Page 57 of Shameless

Her twin’s words do nothing to appease Paris. “But you’re ok to see me ridiculed all over town? How could you let me tell everyone Trevor and I were together, when you knew he was fucking Rikki? You’re assholes. Both of you.”

I’ve had enough of Paris’s selfishness. Her bratty, self-centered attitude reminds me of Tiffany. “Paris,” I intervened. “I know you’re better than the way you sound right now. Please, stop. London is right. Rikki cared about Trevor beyond just hooking up and scoring free party favors. Quit before you start looking like the asshole at this table.”

That was the wrong thing to say. “What the fuck did you just say? You knew too?”

Stefan comes to my aid. “Does it matter? Lula is right. Quit while you’re ahead and take this tragedy as an opportunity to clean up your act, like Rikki is doing.”

She covers her mouth with a trembling hand. “Unbelievable. You knew too. You all knew,” she says, looking around the table. “I thought you were my friends.”

“Paris—” I say.

“No. Shut up, Lula. I was nice to you. I even got you and Stefan to finally talk. I was a real friend and you let me make a fool ofmyself. It’s fine. I’m going to party without you. I know enough people at the club who might not be my best friends but at least they won’t stab me in the back. Fuck you all.”

She storms into the house, followed by London and Rikki.

“Fuck,” Crew sighs. “Let me go with them. I need to make sure Rikki is ok. He’s in a very fragile state and I want to make sure he really checks back into rehab.”

Jules rises from his chair too. “Stef, I’m going to check on a few things. Luls,” his dark blue eyes soften when they land on me. “I might be late tonight, but I’d love to hang out tomorrow. Just the two of us?”

“Yeah, I’d love that too.”

The words fly out of my mouth before I can think about the fact that Stefan is standing right by my side.

Stefan

Lula and I are the only ones left at the table.

There’s a beat of silence between us and I can’t miss the worry in her eyes when she finally looks at me.

“Is something wrong, Jumps?” I ask. “I mean, aside from the obvious. You look troubled.”

Lula looks away. “We need to talk, Stef.”

Fuck. Nothing good ever came from that sentence. “I’m here. Talk.”

She looks around, obviously nervous. “I’d rather talk in private. Where are Arianna, Tilly and Dad?”

I shrug. “I don’t know about Tilly, but Mom and Tom were planning to have dinner at the club. Mom was worried about the effect the news of the murder would have on the club. There are a ton of memberships up for renewal at the end of the summer and she wants to make sure everyone sees that it’s business as usual.”

Lula considers my words. “Why is she worried?”

“You know how people are,” I sigh. “After the news of the murders broke yesterday, there are so many articles trying to figure out who’s responsible. I’ve seen a few with individual profiles of pretty much everyone who was on the islands the morning of the murders. We’re all considered suspects. It’s like a free for all, online murder mystery game.”

Lula looks surprised. “What? But we all have alibis.”

“Someone is obviously lying,” I say. “Mom and Tom want to nip in the bud any gossip that could damage the club.”

She nods. “It makes sense. Stef, I?—”

Growl.

The noise comes from Lula’s stomach.

“When was the last time you ate something?” I immediately worry.

“I had lunch with Trish earlier.” She reassures me. “She wanted to know how we were doing.”

I like Trish, she’s a much better friend than Paris for Lula. “Is she ok? Come to think about it, did the police talk to her and Les? I didn’t see them the other day.”

---