Becoming Scarlett | ✓

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Betrayed

"Never call me that, you bastard," Aimee seethed, pointing a finger harshly in Noah's direction.

His arm held me tightly against his side as I cried harder. "Oh stuff yourself, Amelia. And while you're at it, quit acting like a bloody child."

Aimee laughed then, a twisted, dark laugh. "I'm acting like a child? Am I really? Because I'm not the one crying like a child and expecting everyone else to fight my battles for me!"

"Then stop screaming your head off at her, and let her speak," Noah said, keeping his voice level and calm.

We lapsed into silence, and it took everything inside of me to wipe away my tears and tell myself to stop crying. I was fighting my instinct, my own sense of self preservation by not turning and running to hide. Aurora always joked about my love for confrontation, but it was different when that confrontation involved someone who was like a sister to me.

My heart was telling me to run, to save myself the pain. But that masochistic voice inside of me was telling me to stay and take it, because I deserved every painful word she hurled at me. The latter was the voice that won.

I dried my eyes and shrugged off Noah's arm. He didn't resist, allowing me to take a tentative step in Aimee's direction.

When more silence passed, my mouth unable to speak the words I was thinking, Aimee impatiently waved her arms for me to continue. "Are you going to say something for yourself? Or are you just going to stand there and let your guard dog speak for you?"

"Leave him out of it. He's got nothing to with this," I said, finding my voice. However light and breathless it may have been.

That cold laugh of her's returned, chilling me in the cool air. "Really? Because I think he's got everything to do with this."

"I've known you long enough to know what this is about, Aimee," I said evenly. "It's got nothing do to with his actions. You wouldn't expect anything more from him. But me on the other hand? You expected a whole lot more from me. This is about me, and my decisions."

The cold mask on her face faltered for a second, the look disappearing in the time it took for me to blink. "You're right, Scarlett. He's not the bitch that betrayed me. That's all on you."

I flinched visibly at the venom dripping from her voice. Noah must have noticed too, because in turn he stepped forward beside me. "Cut it out, Amelia," he warned, his deep blue eyes hard as he met her gaze.

Her arms flew up in the air. "God, you just can't resist, can you? That must be it," she said quickly, snapping her fingers. "It was the damsel-in-distress act, wasn't it Kennedy? You just couldn't resist a helpless girl who didn't know any better, could you?"

The girl in front of me looked like Aimee, with her long auburn curls and lean figure. But those cold eyes and venomous tone couldn't possibly belong to my best friend.

Former best friend.

"Is that what you think of me, Aimee? Some helpless little charity case you felt sorry for?" I said quietly, my brows knitting together as I gauged her reaction.

Her guard dropped for another split second, and I could tell she was trying desperately to keep up her act. She would not let herself cry, not in front of us. It was that instinct of self preservation I was so adeptly familiar with. I could sympathize with it, even.