Page 140 of On The Edge
I find another cord and plug mine in, just as Louis' lights up.
My eyes instinctively look at the lit-up screen in the dark, and I wish… I wish I hadn’t. Because there, as clear as crystal, I see the notification that went off.
Instead of text, it’s a message.
A text message.
From Reis.
I pick up the tablet to see the message easier and…
Agony.
The icy hot feeling of being betrayed fills my veins.
I experience heartbreak, true visceral heartbreak, for the second time in my life. Again at the hands of Reis Mathers.
“Get rid of her. We’ve gotten what we needed and all decided she needs to go. Want her gone by the end of the concert. You were right, not worth the risk.”
I read it twice before the words really sink in and my world goes quiet.
The date on the message is this morning… so they knew. Theyall knew.
I should’ve known, huh? I should’ve realized. I did, hence why I was so upset last night. But this is confirmation, isn’t it?
I’ll never be enough.
I’ll never deserve them.
Worse than that,they never really wanted me to begin with.
“Oh shit,’ I hear Louis in his slick voice say behind me. “You weren’t supposed to see that.”
Everything is muffled as I read those four sentences again and my heart breaks a little further.
“I was going to be… kinder.”
“You?” I scoff. “Kind? Yeah, I don’t buy that. You’ve hated me from the start.”
“I have. Only because I’m trying to keep them at the top. And theyfinallyrealized it. That I’m right. Girls come and go, but this level of fame and stardom? It’s fleeting. One bad press story and they could lose it all.Icould lose it all. Maybe not at once, but it would never be like it was.” Louis takes the tablet from my hands and they drop to my sides. I can feel the pinpricks start to rise on my skin as nausea sets in.
They used me.
They toyed with me.
Theyliedto me.
For what? To see if having group sex was as fun as they thought it was? To destroy the girl they thought destroyed them as teenagers? Has this just been some long con?
Well, they won.
I’m beyond destroyed.
“You care about their career, don’t you? This—being with you—would ruin them.Youwould ruin them.” Louis emphasizes his words, and it takes every ounce of willpower in my body to keep from falling to the ground. “You don’t want that for them, right?”
“No,” I answer shakily, the word barely leaving my lips. “I’ll leave.”
“Good. Smart.”
