25 #2
Fuck. She thought I was weak because I’d kissed Adrik, but she didn’t know the half of it.
I thought about telling her, but it was better for her to believe that I was a terrible person with cruel intentions.
I just couldn’t quite figure out why that argument hit me so hard, because I’d promised myself not to get close so anyone when I joined Tagus.
To make things even worse, Aegan came out of the auditorium.
“Calm down, Jude, she wasn’t supposed to become your friend, right?”
He stopped in front of me and scowled. Now he knew everything. He’d seen the kiss. Would he break up with me? Would that have been a good thing at this stage? I thought he was about to go ballistic, but I’d seriously underestimated him.
“So, how did you think we were going to handle this?” he asked me with that feigned disbelief that really pissed me off. “Would we sleep with you separately, or were you thinking of taking things further and trying a threesome?”
The word rage could barely describe what I felt when I heard that.
There had to be a word to convey this feeling .
. . It wasn’t anger; it was something almost mythical, blind and unstoppable.
It surged through every fiber of my body, leaving me gasping for air.
My ears were ringing. Something coiled in my chest, clouded my vision, and tightened my muscles.
Have you seen the scene in Mean Girls where Regina George discovers everything Lindsay Lohan’s character Cady has done, storms into her room screaming, grabs The Burn Book, and starts wreaking havoc? Well, picture something along those lines. I clenched my fists, screamed, and then punched him.
Fuck, that felt good!
All right, all right, violence doesn’t solve anything, but back in the day, when women wore those extravagant dresses, a lady’s best defense when insulted was a swift, dignified punch.
Of course, I wanted to jump on top of him, punching and kicking like some kind of Dragon Ball character, but the punch felt sharp, precise, and seemed to do just the trick.
Aegan’s handsome, clean-shaven face shifted from the impact, then quickly smoothed back into place. He looked like he’d almost been expecting it.
“You’re a piece of shit,” I blurted out. “Actually, you’re worse than that! You’re the biggest piece of shit I’ve ever met in my life!”
“And I thought you were smarter than that,” he spat, holding back his anger after being punched.
“I’d noticed he was paying you too much attention, but I didn’t think you’d fall for his stupid smooth talk.
In fact, I thought Adrik would finally get the message when I gave you the ring, but I forgot how much he enjoys fucking with me. ”
After hearing that, I knew he had to be behind this.
“So that’s why you did this?” I continued, now in a fit of uncontrollable rage. “You wanted to ruin my reputation with that video just because you were pissed off, didn’t you?”
Aegan looked around and noticed a group watching what was going on. There weren’t that many people, but those were ears that could turn against him.
“If you want to shout at me or go off on one, do it somewhere else,” he said, reaching for my arm.
“Get your hands off me!” I shouted so loudly that he was gobsmacked.
My blood was boiling, and having Aegan right in front of me with that stupid fucking face of his was making things worse. And, of course, my reaction only made him angrier. His brows furrowed and the bull-like anger he was renowned for was coming to the surface.
“Are you blaming me when you’re the one who cheated?” he shouted back. “You’re the one trying to raise hell to destroy me!”
“I’ll raise hell wherever the fuck I want!” I let out a ragged scream that shook me to my core. And then I took a step forward. I might be smaller, but I sure as hell wasn’t less powerful than him.
“Of all the things you’ve done, Aegan, this one has really—”
“Has really what?” he cut me off, with his chin held high and a defiant gaze. His voice was a deep, intimidating roar, but I didn’t flinch. “Do you even know what I’ve done? Or are you just blaming me because you love painting me as the villain?”
For my next move, I had the sense to look around. Although the people watching us weren’t that close, they could still hear, so I lowered my voice.
“You put that video on. How did you even get it?” I blurted out. “You knew what would happen. Everyone sucks up to you, and you wanted to make sure everyone saw me as a slut.”
“What did you expect them to do when they all saw the video?” he shot right back, furious. The veins in his neck were bulging. “Do you really think being with two guys at once is something to be proud of?”
I pressed my lips tight, fighting the urge to scream out everything I wanted to say. Okay, I had to be careful. I was pissed, but I had to keep my cool. In the process, I suddenly had a terrible sense of dread. My anger was morphing into a deep, aching sadness.
“I know it was wrong,” I said calmly, “but you could’ve done anything else to get back at me. I’d have taken anything else on the chin, but that was a really low blow, even for you.”
“I’m the only one to stoop that low? Really?” he asked, making me question myself.
He had that face that I really fucking hated. That gleam in his eyes and the mocking, bold, and shameless expression.
“Whatever you say . . .” I was over it.
“You’re so sure of yourself, it actually makes me feel sorry for you.
The Adrik you kissed is the Adrik he wanted you to see: mature, well-balanced, cultured, mysterious, harmless.
But you’ve no idea who he really is.” Aegan looked into my eyes, and I stared right back at him so I’d look confident and composed.
“You know what’s special about us Cash brothers, Jude?
There’s another side to all three of us.
Nobody really knows us. And you think that just because you showed up a few months ago and, by sheer luck, became my girlfriend, you already know which one of us is good and which one is bad? ”
“The three of you are the same,” is all I could muster, trying to hold back my anger.
“Yeah, it’s no secret,” he admitted, frowning and shrugging.
“But we all have different ways of going about things. I’m impulsive, I admit it; Aleixandre is spoiled and stupid; and Adrik .
. . Adrik is strategic, observing, nothing gets past him.
He noticed that my attitude pissed you off from the outset, so he did the exact opposite of what I would’ve done.
And you were stupid enough to fall for it. ”
What . . . ? No. Was it possible . . . ? Oh, no, please, no.
I didn’t know what to say. It was the worst time to be lost for words. And he picked up on it.
“Yeah, he’s very smart,” he said. “Girls eat up all that stuff about reading, being rebellious, and arguing with his brothers. I’m sure he even made a point of telling you that he’s different from me, didn’t he?
Because that’s how he wanted you to see him, and you fell for it.
You never expected him to treat you the way I did. That was his plan all along.”
His narrowed eyes stared at me with the harsh, cold intensity of a tyrant up against the leader of an enemy nation. I held his gaze for a minute, but I realized I needed to step back or I’d say something I’d regret.
I started to walk away, then stopped and glanced back at him.
“You’re so fucking disgusting, Aegan Cash,” I said. “I don’t know how you can sleep at night.”
Then I slipped off the ring with the letter A he’d given me, threw it in his face, and walked away, leaving him standing there.
I walked until I found a quiet, secluded spot. It was a park dotted with benches and flowers, where the lush green grass seemed to be begging you to lie down and relax. I sat on a bench to calm down. I had to steady myself; my breaths came in quick bursts, my eyes stung and my mouth was dry.
Jude, calm down please.
I already knew Aegan could be that cruel. But Adrik . . . Had he really tricked me into believing his different-kind-of-guy persona? How could I be so stupid? He was a Cash. I really dropped the ball by trying to separate the guy from the surname.
I felt weak. But I wasn’t weak. I couldn’t be.
I’d come to Tagus, and despite everything, I was still standing at this point in the story.
I was armed with evidence against him, and with the finish line in sight.
I couldn’t crack now, not because of Adrik.
It shouldn’t matter that he only wanted to be with me to spite his brother.
Getting bogged down by that wouldn’t do me any good right now. And the fact that everybody knew about me and Adrik wouldn’t hold me back either.
No way! I was no longer second-guessing.
I knew what I had to do the next day.
I’d destroy Aegan once and for all.
But, of course, that fair was full of unexpected twists and turns.
That’s where shit really started to hit the fan.
The Cash brothers.
My lies.
And secrets.