Page 115 of House of Lies

He towers over me, and I take a moment to work my way up to his face, what with all the muscles I have to inspect along the way.

“What’s wrong?” Water sloshes as I hurriedly straighten.

There’s a grim look on his face, and I don’t like it one bit.

Not one fucking bit.

He glances away, runs a hand through his hair, and crouches down beside the sunken tub.

“That was Myles.”

My jaw sets like stone.

“No,” I whisper, then clear my throat. “No, I don’t want to hear it.”

I turn away from him, ducking my head so I can wash the mask off my face. He waits until I’m done splashing in the water and then tucks a strand of wayward hair behind my ear.

“I told you this could happen,” he murmurs.

I bat away his hand. “You told me he could help. That’s what you told me.”

Of course. That’s why everything was going so well. It was a cruel trick, played on me by a sadistic universe. Lulling me into a sense of security, only to pull the rug out from under my feet.

“Sometimes people leave, Cassidy. They leave, and it’s not in our control, and it fucking hurts.”

His words wash over me like ice, making me shiver as I stand to get out of the tub. I wish I could stick my fingers in my ears and sing a stupid song until he goes away, but he’s right.

And I fucking hate it.

“Should never have bothered with that jerk,” I say, my eyes averted as I hurriedly rub myself down with a towel. “Thinks he’s such a big deal, but he can’t even find one person?”

“Two.”

I frown as Ethan grabs my arms and turns me to face him. He’s still only in a towel, and mine gets scrunched up between us as he drags me close.

“He tried to find Becks too, Cassidy. Sometimes we just have to accept that people are only in our lives for a season.”

“A season?” I glare up at him. “She was my mother, Ethan, not just a fiancé.”

His eyebrows leap up. “Just?”

My jaw tightens. “You know what I mean.”

He releases me, stepping back, a dark shadow in his eyes. “I fucking hope not, because it seems you’re suggesting Becks meant less to me than your mother.”

My throat feels too dry, my lips stretched too tight. I lick them, but it doesn’t help. “I wouldn’t know, Ethan! You still haven’t told me what happened!”

I realize I’m shouting, but I can’t stop.

“You’ve never asked.” His voice is a low, threatening growl. “Are you asking, Cassidy?”

I gulp down a knot of unease. “Yes.”

His jaw clenches as he looks away, both his hands fisting at his side. “I left on business to meet an old client, one of my dad’s. Angelo had been helping back then so I could spend more time with Becks, but I didn’t want him handling this one. He can rub some people the wrong way.”

“I knew I’d only be gone for a few days, but it was the first time we’d been out of each other’s sight since we’d met. I had this irrational urge that something would happen. That the spell would break. So I?—”

He stops. Clears his throat. Still doesn’t look at me. My heart thunders away in my chest, but I don’t have the nerve to tell him to stop. This is what I wanted, isn’t it? Ever since I saw that box in the basement, I wanted to know everything about Becks.

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