Page 12 of King of Deception

‘I fucking hate you!’

Had Jude cheated? Was he bleeding her dry because of a gambling addiction? He was a good-looking man, so I understood the initial attraction. But had he always been that hostile, or was this a recent shift influenced by whatever had led to the breakup?

Savoring my beverage, I tried to think about something else. Dylan was taking an unhurried stroll around the pool, following a lone butterfly. She had managed to summon all of his attention, leaving him reckless about his surroundings. I watched him as he nearly fell into the water twice before catching himself at the last minute.

Was that what beauty did to all of us?

And just like that, my thoughts circled back to Ella as I tried to imagine what Jude did to seduce her, if he needed to try at all. She certainly wasn’t an easy woman to befriend, let alone charm and captivate.

Before I sunk deeper into my contemplations of the odd couple, my phone began to ring. It was Armen.

“Hey,” I answered.

“Tell me you’re back in the city.”

“In fact, I’m back in my pool.”

“Good, ‘cause I got a brand new bottle of vodka with your name on it.”

“And I’m not even the birthday boy,” I chuckled.

“Oh, I’ve got a brand new babe with the lucky bastard’s name on her.” He laughed, and I didn’t.

“Awesome. So… we’re at his place tonight?”

“You bet.”

“Right. Alright, man, see you there.”

“Why don’t you sound excited? The dry spell’s over, dude!”

“Ah,” I forced a chuckle.

He was referring to the “Stretch of No Birthdays” as he liked to call it. Our friend group had birthdays in June, August, September, and December. But from January to the end of May—that was his dry spell. Armen loved to party and took every occasion as a reason to break out the booze, recreational drugs, and more. But we could easily claim that he had a strange birthday fetish, unlike anyone I knew. “It’s like a rebirth!” he always said.

But it never was.

The hours passed with me sunbathing by the pool and getting some work done on my laptop. As the sun began to set, the lazy summer breeze carried the fresh fragrance from the lemon trees into my nostrils. Once again, Ella’s face flashed into my mind. Lemon slices in her drink. Her nervous laugh in front of my uncle. The way her expressive eyes glowed.

This couldn’t be healthy, but I wanted to do it, anyway.

Picking up the phone, I dialed uncle Danny’s number. He didn’t pick up, so I sat down the device and picked up a grape from the bowl that Briga had left here earlier. She always wanted me to enjoy healthy snacks. In reality, I craved nothing more than ice cream at the moment.

After clicking on my last ‘send’ button for the day, I folded the laptop shut, and with that, the phone began to ring. “Father of the bride! Did you get home okay?”

“Yeah. Your aunt insisted that we wait until their plane took off.”

“Whoa,” I chortled.

“She’s an emotional wreck, this one.”

“I guess we can’t blame her. They’re technically best friends.”

“She’s only gonna be away for a month,” he grunted. “Ah, what do I know. What’s going on? Did you forget something at the house?”

“Uh—No, actually I… wanted to check out the guest list.”

“How come? Wait, is this about the young man security had to escort out?”

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