Page 9 of Great Pretender
I never could understand that man. He downsized from a family home in the suburbs to a one-bed condo in Connecticut. The place is so small you can barely swing a cat around it. He was always antisocial, though, and he got more reclusive when he stopped teaching.
“No, I can’t. But I’ll find somewhere.”
“Jesus Christ, Piper. Are you kidding me? I’m offering you a place to stay. Somewhere you can stay as long as you want, and not have any stress.”
She gazes at me like she’s contemplating the idea. I’m surprised and a little offended that she has to.
“And what happens when you bring over your groupie friends, and they see you have a woman living with you?”
I smirk. “What groupie friends?”
“I don’t know. I guess I mean bed friends, fuck buddies… a.k.aTiffany Carmichael.”
Oh, God… I forgot the shit. Of course, she saw the papers.
“You saw the stories.”
She quirks a perfectly arched brow. “Didn’t everyone? And the wordstoriessuggest it wasn’t true. But, I saw a big old picture of you on the front cover of The Enquirer.”
“Was that all you saw?” I have to ask. No way am I going to be comfortable with her seeing some dick pic of me plastered in some newspaper.
She giggles. “I didn’t see the dick pic, but I heard about it.”
“Wonderful.”
“Did your father see the papers?” She grits her teeth.
I blow out a ragged breath. “I’m ninety-nine percent certain he did.”
“And?”
“I’ll see how much he wants to kill me tomorrow.”
“Are you going to tell me what happened?”
“Do I have to?” I bite the inside of my lip.
She chuckles. “Yes, hit me with something to distract me. But pretty please leave out the sexcapades in public with Tiffany.”
That was the other thing I remembered. What I actually got up to with Tiffany.
Piper blinks several times and does her best to appear nonchalant, but the flush of her cheeks and the disappointed look in her eyes give her away.
“It wasn’t what it looked like,” I answer, and I’m sure, like everyone else, she won’t believe me.
“You were naked, and she was naked. There were three of you.” Her brows rise even higher.
“I didn’t sleep with them.”
The look she gives me… yep, she doesn’t believe me. I wish I could say I don’t care what she thinks, but I do.
“You… didn’t?” Skepticism writhes through her eyes.
“I didn’t. We went skinny dipping not far from where the yacht was moored. I got wasted.” And I played right into Tiffany’s game. Murray was right. Tiffany definitely wanted to get in my bed. I’m damn sure I’m gonna have to answer for last night in other ways at some point.
“Okay. Anyway, if you say so, nice as it is to get the offer to hang out here, I wouldn't want to impose. You like to live your life a certain way, and I don’t want you to have to think you need to make adjustments for me.”
“It’s not an imposition. Piper, it would be absolutely ridiculous if you turned me down. I’m your best friend, and I’m offering you a stress-free get-away-from-anything-to-do-with-Heath card right now.”
