Page 153 of The Liar's Reckoning

“I assumed he hired you.”

“He did. Once. Before he got married.”

“Is that when the video was taken?”

“No. That was after his wife asked for a divorce. He wasn’t paying me.”

“Oh,” she says softly.

We’re quiet for a while before she says, “You know, no one really believes that shit was AI.”

I nod. “Doesn’t change anything. That’s his story and he’s sticking with it.”

“That sucks, Silas.”

“Yeah.”

“How long were you together?”

“Almost two years.”

“Oh my God.” She sounds genuinely appalled because it really is low what he did to me.

I sigh, and it comes out shaky—all the raw rage and heartbreak rearing its head. I don’t bother telling her not to tell anyone. I don’t give a shit who knows. He deserves to be exposed, but I don’t have the nerve to do it. I went through enough the first time around, and I have no interest in digging up the past and living through another scandal. I have plenty of proof we were together, but it can all be denied. Photos. Texts. My intimate knowledge of an apartment he owned.

None of it matters. And what would it get me anyway?

“He’s such a fucking hypocrite,” she says.

“He’s a coward.”

“So…no love lost?”

“No,” I say, but that’s the biggest lie of all. All my love was lost. It was treated like trash on the street. Unwanted. Inconvenient. Foul.

A gasp comes from the bedroom, and then a shout. “Silas?”

Gil is awake. I head for him, and Lilah sneaks out of the bedroom.

“I’m here,” I say as I approach the bed.

“Get closer,” he mumbles sleepily.

I touch his shoulder softly before placing a knee on the bed.He reaches for me, and a few seconds later, he’s clinging to me like a koala. I press my mouth to his hot neck, not kissing him, but assuring him I’m as close as I can be.

The familiarity of his body rocking against mine makes me hard in a hurry. He’s self-soothing, I get that, but it feels good on my cock.

“Why all the Xanax?” I ask.

“I hate it here.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because it’s different.”

I chuckle. “Looks exactly the same to me.”

His answering laugh is soft, and he burrows his face deeper into my neck. “I like what I like.”

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