The Bad Boy Wants Me(68)

Of course you want to know why I whispered that bit of venom right at that confusing moment when my brother’s heart would have been racing fast enough to explode?

It’s not because I’m a trouble maker.

It’s because I look at his shell-shocked face (it was glowing less than fifteen minutes ago) and I feel a rush of pity for him. His die has been cast. There he is. A sex God. Everywhere he goes he is mobbed and loved the world over. Almost any woman he wants he can have and yet at that instant I realize he is the loneliest person in the world.

There is not a single person in the world outside my dad, me, and Cora that he can truly trust. I knew then that if I did not tell him about Gavin, all I would be doing is leading him down a path where he would stand shell-shocked by still another betrayal.

It is like I slapped him. His whole body contracts at my words and he looks at me as if it is his fault that Gavin is a bastard. He takes my hand gently as if he is afraid I would break there and then, and I say clearly. I want to spare him the humiliation of being here. Of having his heart ripped out of his chest in front of an audience. ‘Go now. I’m all right.’

‘But you …’ he trails off as if it is too painful to even say the words.

‘I’m a big girl. I can handle this.’

He nods, turns on his heels and walks out of the room. The room is so silent you could have heard a pin drop. I walk up to Octavia. She blinks slowly at me.

‘Get out of my house you vindictive bitch,’ I growl at her.

There are shocked gasps all around us. No one has seen this side of me. I am the loony little sister. Be nice to me to get to my brother.

She takes a step back. ‘What’s wrong with you all? Don’t kill the messenger. I’m not the bitch here. Tori Diamond is a lying, cheating slut and I just exposed the truth. You should be thanking me. She was about to ruin your brother. Couldn’t you see, he was intoxicated by her?’

I look at her. Yes, Tori turned out to be a snake in the grass, but I always liked her, there was something warm and kind about her, but this cold, black-hearted, mercenary bitch, I disliked her from the first second I laid eyes on her.

I let my eyes run down her skinny body in her designer leather dress. ‘Tori has more class in her little finger than you ever dreamed of having.’

Her eyes register shock and fury. She always dismissed me as the inconsequential little sister. Well, I’m not. Not anymore. Thanks to Tori. So I’m not going to say a bad word about her.

‘You don’t mean it,’ she says, trying to look dignified, but her face is red with humiliation.

‘I never wanted anything more in my life. Get out of my house before I get the bouncers outside to escort you out. With the paparazzi vultures gathered outside that would make very interesting breakfast reading.’

For a second she hesitates, then she lifts her chin proudly, and leaves the room. The sound of her heels clicking on the hardwood floor is loud.

I look at the DJ and smile at him. ‘Can we have some music before this party dies of boredom.’

He raises his eyebrows in an impressed way and spins a revved up version of Taio Cruz and Ludacris’ Break Your Heart. Adrenaline is pumping in my veins, but soon the tears will come. With my head held high I walk away to the kitchen. Cora. Cora will know what to do.

Cash

Clutching Tori’s poisonous diary in my hand, I go out through the kitchen door, cross the garden, and vault over the brick wall. I’m halfway up Mrs. Herrington-Little’s garden when she spots me through her kitchen window and comes to open the sliding door.

‘Wipe your feet,’ she instructs as if I’m still thirteen.

I wipe my feet and automatically ask about her son. My voice sounds normal, not like my head is on fire and Tori’s name is vibrating in my chest like a fucking cell phone. Cash calling Tori. Cash calling Tori. Cash calling Tori. Fuck it.

Mrs. H chatters about her son as she walks me to her front door. I don’t hear a word.

I open the door. ‘Thanks, Mrs. H.’

I walk on to the street and stride down it, my head lowered. I take a left at the end of the road and casually walk towards my car. A scruffy man standing near my father’s front door spots me. Shit. He raises his long lens camera and starts snapping away. It alerts the others and they begin running towards me. Everybody wanting to get the best shot. They remind me of a pack of hyenas. I get into my car and floor the pedal.

I dial Gavin’s number.

He answers on the third ring. His voice is cautious. ‘Hey, Bro.’

‘We need to talk,’ I say, my voice completely normal.

‘Yeah, I agree. Let’s talk, dude.’

‘Where are you now?’