Page 142 of Rebel

She drags her hand through her hair, and I frown, my blood turning to ice in my veins. “Rachel, what happened to your hand?”

There’s a scabbed cut on her palm that’s long and deep.

“Oh, nothing.” She waves it off, but I grab her hand, ignoring her hiss, and turn it over.

“That’s a cut, maybe from a bottle?” I ask, throwing her hand away. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me that’s not true and I’ll believe you.”

She stares at me before she finally rolls her eyes. “Fuck it. Fine, I threw the bottle. Are you happy?”

“Why?” I ask, sadness filling me.

She was someone I trusted.

“I just couldn’t stand seeing you up there, all over them. You’re a fucking nobody, and you came in here and changed everything. Before you arrived, I was their friend. I was at their side. Now, I’m nobody to them. They cast me aside for you, so I got mad, okay? You weren’t supposed to get hurt, but I guess I’m a good shot.” The smile she gives me is full of malice, and the bad feeling I got when I first met her resurfaces.

You should always trust your gut.

First impressions are usually right, I know that, so why did I give her a second chance just so she could sink her nails into me?

“It’s been you,” I piece together. “All along.”

“What is?” she scoffs.

“You’re the one sending the emails, flowers, and threats, all out of jealousy and possessiveness over people who don’t belong to you. They are people, Rachel, not your playthings,” I snap as I move closer, but she doesn’t back down. “It was you before as well, wasn’t it? With my sister.”

“She was a bitch,” Rachel snaps.

“I never told you who my sister was,” I sneer.

Her nostrils flare as she realizes she fucked up. Victory and heartache fill me.

“Fine, yes, I know who you are. I knew from the moment I saw you, Summer Leroy.” I blink at her. “I saw your picture with your sister once. You’re the same. You changed your hair and got tats, but you’re still the same. Plus, I looked into your background. You didn’t hide it as well as you thought.”

“What did my sister ever do to you?” I whisper. I thought I would feel victorious when I confronted the person who pushed her over the edge, but I just feel sad.

“She got in the way,” Rachel snaps. “She was weak, and she was bringing this band down. I just gave her the helping hand she needed with some threats here and there. She was so easy to break.”

Grabbing her, I slam her into the counter. “She was a person, a fucking person who deserved love and kindness, not this spite and cruelty simply for getting in your way.”

“She was nothing, just like you, just like every single one of you,” she sneers in my face, madness in her gaze. “I didn’t push her off that bridge, but I sure as fuck wish I did. She caused me so much trouble after—” I slam my fist into her face.

The sick satisfaction of seeing her lip split doesn’t override my anger and grief as I stumble back, staring at the stranger—one we trusted.

Licking the blood from her lip, she looks me over. “Do the guys know who you are?”

I make a split-second decision and shake my head. If she was crazy enough to do this, then there is no telling what she’ll do. No, I won’t put them in danger.

“Good, keep it that way.” Her tongue disappears as she watches me. “So now, Summer—I mean Beck, we have a problem, which is you. I suggest you go away.”

“If I don’t?” I retort.

“Then I’ll tell the whole world who you are. Not only that, I’ll expose all your sister’s shit—her depression, her spirals. I have enough to destroy you, destroy all of you.”

If it was just me, I would stay, but she could hurt the guys’ and my sister’s reputations.

For a moment, I want to fight, but then I slump. “You want me gone?”

“Yes, but don’t just disappear or they’ll look. Tomorrow, at the next gig, walk off mid-set, make it clear, then disappear. If I catch wind of you after that, then it will all come out—every sick thing you did, every darkness your sister had, and let’s not forget everything I have on the guys. You would all be ruined.”

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