Page 130 of American Royals

“My relationship with Jefferson isn’t any of your business, okay?”

“It’s my business because I saw it! You might be okay with lying, but I’m not.”

“Let me explain,” Daphne attempted, but Himari cut her off.

“Explain? To me?” She gave a hollow, merciless laugh. “The one you owe an explanation to is Jeff. He’s the one whose trust you betrayed. But I’m going to give you one last chance. You tell Jeff by the end of the party tomorrow night, or I will.”

Daphne swallowed. Her throat felt sandpaper dry. “You’re blackmailing me?”

Himari gave a narrow smile. “I prefer to think of it as strongly incentivizing you to do the right thing.”

“Why do you want to hurt me?”

“From where I stand, you’re the one hurting Jefferson. Don’t you think it’s time you took a step back? Let him date someone else for a change?”

Daphne stared at her friend in numb disbelief. She should have known. Himari wanted the prince for herself.

Of course, other girls always wanted Jefferson. Daphne had been fending them off throughout their relationship, at parties and at school and even on the streets. Jefferson literally couldn’t walk in a parade without girls screaming at him, holding signs that said MARRY ME, JEFF! Daphne had long ago resigned herself to watching girls preen and flirt before him, throw themselves at him as if she weren’t standing right there.

But never had she suspected that her best friend was angling for him, too.

She wondered if she and Himari had ever really been friends, or if Himari had been posturing the entire time. Waiting for the moment when Daphne might slip up, and she could swoop in to take her place.

“If you think he’s going to jump from me to you, you’re wrong.”

Himari gave a harsh laugh. “Maybe he will; maybe he won’t. I guess we’ll find out.”

There was a hardness to Himari that Daphne had never seen before. It created an answering hardness within her. She felt like she no longer knew her friend at all.

She told Ethan to meet her outside school the next day, in the alley between their two campuses. He was at least half responsible for the events of that night—and he couldn’t afford for the truth to get out either. Not if he wanted to keep his best friend.

When she told him about Himari’s ultimatum, Ethan frowned. “Maybe we should tell Jeff ourselves. Preempt her. If it comes from us, we can spin it the right way.”

Daphne struggled to keep her voice down. The alley was mercifully empty right now, but you never knew who might turn the corner. “You can’t be serious. There’s no right way to spin this, Ethan! Jefferson can’t find out. It was just a one-off mistake, something we never should have done, and that we both regret.”

“Was it?” he pressed, with a curious, half-watchful look.

“Of course.”

The strangest thing was, Daphne didn’t actually feel guilty. She knew she should, they both should: this was a terrible double betrayal, the girlfriend and the best friend. Yet the only guilt Daphne had managed to muster up was a vague sense of guilt for not feeling any guilt at all.

She realized with a start that she didn’t actually regret what she’d done.

All she regretted was that she’d been caught.

“I don’t see how we can stop Himari from telling him, if her heart is set on it,” Ethan said slowly.

Daphne rolled her eyes in frustration. Why didn’t he seem more determined to fix this?

“Maybe we can undermine her,” she mused, thinking aloud. Her shoes crunched on the pebbles underfoot as she paced back and forth.

Daphne felt her mind spinning and clicking like the gears of a watch, racing down a thousand possibilities every second. What they needed was a way to sideline Himari—make her seem ridiculous, even farcical, so that if she did tell Jefferson what she knew, he wouldn’t believe a word she said.

“If only she would get drunk at the party. Then her accusations will come across like incoherent ramblings.”

“Even if she does get drunk, she won’t forget what she knows,” Ethan reminded her. “How does this prevent her from going to Jeff another time and telling him everything?”

He was right. They needed leverage.