Page 35 of The Lies You Love
I lick my lips. “She’s fine.”
“How do you know she’s okay? You didn’t see the way he looked at me.”
I glance over, taking my eyes off the road. “Griffin is with her. She is okay. I’d place all my money on that wager.” Because she has a highly trained protector lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce. “What did you mean by before?” The way Auden said it makes me think she knows more than she’s supposed to. Would Ramsey tell Auden about her former life?
“I’m going to call her when we get back just to make sure.” She pauses. “Ramsey lost her family, that I know. She has a trust fund and never talks about her past. When I say before, I mean the time before she was friends with me. We both were starting over at the same time.”
I swallow hard. That’s safe. She doesn’t know who exactly Ramsey’s mother was. “But you don’t know who she knew at the party tonight?” I shouldn’t be asking questions, but if I have to deal with the negative that comes along with dating Ramsey’s best friend, I might as well make use of the positive. I now have a direct link to Ramsey’s brain.
Auden shrugs, folding her hands in her lap. Her short skirt. I want to spread her open and fuck her senseless. Maybe then I can forget how complicated this month or more is going to be. As long as I have her, I’ll deal with what comes. “My guess would be whoever owned the place, honestly. I talked to the brother who lived in the pool house, and he had a French accent. Sounded just like Rams.”
My lust-driven haze turns to ash as she casually mentions that worrying detail. I have to tell Grey. He needs to know that not only is she not safe, but she could be getting mixed up with people from her mother’s world. My time at the party was spent in the woods, not mingling with the crowd of people. It’s why I asked Auden. I had a feeling. “I see,” I manage to get out. “My house or yours?” I ask when the bright lights of the city loom closer as we cross the bridge.
“Yours,” she replies. “It’s closer.” I look over, and although her face is aimed out the windshield, a smile plays on her lips.
“We’re both on the same page then,” I counter, swallowing down the nervous energy from everything this night has thrown my way.
She nods, taking my right hand and setting it on her lap. “I need to pretend half the night didn’t happen, and you need to forgive me for being a wreck.”
“You’re not a wreck, but I do want whatever it is you’re offering.” I’m finding it hard to hold a conversation when all I can think about what tonight could mean for our future. And by our, I mean me, Grey, and Ramsey. Moving out to the sticks will be the only option. I hope Auden doesn’t pick up on the fact I’m disassociating while we make our way from the parking garage to my condo. When we’re locked inside, I pour two drinks and excuse myself to the office for a little while. She doesn’t complain as she wants to clean up and call her friend Betty back. I guess she called while we were on our way here, but she didn’t answer.
Furiously, I open my work laptop and start scrolling everything I haven’t read yet. It doesn’t take long to catch up. I cringe when I see my name in the report and wonder how long it will take to hear from my boss. Even if it’s permitted doesn’t mean he’s not going to warn me about the dangers of being close to my Principal outside of shifts. I email Grey and tell him verbatim what Auden said in the car about the brother with the accent. I didn’t do research about the guy who owned the mansion, but Grey must have. That’s why he was freaking out, I realize. I fire off the email and then start one to my boss to get ahead of the power curve. I explain the situation in the simplest form. I make it sound like it’s only sex. That there’s no risk of anything hindering daily life with my Principal. My chest feels a little less heavy after I send it. I fold my arms behind my head and look up at the ceiling.
I’ve never had this much to lose and all at once, too. Haven’t I always preferred life when the stakes were high? Only when I know I can win is the answer, and I’m pretty much in the dark these days, flying by the seat of my pants. The silence is broken by Auden raising her voice in my bedroom. I don’t mean to overhear, but I hear the word hypocrite, and she’s pissed. I crack the door. “I don’t even know who you are!” Pause, pause, pause. “Why are you telling me? I don’t understand.”
More silence. “Because you think I’d get it? Why is that, Betty?”
If I stand here any longer, it’s going to look weird if she catches me so I cross over to my bedroom and make sure Auden knows I’m here. She spins when I clear my throat. “Well, I’m not a whore anymore, so I don’t understand, and you really have bungled things up. I have to go now,” Auden says, cheeks and neck red. I want to fluster her in another way next.
“Whatever,” she says. “I’ll talk to you later. You really should tell the others. Or your husband,”
Auden scoffs, shaking her head as she hangs up the phone. She tosses it on the bed and continues pacing my room. “She’s having an affair,” Auden says, keeping her eyes down. “She told me because she thought I’d understand. Betty couldn’t keep it to herself any longer.”
Her gaze picks up to meet mine, willing me to tell her what she wants to hear. “What was I supposed to say? I got mad at her. I don’t want that kind of secret. The kind of secret that destroys someone else’s life.”
“So she’s not planning on leaving her boyfriend?”
“Husband,” Auden corrects. “No. She said she’s still figuring everything out. She told me because the guilt was eating her alive.”
I halt her pacing by placing my hands on her shoulders. “Your friends trust you. They want your advice. That’s nothing to be upset about even if I do understand why, it’s frustrating.”
“Some Australian. He works at a bar,” Auden says, shaking her head, unaware our worlds are colliding in so many ways that it’s starting to scare the shit out of me.
“Australian?” I ask, my hands fall from her shoulders, and she notices, eyeing them by my sides. Swallowing hard, I press my lips together. “Which bar? I think I know him.”
“Oh, god,” Auden says. “If you know him, that’s no good.”
It’s really no good, but how do I tell her that. “Remember that bar I told you was bad news?”
Auden’s face falls. “Oh, fuck!” She swallows hard. “Betty is such a straight-laced person. I don’t know how she decided to one, have an affair, and two, with a guy who is a fucking criminal.” Her eyes go wide. “Oh, my god.”
“What?” Can this possibly get worse?
“I think I know who the guy is. This isn’t what you think, but I gave an Australian man a ride a couple of days ago. He showed up to my store and needed a ride to the grocery store before it closed. How many Aussies can there be around here?”
Welp, turns out it can get worse. I run my hands through my hair and blow out a breath before walking to the window. Placing both hands on the frame, I decide we’re all fucking doomed. The Rifts combined with whatever nefarious creatures Ramsey’s been dancing with make for a damn nightmare.
“He had a girlfriend,” Auden says, trying to defend why she gave him a ride. Like I’m jealous or something. No, just terrified for your life. “He said his girlfriend was going to kill him if he didn’t bring home the groceries she needed… I wonder if he meant Betty. I drove him to the store so he could make it before it closed.”
