Even his name was stupid as shit. Who names their kid that honestly? Worst name ever.
I wasn’t jealous, I was rational. There’s a difference.
My teeth gnash together. Hell no, was I about to sit here and let them openly flirt with each other like I wasn’t here.
I was Cole—fucking—Kellet and I never lost. To anyone.
The side table beside me would work. Climbing it, I wobble only a second, kicking away the discarded drinks.
My head is fuzzy, the new altitude not helping but I don’t relent. Too far gone to care about the repercussions now. I had a plan, and I was about to execute it with faultless precision like I always did.
My mind on a single track. Destination, the truth.
Immediately everyone’s eyes fall on me. Well, everyone except the one pair of silver eyes I want watching me. I beam, what I was about to say should gain her attention.
If not, then it would at least gain everyone else’s. She wouldn’t be able to ignore how she sensed me after that. Rory felt it, that pull as I did anytime the other was in the room. I knew she did, even if she was only denying it to herself.
I spit out a bunch of nonsense about liquor and how it loosens you up. These people would cheer about pretty much anything I said so it didn’t matter.
Deplorable humans selfish in their need for recognition their driving force.
“Alcohol is great for several things, my personal favorite. Truth serum.” I deliver without hesitation. “Lucky for you all, I feel like sharing a secret.”
If the room wasn’t quiet before it sure was now.
“You’ve all met Aurora, right?” My mouth twists as everyone turns in her direction. “She’s new this year.”
The confusion on Rory’s face making her that much more attractive—inconvenient for me. Seeing as what I was about to do to her.
My intentions were malignant, detached.
I huff out a breath, feeling lighter than I had in weeks. “What you didn’t know though, was that she’s been deceiving you all.”
My sense of right and wrong had never worked right. So why did I have this sickening pain stirring in my gut?
It had to be the booze. No way was I caring about the fallout of what I was doing.Who,I was doing it to.
“That’s right, she’s fooled you all.” My lips turn up in a sultry, smirk. “Haven’t you, Aurora… Casper.”
The entire house is silent, taking in what I’d said. Someone could have dropped something—anything, and the sound would have echoed off the walls. It was so dead.
Not a single person expecting that to be what I had to say.
Like a drug, I am addicted to others’ misery and so I don’t stop there. Pressing the tip of my tongue from the swell of my lips.
“To clarify, Finn and Rory are half-sibs.” I sneer. Focusing my attention ahead too much of a coward to look over in Finn’s direction. Already knowing what his reaction was.
Disappointment.
I stayed calm while everyone else looked like they were on the verge of panicking. That dead thing inside me swells, beating back to life the moment I take in Rory’s expression.
Not a single pair of eyesnotfacing her direction, but she takes it in stride. Raising her chin as if challenging them all to question her. Shoulders strong and straight.
Proving who she was in the way she holds herself under the pressure. We don’t cower, we persevere.
Standing as strong as a true Casper would…
Never to not like having the attention, Madison chooses that exact moment to make her appearance known. Breaking up the silence as everyone starts singing the horrific melody.