Candid

Chapter 40

Natasha was sitting on the hood of a different car, a guy standing in front of her. She was smiling up at him but her eyes must have caught my movement when I stepped onto her hood because she gasped and pushed him away. "Get the fuck off of my car."

I stood on the hood for another few seconds, letting her stomp closer towards me before I stepped down, thankful for my long legs that didn't buckle at the large stepdown.

"Do you have a death wish or something?" She asked, her voice practically hysterical.

I angled my head slowly. A predator sizing up her next meal. "No," I said simply, "but you definitely do."

She swallowed but rolled her eyes, a vicious smile on her face. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Natasha stopped five feet from me, keeping a necessary distance. She took a second to survey my outfit. "Are you wearing combat boots? What are you, in the army?" She asked in a condescending tone, a small pout on her lips.

"No, but if I have to kick you in the face then my feet will still be comfortable," I said in such a casual manner that it took her a second to register the threat. Nobody in her group of friends breathed. "You're a real fucking disappointment aren't you? How dare you post those things," I seethed through gritted teeth, "and the fact that you have the balls to blame it on me?" I asked, my voice rising.

She shrugged, subtly stepping back. No one came to help her. "Somebody needed to take the blame and it sure as hell wasn't going to be me. I heard about your little trip to UCLA with Mikey and so I had to act."

"No, you didn't," I explained slowly as if I was talking to a three-year-old. "You just ruined two lives by posting those threads. Dana is more angry than hurt and I can't even imagine what Gabriella is going through but seeing as she's not here," I made a point to look around the space, marking each face, not one person was able to look at me in the eye, "I would say she's not doing so well."

Natasha scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Oh please Maddie, don't act so high and mighty, you were the one that had the information in the first place so you can drop the nice act."

"I'm not acting high and mighty, I'm acting like a fucking human being. I deleted everything off of my laptop because I was sick to my stomach over what you tried to do and you were so jealous that you did it anyway."

Natasha laughed loudly, the sound making me clench my fingers to stop myself from punching her in the face. I wasn't about to catch a lawsuit anytime soon. "You think I'm jealous of you?"

I tilted my head to the side, keeping my face neutral. "Actually, I think you're jealous of Dana." Her smile faded at that statement. Bingo. "I think that when you saw the pictures from the Christmas party last night, you lost your shit, and then those pictures she posted on Instagram this morning of my family and me in our pajamas, that was the last straw." Especially since Isaac had his arms wrapped around her shoulders from behind in one of them and Olivia trying to pick her up in the other.

Natasha looked like she was physically shaking in anger. "I spent ten fucking years trying to get your family to like me and they never once were interested."

"That's because you pestered them! You didn't give them a chance to get to know you, you just threw yourselves at them. That is not how you impress anyone, that's how you lose respect," I told her, throwing my arms wide.

"I deserve respect!" She yelled loudly, tears gathering in her eyes, tears of frustration.

I folded my arms across my chest. "You earn respect, you don't deserve it, especially not now."

"You have everything! I sent those threads out because for once in my god damn life, I wanted you to get the hate you deserved!" She screamed, her voice straining towards the end from the volume.