Page 4 of One Little Lie
“I-I’m not feewing weww. Nurse,” Rylan cries before bolting from her hiding place and heading in the other direction.
I don’t know how long I sit there before I get up and follow her to the nurse to tell the first lie of my life. Thirty minutes later, Mom picks me up from school with a skeptical expression on her face.
We go through the motions of checking me out in the office, and when we reach the car, my tears flow as I tell her what happened.
My hands shake as I turn the page, knowing full well what I’ll find but unable to stop the onslaught of memories.
“Why do we have to go to a little girl’s birthday party?” Preston whines.
“Rylan is Colton’s best friend, and they’re having a hard time.” Mom’s reaction was swift, and his lip trembles. She glances at me but quickly returns her gaze to Pres. “How would you feel if no one came to your birthday because of where you lived or what Daddy did for work? Would that feel very good?”
“No,” we all mumble in shame.
“The one thing you boys will grow up knowing is how privileged you are and how to use that to make other people’s lives better. I was just like Rylan when I was a little girl. It broke my heart year after year when no one would play with me because I didn’t have the right clothes or couldn’t afford the nice shoes. You will never know that pain, but you’ll for damn sure be the ones to make sure no one else ever feels that hurt if you can help it. Do you understand me?”
Five sets of eyes, as round as saucers, stare back at our mother. We all know ‘damn’ is a bad word, and she just said it. To us.
I slam the book shut. I can’t handle this right now, but I’m powerless to the force that was Sylvie Westbrook that day. She worked her magic, and within the week, Rylan’s mother was working for my father. The additional health insurance eased the burden of Mr. Maroney’s cancer.
Even in the middle of my meltdown, I smile at the heart my mother has. Within a year, she had completely turned their lives around. Mona Maroney, working as my father’s executive assistant, and two years later, helping Thomas Maroney rebuild his landscaping business by giving him free rein to create the gardens around the home where I grew up.
Colton’s voice stirs me from my thoughts, and my nausea returns.
“Oh, good! You’re right next door to Halton.” As they open the door next to mine, the adjoining door between the two rooms swings open, and Betty Anne’s handyman skills suddenly make perfect sense.
Fucking GG.
Colton sticks his head in the open doorway, and I’m frozen to my spot as my eyes connect once again with haunted green ones.
“Huh. Have the hinges on this door always been broken?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know? I-I, ah, I have to piss.” I rush to the bathroom, tripping over my running shoes on the way.
“Jesus, Halt. Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Colton calls through the door.
Yeah. I’ve seen a ghost, all right. She’s haunted my dreams my entire adult life, and I have no one to blame but myself.
I turn on the shower to drown him out, praying he’ll just let it drop.
Chapter 3
Rylan
Propping my suitcase against the door, hoping it will stay closed, I turn to find Colton bellyflopping onto my bed. His hair, a few shades lighter than the rest of the Westbrook crew, falls over his forehead in anI’m a playboyand I like it, kind of way. Colty always has a smirk that screams sweetly playful, and the combination makes him dangerous to every living female, regardless of their age. Everyone except me.
“I swear, he’s getting weirder every day.” He chuckles, rolling over and resting his arms behind his head.
I force a laugh, but my insides are shaking so much I can feel my teeth chattering.
“God, it’s so good to have you home, Ryguy. Well, in Vermont.” His chuckle turns into a full-on laugh. “Can you believe what a shitshow we’ve stumbled into?”
I’ve talked to Colton almost every day of my life, even when I was living in London, so I know all about the craziness that happened with Ashton and their adopted brother, Loki. I’ve heard every detail of the Westbrook brothers’ lives, sometimes in real time. It’s almost as if I never left.
Except you did.
And then I came face-to-face with the man who doesn’t love me but won’t let me go either. Halton Westbrook is going to answer my questions whether he wants to or not. I know seeing me was a shock. Seeing him opened that wound I fight so hard to keep hidden, but I can’t keep living the way I have.
This time he’s gone too far.
