“You wiped everything.”
“You’re the dumb bitch who handed it over.”
“Not to you,” she seethed. “To Mason. I trusted him.”
He rolled his eyes and laughed. “I don’t even feel bad for you. You’re so stupid.”
She jerked back. “Mase?”
There it was again. She still didn’t believe it. “I agree with my brother.”
It was at that moment that she started to get it. I watched as each piece of the puzzle began to fit into place and she stumbled back a step. When she ran into the pool table behind her, she choked out, “It’s on my computer. It’s in my email. You’re going to regret this.”
I lifted my phone. “Both of those are gone. Say goodbye to your email.”
My phone beeped.
“What’s that?”
Parker whispered from behind her, “Oh no.”
Logan began laughing. “You guys are so screwed. Getting it, Park? Did you get a text, too?”
Kate whipped around. Parker had gone pale, and she showed her phone to Kate. “It’s Nate.”
“Nate?”
“Yeah, Nate, you f**kheads.” Logan shook his head. “He might be injured, but he’s not out of action. He hasn’t been the whole time. We knew about your plans for Sam. You wanted to drug her, have him make a sex tape with her?”
“Oh my god.” Kate lifted stricken eyes to me. “You knew?”
Logan started to say it, but I shook my head. I needed to do this. Everything was cold inside of me. I’d been hiding it for the past week. They should’ve known better. Smarter people would’ve, but Kate wasn’t sane. She was desperate so I used that to pull her back in. She saw what she wanted, but she couldn’t mistake it this time. I let her see my loathing. I let her see the cold calculation and when she did, she began shaking. The blood drained from her face, and I knew she was going over everything in her head. I waited and when she gasped, I knew she remembered.
“You should’ve listened to me that day.”
“No.” She shook her head. “No. You dumped her for me.”
“Did I?”
“You—”
“She hasn’t been in school since we attacked her,” Parker said.
Kate’s mouth clamped shut and she began to turn away. “No, no, no, no … No. It can’t be.”
Parker growled. “It is. Get with the program. They played us. They all played us. Nate just sent me a text. It’s done between me and him.”
“What did you do?” Kate turned back to me. She cried out, “What did you do?!”
“Nate sent me a text just now, too.” I would spell it all out for her. “He went to your home, Kate. I told him how to get in. Your dad’s at the VFW, and your mom’s working a double shift tonight.”
She paled even more, stumbling back another step.
I continued, “That’s what you told me earlier. Your mom won’t be back to the house until seven tomorrow morning. You had a gift for me, and we’d have your house to ourselves for the entire night. Your dad would go to some whore’s house after closing. Those were your words.”
“So? I mean …” She looked to Parker, who rolled her eyes and moved away. Kate shook her head. “This can’t be happening. Nate can’t do anything. He—all of you guys are here. I mean …”
Logan snorted. “You’re too slow to deal with us. You never should’ve tried.”
“Nate was at your house. That was him texting me. I gave him your password, sexcontrolsthemall. You never changed it. You told me it last summer. You laughed about it. Did you forget that? You should’ve remembered telling me. You should’ve changed it when I brought Sam around.”
“Sam,” Kate spewed out. “Her. This is all about her, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” Logan hit his palm against his forehead. “Are you seriously only now getting that? He worked you, Kate. You went after the woman he loves. He TOLD you he was going to f**k you over. You didn’t listen. Listen now!” He laughed to himself. “You might pick up a few pointers for the next time a guy screws you over, and it’ll happen. You’re dumb enough to think you’re smart, but you’re not. You need to be smarter to realize how stupid you are.”
“Hey,” Parker started, but stopped.
Logan cut his gaze to her. When she couldn’t say anything, he nodded. “Exactly.”
“Stay out of this Logan,” Kate cursed at him. “This has nothing to do with you.”
An exasperated laugh ripped from him. “You took a video of me getting a blow job? AND you beat up my stepsister. Sam’s not loved by only Mason, you know. I care about her too. Any of this filtering in that thick head of yours? I can’t believe how you’re not shitting your pants right now. He hasn’t even gotten to the good part. Parker, grab a bucket. Stick it between her legs. Shit’s going to fall any second now.”
“ENOUGH.” Parker jerked forward a step and pulled Kate back to her. She glared at him. “She’s getting it. The guy she loved just stabbed her in the back. Let her figure it out without all the insults.”
“No.”
Logan opened his mouth, but stopped. All three turned back to me.
I said it again, “No. You don’t get to think like that. I’m not the guy she loved who turned out to be an ass**le. I’ve always been an ass**le, and I’ve never cared about her. I used her for sex. That was it. You don’t get to spin it how you’re doing it. I’ve been honest about that with her. I told her it was just sex with us. No girlfriend/boyfriend status. No lovers title on us. Sex. That was it.”