tbh

6. Loser Takes All

“Whoa,” said Chase, his mouth forming a letter O as he took in Maeve’s house. “My family is loaded, of course, but this is something else.”

Located in Oxford Way, Maeve’s house—ahem, estate—boasted thirteen baths, nine bedrooms, a parking lot that could easily house thirty cars, a spacious eight-car garage, a large and plush movie theater, and an expansive pool with a full bar and wine room. Of course, that’s not to mention the two guest houses, complete with covered upper and lower loggias and garage.

Maybe Beverly Hills, 90210 wasn’t quite as exaggerated, after all.

“It’s not that big,” said Maeve modestly as she stepped out of the taxi after him. She stared at her home, her lips the slightest bit pursed. “My parents aren’t here, so we probably have the whole house to ourselves, excluding the hired help.”

She knew that without even checking. Her parents had separated a long time ago, but they continued living in the same house because they were too paresseux to even think of filing divorce papers. Maeve’s mother had gone to travel around the world with her Italian boyfriend Anjelo, and her father…well, if he could actually stop himself from drinking and drag his ass out of rehab, there might still be a chance of Maeve becoming a decent human being.

“Maybe that’s why you’re so needy,” Aislin had once told her. “Because your parents didn’t give you enough of their attention.”

At the thought of her former bestfriend, Maeve’s lips pursed even more. What did that bitch know? She was perfect, from the roots of her hair to the toes of her feet. Her family was even more perfect—if that was even possible—with parents who still loved eachother and siblings who would do anything for her. What did A know about Maeve’s psychology?

She wasn’t the one who stuffed herself in her closet at the age of seven just to escape her parents’ shouts and screams.

“Come on,” Maeve said to Chase, forcing a smile. “I’ll show you to my room.”

∞

“When can I call you again?”

Maeve paused, her Armani jeans midway to her legs. She glanced sideways at Chase and gave him her feral smile. “Anytime.”

She watched as his eyes brightened and a wide smile broke out of his lips. He was already dressed, sitting on her rumpled bed where they had sex just an hour before. Maeve noted to herself to tell Alanna, her personal maid, to change the bedsheets later on. She might not be as pure and innocent as she had been before as a child, but spiritually dirty and being literally dirty were two different things.

Not that she minded getting her hands dirty if the situation called for it.

“Do you think Aislin still might want to see me?”

Maeve stiffened. They always asked her that, all of A’s boys. It didn’t matter if Maeve gave them the best sex they ever had; it didn’t matter if she hadn’t ignored them, like A did.

At the end of the day, they still asked for Aislin.

Maeve was used to it though. Yes, she had a tantrum the first time she stole one of A’s leftovers and he had asked for her, but that was a history ago.

Chase was her eighth, and she knew exactly how to make him forget Aislin.

“I don’t think so,” she said, slipping on her Jeffrey Campbell Lita lace up boots. “She told me you were pathetic and probably had a bad case of being a mama’s boy. I didn’t believe her, so I came up to you and lied about her being in class.”

She looked at him over her shoulder in a way she knew was irresistible. “Sorry about that.”

Chase eyes had gone hard, the blow to his ego overshadowing his hurt.

“Well, don’t worry about it anymore. Hearing what you said about her description of me, I’m kind of glad its you and not her who came up to meet me. I didn’t think she was such a bitch. She had the face of an angel.”

And a soul as charred as Satan’s, Maeve thought, agreeing. It’s not like she lied to Chase—she was almost a hundred percent sure that was what Aislin had been thinking anyway. She merely voiced it out loud.

“Ten am on Burton Chace Park,” he suddenly said. “My friends and I are having a yacht party, if you want to go.”

She arched an eyebrow at Chase. “You could have invited me earlier. Why only now?”

He had the grace to look sheepish. “I was planning to invite Aislin for our first date there. But now I know what she’s really like…” He shrugged. “I don’t give a rat’s ass about her anymore. You can invite her though, since she’s your bestfriend. Just don’t expect me to be a gracious host when it comes to her.”

“I understand,” Maeve said, trying to inject some sadness in her voice. She could already see it in her head: the two of them making an entrance, Maeve in a striking green dress and Aislin in a burlap sack. Then Chase, the host, personally welcoming Maeve to his party as the crowd looked on with envy. And poor little Aislin, snubbed by everyone else, crying to herself in a nearby loveseat. And Maeve, just like a benevolent queen, would offer her words of sage wisdom and advice before personally kicking her out of the party for being such a killjoy.

Yes, she was going to definitely invite A over.

 And then she’d steal the crown right under Aislin’s perfect little nose.