Page 22 of Make Me Lie (Rich Demons of Darkwood 1)

“Oh, I understand,” she said, giving me a sympathetic look. Then her gaze brightened. “Good morning, Miss Popular. You had quite the night, huh?”

I groaned. “I have definitely never been Miss Popular.”

She fumbled her cell phone, then let out a groan. “Great. I plugged my cell phone in last night. I had enough foresight to do that. But you know what I didn't have enough foresight to do…”

“What?” I rifled through my closet for a hoodie—one of my two options.

“Make sure that it was plugged in at the other end.” She held up the dangling end of her iPhone charger.

“Aw, boo.” I pulled my black hoodie on. “Do you want me to get us both some coffees? You look like you need it.”

“It's almost as if I wasn't thinking my absolute best last night.”

“Did you make any more interesting mistakes than that?”

“I think you did, didn't you?” she said with a wink. “Or maybe those weren't mistakes.”

“It didn't go that far,” I said, although replaying the better parts of the night made me feel a throb of longing all over again. “It really was an interesting night, wasn't it?”

“It really was.” She scooted to the edge of the bed. “I’m glad you came out last night.”

“Me too.” I kept my mixed feelings to myself. It had been an interesting night that I would like very much to leave in my past, joining the litter of dark moments strewn behind me like a trail of trash. I had to figure out a way to stay away from Stellan, because seeing the boy I used to love as a monster was soul-destroying.

She looked at her phone again then jumped up. “Come on. We're supposed to have breakfast with the girls.”

“With the girls? What girls? And isn’t it brunch at this time?”

She rolled her eyes. “Okay, yes, brunch. And yes, our girls, the ones who live in the dorm with us. Our new besties. We all wanted to get together and rehash what happened last night.”

I groaned, but apparently I had been adopted by an extrovert and this was just my life now. She hopped in a quick shower, and soon the two of us were heading downstairs to the cafeteria.

She waved and squealed at some girls we’d met at dinner. I liked listening to their happy banter, even if I sat there quietly, with a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon and fruit salad piled up in front of me. I mostly just focused on sipping my coffee. I wasn't hung over, but I didn't feel great either. The experience with Stellan had unsettled me. It really seemed as if he somehow saw through what I was trying to be and saw who I'd been. That was pretty scary.

“So let's talk about last night,” one of the girls at breakfast said. She made a mock drum roll on the cafeteria table. “Who had the best misadventure?”

I felt like they were all looking at me.

“I wouldn't call it a misadventure,” I said, but apparently I was outvoted because they all pressed me for details.

“I really don't know what that all was about with Stellan,” I confessed. “That was a really weird night.”

One of the girls let out a big sigh, her chin propped on her hand. “With Cain? I’ll take that kind of weird.”

“Everyone’s talking about that weird moment with Stellan.” A pretty brunette raked her hair back with pointed red nails. “What brought that on?”

I didn’t know what to say. “I don’t understand him at all.”

“I’ve never heard of one of the guys acting, like, jealous before,” she said. “Like a girl was special.”

“I would hope he didn’t make a habit of acting that way,” I said.

I hadn’t enjoyed Stellan’s special attention. But strangely, the girls eyed me as if they were almost jealous that I provoked such a weird reaction that Stellan had grabbed me and kissed me. They seemed to forget about the part where he had insulted me afterward.

“Remember the part where he called me a slut?” I asked. “That is not a nice man.”

The blonde with pink ends said, “Well, that's kind of their thing with girls. At least, Cain tends to be pretty… like, degrading, from what I’ve heard?”

“Wow,” I said, “and how exactly are they still getting laid?”

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