Free Envy - 2 by Robin Wasserman Page B

and failings, as if she knew him so wel .
    “Wel , for one thing, what you may not know is that Adam has some secrets of his own that Beth might not be too happy to hear.” A secretive smile crept across Kaia’s face.
    Harper knew exactly what she was referring to, but any pleasure she might have drawn from taking Kaia down a peg was hol ow. She’d caught a glimpse of Kaia-and-Adam, act one, and had yet to wash the painful images out of her mind. She didn’t like to be reminded of act two, when they’d adjourned to a bedroom; Harper had, merciful y, missed the fireworks. But she could imagine. And did—often.
    “Yeah, yeah, he slept with you,” Harper said, the words slicing into her. “Big deal. Anyway, I can’t use it.” Kaia’s eyes widened, and Harper smiled, knowing that at least she’d taken the wind out of the other girl’s sails, as hoped. But Kaia wasn’t thrown off for long.
    “So he told you? Interesting—and not too smart.”
    “Wel , that’s Adam, honest to a fault. Of course, he used to be loyal to a fault, too,” Harper said, glaring, “before you got through with him.”
    “Do you want to fight about my popping your boy’s cherry, or do you want to get him for yourself?”
    “What’s the difference?” Harper asked irritably. “I told you, I can’t use it. If Beth breaks up with him over this, he’l spend the rest of the year feeling guilty and chasing after her.
    That does me no good at al . And, not that I real y care, but I imagine that Beth wouldn’t be bouncing back too quickly either—I see her as the ‘I can never trust a man again’ type. After something like that, I don’t think Kane would exactly be her type.”
    “Good thing I have a backup plan, then,” Kaia said triumphantly. “One that turns Beth into the vil ain. Adam wil be looking for a ‘true’ friend to turn to, and you’l be right there to pick up the pieces.”
    “Sounds perfect. Only one problem—Beth would never cheat on Adam. She doesn’t have it in her.”
    “Oh, real y?” Kaia smiled, and it seemed she was about to say something, but she stopped herself, paused for a moment, and then continued. “Wel , I suppose you’re right. And we know that, and Beth knows that, but there’s no reason Adam has to. And al that real y matters is what he believes.”
    “He accuses her—unjustly—she gets mad, we get mutual destruction.” Harper nodded eagerly. “I like it. But how—” She cut herself off at the sight of two drunken hulks looming over their table, one uglier than the other. (Although it was admittedly difficult to judge: Were buck teeth uglier than gold teeth? Was the jagged scar above the eyebrow uglier than an irregularly shaped red blotch covering the chin? Was mountain man hair uglier than no hair?) Baldy leered down at the two girls, his stained T-shirt exuding the stench of cheap beer.
    “You ladies are at our table,” he slurred.
    “’S our table,” Mountain Man agreed. “Everyone knows that.”
    Baldy tried to squeeze into the booth with Harper, but with a yelp of anger and a sharp jab, she successful y pushed him away. He stumbled backward, but Mountain Man broke his fal .
    “Wasn’t nice,” Mountain Man warned them. “You’re sitting at our table, you must belong to us too. Move over.” Kaia wrinkled her nose and shot Harper a look of disbelief. “Why are these losers talking to us?” she asked.
    Harper cringed at her choice of words—she’d spent enough time around Grace’s roughnecks to know that the best tactic was to shut up and get out of the way. But she wasn’t about to be bested by Kaia’s bravado. So she mustered some of her own.
    “I don’t know—they must be as stupid as they are ugly,” she said, forcing a laugh. It felt good.
    “Who you cal ing stupid?” Baldy asked menacingly.
    “You sure ain’t too ugly yourself, babe,” Mountain Man leered, passing his greasy hand through Harper’s hair. That was enough. She jumped up from the