Page 49 of Lies (Wicked Empire 1)

“Nope. But definitely a fancy sports cars for you.”

He didn’t say anything, and after a moment I tilted my head and looked at him.

“Well?” I asked.

“Well what?”

“Am I right?”

“We’re here,” he said with a smile.

“Dick,” I muttered.

He laughed and got out of the car.

I did too, not for the first time struck by how bizarre this was.

The whole Josh Kelley being Davit Petrosyan thing, yes. But even more, how that knowledge gave me a freedom that hadn’t been there before.

Yes, it was terrifying. And I still didn’t know what I should do.

What I could do.

But there were benefits.

Like with Davit, I didn’t have to have any pretense.

Didn’t have to be the perfect avatar for the company, the CEO’s daughter, the friendly, helpful head of records.

I could be me. And not Amy. But Amethyst.

Sad thing was that I wasn’t really sure that I knew Amethyst, not really.

I’d spent so many years being what everyone thought that I should, that who I really was sometimes got lost in the shuffle.

But not with him.

Case in point.

We sat at a booth in the back, and I ordered.

But not the appropriate order for a woman, a large woman, a respectable one.

No, I ordered what the fuck I wanted to eat, and I ate it.

Didn’t think twice about it.

Because with Davit, I didn’t have to pretend.

And the weird thing was, I think it was the same for him, at least partially.

We’d always had an easy camaraderie. But there was more to it now.

An understanding that I knew we didn’t have with anyone else.

“What?” he asked when I looked up from my plate at him.

“Nothing,” I said.

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