Page 75 of Nest Of Lies

I set the biscuit down and stare at them, a feeling of doom swirling up inside me.

“So, they just left?” I ask in a small voice. “They went out on this terrible, dangerous errand, and they didn’t even say goodbye? They didn’t tell me they were going. Nothing?”

Io looks at me, and the room falls silent. “They said goodbye, right, that they would be back?”

My chin wobbles. “Uh, would you excuse me? I need to go home, check on Beezie.”

“Those fucking idiots!” Bertie hisses.

“Beezie?” I hear Badger ask. But I’ve already turned and am out of the kitchen.

“Nice to meet you!” I call out in a choked voice.

I hear one of the women laugh, and it abruptly cuts off. I slip out the front door and pad my way back to my own mansion. Instead of going inside, I stand on the porch and stare out at the road. I just want to hear the roar of those bikes. I want to know they are safe. That they are coming home.

Why didn’t they tell me? Do I mean so little to them or do they think I’m that broken? Maybe I’m too sick. A burden that needs to be wrapped in cotton wool. My thoughts are spiralling, and I feel sick.

A man appears from around the corner of my house. He stops dead, tilting his head to the side, black silky hair hanging over one side of his face. He’s got huge silver sunglasses on that hide his eyes.

“Hello? What are you doing here?” I ask politely, wishing he would go away.

He shrugs and, with a wry smile, admits, “I’m a bit lost.”

I glance around and back at him because it’s hard to be lost in this neighbourhood. Each mansion is a massive property.

“Who are you looking for?”

“Oh, uh, I’m looking for my cousin Mills.”

My concern vanishes, and I point back the way I came. “You’re at the wrong place, but luckily for you, it’s just over there.”

He smiles, wide and charming. “Thanks?”

“Oh, sorry, Aurelia Raines, but people call me Lia.”

“Lia.” He drags my name out and smiles at me in a way that doesn’t feel creepy or bad at all. “You look so different from how I pictured you.”

My eyebrows raise. “I do?” This guy is strange, but I feel like I know him.

“Yes. He said you were a golden warrior who had more bravery than any biker he’d ever met.”

Warmth spreads through me, and I grin. “Mills is amazing.”

His warmth disappears and then returns. “I have to go, Lia, but I hope that you have a lovely evening, and I look forward to getting to know you.”

I stay there, watching him leave. He gets on a bike and speeds off the property, but surprisingly, he doesn’t go next door. I stay out there in the sun, wondering how they can flip me from aching despair to fluttery heart melts in mere moments.

The sun is starting to set; the orange pouring across the sky. A stiff wind starts to chill the air, but still they don’t come home.

I can’t stay out here and wait for them forever. I close my eyes. My tears have dried a dozen times on my cheeks, and I’m exhausted. I feel like that sixteen-year-old girl who’s been abandoned again, except it’s worse this time.

“Face it, Lia. You’re just an annoying neighbour. They don’t care enough to tell you where they even are. They didn’t even say goodbye.”

I lift my fist, pressing it against my mouth. They might die. Someone might get hurt, and I didn’t know.

I turn away from the sunset and the cold night, pressing the code to open the Raines Mansion, my prison, where I exist alone. I didn’t know loneliness could kill you. They don’t tell you that in books.

Chapter twenty-seven

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