The RunAway Model

XXXVIII. As Crazy as it Sounds

Desiree stood frozen in disbelief before Khaye. Confusion was another thing and it bugged every corner of her mind, the feeling of betrayal etching its way in.

"There were quite a lot of things that happened behind that hotel door, Desiree, but I bet you never thought of anything close to whatever you must be realizing right now, right?" Khaye smiled bitterly. "But don't think I don't understand your desperation...and the fear. I've been desperate to tie the loose ends for months. I've been afraid I'd get caught. I've been confused, been made a pawn of, been kidnapped by your people. But then, it all ends well. For me, that is," she hastily added, her eyes boring into Desiree.

"Khaye..." was all she could muster. "You hate us that much?" She wanted to throw up. She suddenly felt sick.

Khaye slowly shook her head and started to move her hand conversationally, the gun moving along with it. Her face had completely changed into someone Desiree hardly recognized. But then, somehow, in the deepest part of her brain, Desiree knew it had always been there in the surface. They were just too naïve to see it.

"You know, I was really hoping we'd be friends. Do you know how happy I was when we first met here three years ago? And then there was Jam. She was bubbly and beautiful. All of us were. I couldn't have felt anymore home anywhere else. But then you all turned Mean Girls on me. And I thought, well, why not? If that would make my friends happy. But you were never my friends, were you? The pranks kept coming. Until I had enough and decided to just do things my way. But," she said, her smile back on her face, "that's not enough reason for me to kill any of you. I've imagined doing that, but not to the point of taking action. So don't think I killed Jamaica merely because I hated her or you." Held the gun in both hands now and Desiree took another step back.

"This, Des, is merely self-preservation. Someone has to survive this one and it can't be the two of us. I've been under your shadows in the years we've all worked together but I can no longer let you win this one. I started this, I'm gonna finish it."

"Why? Khaye, what did you do?" She knew what Khaye did. But she needed to hear it. She needed to kill the time.

Khaye blinked, her hands steady. "That night happened." She let out dry chuckle, the gun shaking with her laughter. "I discovered something about Jamaica. She wasn't what we all thought she was, was she?" She tilted her head to the side to curiously look at her. "And maybe you too, but that doesn't matter anymore. She found me hiding in your closet after thrashing your clothes, and I swear that I never planned to do anything other than ruin as much of your dresses as I could. She didn't know I heard enough to realize she was doing more than what she should be doing. She let me go after she made me promise not to tell a soul. Of course, I did. I promised. She just fucked a guy and then a few hours later, she was about to fuck another—Petroff."

Desiree watched Khaye shift her weight from one foot to the other, her face crunching up in disgust. "That guy was never good in bed, I tell you that. It wasn't a surprise that she was fucking him, you know. I know I wasn't. I followed her and Petroff, wanting to gather more evidence, you know, so I could use them in the future if I needed some favors. And the exciting thing happened." Desiree almost shuddered, dreading what Khaye would say next. "The other guy, Richard, came inside her room and I heard them from my side. I was behind the connecting door, if you must know. They fought about Jamaica and then they fought about the money. And then Petroff left. And then Richard and Jamaica were talking about running away with the money. That must have been a lot of money for her to leave everything behind, right? So a thought popped in my head. Maybe it wouldn't hurt if she left without it, you know. She had been making money on the sideline while we all worked our asses off out there on the runway. So when the Richard guy left, I came in through the connecting door."