"You have boyfriends?" I tried to lighten the mood, to make her laugh like she usually would when I teased her about the many guys on her speed dial, guys who were fuck buddies and little else.
To my surprise, she shot me a venomous glare that made me take a step back. "I don't appreciate being blown off for some prick you won't see any more in a few weeks."
I rarely lost my temper. But having Dani barge in here, effectively wrecking my post-date glow and flinging around her opinions, sparked my anger.
"What's it to you?" I unclenched my fingers when I realized I'd inadvertently made fists and my fingernails were digging into my palms. "I don't interfere in your relationships and I'd appreciate the same courtesy from you."
My emphasis on relationships was a direct dig at her lack of them and she knew it. "Besides, it's what you did to me for years. Choosing some loser to spend the evening with instead of me. Ditching our plans. Being selfish. Not giving a damn about anyone but yourself." The resentment I'd quashed during our teen years spilled out in a torrent that shocked us both.
Dani and I didn't fight. We'd grown up together and she'd been the sibling I never had. But she'd just pushed my buttons in a big way and I felt sick to my stomach that I'd revealed too much. Especially when I saw the sheen of tears in her eyes.
Dani never cried. Not once in all the years we'd been friends had she shed so much as one tear. It made me feel like a bitch.
"Look, just forget it—"
"No." Dani squared her shoulders, her stare icy despite the shimmer of tears. "Feel better, getting that off your chest? Because you've obviously been stewing on it for a decade."
Her upper lip curled in a sneer. "Anything else you want to give me shit for?" She tapped her temple, pretending to think, before snapping her fingers. "I know. Why don't you tell me what you really think about all the guys I've slept with. Just call me a slut and be done with it. Or how you've never forgiven me for not following you to the ass end of the earth and attending DU with you."
Dani's voice had risen with each accusation and rather than making me want to back down, I was spitting mad again. Because the truth was, she'd articulated some of the stuff that had bugged me for years, and now that it was finally out in the open, maybe I would get some answers.
"Why do you do it? Sleep with so many guys?"
If I'd scored a direct hit, she didn't show it. Instead, Dani steeled her expression into a hardness I'd never seen. "Who says I sleep with them all?"
It was the first time I'd heard her admit what I often suspected: that Dani liked to portray herself worse than she was. "You do. It's all you ever did when we were teenagers, boasting about your conquests, taunting the other kids at school into calling you a slut." I shook my head, sadness replacing my anger. "I hated how you belittled yourself like that."
She glanced away, but not before I'd seen a flicker of pain. "It's all in the past."
"Is it?" I pointed at the clubhouse in the distance, visible through the front window. "Because even our first night together, when I wanted to stay in and catch up, all you wanted to do was pick up some random guy." I puffed out a breath. "You're still doing it, Dani. Whenever we're together, all you want to do is hit on guys or rustle up a party or scope your next prey."
That last comment was catty but now that the truth was tumbling out of me, I was on a roll and couldn't stop. "As for you not coming to college with me? That didn't bug me half as much as you not telling me the truth as to why."
Dani sagged a little and I almost went to her. Almost.
"Not everything revolves around you," she said, her tone frigid. "You have your secrets, I have mine."
"What secrets …"
Damn, if she knew how involved I really was with Kye, there was no telling what she'd do in this mood. Would she betray me to my dad? I sure as hell hoped not.
"I saw the Aussie leave her a little while ago." She pinned me with a stare that meant business. "You should be proud, banging the hottest jock."
I winced at her crudeness and she sniggered.
"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." She glanced at her watch and faked a yawn. "Pity though. By the time you've finished playing with your newest toy, vacation will be over and we won't have any time to hang out."
She fake-knuckled her eyes. "Boo-fucking-hoo."
I stared in disbelief as the one, true friend I had in the world flipped me the finger and strode toward the door, slamming it on her way out.
Chapter 22
KYE
My morning may have started off pretty frigging great, waking up next to Mia after our first official date night, but the day had gone downhill from there.