Series: Like Us Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 241
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 236417 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1182(@200wpm)___ 946(@250wpm)___ 788(@300wpm)
“Eliot, dude, seriously,” Tom turns to his brother. “I think I really like him. Like he…winked—”
“Tomorrow, tomorrow, brother. You will feel differently when the hangover and treason set in.”
“Yeah…you’re probably right.”
“Hydrate,” I say, and we all swig waters together. Bathroom break time. We let Tom use the toilet first, and Eliot and I stand in the black-painted hall lined with film noir posters. Double Indemnity. The Maltese Falcon. And neo-noir films. Brick. Blade Runner.
Charlie is nowhere to be seen, so maybe he slipped out of this quiet alcove already.
“…I’m their favorite, yet I’m not number one,” Eliot says, reading the email from Uncle Stokes for the first time. It was sent earlier tonight. “Where’s the lie?”
“We’re fighting for second,” I remind him.
“I’ll dethrone my brother,” Eliot assures me, his eyes gleaming on the phone. “One way or another.” I’m not sure he’s completely accepted the consequence of beating Charlie. It means he’ll be stuck in a corporate job for life.
“You’re the closest to it,” I tell him.
“You’re not so far behind.” Eliot pockets his phone.
“The test group had strong reactions to the pics of me and Donnelly messing around on home plate.” I tug at my mesh sparkly blue top, seeing a liquor spill seeping into my visible bra underneath. “Uncle Stokes didn’t say positive. So they could be strong negative reactions.”
Eliot points out, “They liked those flirty photos enough to want to use them for advertisements.”
That’s true. And for marketing, having a strong reaction of any kind is better than having an indifferent one. I’m just not sure they’ll ever see me as a viable candidate. Maybe I’m more useful as a tool to promote Fizzle, but not run it.
“I don’t even know why I care so much,” I mutter to myself. The thought of losing this opportunity—that feels so far out of reach anyway—has been flipping my stomach.
Eliot doesn’t hear. He drinks the last of his water and chucks the plastic into the trash bin beneath the Blade Runner poster. It’s quiet here. Mostly due to our bodyguards barricading other clubbers from entering by announcing the bathrooms are occupied.
Which they are.
One is out of order. The other, Tom is taking his sweet time in. Eliot knocks on the door, checking to see if he’s good. When he gets the okay, Eliot spins back to me with a more serious expression. “You haven’t remembered anything about what I told you yet?”
His secret. The one I forgot. “No, I…I don’t remember.” I see his jaw tense and face pinch. “You were hoping I would?”
Eliot scrapes a hand through his wavy hair. “It’s the worst thing I’ve ever done. It killed me…” He exhales. “I never wanted to tell you the first time, but I couldn’t keep it in. Now it’s festering in me, and…” He grimaces, his blue eyes veering to a gold-framed mirror between the bathroom doors. He drops his gaze abruptly, like he can’t even stare at his own torment.
It hurts. “I don’t have to know.”
“You deserve to,” Eliot murmurs. “It involves you.”
My pulse skips. “Me?” I didn’t think his secret had anything to do with me.
“I was just trying to protect you.” His eyes redden. “From Jeffra.”
Jeffra. I open my mouth, but no sound escapes. Jeffra. I know what he’s trying to say. Brain itch. It’s scraping at the surface, but I can’t see. Frustration heavies my breathing. “You did something…?”
“After she bullied you in Penn’s dining hall—”
“The YouTube video,” I interject in realization. “You spoke to Jeffra when I left the dining hall.” I totally forgot to ask Eliot about that video clip. “She whispered something to you.”
Eliot drops his voice a fraction. “I wanted to know what it’d take to get her to stop. To stop making your life a hell. And she said…” The words sound thick in his throat. “Sleep with me.”
It crashes against my lungs. I rock back, winded. “Eliot—”
“She’s twisted. She knew it’d kill me to betray you, and it’d pain you to know it.”
“Or she has a thing for you.”
Eliot cringes, “Yeah. Or that. Which could be for my benefit.”
I wince. “Eliot, no. You didn’t have to do that—”
“I didn’t have sex with her,” he cuts me off fast. “I fully intended to follow through. I even thought I had a leg up on Jeffra because I’d tell you the truth. I’d never keep it a secret for her to use against me or you. So I met her at her dorm one night, and once I was there, I started thinking about how easily she could go back on this deal. We’d have sex, and she’d keep harassing you. So I made her a different offer.”
Okay, okay. My heartbeat tries to slow. “What kinda offer?”
“We could exchange nudes. She’d have dirt on me, and I’d have dirt on her.”
“She agreed to that?”