Page 80 of Loving the Liar

She takes me by the hand and drags me to the door right next to the kitchen, the one that leads to the basement where we used to hang out. Everything is still there from our high school days, the sofas, the TV, the coffee table. God knows why we would have parties when we knew we would end up down here. It’s our little den, our bubble where we can be comfortably ourselves.

I don’t know what time it is when I decide to go back up. The party is still going strong, but if I’m not having fun downstairs with my best friends, I know I won’t be having any fun up here. Everything seems so pointless when Ella isn’t around. My only goal is to get her back, and it’s been driving me so intensely that everything else in life falls flat.

Some girl stumbles into me, and I catch her before she falls to the floor.

“Careful,” I say softly as I grab her drink from her hand before she can cause more damage. “I think you’ve had enough of that.”

For fuck’s sake. I think I can hear it, the way my friends tell me I act like a dad. I sound so boring.

“Sorry,” the girl groans, pushing red hair away from her face.

My lips part when I realize who it is. “Peach.”

“Christopher Murray,” she slurs. “Are you following us or something?”

“You’re at my house.”

“Am I now?” She looks around dramatically. “Oh, wait. This is totally your house.”

I hold her in place by the shoulders, leaning down so I can look into her eyes. “Who’s us? Is Ella here?”

“Of course she is. She said it was someone’s birthday but didn’t want to go. I convinced her, though. The girl needed a night out. She’s had enough bad news for a lifetime, don’t you think? Anyway. We decided to party in the game room. Maybe I should go check on her.”

It’s like a shot of adrenaline. Now that I know she’s here, the colors in the room are sharper, the music louder. Everything falls into place, and I’m ready to celebrate my birthday.

“Why don’t you go get yourself a glass of water? I’ll check on Ella.”

I practically run up the stairs, heading for the game room on the second floor and pushing the door open. It’s not like they’re having an orgy in here. Really, they’re just a bunch of friends acting like idiots. But Ella doesn’t get to act like an idiot around other men.

She should know better than that.

I walk into the room, and none of them hear me when I calmly say, “Ella.”

Except her. Because that’s how well I trained her when we dated.

What I didn’t take into account is that she’s more drunk than I’ve ever seen her.

“Uh oh, guys.” She giggles to herself as she calls her other friends. “The real daddy is here.”

Chapter Twenty

Ella

Bad idea right? - Olivia Rodrigo

“Leave. Seriously, Ella. I’ll fucking kick you out myself.”

Luke’s hard eyes clash with mine. I’m not going anywhere.

“I’m here with my friends. It’s mostly SFU people. Don’t tell me to leave.”

He’s still furious at me for initiating into the Silent Circle.

“Our house is ten minutes down the road. Go home,” he insists.

I feel like a child being told off. Like I did when we were in high school and he wouldn’t want me to be at his friends’ parties. More often than not, Chris would be the one to tell my brother nothing bad would happen to me and he’d keep an eye on me. And since he’s always been the voice of reason in their group, Luke would accept. Little did he know, Chris had a very specific way of taking care of me.

“I don’t want to go home,” I hiss. “I don’t want to see Mom.”

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