“Is something wrong?” Jess asked.
“No. Just not feeling good. You caught me at a bad time.”
She smiled. “Sorry. I can get a little excited.”
“It’s fine. I think I just need to lie down.”
“Sure, no problem. Maybe I’ll show you the rest of the footage later. It’s pretty insane.” She stood up and smiled. “Thanks for your help.”
“Of course.”
She turned and walked out of my room.
I put my face into a pillow and screamed. For a second, that made me feel a little better. I was itching with anger and nervous energy. I wanted to run downstairs and confront Lincoln in front of everyone, but I knew that was insane.
Why would Jess even show me that? I was supposed to be his stepsister. The more I thought about it, the weirder that whole exchange was. She didn’t actually care about what I thought of the scene. In fact, when I said I felt a little sick, she looked absolutely pleased.
Had that bitch showed that gross scene just to get a rise out of me? I couldn’t rule that out.
But that didn’t make it any better. As much as I wanted to do something about how I was feeling, I couldn’t risk giving Jess exactly what she wanted.
Instead, I sat back to kill time until their break. I knew where I’d find him then.
The asshole better have something good to say.
I found him playing pinball. Inevitably during the break between the morning and the afternoon session, Lincoln would go into the game room and take out his frustrations on the pinball machines. He used to play piano, but ever since we started sleeping together, he went into the music room less and less. I watched him a few times, but mostly I left him alone, not wanting people to notice us spending time together.
But it was probably too late for that, considering Jess had probably noticed something.
I stood leaning against the pool table watching him play the machine, my emotions a mess of confusion and anger. I had a hard time believing it, but I had seen it with my own eyes. Lincoln flirting with the dumbest girl alive, right there on camera, completely shameless.
Finally, I cleared my throat loudly. Lincoln looked up, surprised.
“Brie baby. When did you get here?”
“Not long ago. We need to talk.”
His grin faded when he heard the tone of my voice.
“What happened?
I paused. “Jess came to see me this morning?”
“What did she want?”
“She showed me something.”
He sighed, smirking and crossing his arms. “You gonna keep beating around the bush, or are you going to tell me what’s up?”
“I’m pissed, Lincoln,” I snapped. “I mean, seriously? Misty?”
“Misty?” He cocked his head and then laughed. “You mean the idiot from my charity date?”
“Yes, that Misty,” I spat at him. “Jess showed me the footage of your date.”
“Okay. So I don’t get why you’re upset.”
I gaped at him. Was he insane? “Look, I get that whatever is going on between us has to stay secret, and we’re not really dating or whatever, but it was disgusting watching you flirt with that moron.”
He looked even more confused. “Flirt with her? Are you nuts? That girl was repulsive.”
“That’s not what Jess showed me.”
“Fuck,” he said. “Tell me exactly what you saw.”
I made a face. “I’d rather not.”
“Listen to me, Brie. This is important. Tell me exactly what you saw in that footage.”
I stared at him for a second, not sure what to do, but something in his gaze convinced me. I began to recount the whole thing, starting from the beginning. He listened, nodding, until I got to the part about him flirting back.
“That didn’t happen,” he said.
“What part?”
“Her foot on my leg? She did that. And I moved it immediately.”
“The footage made it seem like you were into it,” I said slowly.
“What else happened?”
I finished off the narrative, and his face grew angrier and angrier as I went.
“That fucking cunt,” he said.
“So you’re saying she lied somehow?”
“That stuff happened, but she left a lot out. And it wasn’t all in that order.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Fuck.” He moved closer to me. “Listen, Brie, that girl was insane. Yeah, she came onto me. But I turned her down, flat out, and she lost her shit. I bet Jess didn’t show you that part.”
I shook my head. “It didn’t really show anything else.”
“She cut that footage to make it look like I was into Misty. But it didn’t happen that way at all.”