Page 27 of Liars and Liaisons

Like always, I try not to drown in the overwhelming guilt of not letting Kal close. Because clearly, he didn’t need a real family to teach him how to be a decent husband and parent. He didn’t need nature to show him how to love or protect.

Those are things he somehow picked up along the way, and I can’t help wondering if, between the two of us, I’m the real monster for keeping him at bay.

8

Grayson doesn’t speakthe entire five and a half hours from Aplana Island to Duris, a little community tucked away at the edge of the Berkshires. There are no people in the streets, enjoying life like they do on the island; as we pass through what seems to be the main hub of the town, I see a single cop sitting on a bicycle outside a small two-story courthouse building and nobody else.

It feels a little like being led to my execution, but I sit silently with my hands in my lap the whole ride, like a good prisoner. Because that’s basically what I am at this point even if I was paid to come along.

My mouth dries out at the thought of the two checks in my suitcase. I’ve never seen so many zeroes in my life, except when attached to a negative balance.

That kind of money is life-changing. I can’t back out of this deal now even if I’m still not a hundred percent sure what Grayson wants from me.

Swiveling my head a fraction of an inch, I steal a glance at him from the corner of my eye. One of his arms rests on the door while the other holds his knee in a white-knuckled grip. He stares out the window, completely immobile.

If not for the gentle rise and fall of his chest, I wouldn’t know if he was breathing.

“You tell me what I can do for fifty, and I’m gonna fucking do it.”His words from before play on a loop in my mind like a broken record, and I can’t seem to move the needle. They fell heavy on the pit of my stomach when he first said them, and I couldn’t help wondering whatthatfelt like.

Couldn’t help wishing I remembered our night together.

Something tells me I should be afraid of him, and yet I can’t locate the emotion.

His head shifts, and he catches me studying him. Those green eyes ignite with irritation. “I hope you haven’t suddenly developed a staring problem.”

A furious blush warms my face. “I was just wondering how much longer we have to drive.”

“We’ll get there when we get there.”

“Jeez. Are you always so chipper?”

“Not everyone can have the sun shining out of their ass.”

Smothering a grin at that image, I send another slew of texts to Cora, giving her the detailed itinerary she demanded when I told her I’d been hired as some Grayson James’s live-in maid.

She wasn’t a fan of the idea, but acquiesced when I swore I wasn’t lying and secretly moving in with Nate instead.

Though that would probably be preferable if she knew what I do about Grayson.

Which isn’t really much, except that he’s intense and he has no qualms about waving his money around. And that he seems to find my fear enticing.

That would make two of us, if I was willing to admit to it.

Eventually, we leave the ghost of civilization behind and travel into the mountains themselves, weaving through swatches of beautiful forestry. Black oak, wintergreen, and maple trees stretch against the horizon, cutting off only when the mountain range’s shadows begin glowing in the distance.

“So, you’re a teacher?” I ask.

The silence is unbearable.

He still doesn’t look at me. “I’m a professor. Iteachcomposition and music theory to some of the most talented young people in the country.”

The career path doesn’t fit with the record label owners, artists, and producers I know exist otherwise in his family tree. “Why teaching?”

“What do you mean, why?”

I shrug, twiddling my fingers together. “It’s not really the glamorous lifestyle one would expect of someone in your family. You guys are on billboards in Times Square and on the covers of magazines, and you own the top percent of musical talent production out west.”

“Yes, well, I’m sorry the life I chose doesn’t meet your expectations.” He shifts in his seat, clenching and unclenching his jaw.

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