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That was the part I couldn’t undo.

That was the part that had the ground feeling like it was falling out from beneath my feet.

I flew off the stage, my humiliation already public enough, as the crowd mumbled and pulled out their phones to start filming.

I didn’t know my direction at first, not until I found myself at the merch table.

To, what?

Confront her?

Demand answers?

What could she possibly say that could make this any better?

But she wasn’t there.

Of course she wasn’t.

She was off somewhere with her phone, pretending to be a caller, likely basking in her ability to trick me, to make me believe that she—

No.

No, I couldn’t let my mind go there.

I had to get the hell out of here.

I had to—

I heard the footsteps behind me and swung around, part of me maybe expecting her, wishing it was her. That maybe she was running to me to apologize, to try to give me some kind of explanation.

Even if there was nothing she could possibly say to excuse this.

But it wasn’t Maggie.

It was Tess.

“Did you know?”

I hadn’t intended to bark at her, to raise my voice that loud, for there to be a snarl at the edges of the words.

But Tess didn’t jump, didn’t react save for a small shake of her head.

“No.”

There was something hushed and broken in her voice. Like she, too, felt a sense of not only shock but betrayal.

Her friend had been lying to her.

But not nearly as much as she’d been lying to me.

“She can go home with you,” I said, trying to keep my voice empty as my heart cracked down the center.

Tess nodded at that, everything about her uncharacteristically staid. “Here,” she said, reaching into her pocket and holding something out toward me.

The keys for my car.

She must have gotten them from Margo.