Page 105 of Running from Drac

My stomach turns and curdles, twisting into tight knots that feel like they’re destroying me from the inside out.

“You’re lying! I don’t believe you.”

“What reason would I have to lie? It’s been in your eyes for weeks. You knew. Deep down, you knew something changed, you were just too stupid to voice it out loud.”

She’s right, I could feel it.

I’ve known something was off since that day. The way she acted… how quickly Eddie changed. Something shifted our relationship into a different timeline, and now I know what. Pippa.

“He loves me, Pippa. Not you.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Why would you do this to me? You know how I feel about him, you knew we were engaged.”

“And? God, are you that oblivious? You have to be because there’s been so many things I’ve orchestrated over the last few years that would make your skin crawl. You’d never look at me the same way again. Which shouldn’t really matter, you already look at me like I’m your mortal enemy.”

Because you are. I just didn’t know it until now.

For a moment, I stew on everything she’s saying, trying to think of all the time in the past where she could’ve sabotaged me. I come up empty, too traumatized and dumbfounded to think straight. I need to know what she’s done. It doesn’t matter that I’m terrified of what she has to say because my soul needs to hear it.

“I’ve been behind it all, Amber. Everything that has happened in the last five years has been strategically planned by me.”

Five years? Five fucking years!

“What are you talking about, Pippa?”

“Didn’t you ever wonder why Eddie was so cruel to you back in high school? How he never really seemed to care if you were around or not? That was me. I put that shit in Eddie’s head. I told him you liked boys who weren’t clingy, and that you enjoyed having a man that took control of you and didn’t like to communicate. Can you believe he bought that shit? Men are so damn gullible!”

“You’re fucking sick! Why would you do that?”

“Like I told you before, Amber. Eddie’s mine. That’s why I stayed in his ear, hoping if he treated you like you’re dogshit, you’d finally break up with him for good.”

My mind races through our relationship, how quickly the sweet guy who swept me off my feet, became aloof and semiunattached. It was because of her. That shit happened because of Pippa.

“Any time you guys broke up, I was there. Sometimes I’d fall asleep in his arms, knowing he was only using me as a way to get over you. Even though it never turned into anything more than heavy petting and some stolen kisses, I let him use me, knowing it would only be a matter of time before he realized it was me he was really in love with. That it was me who would always be there for him.”

“How many times, Pippa?” I question, my entire body quivering as I fight to keep my emotions beneath the surface. A volcano of betrayed sorrow is on the verge of erupting, but she won’t see it. I won’t let her see that she’s broken me.

“How many times have you guys broken up?” She smirks before finishing her beer and throws it to the ground. It shatters, breaking into a few large pieces—pieces that mirror my cracking heart that’s thundering inside my chest.

“Oops…” She takes the heel of her shoe and smashes the glass even more.

“How many times, Pippa?”

“To be honest, I lost count, but I think I’ve sucked his cock more than you have. As for sex, only once. But damn does that man know how to eat a pussy. He never leaves me dry.”

Before she looks back up, I wipe the tear that escapes the corner of my eye, afraid to show her how much she’s hurting me.

“So, all this time… for the last five years, Eddie’s been seeing you on the side?” A sob catches in my throat, suffocating me as I attempt to stuff it down.

“He loves my pussy, Amber. He can’t help it.” She looks up at me with the face of a woman who doesn’t care about what she’s done, basking in my downfall like it’s fueling her need to dig at me more and make that knife really stick as she twistsit and tears at the flesh of my back. For six years, she’s held in these feelings for Eddie, only deciding now on my wedding day to come clean.What in the hell is wrong with her?

“I didn’t think you guys would ever get serious about getting married. Then, over the last year, I could tell Eddie was changing, and getting closer to you. His possessiveness got worse, and has only increased the longer you guys have been together. I knew I had to act fast, or I was going to lose him forever. I was there the night he cheated on you with Jinafer. He had a headache, and the party was getting loud and rowdy. So, I offered him a pill. He thought it was ibuprofen. He had no idea I just slipped him a tab of ecstasy. I purposely bought the ones that looked like headache medicine knowing someday I may have to use them.”

Memories flood me from that night. I’d gone home early because I wasn’t feeling well, and then I found out that Eddie cheated on me with Jinafer, breaking my heart like I never felt before.

Who the fuck is this girl standing before me?