Page 39 of A Smile Full of Lies
He’s a friend, and I respect his privacy.
Goddamn right you do, baby.
I swallowed hard. My jaw clenched so tight it ached.
She was still in the shower. The water still running, and I was just standing there; half-hard, furious, and absolutelyfucking wreckedby the fact that this girl, this woman who wouldn’t evenlet herself crash in my guest room without a fight, had gone to bat for me without expecting a damn thing in return.
She had no idea she’d handed me the perfect opening, and I was going to take it.
I left the laptop open on the counter and let the email thread sit there, bold and damning in the soft glow of the screen. The subject line stared back at me like a challenge —Exclusive Opportunity – Philip Knox.It was too fucking perfect because now, when she walked in? I wouldn’t need to ask any questions. Wouldn’t need to dig or twist the knife.
All I’d have to do waspoint, and I could finally hear her say it out loud.
The water was still running in the bathroom. Steam curling down the hallway, mixing with the warm air, wrapping around me like a chokehold. I couldn’t sit still. I was vibrating with it: rage, shame, and something darker I didn’t want to name.
I moved into the living room, needing to put space between myself and the need totouchher, and that’s when I saw one of my goddamn sketchbooks.
Fuck.
It was still on the coffee table, right where I’d left it, half-open with charcoal smudged across the edge. A dozen pages deep into my obsession. Her hands. Her mouth. The curve of her fucking collarbone.
I didn’t think, just lunged and grabbed it, shoving it under the nearest couch cushion. A second later, the bathroom door creaked open. I scrambled back into the kitchen, just in time to hear her bare feet hitting the tile floor.
The laptop was still glowing. The email chain was still open on the screen. She was about to walk right into the perfect trap, and I was going to let her.
She padded into the kitchen wearing one of my hoodies. It was gray and soft, the sleeves too long on her arms and pushed up to her elbows. Her damp hair curled around her shoulders, flushed skin still warm from the shower. She looked… fuck, she looked so soft and tired. But she was clean. More importantly, she wasmine.
And then her eyes caught on the open laptop. She froze. The air went taut between us.
I didn’t say anything at first. Just stood there, leaning one hip against the counter, arms crossed, watching her realize exactly what she was looking at.
The blood drained out of her face, and she swallowed hard, her gaze darting back and forth between me and the screen like she was trying to gauge how much I’d seen.
Then I nodded toward the laptop.
“What the fuck is this, Rosalind?”
Her lips parted. Her gaze jerked from the email back to me.
“I — it’s not what it looks like, Knox, I swear.”
“You sure?” I pushed off the counter, slow and deliberate. “Because it looks like someone tried to pimp my family’s story out, and you didn’t think I needed to know about it.”
She blinked, stunned.
“I wasn’t… Knox, I didn’tdoanything. I didn’t even consider it.”
“You didn’t tell me,” I said, my voice low and tight. “You didn’t even fuckingmentionit.”
“Because I knew how you’d react.”
“Damn right you did.”
Her mouth opened like she wanted to fight me, but I cut her off.
“You were broke, Rosalind. Dead broke. No food. No power. You couldn’t even charge your goddamn phone. And still, you saidno.”
She swallowed hard and looked away, not meeting my gaze.
