Page 30 of Loving the Liar

“But why?”

Scratching his throat, he runs his hand through his hair. More bad news is coming.

“We received a letter from SFU yesterday. Your fees hadn’t been paid.”

“Oh, come on,” I groan. My hand drops to my right thigh, and I press against the cut I have under my skirt. “The frozen accounts, I assume?”

He nods.

“What are we going to do? Do I have…to leave college?”

My brother looks away, a hand running through his hair. “Chris covered them.”

“What?” I choke on my own breath as I push the word out.

No, I know Chris. This doesn’t feel right. The man is pretending to my brother that he’s doing our family a favor, taking care of his sister, while hiding the fact that he used to love to control everything about me.

“I’ll pay him back every single cent, Els. For now, he’s covering this semester and your house too. But we’re not going to play around and change your classes again when we couldn’t pay your fees yesterday. Please, just go to class, study hard, and take college seriously. You need to go for a stable career now more than ever. You don’t have anything else to fall back on anymore.”

He lets his head fall against the seat, and I take his hand.

“Okay,” I say softly. “I understand. I’ll work hard, and I’ll make sure to stay in Reeves’s class. It’s almost a guarantee into SFU law school.”

He turns to me with a sad smile. He looks exhausted, heavy eye bags darkening the skin under his eyes.

“I’ll fix this.” Something dulls the blue in his gaze as he talks.

“I don’t like that all responsibilities have fallen on you. You’re in the same situation as me.”

A ball of sadness swells in my throat as he messes with my hair, shaking his head like I’m making a big deal out of nothing.

“I’m your big brother, Els. It feels right to do anything to keep you safe. You just keep out of trouble, okay?”

I nod, sniffling like an idiot.

“Luke?”

“Mhm?” he says, his eyes back on the windscreen. Probably looking at the red-brick castle we can see from the parking lot.

“Why did Chris transfer to SFU?”

“Him and Megan are moving back to Stoneview,” he mumbles, lost in his own thoughts.

I try not to sound irritated, desperate, fucking hopeless at the turn of events.

“Okay, but why? I know SFU has the best law school, but Yale is a close second.”

My brother finally looks back at me. “Didn’t I tell you? His dad is ill.”

Despite myself, my eyes round, and what Chris said hits me in the face.

That night…I just needed to talk to someone who understands me.

Guilt thickens my blood. “Ill…like, really ill?”

My brother’s mouth twists. “Yeah, like at the hospital with a breathing machine kind of ill. It’s bad, Els. Chris came back to take care of his mom and sister. He got a house in Silver Falls so he can be close to them and college.”

He called that night because he needed me. He needed to talk to me about his dad. To someone he trusts.

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