Текст книги "Emerald"

Автор книги: K. A. Linde

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 12 страниц)

“DID YOU HEAR ME?” LYDIA ASKED.

She leaned her body out the door. Her eyes caught on Preston, and she had the biggest smile Trihn had ever seen on her sister’s face. Then, she seemed to notice Trihn standing there.

“Trihn! There you are!” Lydia burst out of the house and rushed to her. “Mom said you were visiting Ian. Sorry, I had her call you back, but I was so excited for you to meet my boyfriend! This is Preston. Preston, this is my little sister, Trihn.”

Trihn swallowed the horror on her face. It was hard to reel in, but somehow, she locked away the parts of her that had shattered into a million pieces, so she could face her sister. This wasn’t the way that Lydia needed to find out about Preston. Trihn wasn’t even sure she would be able to form words to explain what had happened anyway. In fact, she was a little worried about the use of words in general.

“Nice to meet you,” Preston said. He extended his hand out to her, as if this were really the first fucking time they were meeting, as if he honestly expected her to fucking touch him after this.

“Is it?” she growled out.

“I’ve heard so much about you,” he retorted, dropping his hand. “It’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”

“Funny. Lydia hasn’t said a word about you.”

“Trihn! Geez, calm down.”

Trihn was the furthest thing from calm. She was ready to rip his fucking head off. There was no explanation for this. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. There was only anger and fury and pain. Great lancing pain was slicing through every limb in her body and piercing her with a fiery hot poker.

Lydia reached for Preston and drew him closer to her. “So sorry,” Lydia whispered so soft that Trihn almost didn’t hear her.

“It’s all right,” Preston said. He squeezed her hand.

Trihn tightly clenched her jaw and tried to hold back the rage boiling under the surface.

Half of her wanted to lay into him about the bullshit in front of her, and the other half wanted to run as fast and as far as she could to get away from the nightmare before her eyes.

“You’re right,” Trihn said. “No reason for me to be irritated that you’re bringing random guys on vacation with your family. You always bring total strangers with you.”

Preston arched his eyebrow in question. But she didn’t know what he was asking.

“God! What’s with you?” Lydia asked. “She’s not normally like this, Preston.”

“Yeah, I’m not. This behavior is completely out of character. Normally, I’m all rainbows and sunshine,” she said dramatically. She crossed her arms over her chest to close herself off from them.

“I can see that,” Preston said with that goddamn chuckle.

He was actually fucking amused by her behavior. She was going to rip him apart.

“Just go inside with that,” Lydia told Preston. “I need a minute alone with my sister.”

“All right, babe,” he said, as if whatever was about to happen between Lydia and Trihn meant nothing to him. As if…he hadn’t called Trihn babe before.

Trihn glared at his back as he departed. How dare he call Lydia babe! How dare he be dating my sister! How dare he stand there as if he didn’t give a shit that this was killing me! How dare that motherfucking asshole!

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Lydia exploded. She grabbed Trihn’s arm and yanked her sister farther away from the door, so she could spout venom without being heard by her precious flavor of the week.

“What’s wrong with me?” Trihn cried. She wrenched out of her sister’s grip. She didn’t give a shit who heard them. “What’s wrong with you, bringing a guy you just met on our fucking family vacation?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about! Preston and I have been dating all summer!”

“What?” Trihn sputtered, stumbling backward, as if she had been slapped.

“Yeah! We’re in the same program at NYU to receive credit for our summer internships. We met months ago at the orientation meeting.”

All the air whooshed out of Trihn’s lungs as realization hit her. This wasn’t some fling. This wasn’t someone who Lydia had been fooling around with and invited on vacation on a whim. She was actually seriously dating Preston. They had been dating for several months. Fucking hell! They had been dating even longer than Trihn had known Preston—a month longer, if memory served, since that was when Lydia had started her photography internship.

“All summer?” Trihn asked, her voice sounding small and distant due to the ringing in her ears.

“Yes,” Lydia snapped. “And if you get off your high horse and give him a chance, you might even like him instead of judging me and the guys I bring home!” She shook her head and then started to head back inside.

Trihn didn’t like Preston. She was madly in love with him. And all of this was so, so wrong.

“Lydia, wait!” Trihn called before Lydia opened the door.

“What?” Lydia asked. Her anger dissipated as quickly as it had come. It always did with Lydia. She always won, and her life was perfect. What reason would she have for holding on to anger?

“I don’t think this is such a good idea,” Trihn said. She tried to find the words to warn her sister without coming right out and saying it. “What do you even know about this guy?”

Lydia sighed heavily, pushing forward into the house again without an answer.

Trihn anxiously followed behind her. “Lydia, I’m serious!”

“Look, just because your boyfriend couldn’t come with you doesn’t mean you can question mine. You guys have only been dating for a short while, too, right?” Lydia asked.

Lydia’s words carried down the hall, and their mother stuck her head through the doorway. “Is everything all right, girls?”

Trihn looked up to see her mother, her father, and Preston staring at them. She gritted her teeth but didn’t look away. She was ready to explode at any second.

“Yes, we’re fine,” Lydia said. She bounced from one foot to the other with a giant grin. “I was just asking about Trihn’s boyfriend.”

Preston’s eyes burned into her, and when she met that look, she could see the challenge within. He was wondering if she was going to rat him out. She should. She wanted to. She wanted to tell everyone what a dirty fucking liar he was, but she also didn’t want to ruin everyone’s vacation and have all the questions flying at her about what the fuck had happened.

Because she didn’t even know what had happened. How could any of this have happened to me? She was used to being around players like that. She was used to model assholes. God, hadn’t I given my virginity to one of those assholes? Another fucking asshole to add to the list.

Her face burned red at the thought. Everything seemed to fall into place at once—the phone calls when she had been over at Preston’s place, him not responding to her late at night, him always having to work. She hadn’t been looking for the signs because she felt safe with him, right with him. But she hadn’t been safe at all, and here was the proof right before her eyes.

She didn’t even know which way was up or down. She loved Preston. She wasn’t ready for this to be over, but at the same time…she hated him, so viciously. She loved him as much as she hated him.

“So, tell us about him. Where is your boyfriend, Trihn?” Lydia asked.

“Yeah,” Trihn murmured, ignoring her question. “Past tense.”

“Past tense?” Lydia asked, confused.

“Yes. Past tense boyfriend.”

As Lydia seemed to realize what Trihn had said, her face fell. “You guys aren’t together anymore?”

“We broke up,” she choked out. Her vision blurred as she stared at Preston. “He wasn’t the guy that I thought he was.”

“Oh, Trihn,” Lydia said.

She placed her hand on Trihn’s shoulders, and Trihn collapsed at her sympathy.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” She shrugged Lydia’s arm away from her. “I’m going to call Renée. Just…give me some privacy.”

Then, she barreled down the hallway, leaving the nightmare awaiting her behind. She needed to talk this out with someone. She needed to figure out what the hell to do about all of this.

Her feet carried her past the back deck, out to the trail to the beach, and all the way until her feet sank into the sand. She pulled her phone out and pressed the number for Renée as she hurried down the beach to the small cove where she and Ian had hidden away to escape the world when they were kids.

“You made it!” Renée said when she answered.

As soon as Trihn heard her best friend’s voice, she burst into tears. Everything that she had been holding in rushed out of her. She was hiccuping over the sobs.

“Trihn! What’s wrong? Are you okay? What happened? Oh my God, stop crying. Tell me what’s going on!”

“Preston,” she muttered through the tears.

“What about him?”

“He’s here.”

“What? Why?”

“He’s…dating…Lydia.”

There was silence on the other end.

“That motherfucker.”

Trihn laughed hoarsely through the tears. “I know.”

“How did this happen? Trihn, calm down. Breathe for me, hooker. You can’t fall apart. You need to just breathe.”

Trihn listened to her words and tried to follow her advice. In through my nose, out through my mouth. She closed her eyes and shut out everything, except for the sound of Renée’s voice and the crash of the waves in the distance.

“Okay. Now, tell me everything.”

So, Trihn spilled the whole sordid story of walking onto the property to find out that Lydia and Preston were together. She still couldn’t quite believe that this was happening.

“So…have you talked to either of them about this?” Renée asked.

“No. It just happened. I was going to say something to Lydia, and then the words got stuck in my mouth. I was so shocked.”

“I think you need to talk to Lydia,” Renée said.

“What? Are you crazy? That is the last thing I need to do.”

“I’m not crazy, Trihn. You’re dating your sister’s boyfriend! You need to talk to her.”

Trihn covered her face with her free hand. “I don’t know what to say. They started dating at the beginning of the summer. I can’t even remember if I mentioned Lydia or anything to him. I seriously can’t remember anything, except that I love him and I invited him here and he couldn’t come because of work. Now, he’s here with her!”

“What a douche bag!” Renée sighed. “Do you need me to come get you? I can borrow Matthews’s car and drive out there.”

Trihn swiped the tears off her face. Black mascara came off, and she didn’t even want to know what she looked like. “I’m not going to make you drive all the way out here. And what would I even tell my parents? And Lydia…”

“Okay, I see your point,” Renée conceded. “Lydia goes through men like most people go through socks. The likelihood that she’s going to ditch him in a couple of weeks is really, really high.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better!” Trihn cried into the phone.

“I know! But you’re moving in with Lydia in three weeks. Three weeks,” she repeated. “Just imagine that living situation if she finds out.”

“Imagine the living situation if they stay together!”

“But what’s the chance of that?” Renée asked.

“I don’t know. All I know is that I cannot go back in there and look at them together. I know that he cheated on me and that he’s cheating on her and that I hate him. But…I also thought I loved him. And if I tell Lydia what happened, then it will really be over with Preston.”

Renée groaned. Trihn could practically hear her thoughts through the line.

Trihn didn’t want to hear that it was over. She knew it was. How could it ever be fixed after this? But she wasn’t ready for that.

“I guess just wait it out. I know it’s torture, but wait until you and Lydia are alone, and you’re not blindingly angry.”

“What should I do in the meantime?” Trihn asked.

“Make him jealous?”

TRIHN STAYED HIDDEN AWAY IN HER ROOM.

There was no way that she was going to dinner. She wasn’t ready to tell Lydia or confront Preston about what had happened, and she certainly wasn’t ready to sit across from them at dinner. She could already hear them moving around in the room next door. She was sure Preston had his own room. He could at least be respectful enough to stay in it. She didn’t even want to think about what they were doing in there.

She pulled her Bose headphones back out of her bag and enjoyed the wonderful noise-canceling capabilities. She thought she was successfully avoiding the world until her door swung inward, and she practically jumped out of her skin.

Her heart beat wildly as she was both terrified and hopeful that it would be Preston.

But as she dropped her headphones around her neck, Ian walked into the room. Shit! She had forgotten that she had invited him for dinner.

“Hey. What are you up to in here?” he asked, taking a casual step inside and leaning against the doorframe.

“Nothing. Listening to music.”

He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side as he examined her. “You okay?”

“Never been better,” she lied.

“Really?”

Trihn cleared her throat and looked away from him. If he looked too closely at her, he would probably see what was churning inside of her.

“Are you carrying a sweater?” she asked, trying to force the joking tone back into her voice. “In August?”

“Don’t try to change the subject,” he said.

From where she sat, she could see that his ears were pink.

“Just come here.”

“What?”

“Come here,” he insisted.

Trihn left her headphones on the bed and walked across the room. “You’d better have a good reason for this, Peterson.”

As soon as she was standing in front of him, he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her in for a tight hug. She didn’t even know what to say. She stood there stiffly for a moment and then leaned into his chest, circling his waist. She breathed out heavily and tried to hold back the tears.

“It’s going to be okay,” he murmured.

She panicked for a split second, wondering how he knew what was going on.

But then he spoke again, “Your mom mentioned your breakup to me when I came in.”

“Oh. Right.”

She wished that were the real issue. That might be bearable compared to what was really going on.

Ian didn’t have to say anything else though. They had known each other long enough for words not to matter. She had been there for him when his parents were going through issues. He had always been there when Lydia outshone Trihn and brought her pesky boyfriend on vacation. It was an easy friendship that Trihn appreciated more than ever at the moment.

Just as she was about to pull away, Lydia’s door popped open, and Preston walked out of the room. He eyed them standing there in an embrace and raised his eyebrows. Whether from surprise or interest or jealousy, she didn’t know.

Trihn quickly stepped away from Ian, her face burning. She couldn’t even place the emotion hitting her head-on. She couldn’t even look at Preston.

Thankfully, Ian stepped in. “You must be Lydia’s new boyfriend.”

He extended his hand, and Preston firmly shook it. Was that too firmly? Could he be jealous? Of Ian of all people?

Hypocrite.

“That’s right. I’m Preston,” he said. “And you are?”

“Ian Peterson. We live next door during the summer.”

“I see.”

Lydia stepped out of the room next. “Ready?” she asked, oblivious to what was going on in the hallway.

“Yeah, babe,” Preston said. He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

Trihn tried not to gag. Dinner was starting to sound like a horrible idea. Maybe she could just hang out in her room for the rest of break and pretend Preston wasn’t here.

“You know, on second thought, I’m not really feeling that great. I’m going to pass on dinner. Sorry, Ian.” Trihn started backing into her room.

“What?” Ian said. “No, come on, Trihn. You can’t stay, locked away, in your room all night because some idiot broke up with you.”

Before she had a chance to respond, Ian hauled her back out of her room and started forcing her down the hallway. She opened her mouth to protest but knew it wasn’t going to work. Ian rarely put his foot down with her, and if he thought all that was wrong was some breakup, he wasn’t going to change his mind.

“There you are!” her mother said when they walked into the dining room.

It was set for six, and her mother was already arranging dinner onto some fancy-looking china.

“Lasagna! Score!” Ian said. He took a seat next to her father, who was seated at the head of the table, reading on his iPad.

“Your favorite, if I remember,” Linh said.

“Definitely.”

Trihn bit her lip and slid into the spot next to Ian. For a split second before Preston took the chair in front of her, it’d felt like every other summer with just Trihn, Lydia, and Ian joking around and having a good time. Then, a pair of big blue eyes met her eyes from across the table, and that image disintegrated.

Trihn hastily looked away. Making eye contact was a bad idea.

Linh took her chair across from Gabriel with a smile. “Okay. Dig in!”

Food was passed around, and everyone filled their plates with Linh’s amazing home-cooked food. Trihn stared down at her helping of lasagna. It was one of her favorites, too, but she didn’t even have the stomach for it. She poked at it, swirling it around on her plate, before taking a small bite.

“So,” Linh said, “are you two excited to start college in a couple of weeks?”

“Yes! I’m so ready to be back in the city,” Ian said enthusiastically.

Trihn nodded halfheartedly. “Yeah. NYU is going to be…different.”

“NYU is going to be wonderful,” Lydia cried. “Just think, I’ll be there, and Preston will be there! Renée and Ian will both be just uptown. I don’t see how it could get any better.”

“I guess.” Trihn tried to imagine what college would look like next year, and all she visualized was static. “I was offered a job,” she said, just to see what everyone would say.

“That’s wonderful,” Gabriel said.

“You won’t have time for that!” Lydia cried.

“Another modeling gig?” her mother asked, brimming with excitement.

“No. Dancing,” she said flatly.

“Dancing?” Lydia asked. She almost looked offended that Trihn would continue to pursue dance when Lydia never had. “With a company?”

Trihn let her eyes travel to Preston. He smirked when she glanced at him, and she remembered the recent night he had seen her perform at Slipper.

She swallowed hard. “You could say that.”

“Well, as long as it doesn’t interfere with school, it sounds like a good idea. Tell us more about it,” Linh said.

“I don’t have all the details yet,” Trihn said.

“Look at my two daughters. Both motivated and independent young women.”

Trihn tried not to roll her eyes, but Lydia just beamed across the table. After a minute of silence where everyone was digging into their food, Lydia glanced around and then finally settled on Trihn.

“So, what happened with your boyfriend?” Lydia asked.

Trihn met her gaze and just wanted to call her out for being a heartless bitch. Clearly, Trihn was fucking upset. What the hell?

“Lydia,” Gabriel warned. Their father only butted in on rare occasions.

“What?” Lydia asked, acting all innocent. Loving, carefree Lydia would never be anything but a pleasant, caring, wonderfully meddlesome older sister who liked to stick her nose in other people’s business.

“I really don’t want to talk about it,” Trihn ground out.

“You’re just going to leave us hanging?”

“I said,” Trihn snapped, dropping her fork, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay. Fine.”

Linh cleared her throat and turned her attention away from the drama unfolding in front of her. “Ian, dear, you aren’t dating anyone at the moment, are you?”

“No, ma’am,” he said.

Trihn noticed how pink his ears were, and she just wanted to bury her face in her hands. This was even worse than she had expected, and Preston hadn’t said a fucking word.

“And you’ll be in Manhattan next year!”

Her mother’s pretend innocent routine wasn’t fooling anyone. It was clear what she was insinuating, and that was not going to happen.

“Mother!” she snapped. How embarrassing!

“Geez, Mom,” Lydia piped in. “She’s only been single a couple of hours, and already, you’re trying to hook her up with the neighbor.”

“I said nothing of the sort,” Linh responded.

“I can’t hear any more of this,” Trihn said. “I can’t even believe this is a topic of conversation.”

“Well, this lasagna is delicious,” Preston said, speaking up for the first time. All heads swiveled to him. “Thank you so much for the invitation, Mrs. Hamilton.”

Trihn saw red. Thanks for the invitation? Yeah. Thanks for the invitation to ruin my life.

“Please call me Linh,” her mother insisted.

“Mom, Preston is a marketing genius working for Glitz right now!”

“I didn’t know you worked for the magazine,” Linh said, clearly intrigued.

“Yeah. Well, I didn’t realize you were related until very recently.”

“Is that so?” Trihn asked. She leaned forward. “How recently?”

“What does it matter?” Lydia chimed in. “What matters is that he’s so amazing that he should be leading the marketing team down there.”

Trihn snorted. “He’s entry-level for the summer.”

“How do you know?” Lydia asked.

Trihn froze. Oh, yeah. “Some people can infer things, Ly. You’re both doing work study.”

“Well, I’m sure he’s doing a fine job in marketing,” Linh insisted.

“Anyone can be good at marketing,” Trihn snapped.

“I couldn’t,” Ian said with a short laugh.

“But you’re a genius at computers. See? This is what real skill looks like. Not just people who know how to twist words,” Trihn said. She knew she was upset and on the verge of losing it, but she couldn’t stop. “People will believe anything if you say it with enough conviction, isn’t that right?” she spat Preston’s words back at him.

His resulting smile only infuriated her more.

“God!” Lydia cried. “I know your boyfriend just broke up with you, but you are just being a bitch for no reason! You only dated him for a couple of weeks!”

Trihn’s mouth dropped open, and then she shoved her chair back. “Excuse me, but I’ve suddenly lost my appetite.”

“Trihn,” Lydia murmured, as if realizing she had gone too far.

But Trihn didn’t want to make up with Lydia. She didn’t even want to look at Lydia. She saw Preston stamped all over her. Jealousy was a fiery inferno in her gut, and she had to hold back the tears as she stormed out of the room.