Page 13 of The Enemy of My Enemy Is… My Fake Boyfriend?

He rolled his eyes, an exasperated sigh escaping him. "For the last fucking time, I didn't fuck Hannah."

"You're such a liar."

"Andyou'reinsane." He shook his head at me, clearly disgusted. "I don't know how I missed it before. But you're absolutely batshit crazy."

"Me?" I pointed to myself, stunned at the way this argument was going. The gaslighting from Chase was incredible, andseeing this side of him was like a knife in an already bloody wound.

"Among other things." He struck his forefingers together and started counting on his hand. "One, certifiable. Two, shallow. Three, vain. And four, dumb."

I gasped at his awful list.

"You know nothing about the world," he went on, "nothing about culture, the arts, books, technology. All you think about is shallow shit... parties, clothes, makeup. You're nothing but a pretty face with a rich daddy. You'll never amount to anything except being a pretty little accessory to some man, some sucker, that you glom onto."

"That—that is not true," I sputtered. "I donotglom onto guys."

"Either that or you hide behind your mom's skirts, riding her coattails, following in her shoes. Party planning... how fucking lame."

"Hey, it's a real job." I shook my head at him, disgusted with both him and myself. How had we gotten so off topic? "And this isn't about me. This is aboutyou, about youcheating."

"Oh, God, here we go again." His eyes raked up and down my body, making my skin crawl. "God, look at you. You're an absolute disaster. You look certifiable right now. I feel like I should have you committed or something... if I cared enough."

Oh, that was it. I was more than done with this argument, with this guy, with everything. "Get out. Now."

He stalked the length of the room to the door."Gladly."

"And don't ever come back," I shouted as he left.

"Believe me, I won't," he called over his shoulder. "The only thing you'll see of me is the fucking bill I'll send you for all my stuff."

"Good luck with that, asshole."

But it was too late. He was already gone, getting in the last word of course.

In a whirl of emotions, I walked to the bathroom, my bladder about to burst. Before I could relieve myself, my reflection in the mirror caught my eye, and I did a double take at the horror filling my vision.

Was this seriously what I'd looked like during my big break-up? No wonder Chase had called me insane.

Still wearing last night's dress, filthy from the muddy water, and my makeup smeared all over my face, I appeared positively demented. The rat's nest that my hair had become completed the horrific look, like a rotten cherry on top of a grimy, spoiled sundae.

I'd never in a million years willingly show anyone this side of me. Never.

Ethan's face flashed before my eyes as I remembered him wheeling the cart then putting his jacket on me. He'd looked at me a hundred times last night, I was sure of it, but he'd never once said a thing about my appearance. Hadn't even given me a funny glance. Not even when I...

Oh, God, another flash and I remembered something about me trying to pee on Chase's shoes and pulling up my dress to do just that. And I hadn't worn any underwear to avoid panty lines. Had I really flashed my pussy to Ethan? Of all people. What the hell was wrong with me?

Groaning, I pulled the dress off and flung it across the room, more than ready to get in the shower and wash everything away. And then I'd sleep, sleep forever, and hope this whole thing had just been a very long nightmare.

Five

Aria

It turns out, you can't just wash everything away with a shower. Sure, you can clean yourself up, put on an amazing outfit, do your face up perfectly, but still feel completely lost and screwed up inside.

All I wanted to do was hibernate.

And that was exactly what I did... for days. I told everyone, well, anyone who cared which turned out to be a very small number of people, that I had the flu. Except for my sister Annalise who'd been the recipient of my frantic message when she'd woken up. In London. A small fact that I'd forgotten about under my duress.

She wanted desperately to come home, but I told her absolutely not. She was there for her best friend's wedding and she needed to stay there. I'd be fine. Really. I would. And I forbid her to tell anyone else about it too.

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