more degrees.

“You always say that,” Victoria replied, heels clicking as she drifted closer. “But we both know you never mean it. No one else makes you feel the way I do.”

“I told you I don’t want this anymore.”

“Don’t be stupid.”

“I said no.”

“Baby girl, please.”

Stay strong, Lilah! Don’t do it. Ali screamed in her mind, legs trembling as shock sank through a hole in her stomach all the way down to her toes.

“If you cared about me, you wouldn’t have left me passed out on the beach. Alone,” Lilah fired back, her voice breaking as she pushed to her feet, inching sideways, the small table between them a pitiful shield.

“It’s not my fault you drank enough to take down an elephant,” Victoria snapped. “I didn’t want anyone to get suspicious.” On a dime her tone turned pleading. “I just want to talk.”

Ali’s stomach roiled, imagining the look of despair on Lilah’s face.

“No,” Lilah said, shaking. “I’m done, Victoria. I told you I was done, and I meant it. This is over. My answer is no.”

Victoria lunged, snagging Lilah’s wrist.

Ali lurched as Lilah let out a startled yelp. Anger ignited in Ali, the heat of it scalding its way from her chest to the top of her head.

“Do I need to remind you that you don’t just get to walk away, sweet thing?” Victoria warned, stepping around the table, crowding Lilah’s space.

Desperation shredded Lilah’s voice, “Let me go.”

“You know what happens if you don’t do as I say,” Victoria warned. “Christ, you can be such an idiot.” Her sneer sharpened. “Let me spell it out for you since you’re really living up to the dumb blonde stereotype tonight.”

Shaking with rage, Ali’s vision tunneled.

“What do you think happens when your family, when your precious Charlotte, finds out what a whore you actually are?”

Righteous white-hot fury surged through Ali as she began piecing the facts together. Charlotte admitted her worries about Lilah.

Well, here was the cause.

Ali surged up the remaining steps, her voice loud and clear through the crisp night. “Oh, Vicki.”

Victoria startled, whirling around.

Ali’s lip curled into a snarl, eyes burning. “Did no one ever explain to you,” she said, voice icy and lethal, “no is a full fucking sentence?”

“I don’t remember asking you,” Victoria shot back.

Ali’s fists balled tight. “I suggest you leave.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because if you don’t,” Ali growled, her pulse roaring in her ears, “everyone is going to hear about you harassing Sasha’s future sister-in-law.” Smoke had to be billowing out of her ears and flaring nostrils. Ali was never one to lose her temper at the drop of a hat. Her fuse was long. But this was an unprecedented situation. “Let her go and get lost. Now. Before I lose my temper and make sure you need a second nose job.”

Victoria hesitated, fury warring with the barest hint of embarrassment. With a scoff, she stormed past Ali, striding quickly down the stairs.

Fucking coward.