Page 5 of Destroying My Ex

GRAYSON

I don’t know why, but for the first time since I came up with the idea of getting back at my parents and Lacey’s for what they’d done to me, I wanted to share with someone. I’ve kept it all to myself for obvious reasons, but she’d been so open with me that I felt as if I could share with her as well.

I didn’t doubt a word of what she said. After everything I’d been through with Lacey and seeing firsthand the lengths her parents were willing to go to for her, I could easily see everything Lily described taking place. Beyond that, there was something about her that I trusted.

I didn’t jump right in and spill my guts, though; this family is sneaky, so who knows? Besides, it’s not like we were friends or anything beyond the fact that she was decent enough to tell me about Lacey’s cheating.

“Did you tell me to get back at her?”

“Get back at her for what? Did you not hear a word I said? My grandparents hate her and her mother; while I was vacationing in Europe since the age of four, she and her mother were back in the States having a fit because they weren’t invited.”

“My Mom is still the only daughter-in-law my paternal family recognizes, and neither she nor her mother has ever stepped foot in any of the places owned by my family. My Dad can barely look his family in the eye almost twenty years later and has suffered greatly because of his choices. Tell me, what do I need to get back at her for?”

“So it doesn’t bother you, the way they treated you as a kid?”

“Of course, it bothers me. I’m not made of stone, but I don’t live my life that way, and I certainly wouldn’t hurt someone else to get back at them. I did it because it was the right thing to do, plain and simple.”

I looked at her closely to see if she was putting me on, but she seemed genuine enough. Huh, I guess everyone isn’t as vengeful as I am. Had I been treated the way she had, I’d be out for their blood.

* * *

That was the first of many conversations, and over the coming weeks, we sort of gravitated to each other in class and ended up working on a few projects together. It was an unwritten rule that neither of us let on to our families back home that we even knew each other, but my first weekend back, I couldn’t help rocking the boat a little bit.

In actuality, I wanted to see the responses of the people involved, so that first night, when all of us were out to dinner, I innocently broached the subject.

“Mr. Sinclair, do you have family that goes to my school?” He looked like a deer caught in headlights, which told me that he knew his daughter was attending the same prestigious university as me.

“Why do you ask, son?”

“There’s this girl on campus; I think her name is Lily. We haven’t met, but I heard someone call her name and thought of you guys.”

“She’s my daughter.”

“Your daughter? I didn’t know you had another daughter. Isn’t she the same age as Lacey and I? She’s a freshman, I think, but I could be wrong.”

Mom and Dad were giving me death glares, which I promptly ignored and carried on eating as if it was no big deal, but from the reactions of Lacey and her Mom, I knew all I needed to know.

Janice looked at her husband like he’d betrayed her, and Lacey was all but spitting out her food at the table. After dinner, she cornered me before I could get in my car and drive away, insisting that I leave my school and come to hers.

“Why would I do that? We’ve already had this conversation, and this school is the best for my degree.” I was looking directly at her, enjoying her anger and discomfort while hiding my hate.

“That girl, I don’t want you around her. She’s bad news.”

Here stood before me, the girl who had acquired three new friends with benefits since starting college. We weren’t even midway through the semester yet.

I can see why her father needs to buy her a future husband. He’s probably seen in the daughter what he knows of the mother. And I was his sacrificial pig. No lamb would ever get near this bunch.

I wanted to fuck with her because she thought she had any rights to me, but I had to do it in a way that I didn’t lose my family’s support. If I came right and told her what I thought of her now, that would be like shooting myself in the foot.

But time and distance had taught me that there were ways around everything, and one of the ways I chose to take back the power they had stolen from me was by making her as miserable as I possibly could without showing my hand.

“You mean your sister? Why? What has she done?”

“I don’t have to explain that to you. Just remember who you belong to.”

“I don’t belong to anyone; what the hell has gotten into you?”

Oh, she really hates Lily. It was written all over her face. She was almost hyperventilating because I refused to give in to her demands. “I have to get back to campus, so if there’s nothing else. I’ll call you when I get back.” I didn’t even give her the little peck on the cheek I’d taken to giving her before getting into my car and driving off.

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