Page 75 of Stolen Summer

“What the fuck?” Frankie muttered beside me.

I held my arms out in shock, my brain still processing what the hell happened. After taking a breath, I cleared a blob of ice cream from my eyes and stared at the last person I expected to see on the boardwalk, but she should have been the first person I suspected to be responsible for my sticky state.

I’d never seen her face, but I sure as hell recognized her voice.

“Sorry, I thought you were the trash. Oh, wait. You are. I guess I wasn’t mistaken after all.”

Frankie jumped to my defense as I flung another glob of melting soft serve off my cheek. “Oh, you did not just smash a vanilla cone into my best friend’s face. How very fucking basic, but by the looks of you, I shouldn’t have expected anything original.”

Frankie had no idea who this girl was, but it wouldn’t have mattered when it came to loyalty between friends. She had my back, no questions asked. Frankie was always just there.

Flanked by two girls I didn’t know, the girl who wore the antler mask at the party giggled. I could finally put a face to the threats. Of course, she would be pretty, but it was difficult to tell if her beauty was natural like Frankie’s or bought with her daddy’s money. From the bleached blonde hair to the perfectly perky set of tits, she could have been a Barbie doll. “You look better than the first time I saw you. Still living off my fiancée like the leech you are?” she sneered.

“Do you know her?” Frankie asked, frowning and looking like she wanted to tag in and take this girl down.

My lips formed a thin line. “Gianna, I assume? Yeah, we met the other night.”

“The psycho who wants to trap a Riley?” Frankie put the pieces together from what I had told her.

Gianna’s beautiful face contorted into something ugly and cruel. “I’m. Not. A. Psycho.”

Frankie sniffed the air around Gianna. “Smells like a psycho.”

The shit was stuck in my hair. “Uh, could have fooled me. And dare I remind you I’m his fiancée. Let me guess, all beauty, no brains? Or maybe you’re the stalker type,” I mused, shoving my sticky hair out of my face.

Frankie choked beside me but said nothing to counteract my statement.

Gianna’s friends were less vocal. They stood beside her as if it was their place to say nothing, accessories like a pair of earrings meant to make Gianna sparkle. I wondered if she chose to be friends with them because they weren’t as pretty as she was. I bet it boosted her self-esteem. I knew girls like her in high school, and I’d hoped after graduation I wouldn’t have to deal with shallow bitches like her.

“Everyone knows your engagement is a farce. His father would never let him marry someone like you.” Gianna looked at her two friends, polished brows raised in expectation.

They jumped in, nodding in agreement.

“Total farce,” the one with the short brunette bob echoed.

“Uh-huh. You’re a nobody,” the other said, licking the ice cream she clutched possessively in her hand. She didn’t look like she would be wasting it on my face anytime soon.

Frankie snickered, unable to contain herself.

Gianna narrowed her gaze at my best friend, eyeing her with snobbish disdain. She looked like she just stepped out of an overpriced department store dressed in all designer names from her shoes to the bag slung over her shoulder. Who wore heels to the boardwalk? I’d stick to my flip-flops, thank you very much.

Those shifty, cunning eyes dashed to me. “If you know what’s best for you, you’ll break it off before you get hurt.”

I stepped forward so Gianna and I were almost nose to nose. Her heels gave her a slight height advantage, but it wouldn’t stop me from kicking her preppy ass. “Are you threatening me?”

“Welcome to the real world, trailer park.”

“I can see why Cole doesn’t want anything to do with you. Why would he want to marry a shallow bitch like you?”

“Cole?” she blinked and then let out a manic snort-laugh. “I don’t want Cole.”

Frankie and I swapped confused expressions. “What do you mean? Isn’t he the one you’re obsessed over?”

Gianna flipped her hair over her shoulder. “My father doesn’t care which Riley I choose, and it isn’t Cole. I’ve been down that road.”

I remembered what Cole told me happened between them, how she threw herself at his brother. “You want Crew, not Cole,” I guessed, the pieces starting to fit together. “Except Crew doesn’t want you, does he? Not after the little stunt you pulled while dating his brother.” A hint of smugness sullied my tone.

How quickly Gianna’s demeanor shifted. She gritted her teeth. “You don’t know shit about what happened.”