Page 59 of Lies Like Love

“I thought you had—”

“Plans tonight,” he interrupts before I can ask about his fight. “They ended early.”

He’s playing the pretense, which is more concerning than if he walked around the room telling them all to fuck off. Jude was always a master at their games, even if he hated them.

He holds my gaze, sucking the air from the room. He might as well be reading a crystal ball that peeks into all my emotions because his eyes see straight through me. Eyes that reveal the truth when all his mouth does is lie. And I wish for a moment we could be different people, who weren’t always out to hurt each other.

“Find me before you leave.” Grandmother squeezes my arm, reminding me she’s standing next to me.

I roll my shoulders back and try to compose myself, realizing my jaw is slack, and I’m frozen in shock.

Grandmother doesn’t acknowledge Jude before she walks away, and he doesn’t break my stare. It’s enough to confirm this isn’t the first time she’s seen him in a decade, and my stomach twists at another truth they hid from me.

The music changes and the crowd shifts, but I can’t so much as move or speak as Jude’s green eyes watch me for a reaction. Time stills, even if it’s moving on around us. People pass like there’s nothing to see.

He’s here.

For me? For control?

I hate him always making things murky.

“Didn’t know you still owned a suit.”

“Still lots you don’t know about me.”

I frown. “Apparently.”

Like how he fits in here as if he never left, while I feel out of place.

“How was the fight?” I pretend we aren’t standing on a fault line waiting for it to crack open.

“Fine.”

“Did you win?”

Jude smirks as if it’s a ridiculous question. “Always.”

My stomach flutters, and I don’t like the thought of some other girl being there to celebrate with him. It doesn’t matter if he’s here with me now, he always has, and always will, come and go as he pleases.

I’m not sure how much more I can handle.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Maren.” He tilts his head. “Done with the small talk?”

“Is that what this is?”

Jude steps closer, and I have to dip my chin because I can’t trust myself to face him. His body heat radiates, heightening all my senses. He hovers over me as he brushes my hair off my shoulder.

“Why are you already running, Fel?” It’s nearly a whisper.

A secret between us.

“Why do you care?”

His fingers pause on my arm, his entire body tense. There’s no room for his energy in a place like this. One vibration and he’s going to break everything.

Isn’t that what I want?

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