Page 75 of How to Get Even

‘Of course…’

And just like that she was gone.

* * *

‘Hey Paige,’ Bella said as she exited the gallery, her mind still half on the conversation with Chase. With what he’d shared and what she’d felt, but the fact that Paige was calling was unusual enough to make her concerned.

‘Hey,’ Paige said brightly. ‘How’d it go today? Did it work?’

‘Oh, it wasamazing,’ she replied, pulling her scarf around her neck with one hand and closing her coat with the other, heading back to the apartment without giving a single thought to the pedestrians stepping out of her way. It had beensomuch more successful than even she’d dared hope for.

‘That’s… awesome,’ Paige replied. ‘You must be… thrilled.’

Bella frowned, the unusually stilted response catching her attention.

‘Paige, what’s wrong?’ Bella asked.

‘I don’t… I can’t… Oh Bella…’

‘Paige, it’s okay,’ Bella rushed to reassure her. ‘Whatever it is, it’s okay,’ she insisted.

A near sob came down the phone, pulling Bella up short. ‘Are you hurt? Did Olly hurt you?’ she demanded with alarm creeping into her heart. She didn’t think for a second that Olly was capable of such a thing, but that didn’t mean that something hadn’t happened.

‘No, no. He didn’t. He’s… he could never.’

‘Ishehurt? Did something go wrong with the payback plan?’ she demanded.

‘No,’ Paige replied, and Bella breathed a sigh of relief. ‘He’s fine.’

Whatever had happened could be fixed. Once Bella knew what wasactuallywrong, she was absolutely sure that they would be able to make it fine.

‘It is about Olly though,’ Paige said, stuttering her way through the words. ‘I’ve, we’ve… I…’

Something turned in Bella’s chest, a knowing, without knowing. A strange kind of hurting that was for something that was about to happen, rather than from something that had already happened.

‘About two weeks ago… God, I don’t know how to say this…’

‘How to say what?’ Bella asked, as her stomach twisted.

‘Something happened. Between us. We kissed.’

Paige’s words were drowned out by a high-pitched ringing in her ears. As if Bella was reeling from a physical blow.

‘And I’m so, so, sorry. The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt you. Ohfuck, I’m a terrible person and a shitty friend.’

‘No,’ Bella said. ‘No, you’re not,’ she said automatically, her lips strangely numb.

‘Iam, and you were going to marry him and he jilted you via text on your wedding day and?—’

‘It’s okay,’ Bella replied robotically. ‘Are you…’ She cleared her throat. ‘Do you have feelings for him?’ Bella forced herself to ask, collapsing onto a bench on the sidewalk.

It shouldn’t matter, but it did. If it had been for nothing, if it had just been a fling…

‘Yes. No. I don’t know. I’m so confused.’ Paige sounded miserable and she didn’t want that, but…

‘If he feels the same way, then I’m happy for you both,’ Bella said, remembering the messages of congratulations she’d received from friends and family on her engagement to Olly.

She blinked, hoping to clear them from her mind and a tear escaped, to roll down her cheek.

---