Betty creaks loudly as I stop at the light, and I can’t say I blame her. How quickly did I discard her when something newer and shinier came along? I now know firsthand how much that stings. I’ve decided that’s the most reasonable explanation for what happened with the Unholy Trinity. I’m still breathing, so they can’t know who I really am.
“I’m sorry, girl.” I pat her handlebars and sniff back tears. “You know I love you.”
A black SUV comes to a stop beside me, the back window rolled down. “Lily.”
My heart jolts like I’ve just been hit with a defibrillator. I stare straight ahead, refusing to give him the satisfaction of acknowledging his presence.
“Lily,” West says again. “Can you please get in the car?”
To my relief, the traffic light changes and I pedal forward, but my damn knees shake, making it more difficult than it should be.
“Please, shorty?”
I ignore Xander too, but the car continues driving alongside me. Tears swim in my eyes, blurring my vision and making me wobble.
“For the love of god, can you get in the damn car so we can talk to you?” Zeke shouts.
I pull on my brakes and come to a halt, causing the cyclist a few feet behind me to curse as they swerve around me. Their car stops too, and horns blare in protest. Turning, I glare at them and fervently wish for them to burst into flames. “Fuck you.” I flip them the bird too, just to make sure they get the message.
The car door is thrown open, and Zeke jumps out. Shit-eating bastard. He reaches for Betty’s handlebars, but before he can touch me or my bike, I punch him in the jaw. He staggers back, his lip split open and bleeding. Whoops, didn’t intend to do that. I mean he deserved it, but still.
His eyes narrow, and I push aside my guilt and give him a triumphant smile. “Crawl back to your limo and leave me the hell alone.”
He wipes the blood from his lip with his thumb and his tongue darts out to lick away the rest. An unwelcome memory of his mouth doing unspeakable things to me makes me sway, but I think I manage to steady myself before he notices. I expect him to start raging at me, but his shoulders droop. “Lily. I know we don’t deserve a second of your time, but please, get in the car and let us explain.”
I swallow down the tears that threaten to burst out of me. Three days have passed, and the pain of what they did hasn’t lessened at all. I deserve answers, and I don’t care if they think they’ve won if I get into this car. I need to close the door on this part of my life, and I can’t do that until I face the three of them. I hop off my bike and thrust her into Zeke’s hands. “Fine. You can give me a ride home.”
They look both intimidating and kind of awkward all squished together on the bench seat when there’s so much room in this car, but Xander moved from his spot when I climbed in, allowing space for Betty and me. And if one of them tried to sit near me now, I’d scratch his eyes out.
I clasp my hands together so they don’t see them shaking. My legs tremble too, but I plant my feet on the car floor. It’s little comfort that they all appear as nervous as I am. “So?”
West speaks first. “We’re sorry.”
I rear back like I’ve been slapped in the face. “Sorry? Fucking sorry. Oh, that makes everything okay then, doesn’t it?”
“I’m not done,” West says through gritted teeth.
“We’re all so fucking sorry, shorty,” Xander adds, his eyes pleading with me.
“I didn’t get into this car for an apology.” The pain of their betrayal burns in my chest, but I manage to keep my voice even. “The time for sorry has passed. I want an explanation. That’s all I’m interested in.” I cross my arms and legs and sit back. “I’m listening.”
Silence fills the small space as they glance at one another, and I’m contemplating jumping out while the car’s still moving when West finally speaks. “The article you were writing …” He grimaces. “Somebody told us that you were writing an exposé on us.”
A fucking what now? I clamp my lips together.
“It was an ex-girlfriend of ours. We should have known she had an ulterior motive,” Xander adds.
The anger already simmering inside me threatens to boil over. An ex-girlfriend. And they believed her?
Xander runs a hand through his dirty blond hair. “We didn’t believe her, shorty.”
Zeke leans forward. “Not at first. But then, some of the things she said made us …”
“Curious,” West finishes for him when he can’t seem to find the word.
Do they know the truth? Are they going to tell him I’m still alive? Sweat trickles down my back and my pulse spikes.
West clears his throat. “Then someone at the magazine confirmed it was true.”
I glare at him. Who the hell told them that? Nobody except Julian even knew what my article was about.
“Come home with us and we’ll talk about this properly, princess.”
Princess? That word snaps my last shred of restraint. These arrogant, conceited assholes know nothing about me or who I really am, so at least there’s that. I’m still safe here in New York. But they chose to believe some other woman, a woman they no doubt screwed over if their actions with me are any indication, rather than give me a chance to explain.
“I am not your fucking princess, West. I am not any of your fucking anything anymore. You all left me standing in the rain looking like—like a fucking lunatic!” Losing my composure, I screech the final few words. The mere memory of that night cuts like glass. I take a deep breath before continuing in a calmer tone. “You showed me who you really are that night. And you know what? I don’t even care why you did it. I don’t give one iota of a fuck why you didn’t speak to me like grown-ups instead of blindly trusting whatever your ex told you about me—”
West cuts me off. “We didn’t blindly—”
I hold up my hand. “Do not interrupt me when I gave you the courtesy of listening to what you had to say.” A thick vein pulses in his temple, but he keeps his fat mouth shut. “I am done. There is nothing any of you can do to change what you did. Nothing you can say to alter the fact that you are three of the worst human beings I’ve had the displeasure of knowing. And I don’t give a monkey’s fucking buttcrack about how much money you have or how powerful you are. I hate you. I hate what you turned me into. I hate that I shed a single tear over any of you.” Gritting my teeth, I swipe the back of my hands over my cheeks and glare at them.
“Now leave me the hell alone and go ruin someone else’s life.” I press the button to speak to the driver. “Stop this car and let me the hell out. Now!”
“Lily?” Xander pleads.
His expression even more emotionless than usual, Zeke presses the button on his side of the car and gives the driver the go-ahead to stop and let me out.
“Fuck no. We aren’t ending things like this.” Xander reaches for me just as the car rolls to a stop, and I jerk away.
West puts a hand on Xander’s thigh. “Let her go, Fitch.” Then he gets out and opens the door for me. Tears stream down my face as I climb out, hauling my battered old bike out with me and wishing I could bring myself to hate them as much as they deserve.
