Chapter 39
Ava
“Relax, please just let your guard down. I don’t even know where this angry woman inside you came from, but I guess I’m partly to blame,” Petra says as she opens the door with a smile, and for the first time in weeks, I feel like I’m looking at my best friend.
“I guess I’m just sick of being taken advantage of.” A tear falls down my face as the boldness melts away quicker than it formed.
“I swear I didn’t mean for you to get involved in any of this. I should’ve just left you at home that night, but it was so last minute, and everything just happened so fast.” She looks up at the ceiling, recalling the memory.
“What are you talking about?”
“Ava, I knew Logan when I was little,” she begins, and my heart drops. My instincts told me there had to be a longer history between them, but I couldn’t figure out how.
“My mom worked for his family as a maid at their Bel Air estate when I was younger. Logan was a spoiled brat, and he always treated me like shit whenever I came around. His parents were complete assholes, and would yell at my mom whenever she had to bring me to work with her, threatening to fire her although they knew how badly she needed that job, and they barely paid her anything to begin with. One day, his mom claimed that someone stole a diamond pendant from her, and because my mom had cleaned her room that day, she fired her on the spot without even allowing her to explain herself. I was there, Ava, and I watched her humiliate my mom in front of all the other workers who were my mom’s friends.”
The hurt is evident in Petra’s eyes, and a tear even rolls down her cheek as she remembers her mom’s embarrassment.
“Two weeks later, Ms. Draper found the diamond. She announced it to the whole staff, but claimed someone had put it back, trying to save my mom’s job. No one had put it anywhere but her. She had so much money and jewelry she couldn’t even remember what she did with it. But my mom was out on her ass because of that misplaced diamond pendant. We lost our apartment and had to move in with my aunt, before getting kicked out of there and living in a shelter. When the other workers told Ms. Draper, she swore it was none of her business, but she was the one who told all her friends my mom was a thief, making it all but impossible for her to find another job.”
“Petra, I’m sorry that happened to your mom. You never told me any of that. I didn’t know you had such a tough childhood.”
“Logan grew up to be a dickhead, no shocker there,” she sighs. “I would hear stories about him wrecking a Range Rover in the school parking lot, and showing up with a new one the next day. He was a dog to girls, never respecting anyone because his parents didn’t teach him to care about anything but money. When I got the call from Johnny that he could get me in Logan’s charity event, I saw it as an opportunity to finally get what my mom deserved. I didn’t mean for you to get caught up in it, Ava, because never in a million years did I think you would meet Logan there. I didn’t even think he’d be there! And then you liked him, like you really, really liked him and I knew he was a bad guy, but you just wouldn’t take my word,” she says as she shakes her head as mine begins to hurt.
Blinking slowly, I begin to put together all the pieces of the puzzle. Petra set all this up on purpose, because she wanted to get Logan back about something his mom did when he was a child? Everything was a lie. The party wasn’t random, she didn’t just happen to drive down that street, and she went in there with the intention of stealing something, which is why she left me the second we got in.
All those awful things she told me about Logan were complete lies. Rumors she’d heard about him from high school. Petra always told me that LA was a small town, and now more than ever that was obviously true. She’d been jealous of him her whole life, for something he couldn’t even help. That’s why she told me to cancel all my clients for him. Not because she knew I liked him, but because she wanted to swindle him for as much money as she could to make up for her mom losing a job twenty years ago.
“So, let me get this straight,” I step forward, closing the distance between us before continuing. “You’ve been lying to me about everything. You knew about that party before we even left the house, and you never really thought working with Logan was good for my resume. You were afraid that Logan would recognize you, which is why you ran every time he came around, making yourself look like a lunatic. It never even occurred to you that he was just a kid when your mom worked for him, and there were plenty of other kids, so you weren’t even a flicker on his radar. And you did all of this in some masterful plot for revenge, completely disregarding your friend, roommate and business partner who was unknowingly wrapped up in the middle of it.” I squint my eyes trying to make sense of her ridiculous plan and illogical behavior.
“Ava…” she begins and I cut her off.
“You left me out to dry, Petra,” I say, my hands balling into fists as my chest heaves with anger.
“You were collateral damage,” she says with a shrug.
It’s not the words that enrage me, and it’s not her careless attitude either. What pushes me over my limit is that she thinks it’s okay to talk to me this way.
She sees no threat in me, and finds the courage to say these things with confidence, because she’s certain I won’t do anything about it. I’m flabbergasted by her audacity and complete lack of respect for me. It’s like she only kept me around for a time like this, when she saw me as useful, and she could take advantage without any remorse for how my life was affected or destroyed.
Before I know what’s happening, I lunge at her, my closed fist connecting with the side of her left cheek as she stumbles backwards before I pounce, launching on top of her.
My fists wail hard and fast with no regard as I yell at the top of my lungs, every ounce of kindness disappearing from my body.
“You ruined my life over some fucking revenge?” I yell, raining blows as Petra covers her face with her arms, but I’m not giving up.
There’s been enough of my kindness being confused with weakness, and now I’m at my wits’ end, exploding with rage as she screams beneath my fists about how Logan deserved it.
Even hearing her speak his name infuriates me. She doesn’t know Logan, and never has. She’s a psycho to hold a grudge for this long, and I’m not stopping until she understands that.