Page 108 of Darling Obsession

“My girls speak their minds, but the mimosas didn’t help.”

“I guess it’s good to have friends who tell you what they really think,” I say neutrally.

I really wouldn’t know.

“They’re just looking out for me. We’re like family.”

Yeah. I still wouldn’t know.

It’s not that my family doesn’t tell me what they think. I’m just usually not listening, when it comes to their thoughts on my personal life.

Usually, I don’t even give them the opportunity to voice them.

“So… can I ask you something?” she says.

“Maybe.”

She laughs a little. “Why did you lie to your siblings about Darla, really?”

I take a deep breath. This, again.

“I don’t like anyone in my private business.”

“Even your siblings? Your twin sister?”

“Even them.”

“Huh. So… you were never in love with Darla, though?”

“No. I told you that already.”

“But you were sleeping with her?”

“Yes.”

She’s silent for a moment, but I know we’re not done here.

“I lied for you, Harlan,” she says carefully. “I’d appreciate more than a one-word answer on this. Like, why can’t you just tell your siblings who she really is, and that she’s notme? Why can’t they know the truth, now that your relationship with her is over? Why the secrecy?”

Shit.

I know what she’s doing.

And I knew this might happen.

That if we kept seeing each other, she might ask about Darla again. She already told me she was jealous. She knows I lied to my siblings. The deeper I let her into my life, logically, the more curious she might get.

And the closer she might get to discovering the truth about Darla.

That can’t happen.

And now, to complicate things, it’s clear that her friends don’t trust me. They joked—I think it was a joke?—that I’m a fucking witch. So maybe they think I’m working some kind of black magic on Quinn, tricking her?

I have no idea what she told them about me, but logically, she trusts them more than she trusts me. Combine that with the factthat she knows I lied to my family, and she’s probably come to the conclusion that I’m not trustworthy.

As in, she trusts me to get her naked, wrists bound, in my bed, but not to tell her the truth about my ex-lover. So, she’s going to probe a bit to figure out where the line is, between my lies and my truths.

I’ve been trying to come up with a solution to this possible problem ever since I realized that she wasn’t going to stay away. And that maybeIwouldn’t be able to stay away. To prepare myself for this moment.

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