Secret Diaries (Heartlake Cliche #1)

Chapter Twenty

     “What are you doing?”

     Grace hastily raised her head, leaving one of her hands inside the bag.

     “Err, I’m looking for my mom’s calling card. It has their office number. Just in case we might need it,” she answered then began to search again.

     “What for?”

     “My mom’s a researcher for HNBS, remember? She could help us with media concerns about Rachelle’s situation.”

     “Oh.” Nick replied as he looked at her at the corner of his eyes. He turned back on the road. When he told her to go on a date with him, she had asked him to promise her one thing before she agreed. Nick had never thought too much about Grace until that day on the school’s rooftop. She was an admirable young woman. She knew he didn’t ask her because he had developed a certain liking to her then and there. So she made him promise that he would try to make things work between them but that if it didn’t, he would tell her right away. So far, he hadn’t even tried trying. Guilt had been stabbing him in the guts since he gave her that promise but he still hadn’t done anything about it. To date, he managed to mess up when it came to the best girl friends of his acquaintance.

     I really am a coward, Nick thought distastefully.

     He made a turn that brought them to Heartlake Drive.

     “There! Found it!” Grace announced excitedly. “Here you go.”

     Nick accepted the card and placed it in his shirt’s breast pocket.

     “You can suggest that to Matt and the others when you guys meet again,” she said with a smile.

     He nodded. “Thanks for helping out, Grace.”

     “Don’t worry about it. Rachelle’s a friend and I’m happy to help.”

     He gave her a smile in response. The rest of the drive went on in companionable silence.

*****

     She’s a whore!

     Traitor!

     How could he leave me for a—a low-lying slut who’d take off her clothes for all the men who looked at her?! How could he?!

     Everything was black and it was only her voice that made everything seem real.

     He left me for a bitch!

     He left me!

     Why?

     She began to sob.

     Why?

     Why?

     Trixie.

     She continued crying and then her eyes flashed again as she said, “I’m going to destroy her. I want her to suffer as much as I did.”

     Then the dream was over.

     “No need to worry now, sis. Rachelle Harlow’s finally ruined. You can rest at last.”

*****

     Last night’s incidents had made Rachelle exhausted and she wasn’t aware of what happened after she and Liam left the workshop.

     The sound of a closing door woke her up at two in the morning. That was when she realized that she was in Liam’s bedroom. She was so surprised that she sat up so quickly which made her head spin for a few seconds.