Page 109 of Liars

Not much, considering the police were no closer to finding who murdered my parents.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I barely noticed when we pulled up to the house until Kreed cut the engine. I turned to him, but he was already staring ahead, the scars under his eye prominent as he frowned.

Squinting, he stared out the front windshield. “It’s best we avoid each other.”

The words shouldn’t have hurt, but they did.

I gave a stiff nod. “Right.” And just like that, the distance between us returned. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe I could pretend this didn’t matter. Maybe I could tell myself that whatever this was—this pull between us—didn’t mean anything.

And maybe if I said it enough times…

I’d finally start believing it.

The house was stupidly quiet with the twins and Raine gone. I didn’t check to see if Donovan was in his office, but given the graveyard silence, I assumed he’d gone out as well. Having an entire day to myself should have been refreshing and relaxing. It had the opposite effect. I was tense, edgy, and restless. I wanted to blame Kreed, who I hadn’t seen once all day, but the encounter with the mysterious car shook me more than I realized.

What unsettled me most was the question gnawing at the back of my mind: Had I been more afraid for myself or for Kreed?

I curled up on the couch after a long, scalding bath, binge-watching one of my comfort shows. It wasn’t working. My attention kept drifting, my fingers tapping absently against my knee.

I shouldn’t have kissed him. Again. I had good intentions. But good intentions didn’t erase the fact that it had been a reckless, stupid move for my sanity. Distancing myself from Kreed was the only way to untangle the mess of feelings I’d let take root.

Yet, as I sat there trying to pretend otherwise, my mind replayed every second of our fight in the kitchen. I had planned for that moment—rehearsed exactly how I’d play it. I knew Kreed well enough to predict what was going through his head. I had known that the moment I slipped into his bed I’d walk away wounded.

And still…

Kreed might regret what happened between us, but I didn’t. That didn’t mean I was naive enough to think he felt anythingfor me. He had used me, and truthfully, I had used him, too. It couldn’t happen again. I had my moment of weakness. It passed, and I had to move on. I needed to focus on what was important.

Why did I feel like shit after our fight?

I said what I had practiced, forcing myself to be detached, to be cold. I tried to act like none of it mattered. That he didn’t matter. I tried to act like a guy instead of the girl I was. When it came to feelings and sex, men got to be indifferent. And women.

Women got to be wrecked.

So, fine. If Kreed wanted space, I’d put a whole damn ocean between us.

For now, I had to keep up appearances, keep my emotions in check, and go back to loathing Kreed Corvo.

My fingers tapped on the side of the window as Kreed drove. We’d barely exchanged two words. He didn’t look at me. I didn’t look at him. Avoidance was our new language, and we were fluent.

The black car trailing behind us had become a shadow I couldn’t shake. Evan had been following me for a week now. He was everywhere—school, home, errands. The only privacy I had left was in the bathroom and my locked bedroom, and apparently, I had been too caught up in my head to consider that Evan had probably seen me sneak into Kreed’s room that night.

Was that how Donovan found out?

Because he definitely knew something when he walked in on us in the kitchen.

I exhaled sharply, forcing the thoughts away, only for Mason to break the silence.

“Okay, what the hell did we miss?”

I didn’t glance at over. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Mason let out a low whistle. “Clearly, something happened to cause the tension storm brewing in this car.”

Kreed shot him a warning look in the rearview mirror. “Mason, for once in your life, mind your own business.”

“You know, every time you tell me to fuck off, it only intrigues me more,” he replied.

Kreed’s foot pressed heavier on the accelerator.

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