Wrath - 4 by Robin Wasserman

popular, someone she probably thinks can’t string two words together?”
    “And maybe she finds out that she can’t just flutter those blue eyes and get everything she wants,” Kane concluded.
    “Especial y”—Kaia grabbed the flyer from him and tore it in two—“if she’s going to play with fire.”
    “And exactly who do you—” Harper stopped as the obvious sunk in. “You want me to write the damn speech? Put on a show for the governor like the principal’s trained monkey?”
    “Who better to beat her out than her sworn enemy?” Kaia pointed out. “The one who already stole everything worth having?” It did have a certain beauty to it.
    And Harper did so love to win.
    “Are you guys sure about this?” Harper asked.
    “Second thoughts, Grace?” Kane asked, arching an eyebrow. “This was your idea.”
    “She tried to trash our lives,” Kaia pointed out. “Yours, most of al .”
    Harper didn’t want to say what she was thinking—that maybe Beth had lost enough.
    “You know Adam would go back to her in a second,” Kaia reminded her. “Al she’d have to do is say the word. He thinks she’s so pure, so innocent….” Beth had brought the fight to them, Harper reminded herself, and after al , what had she real y lost? Kane was right: She could have Adam back whenever she wanted. Harper was the one left alone, groveling for forgiveness that might never come.
    Didn’t Beth expect a little payback for that? More to the point, didn’t she deserve it?
    “Al right,” Harper conceded. “I’m in. Al in.”
    “Good decision,” Kaia said, clinking her mug against Harper’s. “To revenge.”
    “To winning,” Kane added, clinking their glasses with his own.
    Harper paused just before taking a sip, and added one more toast. “To justice.”
    Kaia checked her watch on the way out of the coffee shop. She had just enough time to head home and change, before meeting Reed. Or she could stop by Guido’s Pizza early and see if he was ready for her. If not, she could at least sit there as he worked. She loved watching his sure movements behind the counter, tossing the dough, smearing the sauce across a fresh crust, sprinkling the cheese. She’d never thought fast-food preparation could be so hot.
    She slid in behind the wheel of the BMW, but before she could decide which way to turn out of the lot, her cel phone rang.
    “Good news. My dinner engagement has been cancel ed. I’m free for the night. Be here in half an hour.”
    Kaia chewed on the corner of her lip and tapped her index finger against the phone. Powel liked to order her around. It gave him the il usion he was in control.
    “Can’t—plans,” she said quickly.
    “Forget them,” he suggested. “I have a special treat for you.”
    For a moment, Kaia was tempted—but as she thought of Reed’s lopsided grin, and the way his rumpled, curly hair always made it look like he’d just climbed out of bed, the temptation passed.
    “Sorry,” she told him, her flat tone making it clear that, as usual, she wasn’t.
    “What could be more important than a night with me?” Powel asked.
    “What’s the difference?” Kaia snapped, suddenly unwil ing to make up a lie. This wasn’t a relationship, after al —they were under no obligation to each other. That was the beauty of it, at least until he’d turned into the amazing human jel yfish, wrapping his tentacles around her at any opportunity for fear she’d slip away. “I’m not coming.”
    “ Tu me manques, ” Powel said. I miss you . “Mon amour.” My love . He knew very wel that she couldn’t resist when he spoke to her in French.
    “I’l come now,” she said with a sigh, regretting it almost as soon as the words were out of her mouth. “You’ve got twenty minutes.”
    “You say that now, but you know you won’t want to leave.” She could hear the smug grin behind his words and, as always, it repulsed her—and turned her on. “You know you can’t say no to