Page 25 of Lies Beneath Secrets

“Look, Eli, you’re a nice guy and all—” Lauren starts to say, but her door swinging open, with me standing there, stops her mid-sentence.

“Everything okay here? I heard raised voices.” They were hardly raised, but I’m sticking to the concerned neighbor act. This fucker might be a cop, but he also knows who I am. The fact he hasn’t told Lauren surprises me.

“Yes. Eli was just leaving.” Lauren looks back at Eli, who has a scowl on his face directed right at me.

“Yeah, we’re good.” He takes another hard look at Lauren, eyes narrowed, then he brings his gaze back at me. “All yours,” he scoffs and stomps out of her apartment like a toddler.

“Not that I needed it but thank you for showing up,” Lauren says and begins to close the door. Something down deep inside me screams for me not to let her.

“Can I come in?” I blurt.

“Come in?” she repeats and turns a skeptical eye on me.

“Yeah. Ah, Gabby is at a sleepover and… I just don’t want to go back in there alone.” I give her my vulnerable side, and it’s not an act. It’s just the plain truth. I don’t want to be alone, and being near her tonight would ease some discomfort.

“Oh.” She looks into her apartment for a moment, almost as if contemplating what she should say.

“I’d like a chance to apologize too,” I add. After she pretty much kicked me out of her apartment two weeks ago, I haven’t seen her since. Gabby has even been asking about her, and it hurts every time I hear her say Lauren’s name.

“Water under the bridge,” she says, and I know she’s just putting up a wall.

“Even so, I hope I didn’t push too far. It seems you’ve been avoiding me since then,” I tell her, chancing a step into her apartment when she walks away from the door and leaves it open.

“Well, I think the avoiding could go both ways,” she says as she grabs a blanket and situates herself onto her couch.

“Touché,” I respond and walk over to her kitchen. “Can I have a glass of water?”

“Sure. Help yourself. Glasses are top left of the sink.” I open the cupboard door and take out a glass, then open the freezer to see if she has any ice. Instead, I find a bottle of vodka.

“Well, hell, look at this, party girl.” I pull out the bottle and slowly shake it back and forth.

“That’s been in there for a while. Help yourself.”

“I’m not going to have much. If Gabby calls, I don’t want to be hammered.” I don’t let on that it would take more than a quarter of a bottle of vodka to get me shitfaced. She doesn’t need to know that.

CHAPTERTWENTY-TWO

Lauren

Conner and I have been laughing and playing cards for the past hour. He’s listening to every word I say and laughing at every lame joke I try to make. “You’re quite funny, you know?” he says, making me pause mid-sentence.

“Eli always tells me I can’t tell a joke to save my life,” I say, unsure why I’m even bringing him up. I’m having a nice evening; I don’t need to dampen it with thoughts of him.

“Are you two dating?”

“No. He comes to the diner a lot with his partner. We’ve gone on a few dates, but nothing has happened between us,” I tell him honestly.

“Seems like he hasn’t gotten that message,” Conner lays down a card, then moves a peg on the cribbage board.

“I probably could be a little more direct with him but when I get that chance, I always wind up sugar coating it, telling him thank you for a great date when it really wasn’t. I just don’t want to hurt his feelings, I guess. I mean, he’s a good enough guy.” I shrug.

“Good enough? You deserve far more than good enough, Lauren,” he tells me, his gaze holding mine for far too long.

“Oh! Thirty-one!” I lay down my card, breaking the growing tension into pieces. I do a little dance on the couch, then move my peg. We count our cards and with a big smile, I dance a little more and put my peg in the winning space. “And that’s how it’s done.”

“I’d demand a rematch but beating my ass in cribbage three times is enough for me for one night.” Conner laughs and shuffles the cards before putting them back into the box. “Haven’t played that in years. Surprised I still know how. We mostly play poker.”

“We?” He pauses for a moment, then nods.

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