Believing Lies Read online

  I looked at my mother, expecting to see her defiant and blowing smoke out of her ears like a cartoon character since my dad had just totally overruled her, but instead she just looked kind of sad.

  “Mother, I know you’re looking out for me, but I’m a big girl. I can’t be with someone who cheats on me.”

  She began to speak and then bit her tongue. There was a brief pause before she said, “I’m sorry, Sienna. Your father is right.” She shook her head as if trying to clear her mind. “Let’s finish our meal before it gets cold, shall we?” I saw my dad give her hand a squeeze above the table before we picked up our forks and resumed eating.

  After dinner, I helped clean up the dishes. There was over half of the pan of lasagna left, so my mother put the leftovers in a plastic container. “Sophie loves my lasagna. Take her the rest.” She was right. Sophie did love her lasagna. My mother’s cooking was one of the few things about her that Sophie genuinely enjoyed.

  “Thanks. She’ll be happy.” I took the lasagna and put it in a paper bag while she wrapped the remaining garlic bread in tinfoil.

  “Do you like living with Sophie?” My head snapped up. Is she actually interested or just making small talk?

  “Yeah, I do. She gets me.”

  “She loves you, and you love her. I’m glad you have her to turn to,” she responded, catching me completely off guard. Who is this woman, and what has she done with my mother?

  She handed me the bread, and I added it to the bag. In an uncharacteristic move, I gave her a hug. Her arms were rigid at first, before relaxing and finally hugging me back.

  “Thank you, Mother.”

  She simply nodded in response.

  Neither of us finished the conversation by saying “I love you,” but it wasn’t necessary because we both knew it was true. Leaving the unspoken words dangling in the air, I took the bag and left the kitchen.

  I stopped by my dad’s library. “I’m heading out.”

  He looked up from his computer. “Everything sorted out with your mom first?”

  “Yep. We’re fine.” Dad hated it when either Mother or I were upset, so he always tried to make sure we resolved any issues with each other as fast as possible.

  “Good. What’s in the bag?”

  “Leftovers for Sophie.”

  He smiled. “Give Sophie my love, and tell her to come with you next time.”

  “Will do.” I walked over to his desk and gave him a hug. “Bye, Dad. Love you.”

  “Bye, Pumpkin. Love you too.”

  I left my childhood home feeling more at peace than I had in a long time.

  Chapter Nine

  “Oh my God, lasagna!” Sophie snatched away the paper bag, instantly popped the corner of the lid, and tossed it into the microwave. “Every once in a while I could just kiss your mom.”

  I tilted my head to the side. “Laying it on a little thick there, don’t ya think?”

  “Nah, she deserves a kiss for her cooking. Maybe I’ll get her a Kiss the Cook apron for Christmas this year.” I giggled as I imagined my mother in it. Now that would be a sight to behold.

  As I placed the garlic bread in the toaster oven, the intercom buzzed. “Who could that be?” I half wondered out loud, half questioned Sophie.

  “I invited Conner and Adam over.” She scanned my face for a reaction. “You don’t mind, do you?”

  My stomach fluttered at the mention of Adam’s name. “Why would I mind? This is your apartment. You don’t need to tiptoe around me anymore.” She looked leery. “I’m seriously okay with being around people now,” I assured her. “I can’t be a shut-in forever.”

  “Are you sure? This is your place as much as mine.”

  “I’m sure. Go buzz them in before they go away thinking you’re not home. I’ll keep an eye on the microwave.”

  She flashed me a quick smile and ran toward the entryway. I was actually kind of glad they were here. It would be nice to ease back into being around friends. I sat on top of the counter, next to the microwave. It wasn’t long before I could hear them talking in the entryway. The microwave beeped just as they walked into the kitchen, and I hopped off the counter.

  “Hey, Princess. No need to be jumpy,” Adam teased me.

  “Hardy-har-har with the Princess thing. I’ll come up with an equally annoying nickname for you too if you don’t cut it out,” I teased back, crossing my arms over my chest.

  My eyes zoned in on the faint yellowish-green bruise on his cheek. I felt a pang of guilt, but quickly pushed the feeling away. After all, it wasn’t as if I’d asked him to punch Trenton. He’d done that on his own accord. Bruise aside, he looked good enough to eat. He was wearing worn-out jeans and a fitted white T-shirt. I looked away before it became too obvious that I was checking him out. I opened the microwave and pulled out the lasagna.

  Conner came up behind me and looked in the container when I opened it. “Whoa. That smells amazing. Did you make it?”

  “Yeah right. Sienna can’t cook worth a crap,” Sophie piped in. I gave her a dirty look, but it didn’t faze her. “Her mom made it, and let me tell you, Clarice Trudeau is the best cook EVER. I’m willing to share if you guys are hungry. There’s no way I can eat it all, and Sienna already ate.”

  Conner looked like a kid in a candy store. “Hell yeah, I haven’t had lasagna in forever,” he replied. “You hungry?” he asked Adam excitedly.

  Adam chuckled. “I’m never one to turn down food.”

  There were only two stools at the kitchen island, so we needed to eat at the table. Sophie, Conner, and I started to get the plates, utensils, and food to the table while Adam went to the fridge.

  “What do you guys want to drink?” he hollered from behind the fridge door.

  “Surprise me,” Sophie yelled back from the table, where she was dishing up the plates.

  “Any beer?” Conner asked loudly.

  “Yep. Hey, Princess, are you thirsty?”

  “Beer,” I said, walking back into the kitchen.

  He brought his head out from behind the fridge and looked at me as if I was joking. “Three beers and one chocolate milk it is,” he said before grabbing the beers and shoving them into one arm and grabbing the chocolate milk jug with his other hand.

  “That’s not funny. I want a beer.” I told him, irritated.

  “And I got you a beer,” he retorted. “Can’t I have some chocolate milk? Unless you’re trying to get me drunk, so you can have your wild ways with me?” He winked.

  Crap. I really needed to stop assuming things with him because it always seemed to backfire on me.

  I hastily took the beers from him. “I see you didn’t get that eye twitch looked at yet.”

  “Some girls like a guy with an eye twitch.” He took my Alvin glass out of the cupboard, poured the chocolate milk, and returned the jug to the fridge. Of course he would grab the Alvin glass. Definitely not a Simon or Theodore kind of guy.

  We all gathered around the table, and I drank my beer in silence while the three of them enjoyed my mother’s lasagna. The guys agreed that, even microwaved, it tasted awesome. They were joking around and talking about their plans for tonight while they ate. My lack of talking was going fairly unnoticed. It wasn’t as if I was being mute; I just kept my input to a minimum. Yep, totally flying under the radar.

  “You’re exceptionally quiet, Princess,” Adam observed. I guess not as under the radar as I’d hoped.

  Don’t reply to the Princess comment. Don’t reply to the Princess comment. It’s exactly what he wants. “I told you not to call me that.” Shit. Failure.

  “And I believe I told you ‘No,’” he countered with a sly grin.

  Sophie looked between the two of us. “You’re coming with us tonight,” she said, pointing her fork in my direction. “And before you open your pretty little mouth to object, realize it wasn’t a question.”

  There were two ways I could approach this. Option One: Simply tell her I wasn’t going to go. That was the option I wan
ted to take because I really did not want to go to The Turning Point for drinks. Option Two: Just give in because we both knew that she would get her way eventually, no matter how much I protested. In the end, I went for the path of least resistance and took Option Two.

  “Fine.”

  “Really?” She looked surprised.

  “I thought it wasn’t a question, so why are you acting as if I had a choice?” Dammit, should have chosen Option One.

  Conner must have sensed my apprehension since he interjected with, “Excellent! You’ll have fun, Sienna. I promise.”

  I decided to just suck it up for one night. “Thanks, Conner. I’m sure I will.”

  Sophie beamed at my final agreement, knowing that once I told Conner I would be coming, I wouldn’t back out. “Thank you,” she mouthed to me.

  “Well, I guess I need to go get ready then,” I said to no one in particular and stood up to go change clothes and redo my makeup.

  “You look fine,” Adam stated blandly.

  “Gee, you really know how to make a girl feel pretty,” I huffed. “I want to look better than just fine since this is the first time I’m going out in weeks.”

  “I didn’t mean it that way.” He both looked and sounded sincere. “I meant that you already look nice, so you don’t need to do anything else to yourself.”

  “Thanks, I guess. But I still want to change my clothes. Besides, Sophie will take at least an hour, so I think I’ll have plenty of time.”

  Sophie scoffed. “That’s unfair. I only take an hour if I need to shower. I already took one this morning, so forty five minutes max.”

  “Forty five minutes is too long. I can be ready in twenty. I bet you can’t.” I knew there was no way she would take the challenge of just twenty minutes.

  “Fifteen,” she coolly countered, proving my theory wrong.

  “Done.”

  She ran from the table to her room as if we were on The Amazing Race or something. Conner found it funny and was laughing into his beer.

  Adam looked to Conner. “Ten bucks says Sienna will beat her.”

  “Let’s make it twenty,” Conner said. “I have faith in my girl. Damn, she ran out of here fast enough, but it’s not an actual race that we’re betting on. Their wager isn’t about who’s done first. It’s that they’ll both be ready in under fifteen minutes. So if they both make it within the fifteen minutes, we’ll call it a draw.”

  “Done.” Adam leaned back on his chair and propped his feet on the table. At least he had the decency to remove his shoes when he came in.

  “Feet off the table,” I scolded.

  “Don’t worry about my feet right now, Princess. Sophie’s got a head start on you, and I hate to lose money.”

  “What do I get out of this bet?” I challenged him.

  “Don’t be greedy. You’re going to lose your bet with Sophie if you don’t start getting ready.” He looked at the clock on the wall. “Tick tock. Looks as if you’re down to fourteen minutes. Better get a move on it.”

  It should be illegal to be so damn good looking and yet so cocky all at once. As much as his attitude could bug the living hell out of me, I knew behind my irritation was an undeniable attraction to him. I needed to stomp out that fire soon because a guy like Adam would burn me.

  “Has anyone ever told you what a pain in the ass you are?” I questioned him sharply.

  He flashed me a freakishly perfect smile. “All the time. Has anyone ever told you what a pain in the ass you are?”

  I wanted to throttle him for throwing my words back at me “No.” Yes. Sophie reminded me often.

  “You’re a horrible liar. Now hurry the hell up.”

  With a huff, I turned on my heel and, as leisurely as possible, walked to my room, purposely sashaying my hips as I went. As soon as my door was shut, I frantically ripped through my closet. I was feeling spunky tonight, so I wanted to look the part. I found a black miniskirt and a snug charcoal racer-back tank top. For makeup, I went for a smoky lid with black liner and mascara and clear gloss on my lips. I left my hair down. It was already curled from earlier in the day, so I ran some tousling spray through it and left it a tad disheveled. I put on a mix of red, black, and silver bangles and finished my look with a pair of medium-sized black hoop earrings. Against my light blond hair, all of the dark colors made me feel pretty sexy.

  I went to Sophie’s room and found her sitting at her vanity, pinning her hair in an up-do. I opened her closet and pulled out her pair of red stilettos. “I hope you weren’t planning on wearing these,” I said, holding up the shoes, so she could see them in the mirror.

  “Nope, all yours.” She gave me an appraising look. “Damn, girl. You look super-hot. Anyone in particular you’re trying to impress?” she prodded knowingly. Sometimes she was a little too perceptive for my liking.

  “Nobody at all. Just felt like looking sexy tonight. It’s a nice change from my twenty-four-seven pajama wardrobe.”

  “Yeah, it is. How much time do I have?” I looked at her bedside alarm clock. “Is your clock accurate?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then three minutes.”

  “Screw you and your stupid bet.”

  She put in a final bobby pin with excessive force. Her hair and makeup looked flawless, but she still needed to get dressed. She went into her walk-in closet. I laughed as clothes began raining out of the closet door, while obscenities were raining from her mouth.

  “I’ll be in the living room. Good luck.”

  Adam and Conner were watching a baseball game while they waited for us. I was pleasantly surprised that the dinner table had been cleaned up. They turned around at the sound of my stilettos on the hardwood floor.

  Adam let out a low, drawn out whistle. “I take back my previous comment. I’m glad you had your fifteen minutes.”

  “Not too slutty, right?” Why am I asking him that question?

  “I like slutty, but not on you, Princess, because you aren’t a slutty girl. So no, not too slutty. More like drop dead gorgeous.”

  I just had one of the sexiest men I’d ever seen call me gorgeous. I could feel my cheeks flush at the compliment. “Um, thanks,” I said a little too gushingly.

  I sat down on the couch and looked at the clock. Sophie was currently at eighteen minutes. Conner begrudgingly handed Adam a twenty dollar bill. Two minutes later, Sophie came into the living room in black shorts and a silver sequined tube top. She was wearing black wedges, and all of her jewelry was silver and sparkly. Her auburn hair and red lipstick stood out beautifully.

  I opened my mouth to tell her how amazing she looked, but Conner beat me to it. “Wow, Babe. You are absolutely stunning.” These boys sure know how to give a compliment. She blew him a kiss.

  Adam waved his newly gained twenty bucks in front of Sophie. “Conner’s right, you do look stunning, but you took twenty minutes, so your boy-toy lost our little side bet.

  Sophie stuck out her lip. “I’m sorry, Conner. I didn’t know you bet money.”

  He pulled her close and gave her a light kiss. “The way you look, who cares about money?”

  Adam laughed. “I’ll use the twenty to buy us all a round of shots when we get there. Are we driving or walking?”

  I looked down at my red shoes and quickly answered, “Driving.”

  Adam followed my line of sight. “Those fuck-me-shoes stay on your feet no matter what, so driving it is.”

  My entire body turned the color of my shoes. Sophie out right laughed at my embarrassment. At least Conner tried to muffle his laugh with a pretend cough.

  Sophie went to the kitchen and came back with four toothpicks. It was time to pick a DD for the night. She broke one and then held them out to us, the bottoms hidden in her fist. I grabbed first. Unbroken. Thank God. I didn’t think I could get through tonight without some liquid courage backing me up. Conner picked next and also earned the privilege of drinking.

  “Okay, Adam,” Sophie said. “Who’s having more fun tonight? You
or me?” Adam snatched one of the remaining two toothpicks, and it came out broken. “Ooh, tough luck,” Sophie gloated. “You know the drill—two shots when we get there, and then you’re cut off.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Got it.” Adam grabbed all of our toothpicks. “This sucks. Should have had a beer with dinner,” he mumbled under his breath as he turned away to take them to the garbage can. When he walked back to us, he was still sulking a bit, looking like a little boy who had just lost his favorite toy.

  “It’s almost ten o’clock. Let’s get out of here before I turn back into a pumpkin,” I said, wanting to get there before eleven when all of the tables near the bar would be taken.

  Sophie grabbed my arm, looped it through hers, and we walked to the door. Adam and Conner followed behind us, and I heard one of them turn the lock before closing the door.

  Chapter Ten

  Conner usually worked the afternoon shifts at The Turning Point, but he still knew the night bartenders. I learned that he and Adam usually started out their nights here because Conner got discounted drinks. The Turning Point at night was completely different than during the day when it served mainly as a restaurant. Nighttime was loud music, dancing, and lots of drinking. The main room was full of booths and tall tables, along with a bar. This was the room we dined in the first time we met Adam and Conner. The second, larger room was closed off during the daytime. Along with a second bar, this room had a dance floor on one side, a couple of pool tables and dart boards on the other side, and tables in the middle.

  We agreed to start out our night in the main room. I went to get us a tall table near the bar while they went to get shots and drinks. Sophie found me first and handed me a vodka cranberry. Adam arrived shortly after her, setting down a Corona and a bottle of water.

  “Water already?” I asked. “What about your two shots?”

  “I gave Conner money for shots. He’s bringing them.” As soon as he finished his sentence, a tray slid onto the table.

  “Adam chose the shot. Since he bought, I obeyed,” Conner said as he grabbed the last stool and started to pass out the shots, putting two in front of each of us. I wasn’t sure what they were until I noticed the limes.