Poison

“Go on, then. Get started.”

She took a deep breath, faking a trembling bottom lip that would have usually moved mountains in guilt, but not this time, and then she started.

“We went to Psychic Showdowns, that big fair over by Leominster, me, Dawn, Hannah and Yasmin. It was a weekend thing and we’d been getting ready for it for months, doing all the workshops and preparing for the classes and everything.” She paused. “You must remember what I was like back then, Lucas. Psychic spirituality was my whole life. Always chasing the higher purpose and applying it to the road ahead. That was my thing. Dawn’s too. And Hannah’s.”

“I remember plenty about what you were like back then, Maya,” I told her. “Just carry the fuck on, please.”

She shook her head a bit more, and I saw those victim’s tears brewing, but this time I wasn’t having it. Not any of her fucking bullshit. Not anymore.

“It was an intense weekend,” she said. “We were all sinking really deep into the therapies and the courses, and part of that was having a session with Kade Riley. You remember Kade Riley? You must remember Kade Riley?”

I stared blankly. “Who the fuck is Kade Riley?”

“The psychic guru, Kade Riley. The guy who has the TV show and does the weekend courses across the world. He’s incredible.”

“I don’t have a fucking clue who Kade Riley is,” I told her. “What the hell does it matter?”

“BECAUSE HE WAS THERE!” she snapped. “Because I’d been aching to see him for years! And he was THERE! And we were able to have a session with him, one on one with Kade fucking Riley! You can’t substitute that, Lucas! He was too good!”

I was still staring blankly, not quite believing just how much she was still buying into the fluffy New Age bullshit she’d been into for years.

“So?” I asked. “How does that apply to you being a lying fucking bitch, Maya? How the fuck does it apply to you fucking up my whole entire fucking life?!”

She breathed in deep, and there it was again, the whiny little victim part of her shining out through her eyes.

“Because he told me our destiny was together! Me and you!” Her stare was crazy intense. “I asked him to read my cards, and he did. He read them and told me about the man in my life who’d bear me a child and be my world, and how the road would be hard, and it would involve betrayal, but we’d make it. He said one night together would lead to a whole new life, and it was with someone I knew I had feelings for… someone I couldn’t resist…”

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!” I yelled, then cursed again under my breath. I kept it steady, forced myself to keep pacing, and she was shaking her head, finding the words.

“IT WAS YOU!” she yelled back. “It was you I had feelings for and couldn’t resist! I knew it as soon as I saw you that night out without Anna, and you were stumbling, and you climbed into the back of the taxi with me. I knew that you were the man in my life Kade was talking about.”

I stared in shock and started shaking my head, but she was nodding right back at me.

“It’s true, Lucas. You’re the one Kade was talking about. He even described you perfectly. Broad shoulders, and that dirty twinkle and the hard jaw… and the beard and the hair… and the suits you like to wear. He even said you’d be in a green suit, Lucas. Just like your favourite one. Hannah and Dawn said it was you straight away as soon as I told them. They said that’s Lucas Pierce, Maya!”

I stepped up closer, and my glare must have been pure fucking spite.

“So you lied to me about being pregnant with my fucking baby because some spiritual fucking headcase told you we were meant to be? That’s what you’re saying, is it? That you thought it was destiny to be a malicious, twisted, fucking bitch and wreck my fucking life?”

She shook her head. “No! I thought I might well be pregnant when I told you that. I thought it was better to get the betrayal out of the way when Anna first got home from her retreat. I thought it would be better for everyone that way around.”

“So you LIED!” I spat, and my rage was boiling over, I turned away long enough to catch my breath and she was bleating on in the background, mumbling on about how she’d been so sure it would be right, and so sure it should’ve worked out between us, and still could.

“FUCK YOU!” I screamed, and it was hard to keep it together. So fucking hard. My eyes must have been pure fire when they crashed back into hers. “You handed me that pregnancy test with shaky fingers, like you were scared for the whole fucking future, Maya! You saw me fight back the urge to fucking vomit, knowing I was losing my whole life to that bullshit you were spewing out at me!”