Page 68 of Sugar Coated

“To push you up the political ladder. To garner more support. To make a story that would just keep giving. Future book deals and documentaries—she had it all planned out. She used everyone around her, even her own brother.”

My dad’s mouth thinned into a line. “Then we need to go to the police. Show this to them. If she did all of this, then she needs to be behind bars!”

“No. If we make this public, your image will suffer, too. She agreed to go quietly, and I told her if she did, I’d keep thesevideos to myself. You two can quietly separate and divorce, and we can all move on.”

“I don’t care about my image! I—if she did all this to you, to Kieran, then she shouldn’t be out there on the streets. She needs to be locked up.” He brought a hand to his face, his shoulders slumping even more. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it. I thought—”

I got up and moved closer to him, setting a hand on his shoulder. I wasn’t good at comfort, but it seemed like a good thing to do here, since I was breaking some awful news to him. “I know. It’s okay. It’s all going to be okay. She’s out of our lives, and she won’t try anything now that we have these videos.”

My dad kept his hand on his face. I didn’t know if he was hiding tears or what. I felt bad; of course I did. I wasn’t a heartless monster. That crown belonged to Tessa herself.

After a while, he muttered, “And Kieran’s still here?”

“Yeah. He’d like to stay, but he understands if you prefer he left. He picked us over his own sister. Even after all this with Tessa, I trust him.” That was a bit of a lie, too: Kieran didn’t pick me and my dad. He picked me. Just me.

Finally, my dad looked at me, and when he did I spotted a mistiness to his eyes that wasn’t there before. “You did all of this on your own?”

“I had Kieran, Mike, and Fang. I was never alone.”

He stood and hugged me close. “You should’ve told me. You should’ve involved me. This wasn’t something for you to handle on your own. I should’ve been there, helping you—”

I angled my head back and met my dad’s watery stare. “Would you have believed me?”

“I—”

His hesitation was enough, and I pulled away from him and gave him a sad smile. “It’s okay. We’ll be okay.”

My dad was utterly despondent as he asked, “How can we be okay when the person who took you away from me is stillout there? How am I supposed to—” He stopped himself from finishing that question, whatever it was. “I need some time alone. Will you be all right?”

I nodded. “I was going to go out tonight with the guys, but I can cancel if—”

“No. Go on. Have fun, but be safe.” The look he gave me was heartbreaking, and he patted me on the arm before he shuffled away.

Honestly? My dad took it like a champ. He questioned a little, but he couldn’t deny it in the face of the evidence and the fact that I had actual videos saying the same thing. Thank goodness he didn’t demand toseethose videos; those hadn’t been spliced up.

I felt bad for him. I did, but for the first time in a long time—maybe even in my whole life—I felt at peace, and it was that same energy I’d bring to the club tonight.

The villain was thwarted. If she came back, we’d kill her. Life was good.

Lola hired out the club for us. As in, the entire club was ours to screw around in. The DJ would play whatever we wanted, and it was an open bar with no ID-checking. I didn’t partake, but she did—and so did her guys.

After telling my dad the truth about Tessa, I went to Lola’s, where she let me try on some of her dresses. All very short, kind of slutty, but it was feeling like that kind of night. I chose a short, sparkly, strapless silver dress and matching heels. Lola played stylist with my hair and makeup, giving me a sultry, smoky-eyed look and uneven beach waves.

Lola wore red. A skin-tight red dress that was even shorter than mine—and backless. It dipped so low on her back, I didn’t know how it actually stayed on when she moved. Matchinglipstick and heels, she was the devil. A beautiful, gorgeous, sexy devil, and she knew it.

All three of her guys joined the party, though it was technically four since her driver, Harvey, hung around, too. While Sylvester mainly lingered around the bar, Viper and Maddox danced with Lola. Harvey was off to the side, by himself—though she did try to drag him to the dance floor every now and then.

With Fang, Mike, and Kieran here, it was a good night. Fang was more than happy to dance with me, while it took some begging on my part to get Mike to take his two left feet closer to the speakers.

Kieran stayed near the bar. After I got all sweaty with the others, he gestured for me to come over to him, so I did. He had a clear glass waiting for me, and when I gave him a mischievous look, he leaned in to me and said, “Water, of course.”

I took the glass and sipped from it—and, like he’d said, it was indeed water. I downed the entire thing in a few gulps. Dancing in heels was a killer workout.

After I got a refill, Kieran said, “So, I take it your dad took it pretty well? He doesn’t want me moving out, does he? I will, but that just means I’ll have to up my stalking game.”

“You don’t have to stalk me.”

He arched a single brow. “I don’t?”

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