Page 55 of The Masks We Wear

Her mouth pops open, but she clicks her tongue in annoyance to cover her surprise. “I don’t have anything extra today. Are we done?”

The question slips out before I can stop it. “What are we doing here, Lily?”

Her small head tics sideways, brows pulling together like she’s genuinely confused. It’s the face she used to make when we were younger. When she was caught doing something and couldn’t lie to me about it because I know her tell—cherry red ears.

My heart feels heavy, and there’s a slight hitch in my breath, but Lily doesn’t seem to notice. She untenses her face and leans back, hands folded deftly on her knee. “We aren’t doing anything.”

“Don’t play stupid. We’re playing this little back and forth game like two pawns on a chessboard,” I snap, ignoring the thrum of my pulse at the back of my throat.

She forces a laugh, a thick vein protruding from the side of her smooth neck. “Spence, please. I’m the queen in thisgame. I’m just biding my time before I wipe you off this board and claim checkmate.”

The way she says it so simply, like it’s as easy as saying the sky is blue, boils the blood coursing through me. “What the fuck happened to you?”

Lily jerks back, her eyes widening as she shoves a deep red stiletto nail into her sternum. “Me? Look at you. Mister,I don’t give a fuck what everyone thinks.” When her finger turns on me, a pink indent remains on her skin. “You come to school with your hair slicked back, a tight shirt on, and think you’re suddenly the shit?”

“That’s not what I’m talking about, Lil—”

“Then what are you talking about? Please, let me know.”

“You’re a bitch. And a fucking bully—”

Her sudden cackle surges across the table, thumping into my ego with the force of a cannon. “Bully? Are you five? Can you really not take what I’ve dished out?”

I throw my hands up, defeat leaving a sour taste in my mouth, compelling me to spit it out. “It’s not that I can take it. It’s that the person on the giving end used to be…”

The burn prickling the back of my eyes forces my mouth to clamp shut. The heat expands in my head, making me dizzy. I squeeze my eyes closed and pinch the bridge of my nose, willing the ache away. I can’t fucking do this.

Hold fast, hold steady.

“Used to be what?” It’s just a whisper, but something that sounds a lot like hurt lines her words.

“Be my best friend,” I finish.

When I open my eyes, Lily’s are on me. She blinks twice before gazing down. Her knotted fingers twist back and forth, palms digging into her thigh. I can tell she wants to say something. Tell me the thing I’m clearly fucking missing…

But she doesn’t.

Two seconds pass, and the mask is back, guarding her while shielding me fromseeingher. Her delicate features become impassive again, and she shifts in her chair, gripping the once tucked necklace in her hand. “Are we done?”

“Yes.”

No.

She doesn’t skip a beat, standing and throwing her bag over her shoulder. I want to yell, to grab her around the waist and beg her to talk to me. Tell me what happened. Explain why we are so content on being just strangers that know each other’s secrets.

Why we are okay with hating each other.

But like her, I don’t. Instead, I watch Lily walk out the door like the coward I’ve always been when it comes to her.

Because no matter what I say, she’ll still leave, and I’ll still let her.

ISTAREat the flyer clutched in my hands.

That’s me. Naked and handcuffed to Lily’s bed. My face is blurred out, and my dick has been commercially photoshopped, but the message at the bottom is clear enough for anyone to guess its owner.

The dog of Emerald Falls may be lacking, but he’ll make up for it in his submissiveness.

Of course, she did this. Why not? There is no bar too low for her.

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