Page 74 of Fool Me Twice

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rodrigo shift in discomfort.

“We grew up together,” Lucas said. “And then we both moved to Rio for school.”

“So you’ve known Rodrigo for most of his life.”

“Everything but the first few years.” He chuckled. “We have been through a lot together.”

“I’m sure you have,” I mused.

Rodrigo cleared his throat. “Lucas now works in Belford Roxo.”

“And I live there,” Lucas added.

“Oh.” I put the pieces together. “That’s not too far away.”

“It can be a bit of a drive late at night.” Lucas chuckled. “I usually stay here, since we tend to have a few drinks.”

Rodrigo busied himself at the bar cart, adding something to his drink, though I suspected he was only trying to keep his hands busy. “Your room is ready, although I apologize there are no clean towels in it. The housekeeper will not return until the morning.”

“I can survive.”

So Lucas stayed the night when he visited. Interesting.

I sipped my drink, the slight buzz doing nothing to help my mood. It was all coming back now: Rodrigo’s panic when Lucas showed up at his apartment eleven years earlier, the way he’d kept the two of us separate.

Rodrigo was still hiding something. I knew it. And whatever that was, it had to do with Lucas.

“It’s strange we never met before,” I said directly to Lucas.

“It is odd,” he agreed, though honestly it sounded more like he was reciting a line.

Was he in on this with Rodrigo? Helping his friend cover something up?

My mind spun, the red flags that should have been obvious before popping up left and right. If Rodrigo wasn’t telling his friends about me, that was bad. All my knowledge, both from personal experience and what my friends had been through, suggested that I was a side piece. That Rodrigo had another girlfriend somewhere.

The thought shattered my heart and left me feeling weak. But maybe I was jumping to conclusions. Rodrigo and I had only rekindled this romance the other day. That hardly called for releasing a public announcement.

“I am not as social as I should be,” Rodrigo said. “I take full responsibility for not introducing you two sooner. It’s nice that you are finally meeting, though.”

Rodrigo’s smile was tight, fake. My stomach roiled.

Fine. If he was going to keep intercepting mine and Lucas’s conversation, then I would just need to find another approach. I would talk to Lucas in the morning, before Rodrigo had a chance to stop me.

I put my drink on the bar cart. “I’m sorry to say goodnight so early, but it’s late for me and I should get to bed. I hope we get to talk soon, Lucas.”

He nodded. “Yes. Me too. Good night, Georgia.”

Rodrigo’s shoulders were tense, and he followed me halfway to the doorway.

“Good night,” I told him, before he had the chance to say anything.

Turning swiftly, I hid my tears and marched upstairs.

CHAPTER21

GEORGIA

The next morning, the kitchen was oddly quiet. Walking into it, I took in the scene: Sebastián eating his cereal and watching a cartoon, and Rodrigo leaning against the counter, typing on his phone.

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