Barbie Bitch (Rejects Paradise 3)

I take the glass from him and look down at the clear liquid before bringing it to my lips and throwing back the whole glass. My face scrunches with the burn and I choke back on it, having absolutely no idea what I just drank.

“Woah, Jade,” Colton chuckles. “You’re supposed to sip it. This shit will fuck you up.”

I shrug my shoulders. “Excellent. Hit me with another.”

Colton ignores my comment and moves into me with a hand on either side of my thighs, caging me in on the counter. “Are you alright?”

I shake my head, feeling his closeness somehow pulling that rage out of me. “No, I’m so freaking angry. I can’t understand how he could do that to me? He was supposed to be my best friend but every single step of the way, he’s done something to betray my trust.”

Colton’s arms wrap around me and he holds me tightly to his chest. “It’s okay,” he murmurs. “I’m going to get a security team to come through and sweep the property properly. You won't have to worry about it anymore.”

I nod into his chest, hating how much this has destroyed me. It’s like the final nail in the coffin. Maybe it hurts more because seconds before that, I thought I had my friend back. We were nearly there. I was so close to starting to forgive, but the guy just keeps fucking up. How can he expect me to ever move on from this?

“So, I take it things didn't go so well in Breakers Flats?”

I pull back and meet his eyes, quickly realizing that if there's going to be a right time to tell him about Nic being behind the DeCarlo attack, that it would be now, but I find myself hesitating. If I was to tell Colton, it would be a war. He vowed that he would get revenge for the attack and if he knew that Nic was behind it all, he’d act out against him and I have absolutely no idea how far he would go.

Do I lie to the man that I’m falling in love with?

If Colton knew and hurt Nic, or Nic retaliated and hurt Colton … I don’t know where that would leave me. Things would never be the same again. If I tell, I’m going to lose either one or both of them permanently and it’s not a risk I can take.

I shouldn’t want to protect Nic. I should be throwing him under the bus and making him pay for what he did, but I find myself holding back. Colton is my future. I know it with one hundred percent certainty, but I can't find it within myself to let go of Nic or the Widows, not yet at least.

I find myself shrugging, feeling the heaviest kind of guilt falling down on my shoulders and slowly tearing me apart from the inside. “See, that’s just the thing,” I tell him, deciding that I need to give him at least a little bit of truth. “It was going great. Nic and I talked things through and I thought we were just about to get back on track and find that common ground again when everything went south. We talked everything through and it was so freaking heavy but we needed it, and then I was ready to call the boys and make things right with them when Nic came with another apology and slipped up about the cameras. I just … it was the final straw.”

Colton pulls me in again and I find myself staring down at the ground. I’ve never felt so damn pathetic. I’ve always made a point of being honest, and although I didn't exactly lie, I evaded the truth and to me, that’s just as guilty.

“Come on,” he tells me, pulling me off the counter and dragging me out of the kitchen. “I found some things while going through my sister’s room that I think will cheer you up.” My brows furrow as I look up at him in confusion. “It’s their big plans to take you down this week at school. They’re not too skilled in the art of takedowns and actually wrote this shit out like a schedule.”

“Are you kidding? Everyone knows you keep that shit locked up tightly inside your head.”

“Yeah,” he laughs. “I never claimed they were smart.”

I shake my head as he pulls me up the stairs towards Cora’s bedroom and I laugh as he pushes open the door. They’ve only been home a week and already she’s transformed her old bedroom into a Cora shrine. There are selfie pictures covering the wall, everything pink and fluffy, there’s a whole wall dedicated to her jewelry with a rotating case for her diamonds. “This shit is insane,” I grumble. “These girls have too much money.”

“I know,” he grumbles.