The Rivals - Dylan Allen Page 0,187

Remi lied to me. She expects me to open the door and crumble. I look away from her. I won’t give her the satisfaction of seeing me broken. I look down at my feet. These shoes are fucking back luck.

My heart throbs like it’s caught in a vice. But, this is exactly what I expect from life. The only happy endings I’ve ever known are the imaginary ones I’ve written. I’ve always known, deep inside, that the legend I’d been spinning this summer would turn out to be the biggest lie of all. I’m going to confront him. Let him see that I know and that I don’t care.

With that resolve, I march back to the door. I put my hand on the knob and suddenly the threshold feels like the cliff edge of my fate.

My heart is caving in on itself. My courage fails me.

I can’t open that door. And I can live my whole life without seeing what’s on the other side. Sure, my imagination will run wild, but nothing I’ll imagine will be as bad as having the reality burned into my memories.

But, before I can turn and walk away, the choice is taken from me. The door flies open.

Loud music blares out into the hallway and standing at the door, dressed in a tuxedo, looking as handsome as the devil he is, is Remington Wilde. The boy who I let be my first. The boy who made me think he was falling in love with me the way I was falling in love with him. I want to punch his fucking lights out for ruining this.

He looks like he’s going to throw up.

“Kal.” His voice breaks at the end of my name and I want to cry.

“I’m leaving,” I say stiffly. I’m fighting with everything I have not to give him one more piece of myself. My heart’s not ready for this, I have no idea how to handle the waves of pain that are starting to radiate through me. I hold his eyes, the panic in them a weird sort of harness on my own. I start to back away.

“Kal, no. Please, let me explain,” he begs, his arms out to grab a hold of me.

Then, the nail in our coffin appears behind him.

“Remi, you’re the worst date ever. I’m waiti—” Joni’s words and smile die simultaneously when she sees me standing there.

“Oh, it’s you.” She squeezes herself next to Remi in the doorway. They stand there, both looking down at me. If my chest didn’t feel like someone was standing on it already, the smug satisfaction on her face hits me like a freight train.

I suck in a fortifying breath. “I’m leaving. It’s okay.”

“Don’t leave, please—” Remi reaches for me, I lurch away from his outstretched hand. My heel catches in the loops of the edge of the rug in the center of the hall and I flail for a second before I fall and land with a painful thud on my backside.

I glare at my feet and the fucking shoes on them. I start to unstrap them from my ankles. My trembling fingers make the task difficult.

Remi crouches in front of me.

“Leave me the fuck alone, Remi,” I hiss. I pull the left shoe off and then start on the strap of the right one.

“I’ll wait for you inside,” Joni says quietly, and her hand rests possessively on Remi’s shoulder before she disappears.

Now, I want to throw up. I glare at him, let him see for a moment, just how badly he’s hurt me.

He blinks and swallows hard. “Kal. This is not what it looks like. Please, please let me explain.” His hands cover mine and a wave of cold washes over me. I shudder and gasp.

“Do not touch me.” I’m trembling, my heart thunders in my ears.

He pulls his hands away immediately.

“Kal, listen.”

“No. I don’t want to know. You lied to me. You didn’t have to do that.” I hate myself for the sob that ends my sentence. I want to scream and hit him. But I know the minute I do, those men in the suits will be here to carry me out. That’s what she wants. I won’t give it to her. Not again.

Once those cursed shoes are off, I use the wall behind me to pull myself to my feet. The door opens and chatter fills the hallway.

I look up in horror. It was bad enough already. But when I look up and see all of them, the créme