Page 88 of Liars and Liaisons

“And I don’tcare.” I press a searing kiss to her mouth. “You did what you needed to, to stay safe. Don’t ever feel bad about having a survivor’s instincts.”

She doesn’t say anything for a moment, glaring at my chin. Finally, her shoulders slump, and she leans into me.

I drag her back to bed and tuck her beneath the sheets, fully prepared to dip when she’s asleep. But she reaches out, grabbing my arm and yanking me down beside her.

“Stay,” she mutters, sleep already clouding her voice.

And because I can’t deny her anything, I crawl beneath the sheets and wrap myself around her.

30

I knowI should tell him about his brother.

Really, I should tell him about mine too. See if he bolts the way Nate did when he found out I share half a gene pool with Dr. Kal Anderson.

Something tells me Grayson might not mind. In fact, it’s entirely possible he already knows since he looked into me before bringing me to Duris in the first place. Maybe I could kill two birds with one stone if I tell him about Kal, who would come out in a heartbeat and fix everything if I asked.

Even if he acted like he didn’t want to help me anymore when I left Aplana. I don’t deserve it, after the way I’ve treated him for the last decade, but I know he’d do whatever it takes to make me safe anyway.

And even though I don’t want to think of my father in a good light at the moment, I can’t help wondering if forgiveness is something I got from him. My whole life, it was my mother who preached kindness and anti-violence, but maybelovewas a paternal inheritance.

After all, it’s so much easier to grant mercy when you’ve needed it many times yourself.

“I’m tired of cleaning up after these freaking parties,” Micah mutters, tossing a dozen red Solo cups into a black trash bag. The foyer is littered in them and reeks of stale booze while streamers and various items of clothing are strewn about, making the rustic mansion look more like a frat house in a bad ’90s comedy movie.

“It’s your job,” Willow says, snorting.

“Because Grayson is a crazy person who thinks I need to be watched after what happened to Sydney,” she grumbles, scrunching her face up as she plucks a used condom from the bottom step. “Ew. Okay, I’m officially done. We need hazmat suits for this shit.”

I hold up my yellow gardening gloves. “Should’ve taken these when I offered.”

She sticks her tongue out at me, then bends over, whipping her white-blonde hair into a ponytail. “This wouldn’t be a problem if you kept him in bed more often.”

My eyebrows knit together, and Willow lets out a cackle. “I don’t know what that has to do with this.”

“Oh, please. The estate reeks of dirty, depraved, naked shenanigans. Ghosts aren’t the only things we’ve been hearing echo off the walls the last week and a half.”

Warmth floods my face, and I glance at Willow. “You haven’t.”

She cringes, her dark eyes crinkling. My head drops, and I groan, the sound traveling up to the ceiling and pressing on the windowpanes.

Micah shrugs. “It was inevitable. Anyone could tell he’s been obsessed with you since he brought you home. If anything, I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner.”

“Well, it’s just sex,” I say, even as my heart rattles my rib cage.

“That’s what theyalwayssay,” Willow points out, a slender finger crooking in my direction. “Don’t think we don’t see the way you look at him too.”

I ignore her comment, continuing along the windowsill and picking up discarded napkins and cigarette butts.

Micah sighs, glancing around at the messy area. “I’m enforcing an official time-out. Let’s go to the lake.”

Neither of them seems to notice my hesitation as they scramble to their feet and head for the front door. It feels wrong to leave the house like this, especially now that I’ve fucked Grayson and he finally paid me the hundred grand I’d asked for. If I neglect my maid duties, that means I’ve basically just been paid to sleep with him.

The front door opens and swings shut as the girls run out, and I stare at the remnants of a party I still wasn’t invited to.

I search deep within my chest, trying to find that familiar tug of humanity that would normally keep me from being okay with this situation. But it isn’t there, and the harder I search, the more I wonder if it was ever really there in the first place or if the need toearneverything I’ve ever gotten is simply another symptom of growing up with a father who shucked everything away any chance he had.

Shrugging to myself, I shake off my gloves and let them fall to the floor. Willow and Micah are already halfway to the lake when I reach the door, and I slip out quickly, before I can change my mind.

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