The Damaged (The Insiders Trilogy #2) - Tijan by Tijan

“SHUT UP!” He was in her face, his hands in tight fists, but he was holding himself back. Barely, though. “You know that wasn’t the deal with my mother. And as for Bailey, you should stop while you’re ahead, because in two seconds she’s going to pull her head out of her ass and she’s going to remember the world stands up, not down. She’s going to light into you and you’re going to be nothing but a sniveling piece of shit on the floor.”

She shook her head, another laugh. “You’re sweet for thinking I can still feel anything like that.” She moved past him, coming toward me, almost swaying in a smooth manner.

She ignored how Matt shifted, too.

She added, “He must not have told you. I’m not surprised. He was like that with me. He didn’t tell me things. Always working. Always having some battle to handle. And yeah, he was as obsessed with Calhoun back then as I imagine he must be now. It’s all a joke, you know. You do know that, right? I know Calhoun. He does have some bad business colleagues, but the man himself is a sweet grandfather. All he’s been doing is trying to get close to Kash.”

No.

I hissed, drawing air in.

That pierced me. Hard.

“I can see that Kash has you believing the lies, but it is all truly a lie. Calhoun just wants to know his grandson.” She leaned in, her face so close to mine. I felt her breath. “Except for how he was with me. It was almost a frenzy, as if he hadn’t been touched in years. That’s how much he needed me. I think he just needed a hole that wasn’t yours. He plunged in and he kept going. He wasn’t even seeing me; his need was making him blind to who he had underneath him.”

“You’re such a bitch.” From Matt.

I couldn’t speak.

I couldn’t move.

She was pounding me, over and over again, and I couldn’t move to stop it.

I wanted to think she was lying …

But …

Was he tired of me?

He hadn’t called yesterday, until last night, but I knew something happened.

My stomach heaved.

“What hurts the most?” She was snapping at me, but also taunting in the same tone. “That he fucked someone else? Or that he was so blind in his need to fuck someone else, he didn’t care who it was?”

She sliced me open with the last two questions.

Girl.

I heaved again, but in relief.

Finally.

That voice in my head wasn’t mine. It was Chrissy Hayes. It was me. It was all of the Hayes women, and I knew what else she was about to say to me.

You shut that fucking bitch up now. Even if you’re questioning your boy, you don’t take that shit from her. You don’t take that shit from anyone. Never let ’em see your insides. She doesn’t get to have the last word. She doesn’t get that pleasure. It’s yours. So take it. Now!

All the crap Victoria threw at me, flinging it in my face, slid to the side. No matter what she said, no matter if it was true or not, it didn’t matter. Not here. Not in this battle. Because my inner Hayes was right.

This bitch was not going to win.

“Shut the fuck up.” From me.

Matt sighed beside me. I could almost feel his relief, his and Torie’s, and Tamara’s.

Victoria started to roll her eyes.

“No!” I snapped, catching her chin.

The move shocked her. Her eyes widened.

I had touched her. Not good, but I went with it.

I squeezed her instead. I pinched her chin, just a tiny bit, and I grilled her. “You have lost. Whatever Kash did to you, you’re here. You’re bitter. You’re angry. And it makes you look ugly, so that tells me what you’re saying is a lie.”

I felt strength pouring into me with every word I said, because the words were true. I mean, I still didn’t know about Kash, but she was being ugly and bitter, so, true. The Kash question was on the back burner for now. I’d deal with that later.

It was as if all the Hayes women were with me, filling me, pumping me back up, helping me say what I needed to say because they saw it for what it really was. She pulverized me, but I was swinging back.

“You were already forgotten before I even came into the picture. You know it. Your friends know it. The society pages know it. Whatever happened this weekend—if he needed to fuck you—you wouldn’t be here unless something went bad. You wouldn’t be throwing it in my face. No, no.” I sidled closer to her, letting her chin go. “You’re here to hurt me, so that only tells me one thing. That you lost, and you’re here to cause as much damage as possible on your way down.”

I stepped back.

I expected a comeback.

I got nothing.

She wasn’t crying. There was no break there. That told me I was right. She was already broken. Kash had done something to shatter her.

Matt must’ve seen it too, because he said quietly, “Leave. Now.”

Victoria laughed.

She actually laughed, but like before, it was still sick. It was also a destroyed laugh, coming from someone not put together right.

It was alarming.

“With fucking and utmost pleasure, Matt. I got what I came for. Now that your precious sister knows who she lets between her legs, I’m taking my girls and we’re flying back. Do not attempt to call us when we’re there. We are through. Our families are through. When we get to Chicago, we are enemies from here on out.”