Page 30 of Beautiful Liar

Why the fuck did I feel it hard to breathe? “Maybe I didn’t really know. I was afraid it’d change everything.”

Fox snorted. “Get up.”

I dragged my eyes to his as he got to his feet, poised to fight. “Really?” I got up to meet him because fuck if I was going to let him look down on me. “This is what you—”

He lunged, clamped his arms around me in a bear hug. “You fucking idiot. I love you,” he whispered in my ear.

I just started to feel myself intake some air and hug him back when he shoved me away. The back of my knees hit the sofa and I fell back into it. He turned away before I could see his expression. “Send your dog to keep eyes on Wren,” Fox said, starting down the hallway to his bedroom. “And go get your boyfriend. We’re going to have to start a plan on how we’re going to survive this fucking mess.”

My boyfriend. Yeah, I may have latched onto that a little longer than I should’ve.

I found Morgan first and told him to pack his shit and Tomás’s shit and go to Arcas and to keep tabs on Wren. I told him we’d meet at the house to discuss plans tonight. We were running out of time. Casera would be announcing the games soon. He nodded.

The theatre building had been my first stop but for some fucked up reason it had been overrun by Ashton and his fucking idiot band of idiots. He’d gathered the largest, dumbest jocks to him plus a miniature crazed assassin by the name of Annika. Charity broke away from the group and approached me.

“He’s in the library,” she said still walking away.

I walked with her. “What’s going on?”

“Backroom alliances. We’re all fucked.”

She wasn’t wrong. She turned left to her housing while I continued to the library. The whole school was on edge.

The library had turned into a refuge for angsty students wanting to congregate and act as if the world made sense. When it did not make any type of sense at all.

Tomás sat hunched over the desk, flipping through athick tome, taking notes, oblivious to everyone around him trying not to stare at him. He still had the bandage wrapped around his hand, concealing my brand underneath. His hair longer, touched his shoulder. The curls untamed made him look so damn young.

Morgan’s words that Tomás wasn’t like us stuck with me. He was too kind. Too naïve to think that he could escape me.

Be nice.

Be nice.

I had to chant the words as I slowly made my way to the table he occupied alone, ignoring the eyes on me.

The most important people knew how much Tomás meant to me. Tor and Fox. And once I got Tomás back into Arcas, I planned on telling everyone else. He didn’t look up as I approached. Not until I pulled out the chair next to him and sat down.

Those baby browns were lighter, and laser focused on me for a few seconds before he lowered them and popped out an earbud. “What do you want?” he asked in a huskier tone than normal. His voice still hurting him, but damn if it didn’t sound fucking sexy as hell. Considering how we had spent last night, I thought he should’ve been kinder. Maybe I’d used up my allotted kindness from him. He flipped the textbook page.

Be nice.

“Can we talk?”

“We are talking.”

I clenched my teeth. “Can we talk somewhereprivate?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Still, his eyes remained on the book. “You don’t know what rumors could spread around about us. You wouldn’t want—”

Niceties over, I pulled the book away from him, forcing him to look at me. “Come with me to talk, or I will drag your ass over my shoulder, and take you somewhere to talk.”

He narrowed his eyes, and I wanted him to test me. I needed him to test me so I could show him I wasn’t fucking kidding. He sighed, plucked his bag off the floor, and started walking to the exit. I left the book on the table but picked up his notebook and followed behind him.

The clouds had broken up and a few rays of sun pushed through. “You have until the time I get home to talk.”

“What is your fucking problem?”

He stopped and spun, anger raging in his beautiful eyes. “You,” he poked my chest. “fucking lied to me.”

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