Page 110 of Loving the Liar

This man missed me, and there’s no other way he could have shown it. This kiss is more than the lust we’ve shared until now. This kiss is more than owning me, or my body. This kiss…is the second chance he so desperately talks about, the proof that I didn’t mishear when he said Megan and him had a deal. One I don’t understand, but that surely doesn’t involve the things he and I share.

His tongue dances with mine, creating waves of butterflies within me, and I forget why I even refused him something so beautiful until now.

I never want it to stop, but I do pull away to catch a breath. Instead, I catch pure happiness in his eyes as he slowly lets my feet touch the floor.

“Ella,” he rasps. His gaze bounces between my eyes, and his eyebrows pinch. “I’m so sorry for the things I will do to get you back.”

“What?”

“Please, forgive me for them. But after this kiss…I’ve never been more sure that you and I are meant to be, and that it doesn’t matter what I have to put us through to achieve that.”

I swallow thickly, something pushing at my chest. A mix of hope that he will do anything it takes so we end up together, and of fear. Because I know it will probably destroy me.

And I think I want him to destroy me.

With my heart sinking, I take a step back. “We should head back.”

“To reality,” he says with a hoarse voice.

“To reality,” I confirm.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ella

Guilty As Sin - Taylor Swift

“Inoticed something about Hermes,” Peach whispers as she looks up from her book.

We’re sitting in the grand library, and I don’t usually study here. I spent more time sleeping with random guys between the aisles than anything else, but I seriously need to focus on the next essay for Reeves. I have a headache and feel I’m coming down with a cold, but I have to push through.

“Do I want to know?” I mumble, scrolling down an article on my laptop.

“Yes. Because I think it’s about you.”

I look behind my screen and at my friend. “What hasn’t been about me when it comes to this stupid account lately?”

I notice she wasn’t actually reading, but rather on her phone, which is between the pages of her book. Typical Peach. She grabs it and shows me a few different posts. “Look.”

With a huff, I force myself to relive the latest posts. The FBI at my house, Hermes revealing I knew about the parties, and the one about Maria and Matias.

I can’t help a sneeze, my whole body shivering from a chill coming from deep within my bones. I mumble a quick sorry to our librarian.

“Any reason I’m re-traumatizing myself?” I ask Peach.

“You don’t notice something missing?”

I shrug, not loving that she wants to get into this.

“They stopped putting ‘your secrets are safe with me until they aren’t,’” she explains.

I look again, scrolling through the page. The one about my dad being arrested had the signoff, but the two after that, the ones that truly ruined my reputation, don’t have the typical Hermes signature.

“So? They forgot.”

She shakes her head, rolling her lips inwardly. “I don’t think so. Something is different. They never post about the same person so many times. The writing is different, and there’s no signature. And they usually post the truth. We both know you didn’t hurt Enzo and Matias. Or asked anyone to hurt them.”

Perking up, I look at the screen again. “What are you thinking?”

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