Page 49 of Filthy Liar

I want to ask her again what she’s running from, but I don’t want another brush off. She’s set that boundary. It’s none of my business. I push my face into the soft curve of her neck and let sleep wash over me.

It’s still darkwhen I sit straight up, still waking even as I try to get out of the unfamiliar bed.

“Hey, hey.” Ellie catches me by the wrist. “You okay?”

“Washroom,” I mutter, stumbling in the direction of the sink. I need cold water on my face. My bad dream is already receding, I can’t get a handle on it, but whatever it was, I don’t want to go back to it.

After I piss, I open the door to find her making coffee with a simple pour over drip filter.

“I didn’t mean to wake us both up,” I say, dropping a kiss on her bare shoulder. Pretending, if only for my own selfish reasons, that this is just a regular early morning and not the last time we might be alone. And after checking my phone, I realize our time together has to be cut even shorter than I’d like.

“I had that long nap yesterday. And we got a solid six. That’s more than I usually get.”

I frown. “Why?”

“Why do forty percent of grown-ass adults struggle with getting enough sleep?” She shrugs. “Life is complicated, my day job haunts my dreams, and I drink too much caffeine around the clock.”

“At least you are aware of the issue,” I say dryly.

She snorts. “Is that a yes to caffeine?”

“That’s a hell yes.”

She hands me a cup. “What haunts your dreams?”

“Damned if I know. I suppress that shit like a pro.” I breathe in the scent of the black coffee and watch as she makes herself a mug. “Listen, it’s actually good that I woke up this early. I need to run a quick errand before we meet the others at the office.”

Her eyebrow curves up. “An errand? So early?”

“It’s not related to this.”

“Okay. I’ll see you there.”

“I’ll come back and get you.”

She shakes her head. “I’ll meet you there. I can take care of myself.”

I don’t like that at all. “Stay safe.”

She gives me a tight smile. “You, too.”

17

Melinda

I’m very temptedto follow Jason to his mysterious five o’clock in the morning errand. But I’m also glad he’s gone, so I can run an errand of my own before rendezvousing at his office.

Keeping secrets is messy at the best of times, and this is not the best of times.

“There’s a safe deposit box with your name on it.”

To any eavesdropping observer, that would probably suggest Caroline had a box at a bank, and put my name on it as a backup.

But that’s not what she meant.

And I know she’s not dead, but the way this situation is escalating quickly, I may not get another chance alone to go and see what she secreted away in her locker at the gym.

I pull out the box of wigs I keep under my bed and grab a long-haired blonde one that will allow me to approximate Caroline for the gym staff. An oversized pair of sunglasses and her gym access card from her wallet, which I kept, is all I need.

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