Page 8 of Destroying My Ex

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LACEY

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I haven’t been able to sleep a wink since Gray brought up that bitch’s name at dinner the other night. How did I not know that she was going to his school? Her mother, the bitch is always very tight-lipped since the stupid courts changed the rules.

Mom and I always used to know what was going on in her life, but then she started snitching, and her Mom got all pissed off and took my Dad to court to kill his rights. That would’ve been for the best; then, I wouldn’t have had to see her ugly face again. But then, I wouldn’t have been able to torment her on those weeks she came to the house so I wasn’t sure which I wanted more.

Then the judge changed things, and Mom warned me not to do anything more to her, or we could all be in trouble. My grandparents, whom I’d never met, had threatened Dad then, too, and he had come down really hard on Mom and me.

It's true that he didn’t know all that we’d done to Lily. He was usually at work when most of it happened, and when she stayed in her room all those years, Mom convinced him that she hated him because of the divorce.

I was too young to understand a lot of things when I was younger, but once I got old enough to understand, I started asking questions, and Mom told me everything. She told me how she and Dad had fallen in love, but his family forced him to marry someone from his social circle, and because she was too poor, they didn’t accept her.

That’s why Lily was born while my Dad was married to her Mom, and I was born a bastard. It was only years later that I learned the truth one night when my parents were arguing, and the truth was ugly.

I don’t remember what was going on around that time, but Dad was pissed off about something and was yelling at Mom for ruining his life. He’d accused her of costing him his family and the only woman he loved.

Those words had scared me so bad that I’d run to my bed and pulled the covers over my head. But that wasn’t the last time I’d hear those same words said in that same tone. Sometimes, there’d be more said, and that’s how I was able to put the pieces together.

That’s when I started hating Lily. Before, I just went along with whatever Mom did because she’s my Mom, but after hearing how much Dad wished he had stayed with her and her mother instead, I hated her more than ever.

It's bad enough that I never got to meet my father’s family because of her; now, she was stealing my Dad as well. After that, I made sure she never stood a chance with Dad. I had to outshine her in every way, and Mom worked on him as well, until pretty soon, he didn’t mention Lily or her mother again.

We’d make up stories about how awful she’d been to the two of us. Sometimes, Mom and I would bruise ourselves and make it seem like she had done it. Once, Mom even trashed Dad’s home office and claimed that Lily had done it.

But then they’d had that stupid court case come around, and everything came out. Dad had been pissed then, too, and tried kicking us out of the house, but Mom had threatened to say that he was touching me inappropriately if he tried to divorce her, and he’d backed down.

I found out later that it was my grandparents who wanted him to get a divorce because of what Mom and I had done to their precious princess. I’m not sure what he said to them to stay in their good graces, but things calmed down after that, and for a while, there was no drama.

Lily started coming less and less, but whenever she was there, she stayed to herself anyway and never really did anything with us. Her stuck-up Mom used to have food delivered for her whenever she stayed the weekend as if she didn’t trust my Mom’s cooking. Well, the cook’s cooking under Mom’s instructions anyway.

It used to bug me seeing her around our house every weekend, acting as if she was better because she was untouchable. And then, one night, my friends came by, and she didn’t leave as she usually did, just sat around in the living room. There was nothing I could do because Dad had threatened dire consequences, not from him but from her mother, if anything else happened to her under our care.

My friends all went crazy over her, especially the boys, which was why I decided never to let her meet my Grayson. It was because of her that I didn’t save myself for Grayson. Even after two years since the first time they saw her, my friends would still bring her up whenever they came over to my house.

Sometimes, she would be there shut up in her room, and they’d beg me to invite her to hang out with us. I hated every second of it but had to play it off as if she was just antisocial. I tried getting them to dislike her, but there wasn’t much I could say since they’d met her and saw that she was partially nice.

The bitch had been all sugar and cream that day, and now my friends all think she’s some Goddess or some crap. I’d forbidden them to mention her at school, and because I had stuff on all of them, they knew better than to cross me. I needed to have at least one place where I was free of her.

It died down after a while but I still never mentioned her to Grayson. I never did it when we were younger because I was always afraid that if they met, he, too, would like her more than he liked me, and that could never happen because he’s mine, and he’ll always be mine.

But now she was on his campus, too close for my liking. There’s no way I can get into that school. I don’t have the right GPA, and because of some stupid case in the last year or so, they’ve been cracking down on people who bought their way into Ivy League schools, so that was out.

But I can make him come here. I can force him to switch schools no matter what anyone else says. This was driving me crazy, and what’s more, he didn’t answer my calls right away like I made him promise to.

Granted, for the last few months I haven’t been calling that often because I was busy doing other stuff. But that was before I knew that witch was in such close proximity to my future husband. Just the thought of the two of them talking makes me sick to my stomach.

At least I know from what was said that they haven’t had any kind of contact. Grayson would’ve said so when I asked because he’d never lied to me before. But that wasn’t enough; I needed to get him away from her. I can’t rest until I do.

GRAYSON

I knew she would start harassing me on the phone or try to, but since I refused to answer, she had taken to leaving me screaming voicemails, which were all going into the folder I had been keeping for the last couple of years.

This wasn’t the reason for me not answering her, but once I heard what she had to say in those messages, I was glad I didn’t answer because how else would I have the proof she’d so easily given me?

I have no doubt that she’d try to get her father to pressure me into dropping out to join her at her school, but that wasn’t about to happen. I had a full scholarship, and even though I was using my parents financially right now, I could always dip into my investments to pay for whatever I needed that my scholarships didn’t cover.

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