Page 136 of Theirs for the Holidays

My heart sinks, and I stare at Isabelle’s phone, waiting for someone to tell me this is a joke or something.

But she just presses a button to play another clip. This time it’s Lennox’s voice.

“—she fails at everything she does. What do you expect?” There’s a brief pause, and then he adds, “She’s an embarrassment. Nobody actually respects her.”

Isabelle stops the audio, then pulls up another clip. This one has a slightly muffled quality, as if it was recorded from a distance when the men were obviously unaware. Still, I can tell it’s Sawyer’s usually charming voice talking, and somehow, his words hurt the most. “I can’t believe I ever even wanted to be friends with her at all. She’s the most selfish fucking person I’ve ever met.”

“I don’t want to hear any more,” I breathe in a shaky voice, turning away from Isabelle and her phone.

“Are you sure? I have a couple more that you should really?—”

“IsaidI don’t want to hear anymore.”

Before she can say anything else, I stride away from her, heart pounding in my chest. There are tears in my eyes now, and there’s nothing I can do to stop them from falling down my cheeks. I’m probably ruining my makeup, but I can’t bring myself to care.

I feel numb on the surface, but underneath that is a sick feeling of hurt and betrayal.

The guys must have finished their conversation, because they meet me halfway across the room. Sawyer notices the look on my face and the tears and looks concerned. What a joke?

“Are you okay? What happened?”

That alerts the other two and they crowd around me. Usually, that makes me feel safe and cared about. Now I just feel like I’m suffocating. Their looks of worry are at such odds with the dismissive and hurtful words I heard them say, and it makes my head spin to think that they’ve been playing me this whole time. Smiling in my face, hyping me up, while feeling like I’m pathetic and wasting my time.

“Is it true?” I ask, looking between the three of them.

“Is… what true?” Lennox asks.

“You talked to Isabelle?”

The three of them trade looks. “She told you?”

“Yes, she told me. And she let me hear exactly what you said to her. I can’t believe you said all those things.”

“What else were we supposed to do?” Rhett asked. “We had to do something. All of this has already gone far enough, and we meant what we said to her.”

I just stare at them, stunned and so hurt. My throat constricts, and I swallow hard, but for once, I don’t burst into tears. I don’t have a panic attack. I just… shut down. It’s like that numbness is spreading, making it almost impossible to feel anything. And I welcome it now.

“Violet, I know you didn’t want us to get involved,” Lennox is saying. “And we should have told you, but we thought?—”

“I don’t care,” I say, the words coming out harsh and final. “I really don’t carewhy. This… this thing, whatever it is between us. It’s over. We’re done. It’s better to just let it end now.”

All three of them look stunned, like I’ve just slapped them, and that’s funny.They’restunned? After the rollercoaster I justwent on because of them? After all these weeks of them treating me like they gave a shit, only to turn around and do this?

“Violet,” Rhett says, moving in closer to me.

I take a step back, needing some distance. “Don’t, okay? Let’s just… leave it. It was what it was, and now it’s over.”

“Talk to us,” Sawyer pleads. “Please. Whatever this is, we can?—”

“No. We can’t.”

I don’t want to hear anymore. My heart hurts, and the last thing I want to do is stand here, while both of our families and all of Isabelle’s friends watch. I don’t want to hear anymore, and I don’t want to talk anymore.

I just want to be done.

Lennox reaches out, his hand trembling a little. “Don’t do this,” he murmurs.

But before he can touch me, I turn on my heel and head for the door.