Page 33 of Driving Force

“Yep,” is all I say. Every time I went into my bedroom, all I could see was Tinley, her perfect body in my bed, her smell on my pillow from the shampoo she used. So after the first night back, I slept on the couch instead of punishing myself even more than I was already doing.

“You need to get your ass up. We have to get to the race shop; you haven’t been in all week, and the race is this weekend,” Matt says.

“Yeah, I know we have a race, but that is honestly the last place I want to be right now.”

Coming over to sit near me, Matt pulls me up and shoves me toward my bathroom just as a knock at my door makes my heart rate pick up. Could she be here, wanting to hear the truth, talk to me, and be back in my arms?

“Ry, are you here?”

“What the fuck do you want, Serena? Haven’t you done enough damage in this lifetime?” I ask, ready to fight like hell with her now that we aren’t in front of the public eye.

“Whoa, bud. Calm down. You don’t want her twisting something even more if you lose your shit on her, okay.” Matt says, trying to get me back in check.

“Serena, why are you here?” I ask, calmer, but not by much.

“Ry, now that’s no way to talk to the mother of your child, now, is it?”

“We have no child Serena; I haven’t been with you in over a year, and you know it. So why don’t you save me the dramatics? There aren’t cameras here for you to play up to. What do you really want from me?”

“Just what I deserve. You threw me away without a second thought. I really thought we had something great, but the second another girl turned your head, I was out like last week’s trash. So when I saw you with the frumpy-looking girl at Vegas, I knew I could get you back. There was no way you would be with someone like that compared to me.”

“Don’t you dare talk about Tinley. She has more class in her little finger than you ever will.”

Serena cackles. “You really are living in a fantasy, aren’t you?” she says, stepping closer to me. “You think she will last in this world? At your side? They will eat her up and spit out. They will make her life a living hell in the media, and she won’t survive it. Mark my words, I did her a favor with my little, as you call it, stunt.

“What makes you so sure about that?”

* * *

Hearing the front door slam pulls my attention from the shit show that has turned into my life, and I see Tinley come into view. I’m blown away by how beautiful she is; her dark hair curled just how I always love it. She wears a pair of jeans that hang her curvy body and those blue eyes that have the fire of an active volcano shooting daggers at Serena.

“Who says you get to be judge, jury, and executioner in my life? I’ve lasted in your world, as you call it, for a few months now without judgment or the mean girls’ club. And believe me when I tell you, you don’t want to mess with my mean girls’ side because I may look all sweet and innocent but mark my words, I will go to hell and back for the ones I love. Now,” she says, flicking Serena’s forehead, “I think it’s time you and I had a little talk, don’t you… Selena, is it?”

“It’s Serena, actually, and you must be the homewrecker,” she spits.

“Let’s chat, shall we? And you can tell me just how far along you are and when this all happened. I’d like to have all the facts straight before I just bow out and call a spade a spade with this relationship, if you don’t mind.”

“If you must know, it happened around six months ago, one drunken night with Ryan, and let me tell you, it was very memorable, she said, rubbing her nonexistent bump.”

Don’t get me wrong, I know most new moms start to have one, but you would think a model as tiny as she would have a noticeable one, Tinley thinks.

“Well, that’s funny considering he’s never mentioned seeing you recently and said that you guys had broken up over a year ago but do continue this is rather interesting. Do you have any pictures of the little one? I know new moms always want to show off those little blob pictures. Care to show those?”

“Well, I don’t have one on me,” she says.

“You come into town like a tornado ripping up everything, but you have no proof? I am shocked.” I clutch my necklace like a true Southern belle. “Well, I’ll tell you what, let’s go right now. With all your and Ryan’s connections around town, we should have no trouble finding someone to get us a picture of the little one, considering you are so far along. Isn’t that right?”

I look her dead in the eye, seeing the moment she realizes I’ve won. That I played dirty and won. For once, the nerd beat the prom queen, and I’m going to just sit back and watch what happens next.

“Go on, Serena, tell the class what’s the truth now, or we can go find someone to take an ultrasound of you and confirm what I think,” I say ever so sweetly.

She jumps to her feet and lunges at me. “You bitch!” she shouts. “You just couldn’t leave him alone, could you? He’s mine.”

I block her punch aimed at me. “No, I couldn’t because there is one thing that I know: Ryan is a good man. He would never leave someone when they needed him. Especially if they were pregnant with his child. But for a person to use being pregnant to try a worm back into someone’s life, that’s where I draw the line. Millions of women struggle each day with pregnancy and loss, and you, dear, are not about to make light of that just to make him take you back. He doesn’t want you. Get over it!”

“Serena, I want you to leave now!” Ryan shouts, “You will hear from my lawyer, so you might as well get one for yourself.”

Turning on her heels, she storms out of the room. Just like that, the curvy girl broke the evil model in the room.

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