Page 5 of Sweet Lies

Claire. Why is he looking for Claire now?“Um. I’m not sure. I think she—”

“Cool. I’ll find her.” He steps back. “I’ll text you,” he says again over his shoulder as he walks away, his eyes once more on the phone.

I have a date with Nick Flavio!He wants to spend time with me. Maybe thereissomething to this party thing.

Grinning, I walk along on this new high and bump into Andre and Elijah as they come up from the basement. Both are dressed in suits and appear ready for the party.

“What are you smiling about?” Elijah asks, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “I thought you hated these things?” He runs his fingers through his dark hair, waiting for my response. Both sets of eyes are on me, waiting for an answer. The longer I stall, the worse it will be. They are not known for not getting answers to their questions.

“I…”

If I tell him, he’ll tell Claire and Dad, and then it’ll be a big thing and I don’t want it to be a big thing. It’s a big deal to me, but they’ll make it even more intense. Hell, they might even send men with us.

Oh God, what have I done agreeing to go out with Nick? This wasn’t a good choice. I need to find him and tell him I can’t go—now, before he says anything.

I open my mouth to make an excuse to go find him when my brother speaks.

“Out with it, Bec. Now we have to know,” Elijah says, laughing as he leans against the wall.

“You’re late,” I respond, hoping to distract him.

Smiling smugly, Andre says, “Great topic change.” He waves his hand in the air once more, demanding an answer.

“I try,” I snap back.

Andre seems to enjoy getting the better of me, but I won’t let him rattle me. I just need to find Nick and get out of this date—one way or another.

“I’m honored you’re speaking to me and not just the plotted plant,” he rumbles, trying to get even more under my skin.

“The plants have more intellectual thought than you do,” I spit, instantly annoyed at myself for taking the bait.

“I’ll leave you two to your…whatever this is. I need to give Dad the update,” Elijah says, way too chirpily considering the update he’ll likely give.

He heads off, ditching us—thankfully without asking me any more questions.

“So, what did we miss?”

I should have known Andre would stay to dig the information out. His dark brown eyes hold my gaze as if trying to hypnotize the answers.

“Can I not just be happy?” I ask, pouring sweetness in my tone.

“If we were watching a movie and eating three kinds of popcorn, then yes. Here at a party—which you hate—with all the other families, the likelihood is slim.”

“Oh, speaking of movies, are we still going to watch that new comedy this week?” I ask, trying not to sound as excited as I feel.

It’s become a bit of a tradition for us, and we switch off picking movies every two weeks. Being with Andre is as easy as breathing—I don’t have to worry about messing up with him. He sees me when no one else does. When he walks into the room, I feel his eyes on me instantly, as if he always looks for me first. I know because I do the same to him.

Elijah wasn’t thrilled with the amount of time we were spending together, but he let it go, knowing that Andre was one of the few people I trusted. That and the fact I’ve never admitted that it goes beyond friendship for me—I loved him before I even knew what love meant.

But Andre will never admit any feelings he might have for me. In fact, outside of our movie nights, he mostly avoids me now. My lifeboat outside of the family is drifting off to sea and I have no way of pulling it back to land.

“Not this week. I have business.”

I try not to show how much that hurts.

“Now spill what happened,” he orders, and I know my attempts to change the subject are over.

“Nick asked me out,” I exclaim and watch as confusion flashes across his face.

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