Secret Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 5) by Marysol James

when she actually looked down for the first time. What she saw in front of her scared her almost to death.
    Good Christ, it was just so much food . It was more food than she’d seen all in one place, all at one time, in… how long? Weeks? Months? The pasta was piled high, and it was dripping with some cream sauce, and it was a goddamn bomb to her plans.
    Oh, my God. I can’t eat all of this. This is more calories on one plate than I eat in a week, in two weeks. If I eat this, I’ll gain weight… everything I lost this week, I’ll gain it all back!
    Panic crashed over her, huge and blinding, and she forced herself to stay calm.
    “Something wrong, Tessa?” Gabi asked quietly.
    “N – no.”
    “Good.” Those dark eyes were nailing her in place. “Eat.”
    There was no way out of this, so Tessa gritted her teeth. She forked up a bit of pasta, tried to find pieces with the least amount of fatty sauce on them. Carefully, as if the farfalle was covered in arsenic – which it fucking might as well be – she brought it to her mouth. She hesitated, then deposited the food in her mouth. She chewed, a grimace on her face.
    Urgh. So damn heavy… I can actually feel the oil and fat between my teeth.
    Gabi watched all of this with nothing but terror. What the hell had Tessa done to herself, that she was literally unable to eat a single mouthful of pasta without looking like she was being tortured? Suddenly, all Gabi wanted was for Curtis to come in here and drag Tessa to the E.R. They were at that point; Gabi was sure of it now.
    Tessa forced herself to swallow the food, then she forked up some more. She glared at Gabi.
    “Happy now?” she snarled in a voice so unlike her own, Gabi started.
    “Tessa…”
    “Shut up, Gabi,” the woman who looked like Tessa, but who was talking and behaving nothing like Tessa, snapped. “You got what you wanted.”
    Furious now, Tessa ate another bite, then another, then another. Her stomach protested at the onslaught of food and her throat tried to close up, but she was damned if she was going to give this bitch one more reason to do this to her again. If she managed to eat her fucking pasta, Gabi would have to leave her alone. Not that Tessa had any plans to ever speak to Gabi again in the future. Not after this betrayal.
    Gabi was silent and shaking now, just watching Tessa. It was a mission, she knew. Tessa was making a point – and she was ramming it down Gabi’s throat as forcefully as she was ramming the food down hers.
    Oh, God. We need to get Tessa some help… we should have done more, and way sooner. We made a big mistake, thinking that we could wait it out, reason with her. We waited way too long.
    Tessa shoveled the last mouthful in, chewed, swallowed. She felt sick from the cream and the carbs, but she was going to keep the food down… at least she’d keep it down in front of Gabi.
    She stood up. “Happy now?”
    “No.” Gabi was near tears, but Tessa truly didn’t give a fuck. “Tessa… please. Please let us help you.”
    “I don’t need help,” Tessa hissed. “When will you understand that?”
    She spun and left the staff room. She was sweating and shaky, and she only had a few more seconds, she knew. Her body was rejecting the food big-time, but even if it weren’t, she’d still have to get rid of it. She’d worked too damn hard to lose control now.
    Tessa got to the bathroom, shot in to a stall, slammed the door. She made it just in time: she vomited violently, uncaring that other women were standing at the counter doing their makeup and chatting. All conversation stopped outside the stall door now, but Tessa didn’t even notice. She was on her knees in front of the toilet, one hand holding her hair back, the other down her throat.
    Get it out… get it all out.
    She threw up four more times before nothing came up but clear liquid. Exhausted and weak, she flushed the toilet and then closed the lid, rested her arms on it. She took a few deep breaths,