CHAPTER TWENTY
Blair
It all felt like a dream. Zach coming to my room, making me feel so good that nothing else mattered. Revealing that he’d wanted me too. He’d fucked me like that was true. Like his deepest desires had just been fulfilled. Like no hatred existed between us. Right. It had felt so, so right.
But now, in the light of the day, it felt like the worst mistake I could’ve made. I already took the cake when I told him I used to have feelings for him. But that I’d actually let him have me? He wanted me broken. Everything he did was with the intent to hurt me. Nothing good could come out of it.
I wished I could avoid him, but unfortunately, it felt like he was at every turn in my house.
During my morning run, he was there to glare at me.
When I went to the kitchen for breakfast, he was also there, chatting with Anna like they were old friends.
Once again, he was making it hard for me to reconcile that version of him with the one I knew.
It only made me wonder what version of him was the real him, if any was real at all.
And even now, as I sat on the terrace, filming TikToks, he was nearby, sweeping the paths, his eyes finding mine on more than one occasion.
Each time our gazes met, my heart would do a weird thing in my chest, as though the sex had changed something.
It didn’t change a damn thing, and it would be good to remember that.
It was just sex, and he still hated me, maybe even more so now that he knew I’d bullied him despite my feelings for him.
I thought about what he’d alluded to, how we could’ve been together—been happy—if only I hadn’t inflicted my abuse on him. Would that have ever been possible for us? If I hadn’t bullied him, would we have been able to be together?
The answer was clear to me. We wouldn’t have. My parents wouldn’t have allowed me to date him. Not a poor boy from a trailer park. What had Dad called him then? Trash kid.
No, they would’ve put a stop to any attempt to be with him.
Not that it mattered now. We wouldn’t ever be together. Zach wouldn’t ever be able to forgive me, and I certainly wouldn’t be able to get over all the things he’d done to me. Even if my heart and body seemed to disagree with it.
Maybe I couldn’t erase my conflicting feelings toward him or avoid him, but I could certainly keep trying. I’d already called the locksmith to replace the lock on my door in case Zach decided to barge in again during the night.
“B,” Melody said, stepping onto the terrace. “Mom and Dad want to see you in the living room right away.”
I frowned, lowering my phone. “Why?”
“There’s an article about you in the tabloids.”
My stomach did a flip. So that was why I’d been receiving calls nonstop this morning. I thought it had to do with Lana’s videos.
Something in me went cold. Zach. He’d damaged Aurora’s and Lana’s reputations. What did he come up with for me this time?
I looked his way, and he looked up at me just then, as if he’d sensed my gaze.
Pain struck my chest. Even though I’d expected him to attack, it hurt nevertheless.
“Article? What article?”
“About you in some trailer park.”
My mouth went dry, and I whipped my gaze back to Melody. “What?” I stood and followed her inside.
Mom was seated on the sofa, while Dad stood by the fireplace, a glass of whiskey in his hand. It was unusual for them both to be home at the same time. Even now, they made sure to keep distance between them, and it made me wonder when the last time they even touched was.
Mom rose to her feet the moment she spotted me, her white suit bearing no creases after sitting, as immaculate as ever.
“Will you explain what this is, Blair?” she asked, motioning with her hand at her tablet on the coffee table.
I picked up the tablet while Melody went over to sit in the armchair by the fireplace.
The screen displayed an article posted by a highly popular gossip website, accompanied by a photo of me standing in front of Zach’s trailer as I spoke with Maggie with her back to the camera, featured prominently at the top of the page.
The quality of the photo suggested it was taken with a phone.
So this wasn’t Zach’s doing. This had to be that girl who had recognized me.
The headline read: “The Princess of TikTok Blair Everett Spotted in a Trailer Park! The Source Says She Was Looking for Drugs.”
What the hell? Drugs? Of all things.
My head rose just as Zach stopped in the hallway, taking a spot behind the wall that kept him out of sight of my parents and Melody.
I was about to go tell him not to eavesdrop on us, but Mom asked, “So? What is this?” She planted a hand on her hip.
“I wasn’t looking for drugs. It’s complete nonsense. You know how tabloids are.”
“But the fact remains that you were there. What were you doing there?” Dad asked, his brows low over his eyes.
“I was lost and looking for directions.”
Mom raised her brow. “You have a GPS in your car.”
“It malfunctioned.” I wasn’t going to tell them I didn’t even drive my car. It didn’t matter.
“Don’t lie to us,” Dad said in a cutting voice that had me lower my gaze in submission. “That’s not just any trailer park.”
Mom shifted her glare to him. “You recognize it?”
“Yes. It’s that place where that kid lived. Zach Curtis.”
My gaze slipped to Zach in time to see his body tense up, his gaze never leaving me.
Mom scowled at me. “You lied to us just now. Why did you lie?”
My teeth ground. I set the tablet down on the table. I didn’t need to read the rest of the article. “Okay, I wasn’t lost. I went to see where Zach was.”
Melody’s gaze widened. Dad’s fingers tightened around the glass. It was what he usually did to keep a rein on his anger.
“Why?” he demanded.
“Because I wanted to make sure he was gone for good.”
“He should be. He received a ridiculous amount of money to disappear.”
And he hadn’t seen a cent of it courtesy of his mom. Not that I could ever see him accepting that money.
Zach planted his fist against the wall, his jaw clenched impossibly hard.
“Did he contact you?” Mom asked.
I tore my gaze off Zach, my heart jumping in my chest. “No. I went there as a precaution, that’s all.”
Dad emptied his glass and poured himself another drink. “And did you get to see him?”
“No. He disappeared off the face of the earth.”
Mom shook her head. “This is unacceptable. You can’t roam around those filthy neighborhoods like that’s normal. People talk. And now, thanks to your irresponsibility and imprudence”—she motioned at the article—“they think you’re a drug user!”
I suppressed a wince at her description of Zach’s former home. “Everyone knows you can’t believe tabloids. No one will buy it.”
“It doesn’t matter! They will always suspect it.
You will forever be viewed as . . . as this.
” She wrinkled her nose at the article on the screen.
“I told you to be on your best behavior! You know this is a critical time for my organization. But it’s like there’s been disaster after disaster ever since. First with Aurora, and now this.”
I couldn’t say anything to that, because mistakes like this one weren’t allowed.
This wasn’t just something that would pass.
This could chip away at our reputation, so why didn’t I care as much as I would have just weeks ago?
Why did I feel so tired, always considering whether I was doing something right or not?
“And if this is not enough, there’s this scandal with Lana as well,” Mom added.
Dad frowned. “What scandal?”
“There is footage of her bullying high school students all over social media. I’m baffled that she allowed herself to be recorded in the first place.”
It wasn’t like she had a say in the matter.
I’d known what I was doing when I insisted on being behind the camera instead of showing my face, making Lana and Aurora do the bullying instead.
As for why I’d taken them in the first place?
It was another fucked-up thing I did to keep other students in line.
I used to threaten to post those videos as a punishment if they ever dared to go against us.
They were also a way to keep Lana and Aurora in line, so they wouldn’t get any idea to fuck me over and take my crown.
Mom threw her hands in the air, throwing an exasperated gaze at Dad. “And right when she and I are about to do this joint fundraiser together. Can you imagine what the people would think about me?”
“That’s not important now, Helen. What’s important is to salvage the tabloid situation before it reflects badly on all of us,” he said.
“Yes,” Mom agreed. “We need to spin this situation around immediately. We have to save your reputation. You’re going back there, and we will do a photo shoot with that woman in the photo.
We’ll make it seem like you went there as a representative of my charity organization and wanted to offer her help.
We’ll pay her a lofty sum to keep silent. ”
I gaped at her. Before, I would’ve gone along with whatever they wanted to spin, but this time, I felt something heavy gnawing at me in the pit of my stomach—something telling me this was so wrong.
I thought of Maggie and sweet Abby, and shame punched into me as I imagined facing Maggie with this proposition.
That feeling only increased when I looked at Zach and found him glaring at me, his fury tangible, like he expected me to cave in.
“No. Absolutely not,” I said to my parents.
Mom’s pearly white teeth flashed between her red-lipstick-coated lips. “Don’t argue with us on this, Blair. You’re going to do it, and that’s final.”