Barbie Btch (Rejects Paradise #3) - Sheridan Anne Page 0,78

Colton. “You saw it.”

Colton silently nods, not packing on any more details for Charlie to have to work through later. They hold each other’s stare for a moment longer than necessary and the hurt spilling out of Charlie is enough to have me feeling like the world’s worst friend. He trusted us and we lied to him. We kept a secret that would change the way he looked at us and just like that, we became just as bad as the Widows.

Who am I becoming? I don’t like this dishonest, murderous version of myself that I’m turning into. I’ve always prided myself on being a loyal person but that’s not who I am at all. I’m weak. I'm a liar.

Charlie looks toward Spencer and with a heavy breath, he moves over to the wine cellar and peels the door open. He looks back at the three of us and knowing exactly what he’s about to walk in to see, a single tear tracks down my cheek and splashes against my black bikini top.

Charlie tears his gaze away and disappears into the wine cellar, closing the door behind him and I swallow back fear, not knowing what’s going to come from this. Is he going to free him? Give him help? Or is he going to find that same darkness in his soul that I found? Who knows, maybe it’ll completely take over him and he’ll take all his hurt and frustration out on Jude just like I did. Maybe he’ll go too far or maybe it’ll have him throwing up. Charlie is a sweet guy. He wasn’t cut out for torture and murder and now we’ve exposed him to this ugliness.

Charlie will never be the same again.

“Come on,” Colton finally says, pulling on my arm. “We need to give him his space. He’s hurting right now and he hates that he didn’t know you were going through that, but our methods of dealing with it … he won’t accept that easily. It might take some time, but he’ll come around.”

I let Colton pull me along and I find myself staring at the shiny marble beneath my feet. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah,” Spencer says, stepping into my other side. “He’ll be alright.”

I nod, not convinced by either of them in the least, especially as they don’t believe the words themselves. All I know is that this could be a game-changer. Charlie is either with us or against us and right now, I have no idea which way he’s going to go.

Chapter 19

Four days down and not a word from Charlie.

My heart aches for him. He hasn’t come around in the mornings before school, he hasn’t texted stupid memes, he hasn’t even sent a sexually suggestive text message.

He’s hurting and that’s on us.

We should have been upfront with him. He spent weeks worried about his friend, completely in the dark, and not knowing what happened to him. The boys should have been honest with Charlie about the girl Jude hurt two years ago and I should have been honest about him hurting me now.

What kind of friends are we?

I walk from my last class and meet Drix and Jess by their lockers while giving fake smiles to everyone who demands my attention. I’m not in the mood today. Sunday was easy to pretend that nothing was wrong, but the days after that just sucked.

Colton had gone down to see Jude after Charlie had left to get some kind of indication of what had gone down in there. From the way Charlie left him, I’d dare say that our secret is safe. Charlie isn’t the violent type though—no matter how much he talks it up—and that kind of shit would have left a scar.

I dart across the hallway and grab my stuff out of my locker before slamming the door closed with a sigh. I really hate this. I’ve been against my boys for weeks now and that doesn’t hurt nearly as much as knowing that Charlie is hurting. Maybe it’s because, with my boys, I was the one who was wronged, but with Charlie, I’m the one doing the hurting.

I have to find a way to make it up to him. This isn’t fair to him. He shouldn’t have been left in the dark, just as Colton shouldn’t have left me in the dark with the same damn thing.

Why can’t things be simple for a week or two? I just need a break from all the constant bullshit. I need to go away