Page 45 of The Art of Deception

I shake my head slowly against her shoulder.

She mumbles under her breath, “What did Xander do? No more tattoos, so no more nookie?” she teases.

The anger ignites inside of me at hearing his damn name. My tears dry up instantly as I pull back from her with pure hatred inmy eyes.

She raises her brows with a grimace. “Okay, you need to come in. With that kind of death ray in your eyes, it must be bad.”

“You have no idea,” I grunt out the words.

She grits her teeth, pulling me inside, and we head straight for her tiny living room. Both of us plonk onto her bright purple sofa, where potato chip packets litter the floor and empty soda cans are spread all over the coffee table. It’s the total opposite of Xander’s place. Jana’s apartment is lived in, it feels like a home, maybe one a teenager lives in, but a home nonetheless.

Alex’s apartment’s barren, clinical, full of assholery—just like him.

It’s so easy to distinguish between the normal people and the dicks of the world.

Jana turns me as we sit facing each other cross-legged on her sofa. It’s hard to take her seriously with that shit on her face, but it’s her, so I deal with it.

“So tell me, what did lover boy do?”

I scoff. “Not my lover.”

She raises her brow. “Tomi…” she pauses. “You and Xander were getting close. Talk to me.”

My stomach rolls just thinking about it. Bile rises in my throat as I tense all over. “Xander’s full of shit. His real name is Alexander…” Jana tilts her head for me to continue, “Alex… Xander Scott.”

She jolts back, so much so that she almost falls off the sofa. “Fuck off!”

I clench my hands into tight fists, fearing I might punch the nearest thing in my anger again, which wouldn’t be a good idea because that happens to be Jana.

“You’ve got to be shitting me?”

Shaking my head, I shrug. “I shit you not.”

“Holy crap on a stick, now I see why you’re like…” she wavesher hand around, “… this. That’s all kinds of messed up.”

“Tell me about it,” I murmur.

She sits taller, slapping her thighs like she’s had the best idea. “Right, we’ll start a ‘We Hate Alex Scott’ Facebook page!”

I can’t help but laugh at her enthusiasm. She’ll do it, too. “I’m sure it would go against every rule Facebook has regarding their anti-bullying policies.”

Jana’s cheeriness falters as she thinks that over. “Yeah, probably… okay, then instead, for tonight, we get hammered.” She stands up before walking to the cupboard in her living room, pulling out the vodka and two shot glasses.

I grimace as she brings them over and starts to pour.

Why not? I may as well drown in my misery.

I’m going to miss Xander. The guy who’s obviously a fake but who was the best boyfriend—if that’s what he even was—that I ever had in my life.

“Slauncha, my dear,” Jana offers, handing me my shot of vodka.

I raise it up to her, clinking my glass to hers.

Time to down some shots and get totally messy.

Xander?

Xander who?

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