Page 46 of Tangled In Lies

After a quick bathroom stop, Jo helps me into the dress.

We walk out of my room together, heading down the long corridor until we reach the large landing leading to the massive staircase.

Phoenix and Holden stand at the bottom of it, deep in conversation, until Jo calls Holden’s name, and he glances up at her. His eyes widen when he sees me, but then they volley back to Jo, who’s bounding toward him.

With a hand on the rail, I slowly descend the stairs. Each step is measured and careful, giving me the time to school my expression as much as possible.

Like before, I sense Phoenix’s gaze on me.

I hate the turmoil it causes inside me. The soft tug at my middle, how my heart switches to an excited gallop, the fire that ignites in my lower belly. A fire I’m sure can burn us both to the ground if we’re not careful.

When I can’t stand it anymore, I lift my gaze and let it collide with his.

We have barely talked all week, but what started as cold hatred in his gaze has slowly turned into a somewhat neutral, almost civilized gaze over the week.

Now, only undisguised desire and appreciation pool in his dark depths, and that realization stuns me so much I stop paying attention to the stairs and stumble in my heels.

Chapter 13

Phoenix

Ijump up the few steps separating us and catch Evangeline before she falls.

Fucking reflexes.

Again.

Her hands circle my neck, digging into my nape.

I grasp her tightly around her waist, pushing her back up to fully standing.

With me still one step below her, and her added inches from the heels, we’re at the same height for once.

Which means I’m staring straight at her face. Only a breath away.

Thankfully, her eyes are closed, but as so often when it comes to this woman, luck isn’t on my side for long, and she opens them just when I’m about to let go.

Her gaze is unwavering, her brown irises dark and tenacious like she just survived a visit from the devil and somehow succeeded in keeping her soul intact.

I drift toward her, wanting a better glimpse, ready to beg her to spill all her secrets.

For a moment, I’m caught in some alternate reality where Evangeline and I are the same people we were at her birthday party all those years ago, where lines were beginning to blur despite how hard I tried to stay away.

What are you doing, man? She is not your friend. Not anymore.

The invisible bubble around us bursts, returning me to the here and now. In this reality, I was engaged to her sister, who died in a tragic accident a day before Evangeline picked up a knife and shoved it into the already bleeding wound her sister’s death had left and ratted me out to the police.

The reminder finally gives me the proverbial cold shower I need, and I step back. Since I require her help tonight, I ensure she’s steady on her feet, then turn around and storm out the front door to put as much distance between us as possible.

I slide into the back seat of the blacked-out SUV, staring out the front window as if that’ll magically take care of my problems.

You did this to yourself.

You brought her into your life and forced her into this.

And now the past mixes with the present, smudging what was once a strictly black-and-white situation into different shades of gray.

When I was locked up, gone from my everyday life, it was easy to let my anger take over and devise this plan. I thought it would be the easiest thing on earth to come back here, get engaged, then marry Evangeline and make her life hell.

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