Page 146 of Loving the Liar

I think those two are about to get in serious trouble.

#EllaBakerfutureattorney #GoodbyeProfessorReeves #whowillbeournewcriminallawprofessor?

The picture is of me exiting Reeves’s office, hair disheveled, shirt unbuttoned, and uniform skirt barely put together. Reeves is holding the door behind me, leaving no doubt as to who put me in that state.

“What, what is it?” Luke asks, trying to take my phone.

“Don’t look!” I jolt to my feet and step away from him, fear flowing thickly through my veins. “Please, don’t look.” He just found out I’ve been seeing his best friend. I can’t let him know I slept with Reeves.

I already know I’m not going to survive this from Hermes, but the next notification that comes from my phone gives me a near heart-attack.

“Luke.” My voice trembles, a mere whisper compared to what I intended. “We have a problem.”

I show him my phone.

Unknown: Aphrodite, you have been called to the temple immediately. There has been a request to change your status within the Circle. Zeus

“You’re not going,” he says right away.

“I can’t do that. I have before and…I won’t again.”

“Ella, you can’t go. This has Chris written all over it.” He’s trying to stay strong for me, but I can see the panic in his eyes that matches mine.

I look at the message again. “It was sent by Eugene Duval.”

“But whatever change of status they mean was initiated by Chris, I’ll bet my life on it.” He turns around, starts pacing, and looks at me again. “I swear to God, I’ll end him.”

“Stop saying that!” I fight back. “Please, just… I’ll go. I’ll go, and I’ll tell you what they want. I’ll call Achilles on my way, ask him if he knows anything. But I can’t not show up.”

His jaw clicks, his eyes hardening on me, but his tone is a plea. “I don’t want you to go, Ella.”

“Achilles is allowed in the temple. If anything goes wrong, I know he’ll be there.”

“I want you to message me. Every step of the way, do you hear me?”

“I will if I can. Luke…I know how you feel, but you are not useless. You did everything you could to protect me. I don’t doubt that, and I never will.”

I can breathe a little easier when I see his shoulders relax. I understand what’s been angering him so much. The helplessness. I hid my relationship with Chris and it meant he couldn’t protect me from it. He’s not part of the Circle and can’t save me from them.

“Sometimes things are out of our control. But I promise I’ll be perfectly fine.”

A lie neither of us believe, but still, it feels good to say it.

Once in a taxi on my way to the Stoneview Country Club, I call Achilles. I’m wearing jeans, pressing on the denim where my cuts are bandaged and letting a string of dull pain run through me to calm me down.

“Tell me you know something,” I murmur as soon as my friend picks up.

“About?”

“About my ‘change in status’ within the Circle.”

There’s a pause before his low voice comes from the other side of the line again. “Did that come before or after the picture Hermes just released?”

“Right after.”

He thinks for a moment.

“Achilles,” I insist. “What’s happening?”

---