the engine. Backs out of the driveway. Starts down the road.
We don’t say a word to each other.
I mess around on my phone for a little bit, but I can’t concentrate. The tension between us is like a living, breathing thing in the close confines of his truck, and when I can’t take it anymore, I break first.
“Are you going to be mad at me forever?”
He remains quiet for what feels like an eternity before he says, “Maybe.”
“We never did this to get at you.”
“That’s what you keep saying. God knows what Eli’s plan was,” Jake mutters.
“His plan had nothing to do with you, and everything to do with me.” I poke my thumb against my chest, making contact with the pendant beneath my dress. “You were basically begging him to start a fight with you, considering all the shitty things you said. You do realize this.”
“Right. Sure.” His snarky response makes me curl my fingers into fists. “That asshole was begging for a reason to throw punches.”
“You definitely gave him a reason. And now he hates me,” I say.
“He sure dumped your ass fast,” he says with a smirk.
If I could smack that smirk off his stupid smug face, I so would. “Because he thinks I told you about his family.”
“His fucked-up parents are nothing new, you know,” Jake says. “I heard that rumor a while ago.”
“From who?” I ask, my mind racing with the possibilities.
“It doesn’t matter,” he says with an indifferent shrug.
“It totally matters. That’s the entire reason Eli dumped me,” I tell him, annoyed.
“It’s a secret,” he says. “Can’t reveal my sources.”
“Please.” I roll my eyes. “Stop acting like you’re trying to protect someone and tell me who said it.”
“You might not want to know,” he says cryptically.
“Oh, now I definitely want to know.” Especially since he’s acting so shady.
He says nothing for a while and I say nothing either. I just wait. My temper rising with every second that passes. “You know, I’m not that sorry I hit you,” I tell him, after he still hasn’t revealed anything.
Jake actually has the nerve to laugh. The jerk. “No shit. I don’t regret fucking up your boyfriend’s face either.”
“He’s not my boyfriend anymore,” I say bitterly.
“Thank God,” he mutters.
“Just tell me who told you that stuff about Eli.”
He glances over at me quickly, his mouth set in a firm line, his eyes dark and mysterious, until he finally blurts it out. “It was Cami.”
My mouth falls open. “You’re telling me Eli opened up to her and confessed all of his messy family secrets? And now you’re trying to actually protect her?”
Why does everyone do this kind of thing for Cami? Protect her all the time? She’s not a nice person.
At all.
“It didn’t go down like that. She happened to be over at his house once, and was waiting outside for him when his mom walked out and spotted her. Eli’s mom came at her, ranting and raving and calling Cami one of her husband’s sluts,” Jake explains.
“Oh God.” That sounds awful.
“Yeah, so Eli had to step in and break things up between them. I guess he tried to explain to his mom that Cami was actually there for him, but his mom didn’t believe him. Cami told me she was really drunk. And borderline violent,” Jake continues.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. She doesn’t sound like a pleasant person, and that’s an understatement. I also don’t think she cares much about what Eli’s doing, which I think is why he acts the way he does.
Careless. Rude. Reckless. Mean. Crude.
He doesn’t give a shit because no one else does either.
Except me. I care. Probably too much.
“Why would Cami tell you all of this, when she knows how angry Eli makes you?” I ask, curious. Eli is supposedly the main reason Jake and Cami broke up one of the—two? Three?—times they were together. Cami spilling her guts and giving him all of these details is surprising.
“When she tried to get back with me recently, she confessed everything one night. Figured I could use it against him someday.” Another smirk appears on my brother’s face. “Guess it finally worked.”
Anger simmers in my belly. I can’t believe this happened because of stupid Cami. She ruins everything. She’s in the middle of everyone’s business, always making a mess of people’s lives.
It still hurts Eli would be so quick to believe I’d rat him out like that. Did he have so little faith in me? Did I not matter to him at all?
It