Page 28 of Sweet Surrender
Sutton included. She cleared her throat as if something had lodged itself there and refused to move. Allie didn’t blame her. Valerie wasn’t just aiming the gun at Sutton; she’d already locked in and had her finger firmly on the trigger.
“But I’m here,” Valerie added lightly. “Very much still in the game.”
“Are you speaking about someone specific?” Vivian asked, cocking her head to the side as if this was brand new information. “Because it sounds to me like there might be something unresolved here.”
Valerie laced her fingers together and rested them on her knee. “I guess I haven’t been particularly shy about my feelings toward Sutton,” she said. “You could say there’s a bit of tension between us.”
“Tension?” Sutton said before Vivian could push further. She then let out a short laugh that bordered on menacing. This felt lessOutlast Herand moreJerry Springer.“That’s generous.”
And it was generous. The night before, Valerie had stood with her back to Sutton as if she didn’t exist. Which, for Sutton, who survived on attention, was probably the equivalent of oxygen deprivation.
“You’re right,” Valerie said, not looking at Sutton. In fact, her gaze was directed squarely ahead. “I guess I should call it what it is... there’s unfinished business between us.”
Sutton leaned forward, her entire body angling toward Valerie. “What do you mean unfinished business?” she asked, her voice a fraction higher than usual.
Valerie met Sutton’s gaze, and Allie immediately berated herself for taking the wooden log in the back row. This was front row seats kind of action.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” Valerie said, narrowing her eyes slightly. Then, suddenly, she was singing, “So, baby, pull me closer in the backseat of your Rover. That I know you can’t afford, bite the tattoo on your shoulder...”
Wait. Were those the lyrics ofCloserby The Chainsmokers?
But Allie wasn’t nearly as stunned that she’d managed to recognize the song by just a few lines as she was by the smallgasp that escaped Sutton’s throat. Allie leaned forward just in time to see Sutton’s mouth pull into a perfect, horrified oval.
“Shit,” Sutton muttered, raising a hand to her mouth. A hand she kept there as she mumbled against her palm. “Your hair was short. And you—” She blinked, studying Valerie like she was trying to reconcile two completely different people. “You look different.”
Valerie smiled, but it was the opposite of kind. This time a chill ran down Allie’s spine. The atmosphere had switched from a Jerry Springer show to a Stephen King novel.
“You left me in that hotel room,” Valerie said. “Room 417 at the Saint Louis. We ordered a bottle of 2012 Château Margaux as if it were cheap wine, and you insisted we needed three dozen oysters and truffle fries. We played The Chainsmokers all night and neither of us wore any clothes for hours.”
Sutton’s face crumpled. Allie had to lean all the way forward to see this and even took to resting her hands on Toph’s shoulders for support. She waited for Sutton to snap a reply, but she said nothing. Nothing.
“And in the morning, you were gone,” Valerie went on, her voice dangerously smooth. “You left before I got out of the shower.” A pause. Not that she even needed to pause. This was more dramatic than when Allie’s friend Missy got stalked by her ex-boyfriend on Instagram. “I found out the room hadn’t been paid for, neither had the champagne or oysters, even though you explicitly told me you’d been promoted to senior brand director of Ion Yoga and the entire evening was on you. I didn’t even want to go to that hotel. That much less expensive hotel on St. Charles would’ve been perfectly fine, but you insisted.”
A few eyebrows shot up. Allie’s included. She could hardly believe that Sutton had dined and ditched.
“I was a few months from finishing grad school,” Valerie went on. “I was completely broke and burdened with loans. Myparents were dealing with my mom’s hospital bills at the time, so there wasn’t exactly a bailout option waiting for me.”
Allie clicked her tongue disappointingly. She couldn’t believe this.
“So I had to work it off,” Valerie added. “Two days in the hotel’s kitchen washing dishes. It should’ve taken a week to clear the cost, but the manager took pity on me after I told them what happened.”
Allie turned to Barra to catch her eye and expected her to look appalled, but Barra was smiling. Smiling? Really? Before Allie could ask her if she was momentarily malfunctioning, Barra leaned in closer and whispered, “I don’t think you’ll need that protection bracelet tonight after all.”
The thought was like climbing into an ice bath on a hot day. Painfully pleasant. Barra was right. Valerie’s beef with Sutton might be the perfect storm. Unless, of course, Sutton apologized. But who was Allie kidding, Sutton had already dug herself a shallow grave.
Sutton cleared her throat and sat up a little straighter. She looked like she was physically willing herself to appear unbothered. It was a wonder she could see anything with her chin lifted so high. “Well, at least you learned a skill,” she said stiffly.
And there it was, the final nail in Sutton’s coffin.
Allie felt a weight fall off her shoulders. Surely she wouldn’t need to play her protection bracelet. Surely everyone would vote for Sutton to go home after this.
“Well, ladies,” Vivian said, smiling as if she couldn’t quite believe what had just unfolded, what she’d just witnessed. Frankly, Allie couldn’t either. Wasn’t it entirely ironic that Sutton had slept with Valerie despite being the one to make that stupid speech on their very first day out here? “I think that mightbe everything for tonight. Unless anyone has anything else that they’d like to get off their chest.”
Silence.
Not a single person moved.
“Okay then, it’s time to vote,” Vivian said.
