Page 141 of The Liar's Reckoning

It’s been more than a year since the video came out that drove the final wedge into my relationship with my old roommates. While I haven’t been a complete stranger—I’ll return the occasional text and small talk my way out of it—I haven’t seen any of them since my life fell apart.

Gibson Hayes gave me a pity job, which I’m sure Chris had something to do with now that they’re officially together, but working part-time at The Eastmoor is a job I took to maintain my health insurance. It certainly doesn’t pay the bills. Fortunately, I have Delilah and Gilbert Montgomery for that. Everytwo weeks or so, they pay me to attend an event as Lilah’s date and then come home to take care of Gil.

It’s an arrangement I have mixed feelings about, but now that mom’s gone and Trixie is living in a fancy retirement village in Florida, I’ve got plenty of bills to pay.

They’re not my only clients, but they’re my priority because they pay well, and I have a soft spot for Gil.

“How much longer are you expected to be here?” I murmur in Lilah’s ear.

“At least through the toasts and a few dances,” Lilah whispers back. “Why? You not feeling good?”

“I know a lot of people here. I generally try to avoid them.”

“Yeah…I know, and I’m sorry, but Joe’s our cousin, so…”

Not leaving any time soon, then, seeing as Joe is the groom.

Thankfully, I must be putting out enough fuck off vibes to keep Drew and Chris from approaching me. That, or they’re too caught up in their own happy marriages to drag their good time down by interacting with me. No doubt they have questions about why I’m hanging all over a woman like I’m enchanted, but let them think what they want. For my part, I’m just glad I don’t have to lie, or worse—try to explain who she is to me.

Throughout the entire scandal with Graham, one miracle of it was that no one discovered the work I do for Katia. They found out I was his doorman, briefly his trainer. They dug Ben out of the woodwork to prove I was, in fact, gay.

I’m not sure whether anyone really bought the AI lie Graham and the Lawthers tried to spin, but no one could prove it wasn’t a fake video, and they stuck to their story like glue. It didn’t flashback on him at all as far as I can tell. The last time I checked, Graham remains a senator in good standing, but I got fired from the gym and Hanover Gardens for fucking him.

Fair, right? We believe him, but we don’t believe the gay doorman.

It was Avery who identified me in the video to the press, and I have a special reservoir of hate in my soul for her for that. She’s fucking married now, too. Everyone came out of this mess smelling like a rose except me.

I’m bitter, but I’m managing. I drink some more champagne and pretend to listen to the conversations at the table, occasionally sharing a look, a whisper, a light kiss with Lilah while we put on our show for Daddy—Cord Montgomery—the multi-millionaire owner of a Wall Street investment firm. He’s a rich prick who uses his kids to make him look like a well-rounded family man when he’s really a soulless womanizer who only cares about amassing wealth and keeping his dick as wet as possible.

He’s got no clue Lilah’s a lesbian, and even less of a clue that Gil hasn’t been a virgin for months now. Knowing them the way I do has made me immensely grateful for my own family. I miss my mother every day, but in some ways her quiet death last winter was a relief. She got the flu from one of her caregivers, which led to a pneumonia she never recovered from. She was able to pass in peace at home with me and Trixie holding her hands. Years of suffering ending on one, long, rattling breath.

Trixie and I kept busy over the next month, getting the house ready to be sold. I always assumed she’d want to stay, but she wanted a new beginning instead. A really fucking expensive one, but it’s not like I was going to stop her. She’s been through enough. We both have.

She and I talk nearly every day. I love and appreciate her now more than ever. After meeting Lilah and Gil’s family, I’ll never take the kind of love I have for granted again. Lilah is summarily ignored by all the guests at the table, which eventually leads to her asking me to dance.

“Yes. Please.”

We dance to a few songs, carefully steering clear of anyone I know. She gossips, and I take in all the information she has onthe some of the guests in attendance. I only stop her when she gets to Gibson Hayes.

“I know all I need to know about him,” I say.

“Oh, that’s right. You work at the Eastmoor.”

“Yeah.” I leave it at that. If I feel like telling her about his role in the blackmail scheme later, I might. The champagne is doing a number on me, but it depends on what kind of mood Gil is in.

When my thoughts drift to the troubled twenty-one year old, I ask her how he is.

“He was surprisingly upbeat when we left tonight. Made me wonder if he has a big tournament to play or something.”

I grin. “Maybe. Is he still talking to that Z-som guy?”

“Yep.”

“Ah.”

The majority of Gil’s life outside of Lilah and me exists on the internet. Z-som isn’t the name of the guy he’s been talking to, but his actual handle is nonsensical. All I know is it starts with a Z.

“Do you think they’ll meet?”

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