Page 29 of Lies Like Love

He looks away before I can salute him or flip him off. Wouldn’t do any good anyway. Once Dad gets an idea in his head, there’s no stopping him, especially his fifteen-year-old son.

My phone vibrates and I look down at the screen, trying to bury my smile at her name filling it with the kind of hope I didn’t think was possible.

Fel: It will be fine, promise

Jude: It’ll be boring, but I’ll survive… mostly

Fel: I’d rather all of you survive

Jude: And if I don’t?

Fel: Guess I’ll have to find someone else to entertain me while I study in the library…

Jude: Taunting me now? Cute

Fel: Joking…

Jude: What are you up to tonight?

Fel: Mom has another date… kill me now. And she said this one is it.

Jude: It?

Fel: A keeper

Jude: Maybe you’ll get lucky, and it won’t stick

Fel: It might not be the worst thing if it does stick. At least I wouldn’t have to watch her date anymore.

Jude: True

Fel: I think he’s here, I’ve got to go. Text me later and let me know you survived your dad’s business dinner?

Jude: You got it

The door swings open as I tuck my phone in my pocket and a woman with strawberry blonde hair is beaming. A smile so sugary I want to choke.

“Steve.” She breathes his name out like he’s not the devil incarnate, even if her eyes show the slightest detachment I can’t help but focus on.

Dad steps forward and paints on the phony smile he’s perfected. “Abigail.”

Reaching for her waist, he pulls her in for a kiss and my stomach sinks. This was supposed to be a business dinner. I was only joking when I called it a date. But one moment and the earth might as well shift.

Dad steps back and Abigail steps aside to let us in.

Inside, the house is even more gaudy than I thought. A double-winding staircase meets us in the foyer. The walls are covered in art, and statues are prominent in the corners of the room. All things that scream money.

Except, Abigail answered the door, there was no staff in sight, and I wonder if I’m the only one who notices.

“This must be Jude.” Abigail looks me over, the brightness in her expression muted this time.

I try to ignore it and just nod.

“Lovely.” One word, but she doesn’t sound like she means it.

Movement on the staircase pulls her attention, and she rolls her shoulders back proudly at the figure paused at the top of the stairs.

I follow Abigail’s gaze until my focus is on a girl who makes my whole world shrink in on itself.

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