“It’s not my business who she’s in love with. It’s not reciprocated.”

“Well, see there, that’s what I thought, as well—this poor, delusional woman who arranged this...special weekend so she could come to Vegas and have a psychic confirm her high school boyfriend was the one.” He laughed, slapping his knee like it was the funniest joke he’d ever heard, and then he suddenly became very serious.

“She showed me the text she was planning on sending him, you know...” He placed a hand over his heart, his bottom lip drooping out. “It was good, Rainy, that’s all I’ll say. Braithe should have been a writer.”

“That’s all you’ll say, huh?” Somehow she really doubted that.

Paul grinned, making the motion of zipping his lips and throwing away the key.

From across the room Braithe moaned. Paul either didn’t hear her or didn’t care; he was engrossed in telling his story. “We had a toast together to celebrate, but I could tell she was nervous the whole time, waiting for Grant to text her back.”

Rainy bit down on her tongue, forcing herself not to use it. She needed to hear him out, wanted to, but she was spitting angry that she was being forced to hear the truth from a sociopath instead of Grant. And how much of the truth was he actually giving her? Braithe wasn’t conscious enough to contradict his story.

“He did text her back. Not right away, but his response was equally as thoughtful as hers.”

She couldn’t hold back for another second. The anger rose like vomit. “Fuck you!” If he didn’t have her chained, she’d launch herself at him. “I need water,” she said.

Paul shrugged. “Why should I give you water when you’re being so very rude?”

“A dehydrated girl is no fun to play with, Paul.”

He kicked off the fridge he was leaning against and Rainy gave a silent prayer of thanks when he pulled a bottle of water from the pack on the counter and casually walked over. She kept eye contact with him the whole time he held the bottle to her lips. Cold, mean chips of blue buried beneath a spray of blond lashes. They were unblinking as they watched her, like he didn’t want to miss a second of her suffering. She was so, so close, but she couldn’t quite place him yet.