I grabbed her wrists, flung one away, and grasped the other with my fingers. Tightly. Instantly I felt Ariana, Kiran, and Taylor gather around me. I was surrounded, caged in, but I didn't care.
“We need to talk,” I said again, this time through my teeth.
Noelle's eyes widened. “Reed, you're making a scene.”
“I can make a much bigger, much louder one,” I told her. “But I really don't think you want all these people to hear the things I have to say.”
Noelle stared at me for a long moment, gauging whether or not I was bluffing. I was. Totally. If I started ranting and raving, then I would not only expose Leanne and Natasha's secrets, but I would expose myself as a total naive weakling. Not something I was quite ready to do.
235
I narrowed my eyes. The longer we stood there, the more I realized I was winning. I could see her start to cave. Maybe two could play at this game.
“Fine,” she said, ripping her hand from my grasp. “No need to get violent.” She looked over my shoulder at the others. “Ladies. Let's find ourselves a room.”
236
NO MORE SECRETS
“Well, Reed, we're all here,” Noelle said, lowering herself onto a large velvet chair in one of the alcoves. She kicked off her shoes and drew her feet up under her full skirt, as if she were settling in for a cup of tea and a long, pleasant chat. The others gathered around her on footstools and chaises.
It was all perfectly calm and civilized. A tableau of beautiful, poised, privileged women. Meanwhile, my insides were boiling.
“I know what you did,” I said, standing in front of them. “I know you blackmailed Natasha into blackmailing me.”
Noelle stared at me. “So what do you want, a medal?”
My fingers curled at my sides. “I want to know why,” I said. “Why would you do that to me? What could you possibly have to gain?”
Noelle took a deep breath and sighed, looking off to her left like she was just that bored.
“It's not what we have to gain, so much as what you have to gain,” Ariana said, reposing languidly on her chaise. Everyone watched me expectantly, as if waiting for me to thank them.
237
“What does that mean?” I asked. “I don't understand what that means.”
“It means that we were testing you, and you passed!” Kiran announced grandly. She pulled her ever-?present flask out of her purse and held it up. “Care to celebrate?”
I closed my eyes against a new wave of frustration. I was even more confused now than I'd been when I walked in here.
“Testing me? How? For what?” I asked.
Kiran took a long drink and touched her fingertips to her lips. Noelle shook her head, fed up. Ariana simply stared.
“To see if we could trust you,” Taylor said quietly, looking at the floor. Her feet were turned in at the toes, giving the impression of a child waiting for her mother at the bus stop. “We did it to see if we could trust you.”
To see if they could trust me. To see if they could trust me?
“And I passed? How is that possible?” I said. “I did go through your rooms. I found all kinds of crazy, personal crap. I totally violated your privacy. How did I pass?”
Noelle laughed. “You didn't violate anything. We planted all that stuff for you to find.”
“What?” Okay. Now I had to sit. I dropped onto the nearest velvet bench and slumped. The past few weeks of my life passed before me in the blink of an eye. Had any of it been real? “Please tell me you're kidding.”
“You really think I'm a closet binger?” Kiran said, snorting. “Please. I eat what I want, when I want. It's called good genes.”
“Yeah. That was all my idea,” Taylor said with obvious pride.