Page 26 of Bitter Lies

“We had this conversation. No dick.” He crosses his arms over his chest with a smirk, but his eyes are hard as granite.

“Let me get this straight. You can fuck anyone you want, but I have to pass? Because why again?”

“Because I said so. My house, my rules,” he says succinctly.

“You’re fucking insane.” My throat hurts as I swallow the hate swelling on my tongue and I pace away so I don’t do something crazy, like hit the fucker.

I mean, the utter gall.

“I think we’ve established who the insane one is,” he says silkily. “Take your meds today, sweetheart?”

Clenching my hand in a fist, I swing toward him. “I don’t know what the fuck your problem is, but you don’t get to take it out on me. Get out.”

His eyes flicker, darkness passing behind them before he says quietly, “The only fucking problem I have is you, and I fucking regret promising your mother I’d look after you.”

Wide-eyed, I stare at him speechless as he looks me over with disgust and sneers, “You want to fuck Chet? Go for it. Or how about the whole fucking football team?”

What? My heart stops brutally in my chest as I stare at him slack-jawed.

He raises a mocking brow and turns away, exiting before I can respond, leaving me staring after him with a sinking sensation in my stomach.

Was it a coincidence? Or does he…do others know more than I considered possible?

Fuck me, but the panic, the ever-present panic surges up my esophagus, and clasping my hand over my mouth, I drop to my knees. I can’t breathe, but I have to because in this I’m not allowed to be broken, even if I don’t know what it means to be whole.

Chapter Eight

If the eyes are the window to the soul, there’s nothing but a fucked-up void in my chest.

Monday rolls around all too quickly, and I stop short to find Griffin waiting for me at the front door.

“Where’s Max?” I mutter, refusing to look at him.

I’m still smarting at his cruel words and scared to know what, if any, truth lies behind them. I thought in this, at least, I was covered, but the possibility that my shame is out there in the universe makes my stomach roll.

I already spent an entire fucking day trying to convince myself to get up and keep going. When all I really want to do is give in.

“He’s sick. I’m taking you.” Griffin’s tone is all too cool and I’m not up for the fucking attitude.

“I can walk.”

“Get in the fucking car,” he enunciates, and I stiffen.

“Fuck off. I’m not going anywhere with you,” I snarl.

He leans into my face so close I’m forced to make eye contact, and I suck in a breath at the icy-cold hate I see there. Dropping my gaze to his mouth because my heart is frozen in my chest, I stare dumbly as he speaks through clenched teeth.

“I’m not asking. I’ll drop you on the way to the gym, and I’ll see you afterward in class.”

“Why? Why are you doing this? It’s okay. I won’t tell my mom, and you’ll be off the hook.”

He laughs bitterly, and unable to resist, I look up to find a pained expression before it drops to his familiar disdain. “I’m not interested in more lies. Let’s go.”

“Lies?” I mutter, following him to the SUV. “What lies?”

“Please. You couldn’t tell the fucking truth if you tried.”

Sliding into the passenger side, I turn to him heatedly and say, “I’ve never lied.”

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