Page 63 of Lies Like Love

Burying the warning, I take a measured breath.

“Are you leaving then? Or are you going to stay?”

When we were younger, we both hated these events, finding salvation in at least having each other. We would disappear to a corner and make fun of the ridiculous shows of money. Which is why, as surprised as I was to see him here tonight—maybe even a little annoyed—his presence calms my nerves.

“Would it piss them off if I stayed?”

“Probably.”

“Then yes.”

“Is that why you showed up here tonight? To piss them off.”

Jude steps closer and plants his hands on my shoulders. His mouth dips low to my ear and his breath makes my entire body shiver. “You know it isn’t.”

I’m not sure how to take his confession, because I don’t know that. He’s either hot or cold, but he’s never clear. His intentions are always veiled in secrets.

Like right now when I’m in his hands and he’s saying things too close to what I’ve always wanted to hear. He’s in a suit for me. He’s at this galafor me. Still, I sense him holding back.

I run my fingers through my hair one final time and adjust my top, making sure my dress is perfectly in place. With a final swipe underneath my lip to make a sharp line, I spin and face him.

“Ready,” I say, although I don’t think I’ll ever mean it. This isn’t a world I’ve belonged in since I stepped out of it.

Jude steps back and waves an arm out for me to pass. As if he could ever be considered a gentleman with the way he handled me only moments ago.

He follows me out of the room, and we maintain a safe distance, not so much as glancing at each other as we part ways in the crowd.

It doesn’t matter that our parents are no longer married or that it was brief and ended brutally. In some circles, we’re still seen as family. This is one of them.

Glancing at Jude through the sea of faces, I wonder if that’s what appeals to me about how he lives his life now. The people he surrounds himself with aren’t scared of the dark things we were raised to hide. They accept you for your beauty and your blemishes.

They embrace the ugly truth over perfection.

Jude swallows hard. Eyes locked, secrets unspoken. Reality bare for the first time in over a decade. He did everything he could think of to push me away, but it doesn’t matter. Every broken piece of me has always been his.

20

Jude

Felmightthinksheno longer belongs here, but she’s wrong.

Her smile gravitates people toward her. Her beauty stands out in their bland world.

When we were younger, I never understood why she fought her natural place. Because while I was always uncomfortable at events like this, she fit right in. The same way she does now.

I watch her from the edge of the room, not missing that my eyes aren’t the only ones on her. She’s stunning in her pale green dress. It shows off a tease of her stomach and cuts low between her perfect breasts. She’s sparkling from the gems like a sky full of stars.

Her cheeks are still flushed from our kiss, and the sight burns hot inside me. I can still smell her on me—feel her on me. Years of resisting her perfect puffy lips, and one taste was confirmation I’ll never get enough. I’m just not sure what to do about it.

Uncertainty flashed in her eyes as I watched her fix her makeup in the mirror. She waited for me to confess my sins the same way she did. To offer more than a physical answer to her unspoken questions. She waited for me to admit everything I’ve denied for as long as she’s been off limits.

My silence wasn’t because I was questioning this. And it wasn’t punishment like she seemed to think. But she’s not prepared for the words I’ll say if I let myself, so I bite my tongue.

For now.

A man three times her age stares at her cleavage as he walks past, and it takes everything in me to stay in place. If I was smart, I would have dragged her out of here before the men in this room had a chance to place her on their mental scale and weigh her against everything they’re looking for in a trophy wife. Better yet, I would have fucked her so loud in the other room they’d know who she belongs to.

But if the sight of her is mine, the sound of her is even more so. And when she screams with my cock inside her, it’ll be for my ears alone.

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