59. Sable
SABLE
My fingers fly across the keyboard, ensuring I note everything the teacher says. Orion murmurs something beside me, but I wave him off and keep focus. He kept the promise he made in the library the other day to let me study, and while I’m happy about it, I certainly don’t trust it.
Orion decided to be less of a pain in the ass today, but the wind could blow another direction and offend him tomorrow.
I’m focused, listening, enjoying myself being mentally stimulated for once.
So, of course, he’s like a puppy, jumping up and down beside me and begging for attention.
I just keep ignoring his antics, hoping he gets tired or finds a bone.
“Sable…” he whines beside me.
“Shh!”
“This is my worst idea yet. Can I get a dumb girl? Smart ones are annoying.”
I bite the satisfied smile that he called me smart, not taking my eyes off the document in front of me.
My chest puffs with pride as my fingers scroll through the document and every note I took. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a moment to just be a normal college kid. The last time was when my dad picked me up that afternoon.
There are only five minutes left, but I have enough here to go through when Soren brings me to the library to study on Thursday, and some source materials to find.
I’m actually excited, and I’m hit again with the novelty of the feeling.
I sit back in my chair, and this time, I smile and close some tabs, getting ready for the next class.
“Tell me why you need my attention.” I turn to him with a smile on my face.
This time, it’s him not paying attention to me.
His eyes are cast down, a crease between his eyebrows as he works on a sketch.
My lips part in awe when I see the most beautiful ball gown I’ve ever seen in my life.
My eyes trace the soft lines of the black corset. The lace is so delicate, so familiar.
I’m confused and amazed at how someone can draw like this or imagine something so pretty.
The train is lace as well, but it’s nothing like I’ve seen before.
Along with the lace are a series of three-dimensional skulls, and I can envision the model dragging them along the ground behind her as if she’s the queen of death herself.
“Oh my God,” I say before I can stop myself.
His eyes whip toward me and narrow. He covers the sketch. My hand shoots out to stop him, taking his fingers in mine. I haven’t looked at my fill yet.
“What material would you use to create the skulls? It needs to be light.”
His shoulders relax and eyes soften. “I was thinking resin.”
I nod, and I’m bold enough to reach for his notebook. I think he’s going to stop me, but he doesn’t, and I look at it closely. “Handmade and perfectly crafted to look like this.”
He snorts. “Obviously.”
I roll my eyes as I flip the page, and I’m surprised to find one of the dresses I own there.
My heart picks up speed as I touch the marks, hoping that will prove them fake and make them disappear.
He didn’t. I flip more pages, finding more and more of the items in my closet. My whole wardrobe is in his sketchbook.
“You designed everything ,” I say, shocked that he would spend that kind of time and artistry on me.
I knew he sent the second set of clothes but I thought Orion was being fussy about what I wore, not painfully sweet and considerate.
I thought he just wanted to dress his new toy, but looking at these sketches, it’s obviously more than that.
An ominous series of pings and vibrations rings from all four corners of the class.
The commotion pulls my eyes off the drawings.
I frown, looking around as everyone reaches for their phones, tablets, and laptops at the same time.
It echoes in different ringtones and vibrations.
I push the sketchbook to the side and focus on my laptop, quickly finding the Bellthorn email.
Just like the others, I have a new message.
But I don’t snicker or smile like the others with their eyes glued to the screen. No. I tremble from head to toe when I see the words in the subject line.
SABLE brIARWICK’S SEX TAPE
My eyes fly to Orion, and he’s looking at his email too, but he’s not frowning.
He smiles like he knows exactly what’s going on, and I’m shocked to say he managed to hurt me.
He got under my skin, but it’s obvious he’s behind this, that he doesn’t care.
Everyone around me opens the email. The teacher has no control over the class, telling everyone to settle down, but to no avail, as not a single person listens.
I’m sick to my stomach, and I want to rip their devices out of their hands to stop the inevitable.
I stand. I refuse to stay here while they watch me.
It doesn’t matter which time they recorded; it was all humiliating.
Is it the day of the library with the twins?
Was it yesterday with the three of them?
Of course, Orion wouldn’t let me have a day of peace.
He let me come here so he could have an audience, the most important thing to him like always.
“Sable, just open it.”
What a fucking bastard. His computer is forgotten. I guess he doesn’t need to check it out when he planned this whole thing. I jump out of the seat and run for the door. Orion’s heavy steps follow me, his voice calling my name. I can’t pay attention to that right now. He’s gone too far.
“It’s not what you think,” he says, sounding annoyed, and I can’t imagine how he has the right. I stomp away, trying my hardest not to cry. Tears won’t wipe their hard drives or memories, so they won’t do me any good.
“You’re overreacting again,” he says.
But I don’t stop and fall for this bullshit.
I keep going, my feet fast on the steps that merge into the main hall, and there are people everywhere.
My little map has proven useful, and I know my way back to my room now.
I’ll camp in the hall if the door is locked.
I’m not staying down here. But it’s hard to move quickly with everyone out of class, and everyone has seen that email.
People block my way, gossiping among themselves and not letting me through.
I curse out loud and scare a couple of people into jumping out of the way, but to my surprise, they stop looking at me the second I edge by.
My escape doesn’t last long, and despite my best intentions, I bump right into a wall of muscle.
Parker. I know before I even look at his face. His smile is slow, eyes shining when he takes me in, big hands over my shoulders. “Going somewhere?”
“Let me go, Parker,” I scream. A few people look our way, but no one records, no one points. Something strange is definitely happening here.
“Why? Have you looked at the email?” An odd mirth fills his voice, and I can’t imagine this was him.
He may be an intense weirdo with secrets, but he’s been so soft with me lately.
He wouldn’t do this. Would he? Before I can reply, Orion catches up to us, avoiding the shoulder Parker draped me over, which is wise because I would hit him.
“She has not seen the email,” he tells Parker, and they pass each other a knowing look.
“Fuck you both.” I’m so angry that’s all I can manage to say.
Soren descends a far staircase and cuts through the crowd approaching us from the left. His mean glare is aimed at his brother just as accusingly as mine. Hadrian comes next and last Lex. Parker drops me back on the ground, and the wall of assholes surrounds me, preventing me from leaving.
“I want to go to my bedroom,” I tell them all at once.
“What the fuck did you do?” Soren looks straight at his twin.
“Orion, you did this?” Hadrian wants to know.
“Let me out.” I try to push Lex out of my way, but he closes the circle firmly.
At least they’re tall enough that I can’t see around them, and the crowd can’t see me either.
“None of you assholes actually opened the email?” Parker asks, impatient.
“Why? Do I look good on camera?” I ask, my mouth full of venom.
Before Parker has a chance to reply, a scream cuts through the hall.
Their cry is high-pitched, and this time, when I try to separate Lex from the others, he lets me go.
Arabella descends the same set of stairs Soren came down, bloodshot eyes, wearing a murderous expression, and hair a complete mess.
I have to swallow my immediate judgment, knowing that’s how people probably look at me.
The entire crowd turns to her, and I notice not one of them is looking at me.
Maybe Orion was telling the truth after all.
“What are you all looking at?” she screams to the room at large.
Flashes pop off, and people laugh as they record her.
I’ve never been on this side of the crowd, never felt the hunger all around me, only pointed at me.
I want to enjoy her suffering, but I feel vaguely sick with how easily this could have been turned on me.
She moves through the crowd, pushing and shoving, searching for what, I don’t know.
Her entire face changes as her eyes land on her target.
I follow her gaze and find Liliana. Just like Arabella, she’s surprisingly disheveled.
I’ve had sleepovers with the girl and never seen her like this.
Her entire body shakes, and she opens her mouth to sob.
Before her cry can turn into words, Arabella cuts her off. “You absolute whore!” she cries, snot bubbling from her nose.
“What the hell?—?”
Parker cuts me off as he thrusts his own phone into my hand.
The email is already open this time, forcing me to look.
There’s nothing but a blue link with my name.
Despite my growing sense of unease, I click it.
Before the video can load, Arabella charges toward Liliana, who cowers, just having had her nose broken.
At least I know Arabella is the actual crazy one, as her punch lands on Liliana’s face.
She screams, and I imagine that had to hurt really badly since it’s not healed.
It never turns into a real fight because someone pulls Arabella away.
People explode with noise around us, but I still don’t understand.
“Watch it,” Orion says in my ear.
My hands shake as I look down at the video, but it’s not my own tits waiting for me. This is definitely a sex tape, and there are some very rudely close-up angles, but as the camera goes wide, I see who’s starring in this film. Liliana is having sex with some guy.
“That’s Arabella’s brother. Married brother,” Parker says.
I frown, confused why I’m watching that.
It doesn’t end there. It’s not just the video of Liliana and Arabella’s brother.
They are text messages from Liliana talking shit about Arabella, to their friends and to other people, even to Arabella’s brothers.
Liliana turns out to be a bit of a con artist. She stole money, Arabella’s projects, ideas, and so many other shitty things like a cloud of sabotage.
My mind flits back to little things that happened when we were friends, and I wonder if she’s always been this way.
Just when I think it’s bad enough, it gets worse.
Liliana maliciously targeted Arabella. After she took whatever she could for herself, she needed to do real damage in her family too.
She fucked her brother, followed her dad until she got pictures of him and his side piece, and then used them to blackmail him too.
The most damning piece of evidence is the proof that Liliana is not who she says she is. She’s penniless, nameless, a grifter.
“You were her original target,” Parker says into my ear. “But then you became poor.”
“I met her when I was fifteen,” I argue. “How could that be true?”
“Everyone needs extracurriculars to get into a good school,” Orion says.
I have no words, but Lex of course does. “Meeting, now.”
I don’t need to be told twice. I turn on my heel and head to the stairs. I’ve been begging to go back to my room for the last twenty minutes.
“Why does he always call the meetings?” Orion complains.