Page 89 of Sinister Legacy
Ava plants her butt on the table. “Does King like your naivety? I think it’s tiresome.”
Keira snaps her gaze away from Ava when I say, “The killer is obsessed with you, or have you forgotten that? King started fucking you. Soon after, people started dying.”
She stays quiet, so I add, “Dump him. I don’t care how you do it, but if you care about King at all, break his heart.”
“You’re callous.”
“I’m protecting him. The same can’t be said for you. Can’t you see how fucking selfish you are?” I snarl. We’re so close that our noses nearly brush. “You’ll happily put him at risk so long as you get a good dicking. You don’t care about him. You only care about yourself.”
“Selfish,” Ava sneers, tittering.
Relaxing back into her seat, Keira crosses her arms and looks from me to Ava before releasing a soft snort. “And you think King would leave me alone if I dumped him? You think he would just walk away?” She looks me in the eye, baring her white teeth. “Who’s the naive one now?” She points a stern finger at Ava. “And you should shut your mouth! You don’t have a fucking backbone, so don’t stand here and pretend you wouldn’t quiver like a fucking leaf in the wind if Hayley weren’t here.”
A peal of laughter slips from my lips. The girl has some nerve, I’ll give her that. I can see now why King is so obsessed with her.
Ava, on the other hand, is less than impressed. “You think you’re so special? King wouldn’t have looked twice at you if it weren’t for the dare!”
I briefly close my eyes.
Stupid girl.
“What dare?” Keira asks carefully, bouncing her gaze between us.
“It’s nothing,” I reply before aiming a pointed look at Ava, mouthing, “Shut up!”
If King finds out—which he will now—that Ava told his precious Keira about the dare… I don’t even want to think about the consequences. He’ll rip into Ava until there’s nothing left but a sobbing mess. King can be ruthless when provoked, which makes me wonder if he has something to do with Liam’s disappearance.
“You’re nothing but a dare, sweetie,” Ava taunts gleefully. “Hayley challenged him to fuck you behind Liam’s back. Did you really think he would be so fucking persistent otherwise? Think about it. Has he ever looked at you twice beforehand?”
Keira stares at Ava, her eyes glassy with emotion. It’s the first crack in her brave facade. “You’re lying.”
Ava smirks and I glower at her. “You know I’m not.”
The chair scrapes on the marble floor as Keira slowly rises to her feet. She collects her bag, then her denim jacket and her scarf. Not once does she look at either of us.
I stare after her as she walks out without another word, holding her head high.
While I sought her out with King’s best interests at heart, I never meant for Keira to find out about the dare. It was just a bit of fun banter between friends. A challenge to cure our boredom, or, more accurately,myboredom. King wasn’t interested at first.
Ava turns to leave, but I grab her by the arm. “What was that?”
Her eyes flick down to my hand on her jacket, where my fingers dig into the puffy, white material. “I thought you wanted her to break up with him. Now she will.”
My fingers twitch while I try to control my influx of emotions. “Not like this.”
Ava wrenches free of my grip as a male student hurries past with his head bent low. “Newsflash, Hayley. There’s no right or easy way to break up. You don’t get to play the devil’s advocateandthe angel. Pick one.”
“King will have your head for this when he finds out.”
She shrugs carelessly. “At least he’ll be alive, right? And that’s what matters.”
As she walks away, I pull my bag up onto my shoulder. Begrudgingly, I can’t argue with her.
Sheisright.
I skip classes.
I shouldn’t let someone like Hayley and her minion, Ava, get to me. But the truth is, I’m hurt.
