Page 29 of You for Her (The Edge of Retaliation 2)
“Time for a selfie?” I ask Jo.
She nods, and we snap a happy selfie, and then after about ten minutes text it to Andrea saying we’re in the cab and on our way. She sends back an excited text, and I lean forward to the cab drivee and say to him, “Here is fine.”
He pulls over and we pay him, getting out in a random location. Then, we wait another twenty minutes. I text Andrea telling her we’re stuck in traffic but we’re nearly there. She doesn’t seem suspicious judging by her quirky reply. Jo and I catch another cab back to my place, and when we arrive, the sun has just set, making the streets darker than usual, with only the streetlights giving a dull glow.
“Do you think they’re in there?” Jo asks after we’ve paid the cab a few houses down.
We slowly walk toward our apartment.
When we arrive at the front, nothing seems amiss. It appears to be dark inside, nothing suspicious happening at all.
Then I see a small flash of light coming from my bedroom window. It flickers past, so quickly I nearly miss it.
If it wasn’t for the fact that I’m looking for it, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it.
“Did you see that?” I whisper to Jo.
“Yes,” she says, her voice shaky. “They’re in there.”
“Are you ready?”
She nods.
“Let’s show them who they’re messing with.”
We make our way to the front door of the apartment and Jo very quietly unlocks it. I take a deep staggering breath, knowing that I have to be the strongest I’ve had to be in a long time when I walk through this door.
They can’t see weakness.
They can never see what they’ve done to me, because then they’ll know they’ve won.
They can never win.
We push the door open quietly, and I see the flash of light in the kitchen. Whoever is in there, shines the flashlight in our direction, having heard the door. It’s now or never.
I reach my hand to the side and I flick on the light.
I’m presented with exactly what I thought I’d be presented with.
Tanner, Tatum, and Garrett. All of them dressed in dark colors, holding flashlights. Garrett has clearly just come out of the hall, so I’m guessing it was him who was in my room. Tanner has my folder in his hands, the folder containing the emails. I don’t know if he’s opened it or not. Tatum is in the kitchen, I have no idea what he thought he’d find in there, but I’m guessing he was rummaging through the drawers.
For a moment, just a moment, the room is dead silent.
It’s my turn.
It’s finally my turn.
To speak. To have control.
I’m in charge now.
“Well,” I say, my voice husky and low, “would you look at what we have here?”
Nobody says anything.
I take a step into the room.
I’ve played over this scene in my head a million times, what I was going to say, how proud I was going to be to see the looks on their faces, knowing it was me who caught them in their little game. Now I’m here, though, the words aren’t coming. They’re not coming how I thought they would. So, I just say whatever comes to my mind first. I just say it how it is, in this very moment.
Right now.
“You didn’t honestly think I was so stupid that I wouldn’t catch onto your little plan, did you, Tanner?”
The look on his face as realization that I know what he’s doing washes over makes me feel powerful. It’s a shocked expression, slightly guilty, a little pissed, but mostly confused. He’s no doubt wondering how the hell I figured it out. He’s about to get his answers.
“Callie …” he begins, but I raise a hand.
“Here’s what’s going to happen right now,” I say, my voice hard. “If you don’t want me to call the police and have you charged for breaking and entering, not to mention all the torment you’ve laid on me in the last month, then you’ll sit your fucking asses down, and you’ll hear what I have to say.”
Tatum glances at Tanner, but until that moment, his eyes have been on Jo. An unspoken conversation going on between them. I know her expression will be that of disappointment, and I know, deep down, that bothers him. Garrett doesn’t say a word, he just stands, watching it all unfold. Watching the truth slowly unravel.
“It wasn’t an option,” Jo mutters, her voice full of anger and disappointment. “Sit the hell down, or we call the cops.”
Tanner’s eyes lock onto mine and, for a moment, it feels like we’re the only two people in the room. So much passes between us. So much pain and anguish and heartache, but mostly betrayal. Brutal betrayal. He now knows that I know, and he can now see the true pain in my eyes as he realizes just how much he’s hurt me.
