Page 108 of Never His Girl
“I’m not angry,” I cut in.
“I was drinking and I was having a moment and… I just kind of spilled my guts.”
She sounds ashamed, but she shouldn’t be. We’veallfucked up before, so I don’t hold this against her.
“You don’t have to explain,” I say, holding her gaze until I’m positive she knows I mean that.
Having gotten the message, she eventually nods.
“Only reason I even brought it up is so you understand what I’m about to tell you,” I explain. “Parker’s using that info as leverage, using it to keep me quiet about the shit she pulled with the video.”
“That was her?”
I nod once. “It was, and she said that if I snitch on her, she’ll expose what happened between me and you.”
“Of course she did.” Casey leans back in her seat to think.
She and Parker have been acquaintances for years because of dance, but never quite friendly. Actually, I don’t know thatanyonewould classify Parker as good friend material.
“All of this kind of brings me to why I’m here today,” I share. “I thought I’d be able to find a way around it, but the only way to shut Parker down is to steal her leverage. And the only way to do that is to own my shit, come clean about the past to your father. Then, there’s nothing else that bitch can hold over my head. Once that’s behind me, I can let Harrison know that Parker was the one who—”
“West, you can’t do that,” Casey cuts in. “You can do whatever you need to as far as Parker and the video, but the part about us? That can’t get out.”
My brow quirks with the explanation, but there’s an intense look of concern on her face that I don’t immediately know how to read. I mean, I expected a bit of pushback, considering that what I’ve just proposed will affect her, too, but during the hours long drive up here tonight, I worked out how I’d handle it.
“Casey, I get that you want to keep this from your dad, and trust me, I kind of want that too, but Parker’s gonna fucking expose us either way. Wouldn’t it be better if we got to tell the story ourselves?”
Her eyes bounce toward the window again and she’s hard to read.
“I haven’t been concerned about my dad finding out for a while now,” she confesses, still staring off down the street. “Of course, when it all first happened, I was terrified to see how things would play out if he knew, but I’m kind of past that now.”
“Then what the hell is it? Why not get out in front of this?”
She meets my gaze again and my mind and heart are both racing.
“You really don’t know, do you?” Her eyes narrow when asking. Like she’s questioning the hell out of everything I’ve just said.
Frustration rises to my chest and I’m more tense than before, feeling like I’m missing something. Oreverything.
“What the fuck aren’t you saying?” I snap. No, I’m not pissed at her, just tired of no one giving me straight answers.
She glances down at the table for a moment before doing that sketchy thing where she checks over her shoulder again.
“Look, if you’re worried about Parker telling about us, all that matters is that she’s not a problem anymore.”
The tension in my chest spreads to my face. “What do you mean Parker isn’t a problem anymore?”
Casey’s eyes are set on mine, and with how heavy she’s breathing, I sense her concern with having said too much. It confirms this suspicion when she looks down at the table, instead of at me.
“Listen, maybe he didn’t tell you for a reason, so I should just—”
“Hewho?”
Her hands are trembling. Not hard, but enough to notice.
“I thought you were here on damage control,” she says quietly, still not answering the question. “I thought you were in on it, following up to make sure I understood the terms your dad laid out for me.”
A burst of heat spreads up from my neck, right to my face.