Chapter 39
SADIE
It takes a moment for the rest of my body to catch up with what my eyes are seeing. At first comes the sharp pain in my chest, the ache of betrayal. Then comes the anger surging through me like a tidal wave.
“What the hell are you doing in my room?” Gwen shrieks.
Despite the shitstorm that’s coming from her, I can’t take my eyes off Danny.
“Sadie… it’s not what it looks like,” he says.
“I’m calling the cops,” the bitch continues. “This is home invasion.”
Melody rushes out of the bathroom, holding something in her hand. “Go ahead. Call them. I’m sure they’d love to know about the stash of Rohypnol I found hidden inside your toilet tank.”
She waves a clear plastic bag with small glass vials inside.
“What the hell!” Danny takes the bag from Melody and stares at its contents.
“That’s not mine!” Gwen’s eyes widen in fear.
Suddenly, the truth about the night I was drugged comes rushing through me. We’d never thought to turn our suspicions to a female party.
“Did you spike Sadie’s drink at the Pike party?” Danny takes a step toward his ex, looking possessed.
My anger at him diminishes. Maybe he had a valid reason for coming to Gwen’s room. I can’t jump to conclusions, not when it comes to him.
“How dare you accuse me of something that despicable?” Gwen retorts.
Melody takes the bag from Danny. “I bet we’ll find your fingerprints all over these vials.”
“You bitch. Give me that.” She jumps on Melody, surprising everyone.
Melody loses her balance and ends up falling with Gwen on top of her.
The act of violence triggers something in me.
I react on impulse and shove Gwen off Melody.
She lashes out like a feral animal, scratches my face with her nails, and we become tangled in a catfight.
She pulls my hair and tries to bite my hand.
For fuck’s sake. This is insane.
Despite the situation, I hold back. I could do some serious damage to her, but if I break her nose with a punch, it’ll be hard to explain to Coach Lauda.
Vanessa and Danny manage to break us apart. Vanessa is the one holding me, but I don’t offer resistance. Danny, on the other hand, has to put some muscle into restraining his ex. Man, she’s a total psycho.
“Let me go!” She tries to shake free.
“Stop it, Gwen,” he demands.
We must have made too much noise, because the room quickly fills with more people. I see Andy and Joanne. The other newcomers all seem to be Gwen’s sorority sisters.
“What’s going on?” one of the girls asks.
“I found these bitches in my room,” Gwen accuses us.
A tall brunette takes a step forward, looking directly at Melody. “ You . I told you you weren’t welcome at ChiO house.”
“I wouldn’t be here if one of your sisters hadn’t threatened a Raven.”
The girl looks at Gwen. “What’s she talking about, little sister?”
Ugh. Do they seriously call each other that? Barf.
“She’s lying. They’re all here because Danny ditched their friend for me.”
Danny’s expression contorts in disgust.
My hands ball into fists. “You lying cunt. We’re here to find proof you vandalized my car, but instead we discovered you drugged me at the Pike party.”
“What?” Joanne says. “She’s the one who spiked your drink?”
“Son of a bitch.” Andy passes a hand over his face.
“All lies!” Gwen shrieks again.
“Settle down, Gwen. It’s over,” Danny tells her.
“You need to leave now. This is a matter for the ChiO,” the brunette says.
“Fine. We’ll go. But we’re taking the proof with us.” Melody shows everyone the bag with the drugs.
“That’s not mine, Caroline. I swear. The bitch must have planted it in my bathroom,” Gwen whines.
Melody shrugs. “They won’t find my fingerprints on them, that’s for sure.”
Caroline pinches the bridge of her nose, sighing loudly. “Whatever. Just go, and take your proof with you.”
Danny finally releases Gwen and shortens the distance to me. She sits on the edge of her bed, hugging herself, and starts to cry in earnest. Crocodile tears.
“Are you okay?” he asks me.
“Yeah.”
He touches my face where Gwen scratched me. “You’re bleeding a little.”
“I’ll probably need rabies shots.”
He shakes his head and then pulls me into a hug. “You’re crazy, girl. What were you doing here?”
“What I said I was. Looking for proof that your ex trashed my car.”
His body becomes tense against mine. He pulls back and looks into my eyes, ready to reply, when Andy taps him on the shoulder and motions us to follow him out. Yeah, we shouldn’t linger here in case Gwen decides to pounce on me. Fucking crazy cunt.
Danny takes my hand, and we don’t stop moving until we’re outside the ChiO house and away from the front door.
Then I stop and force him to look at me. “What were you doing with that bitch?”
“Same thing as you were. I figured if I led her on, I could get her to confess she damaged your car.”
I pull my hand from his and cross my arms. “So you flirted with her?”
“A little.”
He didn’t even need to reply. His eyes look guilty as hell.
I bite my tongue. Getting into a fight because of Gwen would be giving her too much power over our relationship.
“You’re not going to say anything?” he asks.
“Not right now.”
I can see he has words lodged in his throat, but our friends walk over, so whatever they are will have to wait.
“What are we going to do now?” Vanessa asks.
“We need to hand this over to the police.” Melody shakes the plastic bag.
“Damn. I can’t believe Danny’s psycho ex was the one who drugged you, Sadie,” Andy pipes up.
“Yeah, me neither. It makes me wonder what her endgame was.” I hug myself, hating that because of her, Nick motherfucking Fowler got his hands on me.
“Guys, I don’t want to be the one to rain on your parade, but most likely, the police won’t be able to do anything with that evidence,” Joanne butts in.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“They could only use it against Gwen if they had been the ones who found those drugs.”
“Hell, you’re right,” Andy replies.
“So we can’t do anything against her? She’ll just walk away free?” I ask.
When no one replies, I have my answer. All this drama and humiliation for nothing.
I throw my hands in the air. “That’s just spit-on-your-neck fantastic, innit?”
“Maybe she’ll get kicked out of her sorority?” Charlotte suggests.
“That would be a heavy blow to her ego,” Danny replies.
I glare at him. “Yeah, because that punishment is severe enough for drugging me and almost getting me sexually assaulted by Nick Fowler.”
Danny winces at my remark, right before his gaze turns murderous. “Don’t remind me of that.”
“Why the hell not? It’s the truth.”
“Sadie…,” Vanessa starts.
“Don’t ‘Sadie’ me. I have to go.” I turn around and stride away from the ChiO house.
“Sadie, wait up,” Danny calls after me.
That makes me walk faster.
He jogs to catch up and then blocks my path. “Stop, please.”
“Why, Danny? What do you want from me?”
He runs his fingers through his hair, sighing in frustration. “I don’t want you to leave angry with me. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what I had in mind beforehand. When Coach Clarkson asked me if a jealous girl could have been responsible for your car, I only had one suspect in mind.”
“And you thought seducing the information out of her was the way to go?”
He frowns. “Are you telling me your way was better?”
“At least it didn’t involve getting near an arsehole and pretending to like them.”
“I’m sorry, okay? I couldn’t think about anything besides making sure you were safe.” He takes me by the shoulders and steps into my space. “I love you so damn much, Sadie. I’d do anything for you.”
Suddenly, my eyes prickle. What the hell? I never cry. But here I am, on the precipice of bawling my eyes out.
“You’re an idiot.” I grab his shirt and pull his mouth to mine.
His arms slide to my back, pulling me closer while his tongue takes possession of mine. My cheeks become hot and wet, and I curse whatever broke in me that turned me into a puddle of emotions.
He pulls back, cradling my face in his hands. “You’re crying.”
“You’d better get a good look at it, because this is a rare sight.”
He wipes the moisture from my cheeks with his thumbs. “Did you drive here?”
“No.”
“Good. Let’s get home, then.”