Page 67 of Revenge Cake

A chill runs down my spine when she laughs again. “You had an intense conversation about it,” she says through choked laughter. “I’ll bet you did.”

“I mean we talked about it afterward!” I shout. “We talked about how it could never happen again. I was in a super dark headspace when I went over to her apartment that night. Do you remember… I mean, this isn’t an excuse or anything… But you do remember everything that happened that night, right?”

“Yes, I recall.”

Her tone is flat, emotionless—free of any remorse, or even shame. It rubs me the wrong way. Enough to propel me to make a stupid mistake. “Do you?” I ask. “Because I was pretty sure you didn’t recall. I recall having to tell you about everything you did and everything you said.”

When she flinches, I hate myself for my impulsivity. I wronged her that night. I seriously wronged her. Now is not the time to itemize her wrongs against me. Like a little kid—tit for tat.

Jesus, is that what I did? Did I think that calling me boring and saying those things about Dean justified what I did with Keira? I can’t be that childish, but then why didn’t I feel all that guilty? Why is the weight of my sin just now fully hitting me?

“We both wronged each other,” she says, as if reading my mind. “The most rational step is to end everything.”

“No!” I shout, seized again by panic. “I don’t care what’s rational. I don’t want to end everything. I love you, Lani! I want to be with you forever. I don’t care what happened. We’ll work through this.”

“No, and I actually need to you to leave. I have to shower before class.”

I stare at her dumbly.

“If you need to talk more we can FaceTime later, but we’ll need to keep it brief. I think we should both focus on moving on.”

“Moving on,” I say, just catching up to the fact that I’m being dismissed.

“And let’s make it our last conversation.”

The words don’t compute. What conversation? What does she mean by “last?”

When her meaning finally registers, it takes effort to remain standing. This can’t be happening.

“Um, ok.” I lower my voice in an effort to keep it from breaking. “I guess… I’ll just…” I glance at the door then back at her, feeling detached from the world. “I’ll call you later.”

CHAPTER 28

Leilani

Item 1—Makeover

Item 2—Lure him back

Item 3—Seduce him

Item 4—Break up with him

Logan: This won’t be a brief conversation. I have a lot to say. Sorry.

Me: Whatever. I’ll call you at 7.

I expel a listless breath as I set my phone down, dreading having to FaceTime with him. Ready to be done with it all. I should have known it would feel like this. I should have known that as soon as the seduction was over, my high of rage would fade away with my orgasm. It wasn’t even fun breaking up with him afterward.

It was just sad.

“Dr. Scott was right,” I say to Brenna. “As usual.”

We’ve been laying in my bed for the last hour, alternating between talking and heavy pauses while I stare out into space. She knows I need her presence. I haven’t cried, but that’s not surprising. I’m too drained for tears.

“About the list?”

“Yes. He didn’t overtly say ‘This won’t make you feel better’ because he’s always been too afraid of me to speak the truth, but he heavily implied it. And he won’t tell me ‘I told you so’ when I see him tomorrow either.” I grab a lock of her dark hair and weave it through my fingers.

---