Page 17 of Gilded Fake

“I didn’t take away your choices,” she chokes out through her tears. “I just wanted you to choose me.”

“And you made damn sure I did,” I say. “Whatever it took. So what did you do, Dixie? What did you give them in return for letting me stay at Willow Heights, keeping other girls from talking to me, and being allowed to post all your blogs about them? What did you have that granted you permanent immunity?”

“Nothing,” she cries. “I just posted what they told me to on the blog.”

“And?” I grit out. “Why would they let you do that? They wouldn’t even let people take pictures of them at parties. They don’t like anyone in their business. Why would they let you post it for everyone to see?”

“I don’t know,” she says. “They just wanted to put their own spin on it.”

“And?”

“And what?” she asks, turning her wounded gaze on me.

“And why did they choose you?” I ask. “And don’t give me that shit about their sister. I know it was more than that.”

“It wasn’t,” she says. “How can you not trust me after all this time?”

“I’m friends with Duke now, remember? Do you want me to ask him instead?”

She swallows and looks away, and the sickness churning in my gut builds. Some part of me was still hoping I was wrong. But long before I made a deal with Duke, she made one. More likely, with Baron or Royal, who held more power. She was always their choice for me, after all. Of course they weren’t going to give me something with no strings attached, especially not something as dangerous as a powerful, popular girl.

She got what she wanted, and they got what they wanted, and I got fucked from every angle.

“Get out of my car,” I say flatly.

“I don’t want to,” she says. “Where are you going? You shouldn’t drive when you’re on those pills.”

“I’m always on these pills,” I say. “And I’m sure as fuck not staying here.”

“It’s not anything like you think,” Dixie says. “I didn’t tell them you couldn’t have other friends. I swear.”

“Get out,” I say. “Before I remove you.”

“You can’t break up with me,” she says. “I’m not just going to let you go.”

“We’ll talk later,” I say. “I need to not be here right now.”

“Fine,” she says, throwing open the door. “But you’re lucky you had me all those years. You could have had no one. And for your information, everyone always told me I could do better.”

“Then maybe you should have.”

She climbs down, and as soon as she slams the door, I back out of the drive without bothering to glance in the rearview. I don’t even care at this point. If someone hit me, I wouldn’t even feel it.

I pull out my phone as I turn onto the road out of her neighborhood.

“Hey, Dynamo,” Maverick drawls on the other end of the line. “What’s up?”

“You know a hacker?” I ask.

“Don’t you have one at your school?”

“He skipped town, and I got the next best thing sent to a teen challenge ranch or some shit. You got one or not?”

“I might.”

“Can you hook me up?” I ask. “I need help tracking down some shit.”

“We got a guy,” he says. “Probably even better than your guy. But he’s a silver spoon dickhead.”

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