I was trembling. How could I have been so stupid? Colton had seen it, he’d told me that night in my room at their house. He’d told me that there was no way that Jay was innocent. Oh my God, I was playing into his hands continuing to see him – he wasn’t interested in me, it had all been a lie. He was only here now because Colton and the others weren’t fighting anymore.That’swhy he came to the house that day, not for me – but to hurt Colton – and I, like an idiot, had fallen for it.
Good God, I needed out of here, before he saw me again. No. I wasn’t letting him win.
I opened the closet door another crack and then seeing the coast was clear, I headed back down towards the hallway. As I passed the bathroom door it opened and I was staring straight at Corey.
Corey took one look at me, grabbed my hand and pulled me in. She locked the door.
“Oh my God Corey,” I hugged her.
“What is it, what’s happened? Oh my God Ari, you’re shaking.” She hugged me tight.
“Who are you with?” I asked.
They were all here, she explained. Colton had come down to the cinema room where she, Matt and Connor had been and told them to get ready. Theo had been getting ready for a date, but Colton told him to cancel. He’d then told them they were coming here.
She admitted she wasn’t sure who told him, she swore it wasn’t her. By the time they got here, Theo and Matt looked as pissed as Colton did. Colton had told them all to stick together and not get involved with anyone.
“I don’t like it here Ari,” she confessed.
I smiled a little as she used my nickname again. It felt right. I quickly filled her in on the events of the last week between me and Jay. Corey’s eyes were saucers and then they narrowed.
“He wants to use you?” she asked.
I nodded. I was more than a little ashamed and I looked away.
She tugged my hand making me look at her again. “Hey, this is ok. We can use this,” she started pacing. “Right, well he is a complete dick with a capital D,” she looked over at me and nodded. I grinned at her.
“Well, we hit him where it hurts. In front of all his homies,” she concluded. I was pretty confident she had never said ‘homies’ before in her life.
“How?” I was sitting on the toilet seat, I felt exhausted.
“We hit him in the dick,” she replied. I looked at her incredulously.
“You want me to get close enough to punch him?” I frowned. “As much as I would love to, I don’t want to be that close to him.” I shuddered.
“No. We hit his ego. He sounds like he has a massive one. We’re going to hit his ego in front of all his boys.” She was nodding like a mad woman, as she rummaged in her purse.
“Can’t we just leave?” I asked.
She whipped her head up to me. “Stop running Ari. Stand up and fight for what you want,” she snapped.
Wow. Corey was hardcore.
“Sorry,” I muttered. She pulled me to my feet. She assessed my outfit. It received a nod of approval.
“Ok we need to sex you up.”
“What?” I took a step backwards.
“Don’t be a baby.”
Within minutes, I had more eyeliner on and my lips were glossed to within an inch of their life. Then she rolled my tight black tank top up, so it bared my skin. She asked me – out of courtesy I assume – as she didn’t wait for an answer; how attached I was to my top. Before I could answer, she ripped the front of it.
She turned me to the mirror. Ok, I thought I looked grungy before, Corey had made me hot. She had made slight changes, but because of the drop arm overshirt, my skin was now visible when I moved. The tear to the racer back top, showed off my cleavage. She mussed my hair up. My eyes were dark and smokey, making my steel grey eyes pop.
She whistled under her breath, “Yes. This will get attention.”
She typed out a message on her phone.