Stars Landing [Book 3]

Chapter 21 - Toxic Arrangement

Tegan didn't know whether to be mad at Sera or Rhea at the moment. How could her friends be so dismissive about her situation? One promised to keep her secret and then exposed her, while the other saw things she wasn't supposed to see and didn't come forth about it. Where did that leave Tegan? How could she express her anger and frustrations clearly? And now Rhea was saying she put a dent in their friendship. That was just not true.

The three of them stood in the luxurious bathroom and had a stare-down. Red and Warren would no doubt wonder where they had gone, but that wasn't something to worry about. Tegan had to focus on the task at hand, and clear the air with Rhea and Sera.

"So who is going to start talking first?" Rhea asked, tapping her foot against the tiles. "Why have both my friends been keeping secrets from me?"

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Sera rolled her eyes. "I admit, it wasn't my secret to tell, but you two needed someone to intervene. I just stepped up to be that person."

"Bullshit," Tegan glared. "You were feeling pressured about keeping shit to yourself and just decided to spill the beans!"

"Hey!" Sera snapped. "If you two were more honest with one another, none of this would have happened! You both hate Christian Lu, so I don't understand why you're not working together to bring him down?"

Tegan and Rhea looked at one another and then quickly averted their eyes. Was she going to be even more mad when she found out that Tegan had asked Warren for help? No, she couldn't blame her for being cautious with her scary personality. It was still a shock to discover that Rhea had seen Christian kiss her and didn't rip off his head. How much of their conversation did she hear? Was it enough to convince her to back off? Tegan couldn't help but feel a bit guilty about that. She had to be careful and not let things escalate.

"I'm sorry," Tegan said. "It's been hard doing this by myself and maybe Sera was right when she said you're the only one who can help me get through this, Rhea. It's just you're in a happy place now and I didn't want to ruin that with my shit. I was also scared you would rage on Christian and be sent to jail, but that's not a good excuse for keeping things."

Rhea shook her head. "How could you sleep with him again?" She couldn't seem to get over that part. "Every time I saw you hurting and breaking up inside, I told myself it was just the long process of falling out of love. I didn't think it was you harming yourself by repeating the action over and over again."

"Okay!" Tegan interjected. "I'm not in love with the asshole. Don't even say that word, that's the last thing I'm in—I'm just trying to equal the playing field here!"

"And how is that going for you?" Sera asked, leaning against the bathroom doors to keep intruders out. "If you're not in love with him then you wouldn't feel so hurt about what he did, it wouldn't affect you as much as it has."

Tegan tried to suppress the tears brewing in her eyes. "I like him," she said. "I can admit that. It's hard for me to get past all of this because I thought Christian was going to be different from all the other idiots that seem to pass by me. I really wanted it to work out, especially after he left Wicked with me, we really bonded."

Rhea held her friend's hand. "It's okay to admit that the feelings go deeper than that," she told her. "It plays for a better revenge story too, and from now on you won't have to do anything alone. I'll take him down with you."

"I'll also help," Sera raised her hand. "I still owe that jerk a lesson for flirting with me. Let's drop him on his knees."

"We will make him regret the day he underestimated you," Rhea supplied.

Tegan was grateful for her friends and happy that even after exposing her, Sera was willing to fix things between Rhea and Tegan. It meant a lot to have them join forces together to bring Christian down, but she couldn't accept their help. "I've said this to Sera already," Tegan decided to be honest. "This is something I have do on my own. I need moral support, if you're ready to give that, but at the end of the day, I want to know it was me and me alone who ended him. It may sound selfish but that is how I need it to be."