Page 162 of Under the Lies

I give him a soft smile, mouthing a quick thank you.

“Isn’t that adorable?” Brin smiles at him.

“Totally adorable,” I agree, still watching him.

“I also invited Reeve and Gabe,” Noah adds as if that takes away from the gesture we’re praising him for.

“Speaking of…” Thea looks around. “Where are they?”

Noah shrugs, not particularly bothered.

“Sayer.”

My name sounds like a whip lashing in the wind.

My friends stop talking as I turn around. “Mother.”

She looks elegant in a form-fitting white dress, but her eyes are thrashing with rage, locking on Noah. Not wanting to create a scene, she briskly walks over to us. “I need to speak to you.”

Thea and Noah share a look while Brin looks at me in alarm. Kathy Brooks does not sound happy.

I’m not intimidated. “What a coincidence, Mother. So do I.”

“Your father is waiting for us in his office.”

“Perfect,” I say as she turns around, walking and smiling at her guests. The smile says nothing is wrong, but any person who knows anything about body language can see it’s a lie.

Her shoulders are too far back, her spine uncomfortably straight, and that smile…there has never been a more plastic, overstretched smile in this house.

I start to follow her with Noah close behind. My mom stops, hearing the extra set of feet following her. Quickly turning around, she looks to Noah. “You’re not coming.”

He stares at her, hands leisurely in his pockets. Unimpressed.

“This is a family affair.”

“Then shouldn’t he be included?” I keep my voice low. “After all, Granddad thought he was his family.”

My mother is the Queen B of Botox, but even that can’t keep the shock off her face. She turns to Noah. “You told her?”

He shrugs, continuing to give her nonverbal answers.

They’re locked in a stare down that gains the interest of some nearby guests, wondering what’s going on, when a man with thinning hair taps Noah on the shoulder.

At first, it looks like Noah isn’t going to turn around and acknowledge the intruder, but he finally tears his gaze from my mother and whirls around to the man.

Noah simply raises a brow. There’s so much discontentment in a single movement.

“Mr. Kincaid. I’ve been trying to get a meeting with you.” This brave man doesn’t cower as Noah’s gaze turns darker as if to say you really interrupted me for this?

Yes, apparently, the man is.

If looks could burn people, Noah’s would eviscerate him on the spot.

As the man drones on about some property he wants to acquire, my mother grabs my elbow and yanks me to her side. “Let’s go.”

Noah whips his head around, hearing her.

I shake my head, letting him know it’s fine. I can handle this on my own. I’m not fourteen anymore. My parents can’t intimidate me into bending.

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