Page 100 of My Irresistible Enemy

“I’vebeenhurt, Nolan. But unlike you, I didn’t let it turn me into a closed-off, emotionless asshole.”

“So I’m an asshole. Great. Glad we’ve reached that conclusion. Tell me again why you’re still at my door, trying to talk to me, if you think so well of me?”

“You know, I’m really not sure anymore.”

“Well.” I spread my hands out. “If that’s all, then I guess we’re done here.”

Aiden waited a beat, like he still thought I might say something to stop this train from plunging off a cliff. But I was out of words. I was out of everything.

Finally, he nodded.

“Yeah. I guess we are.”

15

Aiden

Ididn’t speak to Nolan for three days.

At first, I didn’t talk to him because I was mad at him. He was being such a dick, and for no reason. All I’d tried to do was help, and if he’d just listened for a second, he would have seen that.

But no, he was always so sure he was right, and that nobody else could ever possibly be right as well, because only one person could be right at a time, and that person was always gonna be him.

But as time went on, I went from being mad at him to mad at myself.

It was pathetic, really. Nolan had told me from the beginning that he thought I was a child, that I was a joke. That all I did was lie and flirt and scam my way through life. Just because he was attracted to me didn’t change how he saw me.

It was just that, for a minute there, I’d felt like maybe thingshadchanged. That Nolan had started to open up and see me as an equal. As a friend. As, well, maybe something more.

How many times was I going to have to learn the lesson that people didn’t like me like that? That I wasn’t one of those guys. I wasn’t the one who got picked.

I was too sad on Monday night to post a video to my CamFans account. Too sad the next night, and the one after that, too. Just looking at the app’s icon on my phone made my stomach roil.

I couldn’t get Nolan’s voice out of my head, asking why I hadn’t reported HungTopXL. Whyhadn’tI? What was I waiting for, really? I stuck to my room, mulling the question over, unable to figure it out.

If I were smart, I would have just packed up and left. I was going to be the one cut on Friday. It was obvious. On Monday, that hadn’t bothered me. I’d even tried to encourage it, a little. After everything Nolan had told me about his mom, I hadn’t cared about winning anymore. I’d just wanted him to get what he needed.

But now?

Well, I still didn’t want Nolan to be screwed. I just wished he weren’t such a dick about everything at the same time.

I woke up Thursday morning to a note slipped under my door by the production staff. All the contestants were needed in the baking tent at eleven a.m. for a meeting. Which was weird, since Thursday was usually a low-key day for us. The challenge episode had only aired last night, and we hadn’t started shooting anything for next week’s finale.

The challenge episode… That meant that, by now, everyone who watched the show would have seen the interview with Nolan’s mom. They would have seen the way Nolan had walked out of the tent rather than talk about it. There was no doubt in my mind that the show had edited that footage for maximum drama.

I felt a little sick, knowing how upset Nolan was about it. Hell, maybe the meeting was to tell us that he’d quit the show, and that Aisha, Lucinda, and I were going to the finale by default. Come to think of it, it had been very quiet up on the third floor of the Wisteria all week. I’d been so intent on avoiding Nolan that it had never occurred to me he might not even be there anymore.

That only made me feel worse, though. I didn’t relish the idea of sitting in this meeting with Nolan, but I didn’t want him gone either.

But when I got down to the tent that morning, Nolan was still there. He, Lucinda, and Aisha were seated in a loose semi-circle of stools facing the judges’ table. There was one remaining empty stool, as far away from Nolan’s as possible. I wondered if he’d arranged it that way on purpose.

Tanner and Vivian faced the group of them, looking stern, as two cameras, stationed on either side of the tent, filmed silently. Neither was operated by Em. Whatever the purpose of this meeting was, they obviously hadn’t called in the full crew for it.

Aisha smiled, and Lucinda waved as I approached, but Nolan looked away. My lips tightened, and I took my seat.

“Ah, Aiden, you’re here.” Tanner smiled brightly. “Excellent, excellent. Have a seat.”

I was already sitting, so I just shrugged and waited for him to tell us what was going on. Vivian gave me what I could have sworn was a pitying smile, but it disappeared quickly behind a professional facade.

---