Fake Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,66

we’ll talk.”

I shook my head.

“Why are you shaking your head, darling?” he asked. “Having a change of heart? I mean, I get it. Gia is a pretty girl. I still can’t stop thinking about her crying. And over some guy like that…?”

My blood ran cold.

I walked up the steps and stared daggers at Talon.

“Don’t you even fucking joke about it,” I said.

“What’s wrong, Winter?”

“Forget you ever met Gia,” I said. “Got it? You stay the fuck away from her. This is between us. She has nothing to do with it.”

Talon slowly grinned. “Then pay me, darling. Money always helps to get me to forget about pussy.”

I cringed.

He was dirty.

He was… he was…

A fucking Troc.

I hurried into the house and upstairs to get the money for him.

I wanted to go fast enough so he didn’t have a chance to follow me.

That was a terrible plan.

By the time I got the money and spun around, Talon was in my bedroom again.

“This looks familiar,” he said. He pointed to the bed. “You just need to sit down right there, Winter. Maybe this time you can feel the real thing…”

I laughed. “It would take a harder head hit than an accident to make me think a Troc was worthy of touching me.”

Talon grinned. He stepped closer to me. “I’m sorry, but didn’t you come that night?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “That was just a basic need. No big deal.”

“You’re turning vicious, Winter. Devious. Mean. Evil. I can’t figure out who you’re becoming. You look like a Bump but you act like a Troc.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, smacking Talon’s chest with the money. “It’s all fake.”

I moved around him and he put his hand out and touched my stomach.

“Hey. How did the blow shit up thing pan out?”

“Fine,” I said.

“He’s a mess over it,” Talon said.

He grinned again and my heart sank.

“You knew about the car,” I said. “What it meant to him. You really are-”

“Doing what you wanted me to do,” Talon cut in. “I’m making them break. From the inside. Simple as that. You checked your conscience at the door the night we met. Remember?”

“Yeah. I remember.”

“You know, on a personal note, Winter… you care so much about Gia, right? Yet you’re lying to her.”

“Fuck you,” I said.

“Works for me,” Talon said. “There’s a nice bed right behind you.”

“Actually, the bed at my other house is much more comfortable.”

“Then I guess we have a date.”

I laughed. “Not even close. Take your cash and your right hand and go home. Enjoy yourself.”

“You know, darling, you’re turning into a real bitch.”

“That’s the plan.”

Talon didn’t try to kiss me.

And I took notice of that.

I almost felt… no… I didn’t feel anything over it.

He walked to the bedroom door and looked back.

“Before I forget, Winter,” he said, “I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

“For what?” I asked.

Talon smiled. “I think Xavier is next on your list, right?”

He left the bedroom and I sat down on my bed.

Yeah, Xavier was next.

Sure.

Whatever.

I had started this on purpose.

I wanted to see it through.

But how far was it going to go?

Chapter 24

come and go

The next morning my mother was in the kitchen, completely hungover.

She looked like a teenager as she hovered over a cup of coffee like it was going to jump up into her mouth and fix her.

Her answers were grunts, groans, and one-word replies.

When I got showered, dressed then left the house, Gia was nowhere to be found.

She wasn’t waiting for me in the driveway.

And when I drove by her beach house, her car was gone.

That meant she had already left.

Without saying a word to me.

No text.

No waiting.

Nothing.

She was really pissed at me over the Talon thing.

And why not?

What kind of friend was I?

She had no idea what I was doing with Talon.

I couldn’t tell her either which made it worse.

I was a shitty friend.

And that went well beyond the Talon situation.

I drove to BFH alone.

And when I got there, I found myself looking around for Evie and Darcy.

I hated myself for suddenly gravitating toward them, but that’s what they were to me. And I was to them. We all just used each other. For space, time, and comfort.

When I spotted them in the main hallway, they looked right at me.

I told myself not to wave, but then again, if I was in the spirit of lying and destroying all those who hurt me, why not wave back? Why not get close to both of those terrible Bumps and then do the same thing to them that I was doing to Noah,