I darted my eyes around the room, anticipating raised brows and shaking heads as people tut-tutted over the bride’s unfortunate, low-class origins. But no, the guests weren’t looking at Caroline, the top table or even at me. They’d bowed their heads in collective embarrassment. Even table 23. Like a bad radio station, they simply tuned me out.
Caroline’s posture was identical to when she’d lied about Manuel and just like back then she was gaining sympathy, a poor, defenceless victim suffering from having such a detestable sister.
I knew then that it was Caroline I hated the most. Cultured, sophisticated Caroline and her pure, unblemished future. Caroline and her cruelties and lies. The angry surge inside my gut swelled into a wave of rage intent on annihilating her. I didn’t think about James and I didn’t think about consequences. My only thought was to sweep Caroline away and to do it with exactly the kind of vulgarity she despised.
“Congratulations Caroline,” I said, so close to the microphone it screeched. “James is a real catch. He’s handsome and rich...and he can fuck all night. Hell, I was sore for three days.”
My father jumped up, his face so red I hoped he’d burst a vein. “Get down from there this instant,” he shouted.
I shouted back. He was down there and I, for once, stood over him. “Don’t tell me to shut up and don’t tell me I’m a liar. James screwed me on Caroline’s bed the night before he left for Australia. He knows it and so do I.”
A huge gasp came from Caroline, and then she forgot she was supposed to be refined. She banged her fist on the table and got to her feet, sending her chair tumbling onto the floor. “Shut up you bloody little bitch!”#p#分页标题#e#
Her hatred knocked me off balance and I swayed, reaching for the balcony to steady myself. “Sticks and stones, but your husband jumped my bones,” I sang drunkenly.
Caroline stretched out her hand to James. “Tell me she’s lying.”
His face was ashen. He was at Caroline’s side but his eyes roamed my body as if trying to match his memory of that glorious night to my every inch. Caroline grabbed his arm and shook it, and his mouth opened. Not a sound emerged.
My laughter was as full of triumph as Caroline’s had been. “James can’t tell you what you want to hear, Caro. He can’t tell you lies. While you were sulking at Veronica’s, he was in your bed with me, the slutty little sister, taking my virginity. He might have been drunk but he called my name so many times I thought he knew it was me he was screwing.”
I tsked into the microphone. “If a man really loves you he should know when he’s having sex with somebody else, don’t you think? James couldn’t tell the difference between us, drunk or sober. Not the first time, the second, the third... In fact, he said he couldn’t imagine fucking any other woman after he’d had a taste of me, but don’t let that bother you on your honeymoon.”
Caroline looked at our mother, the guests and then at her new husband. Her voice was a whisper, loud in the silence. “James?”
“Fuck,” he mouthed, tearing his eyes away from me to look at Caroline.
She clutched at her heart and her rings caught the light, flashing as she darted her eyes between James and me. She couldn’t believe this was happening, that the culmination of her romantic dreams would end in hearing the sordid truth from her despised sister. Anguish drained her face of all colour except her blood-red lipstick.
I did it because it felt good.
Well, this felt amazing! I wanted to beat Caroline into the ground, rub her face in it and gloat like she had for so many years. But I had to do it before my father reached me. He’d stalked out of the banqueting hall and that could only mean he was heading my way. Quickly, I slammed shut the balcony door and locked it from the inside.
“Here’s another truth, Caro,” I called down as his heavy trod hit the wooden stairs. “Earlier today James was jealous at the thought of me screwing anybody else but him and he didn’t even know we’d slept together. And when we were kissing in the bridal suite just now he wanted sex—barely a few hours after vowing to love you and forsake all others. And—”
“That’s enough,” James said sharply, fists clenched at his sides. “You’ve had your fun.”
The door to the balcony rattled, and it would be only a matter of minutes before my father managed to wrench it open. My adrenaline rush was trickling away and I didn’t feel so powerful anymore. Caroline was still Mrs James Scott-Thomas with her whole life ahead of her, and I was still homeless, pregnant Paisley. My future would be just like Caroline had said.