Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147545 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 738(@200wpm)___ 590(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
She brushes past me, but I’ve had such a long day, I decide not to let it go. “You know, you’re a real asshole.”
Jaw dropping, she turns back. “Me?” she says, indicating herself and drawing my attention to her stupid boobs in her blue-striped bikini top. “I’m the asshole?”
“Yes. You go out of your way to make me feel like shit, and you don’t know anything. You defend Tim because he was your friend and he fucked you once in a while, but you weren’t there. You don’t know what he did to me—and worst of all, you don’t care.”
“Bitch, yes, I was. Don’t tell me you missed me the whole goddamn night. Maybe you were too busy drawing hearts in your notebook around Tim’s name instead of your boyfriend’s, but I’m not some outsider you can make shit up to. I was there, and that’s exactly how I know you’re a fucking liar.”
Someone makes the unfortunate decision to open the sliding door to come inside, but after glancing between Nina and me, he changes his mind and turns back around.
“I didn’t mean you weren’t at the party. You weren’t in the bedroom. You act like you know what happened just because you were there that night, but you don’t know what happens between two people when—”
She interrupts, eyebrows hiked up. “No, I know what happened because I was with him, and I know Tim was good, but even he can’t fuck two bitches at the same time if they’re not in the same place.”
Scowling, I stare at her. “What are you talking about? He slept with you—what, before he went into the room with me? After?”
Either scenario is extremely fucked up, but it’s not like having sex more than once in a night is impossible. Tor and I have done it.
Nina shakes her head, looking at me with open disgust. “My god, you’re so fucking delusional. It’s like you believe your own bullshit. You really need professional help.”
“I’m just trying to understand what you’re saying. Even if he slept with you the same night, that doesn’t mean—”
“He didn’t just sleep with me the same night, Cassie, he was fucking me when you claim he was raping you, and you know he was,” she says, looking like she wants to shake me. “You flashed him eyes on the boat and tried your virginal bullshit, and he didn’t take the fucking bait. He wanted a woman who knows how to please him, not some stupid little girl with a crush. You couldn’t handle the rejection. You wanted to punish him. That’s why you were unhinged enough to actually try ruining his reputation, but that didn’t go how you thought it would, did it?”
I feel like she just punched me in the gut. Drawing breath suddenly takes effort. “That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is. I saw you leave, Cassie. You stormed right by us. You were so pissed off. You might be able to lie to other people, but I remember what actually happened. I know you’re full of shit.”
“I wasn’t pissed, I was upset. And I didn’t see you…” I start shaking my head, and I can’t seem to stop. I’m so tired of people making me feel crazy. “You’re lying about everything.”
“Yeah, I’m the fucking liar here,” she says, rolling her eyes. Spinning on her heel, she opens the sliding glass door and goes back out to the party.
At first, I’m just… stunned.
I’m no stranger to the viciousness of people’s single-minded defense of Tim Walters, but typically the words aren’t flung directly at me, face-to-face. I’ve been called a liar more times than I could possibly count, but Nina was there that night, and for her to attack me with such ferocity, to say such awful things we both know aren’t true…
It doesn’t make sense.
Long after Nina is out of sight, I’m still standing there trying to process, heart thudding, staring sightlessly at the sliding glass door as I pick at the thread she loosened and my entire world begins to unravel.
I tell myself to stop. I don’t have to listen to her. I know the truth. She said all that because she’s vicious, but there’s no way…
But why would she say all that when she’s only talking to me? She sounded so sure of herself, so angry. Why would she be so angry with me if she knew she was making it all up?
I notice my chest moving, the extra effort it takes to draw a breath.
What she’s saying is impossible.
I know what happened that night. I was there. I was the only one in that room with him, trapped beneath his body, his hand clamped over my mouth.
I didn’t make anything up.
I’m not crazy.
But I don’t think she is, either.
Mean, but not crazy.
She believes what she just said to me. But how could it be true, when I’m telling the truth, too?