Chapter 13 #2
My mind whirled as I compared his version of events to what I'd heard from the others. It didn't track at all. Then again, Cherry had made it clear that my sister pointedly hid her relationship with Roman from their group. So it made sense that she'd hidden it from Kane too.
As for the guy Kane mentioned Cal kissing at a party… that made me wonder. Had Cal broken up with Roman in those last few weeks before her death ? Was that why he put her name on the List? Was it why he killed her? Jealousy, revenge, possessiveness… or all of the above?
“Did she ever mention Roman Valcourt to you?” I asked.
Kane frowned. “No. At least not that I recall. Why?”
Damn.
“Just wondering,” I said, keeping my voice casual even as disappointment settled in my chest.
He looked pointedly at my now-empty glass. “Want another drink?”
“No thanks. One’s enough for me on a weeknight,” I said with a tight smile.
“Ah, there’s the family resemblance,” he said with a wink. “Cal was totally the same. Not a big drinker. Way more into the food.”
I frowned. That wasn’t how I remembered my sister at all. She loved cocktails and wine, and she’d always had much more of a stomach for alcohol than me. She could put away three or four drinks at dinner and still seem completely sober.
I thought back to the rest of the conversation we’d had so far, and that tiny seed of doubt grew roots.
Kane hadn’t said anything that made me think he and my sister were anywhere near as close as he claimed.
Just generic, surface-level stuff that could apply to most people.
So maybe they were friendly… but were they really the sort of friends who hung out frequently and talked about everything?
I wasn’t so sure about that.
Also, I still thought it was strange that his name had never shown up in her inbox.
He’d explained it away with the ‘I’m not a big texter’ line, but surely there'd be at least a few texts coordinating meetups here and there, or even just sending the occasional photo or meme. And he’d certainly had no issues texting me to coordinate this evening.
On top of all that, I’d also noticed that he’d avoided questions about my sister a couple of times, using distractions like flagging down the server or ‘accidentally’ spilling his drink.
As if he either didn’t want to answer at all, or wanted to buy himself a few extra seconds to think of an acceptable answer.
I decided to conduct a little test.
“Speaking of food,” I said, raising a brow. “What was this place like with her allergies?”
“Hm?”
“Cal was super allergic to nuts, remember?”
Kane nodded. “Oh, right, yeah.”
“I’m sure she told you that story about those asshole prankster guys, right? The ones she knew from the theater.”
“Hmm.” His lips twisted in confusion. “You’ll have to refresh my memory.”
“They made her a cake, and while she was eating it, they told her it was full of nuts, even though it wasn’t. They also hid her EpiPen to scare her.”
“Oh, shit, that’s right. I remember that now. I told her I’d kick their asses if she wanted me to,” Kane said, face twisting with disgust. “Stealing an EpiPen is totally fucked up.”
“Yeah, it is.” I cocked my head. “Did you ever see it?”
“The EpiPen?”
I nodded, and he went on.
“Yeah, at an ice cream place we went to down by the harbor. She ordered a banana split with no nuts, but the dumbass server brought it out covered in them. So she got the EpiPen out just in case she’d inhaled some of the dust.” He slowly shook his head. “Crazy how careless some places are.”
“You know what’s also crazy?” I said, leaning forward. “None of that’s true. Calista wasn’t allergic to anything.”
Kane's expression went blank, all the color instantly draining from his face. “What?”
“That cake story I told you was about someone else. Someone you’ve never met,” I said. “But you’d know that if you actually knew my sister. And you’d also know she wasn’t allergic to anything.”
“I… uh…”
“You weren’t really friends with Calista, were you?” I asked, eyes narrowing. An angry heat was creeping up my chest and throat.
Kane had the good grace to look slightly ashamed. “Uh… no. Not really.”
“Did you even know her at all? Like, as classmates or something?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. “I, uh… I never officially met her, but I saw her a few times.”
“You saw her?” I said, voice dripping with incredulity. I sat back, throwing my hands up. “What the hell was this supposed to be? Some sort of dare from those frat buddies of yours?”
Kane lifted a palm. “Listen, I’m sorry, okay? It’s not a dare. I just… I saw you at that party last week, and I thought you were hot. So I found out who you were. Then I saw you again on Monday, and I thought—”
“You thought you'd use my dead sister as an opening to get my number and invite me on what I guess you hoped would turn into a date?” I said, voice dripping with scorn.
“Shit.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. “It sounds bad when you say it like that. But I didn’t know what to say to you. I didn’t want to walk up to you for no reason.”
“You could’ve approached me and said literally anything that wasn’t you pretending to know my sister, and it would’ve been fine,” I said, hands shaking with rage.
“And yeah, it sounds bad, because it is bad. This is honestly the most fucked up thing that’s happened to me in a while, and believe me, some really fucked up stuff has happened lately. So the bar was already in hell.”
“I’m really sorry, Violet. Can we just—”
Before Kane could finish his sentence, I stood abruptly. “Usually I’d pay for my own stuff,” I said, gesturing to my half-eaten salad and empty glass. “But seeing as you’ve wasted my time, you can get the bill. And you can delete my number too.”
With that, I stormed out of the restaurant, ignoring Kane’s pleas for me to stay and talk. On my way out, I glanced over to see him frantically waving down a server, presumably so he could pay the bill and chase me out with more of his awful excuses.
I rolled my eyes and stepped onto the sidewalk, speedwalking toward the corner that led to the parking lot where I’d left my car. When I glanced at the window where I’d been sitting a moment ago, I saw Kane hurriedly leaving the booth and heading for the exit.
Ugh.
I picked up my pace, stepping around the corner and into the parking lot.
It was huge, wrapping around the side of Revs and extending all the way to the back of the building.
Overhead lights cast pools of yellow-white glow across the asphalt, but the spaces between them were dark, shadows stretching long in the night.
Most of the spots near the restaurant entrance were full, which was why I'd parked around the back earlier, tucked near the corner where the brick wall of the neighboring building met the back wall of Revs.
A moment later, I heard rapid footfall on the asphalt behind me. “Violet! Wait!” Kane called out. “Please!”
I whirled around, eyes narrowed. “Don’t follow me!” I snapped. “I don’t want anything to do with you!”
“Please,” he repeated, hurrying over to me. “Just let me start over.”
“Start over?” I said incredulously, brows shooting up. “How could I possibly forgive and forget this bullshit?”
He lifted a hand. “Look, I know I’m an asshole. But I just… I really wanted to get to know you, and I was willing to do anything. Doesn’t that count for something?”
“Um, no? Not when the ‘anything’ you did involved you pretending to be friends with my dead sister to get close to me,” I snapped. “I mean, did you honestly think that would work?”
“Well…” He hesitated, eyes flickering with a hint of defiance. “It did work. Until you figured it out, that is.”
“That’s exactly my point. How did you think this would turn out in the end?
” I said. “Even if I hadn’t figured out what you were up to tonight, and we ended up dating for a while, I’d still figure it out eventually, right?
So what then? Did you think I’d be so enraptured with you by that point that I’d just let it go? ”
He rubbed his jaw, lowering his gaze. “Uhh…”
“Oh.” Understanding dawned on me, and I shook my head with disgust. “You weren’t even trying to date me. You were just trying to sleep with me.”
“I—”
I cut him off. “Save it. I don’t want to hear another word out of your mouth. You’re literally the slimiest asshole I’ve ever met.”
With that, I turned and stalked away, my footsteps echoing as I headed deeper into the lot.
“Hey, it was worth a shot, right?” Kane called out. “I figured you might give it up easy, just like that sister of yours.”
I stopped dead in my tracks. Then I turned back around, hands trembling with fury. “What the fuck did you just say to me?”
He stepped closer, lips twisting in a smirk. “I might not have known Calista, but I sure heard a lot about her. And you know what I heard the most? She was a total slut. Got passed around at parties every weekend.”
“Wow, so now you’re slut-shaming my dead sister,” I said, nostrils flaring. “Amazing seduction technique. Am I supposed to blow you now?”
He scoffed. “I know you’re being sarcastic, but if you’re even half as good at sucking cock as your sister supposedly was, then yeah, I’d love that.”
White-hot rage coursed through me like molten metal in my veins. Without thinking, I lifted my hand and slapped Kane right across the face.
Guilt set in a split-second later. My mom had always taught me to sort out issues with words, not violence. I should’ve just turned and walked away from this sleazy prick, not hit him.
That sense of regret instantly vanished when he reached out and shoved me in response to the slap, sending me stumbling backward. My left shoulder blade slammed into the building, and I gasped as pain radiated down my back.