Page 11 of Little Lies

There was a final plea in her expression.

“I’ll do anything.”

She had said that. She had said she’d doanything.

He smirked at her, and her face fell.

When he looked back to Joliet, the confidence in her cocky stance had slipped and her attention flicked back and forth between Nathan and Tully, trying to understand.

“Yeah, that’s true,” he said.

Joliet stiffened and her face dropped, a crease developing between her brows.

“What?” It was a breathless question, like she couldn’t quite believe she even needed to ask it.

“Why wouldn’t I?” A mischievous glint sparked in his eyes. “She is my girlfriend after all.”

eight

tully

The Party

Stephanie’s eyes popped out of her head. “Oh. My. God.”

Tully fiddled with her curls, hoping that she’d done enough to style them correctly. That and the spattering of pastel blue eyeshadow and mascara ringed with black liner had been Stephanie’s idea. “How do I look?”

“Like a goddess.” Stephanie eyed the too-short denim skirt and off-the-shoulder top, both of which had been borrowed from her closet. “I have never been this excited for a party. I can’t wait to see the look on Joliet’s face.”

It turned out Stephanie had quite the vengeful streak.

“If this works,” Tully said.

“Oh, my sweet, sweet friend. Looking as beautiful as you do, I doubt that will be an issue.” While Tully was nervous about this entire “operation” Stephanie hadn’t hesitated a second as long as she had Tully’s approval.

In truth, Tully wasn’t sure she’d be able to pull off the revenge she was hoping to get on her sister. There was a tiny pinch of shame about doing all this.

Was Joliet the worst? Absolutely. Did she deserve to be knocked down a peg? 100%.

Does that mean that Tully should try to kiss the guy her sister’s been drooling over for ten years to get back at her?

Eh. Debatable.

But in the moment, in the wake of her anger and frustration, she wasn’t thinking straight.

Even dolled up like this, Tully wasn’t sure she’d ever be able to get Nathan to glance at her, much lesskissher.

“Now let’s go make a splash,” Stephanie said, pulling her from her mind and forcing her towards the car. “I’m so ready for this.”

Tully, however, was not.

She pulled to the curb outside of the house and peeked out the window as Blondie blasted over her car stereo. Nathan’s house, to be exact. And it was a nice house, because of course Nathan Rondeau would have a nice, giant house in the nicest neighborhood in Richmond. Joliet wouldn’t settle for less in a man.

Despite dressing like she had all the confidence in the world, Tully’s stomach flipped the moment they crossed the threshold.

Parties were simmering, sweaty, alcohol-reeking places. Three things that she didn’t love all combined into a cesspool of teenage hormones. Unfortunately, it was those teenage hormones that she was going to need to rely on for the night.

Tully immediately went to work and searched the area for a few things.

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