Page 67 of A Twist of Poison

Preston, Texas, and Hollis had taken smug satisfaction as they dived straight back into the girls who threw themselves at them, but I believed that this time they were the ones who sought them out, not vice versa. Parading them around the campus, on social media for everybody to see, so I’d have to take notice—it hurt, but I deserved it.

Now the switch had firmly and permanently flipped, displaying them as the beasts they truly were, stripping back the facade they presented to the world. I’d learned my lesson. Always trust your gut instinct, it never betrayed you. Your brain could be coerced, made to believe something. Your heart could be swayed. And my gut knew those men would break my soul more thoroughly than Adam ever could.

The truth was that not everything was black and white. A well told lie would last a lifetime, lies and secrets were a cancer to the soul. They ate away at you and all it left behind was destruction.

* * *

I’d waited until I knew it was a quieter time to head down to the gym on campus, actively avoiding returning to my parents’ home, not wanting to be near either of them. Delaney had been on at me to visit her. A pang of guilt wracked through me for not dropping by to check in, but I just couldn’t. I refused to be near our dad, or our useless mom for that matter. But at least my little sister was busy, wrapped up within her own world and schooling. She was safe, as safe could be within the house of a parent who involved himself in vile business dealings. It was another situation that I could do nothing to rectify.

As if the world was working against me, I passed by Lizzie on my walk to the campus gym. We both paused and stared at each other with nothing to say.It had never been like this with us.

“Hi,” I offered lamely.

“I’m just planning when to see Adam next.” She flashed me a fake smile with eyes full of contempt.

“Are you still with him?” I croaked.

“We’re working through it.”

I shook my head in disgust.I can’t believe this.Could a heart continue to break when its pieces were already scattered everywhere?

Lizzie swung around, storming away and I stared after her. Seconds later she flitted back around, coming toe to toe with me. I stepped back; this was getting out of control.

“You’re jealous!” She pointed her finger at me with a look on her face that I’d never seen before.Loathing.I swallowed, my throat dry, shaking my head. No.

“You’ve had four men all to yourself. Give it up, you know what everyone’s saying about you? Slut. Whore. They’re spot on.” I froze. “Selfish, that’s what you are! I’veneverwanted to put a wedge in our friendship, even after you left me years ago and swanned off to do your own thing but it’sallabout Milla. You, you, you!” I ran my tongue across my dry lips.

“It’s not like that,” I admitted, truthfully. I knew she wouldn’t believe me, if I even offered up the entire truth to her at this point, was a depressing thought. Did she really think that little of me?

She sneered. “It’s exactly like that. Keep your distance from him, from me. Stay the fuck out of my life!” With that she swung around again, storming off for good this time.

He took away everything good.

I made the rest of my way to the gym, ignoring blatant glares. Throwing my belongings to the side, I jumped on the treadmill popping my earbuds in and clicked on a random playlist. Crawling by Chase & Status blasted through as I set off straight into a full on run, not bothering with a warmup. I was desperate to distract my mind from bumping into Lizzie, and everything else.

The songs bled into one another as my feet pounded the treadmill; my head zoned out and went to that tranquil peace that it often did when I ran. I was so lost in my head, needing the blank nothingness.

Because of this I’d missed people entering the room. A slim girl’s hand slammed the emergency stop button halting my exercise. I pulled my earbuds out angrily, turning round to face whoever it was.

Oh… this would be delightful.Not.I think I’d honestly rather gouge my own eyes out with a rusty spoon than have any more dealings with Barbie and her three accessories. Yet, they had graced me with their company.The joy.

“Yes?” I raised an eyebrow, my hands leaning on my hips as my breathing came heavily. I popped the top off my water bottle, guzzling some and ignoring the growing tension in the room. I didn’t move from the treadmill, and that gave me a minimal height advantage over her. It was enough, seeing as she was a few inches taller than me if I’d have stepped down, and I didn’t want to hand over that position.

“You think you’re so fucking smart, parading round the campus like you did nothing wrong to the three most important Kings!” I sighed, this was just painful to listen to, her voice hit that irritation spot within me, followed closely by exasperation. “I told them when you turned up that you were a nobody and not worth their attention. Good thing they’ve gotten rid of your disgusting slutty self.”

Technically, if rumours were to be believed, I was the one who’d gotten rid of them, but not before toying around with them enough to be campus wide gossip. Semantics.

I waved my hand, dismissing her words that told me nothing new. It had been weeks now, and this girl along with her little friends had made sure they’d been crawling on all three of their laps and rubbing it in my face whenever I’d walked into those rooms.

She decided on upping the stakes and dug the knife in further. “Texas has been fucking me at all hours of the day. He’s got a lot of aggression to work through.” She smiled cruelly.

My chest squeezed painfully at the thought of him crawling to her, to get back at me in his own warped way, but I refused to show any hint of weakness. I’d dealt with bigger and meaner people than her. She was just a tiny blip on my radar, an annoying blip, but still a blip.

“And Kelly here”—She gestured over to one of her friends—“has been spending a lot of quality time with Preston. Isn’t that right?” she directed at her friend.

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m taking care of hisneeds,” Kelly chirped in confirmation.

“Who hasn’t?” I replied. Preston was as much of a playboy as Texas, but where Texas outright owned that status, Preston kept his escapades hidden away, but people still talked. I wasn’t blind either. I’d known I wouldn’t have been able to keep them, not how I’d wished to anyway.

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