Page 1 of We're All Liars

1

CADE

I see her. My mom. I’m looking right at her. But my eyes and brain aren’t communicating. Even as she slowly approaches, I can’t move. I can’t speak. I can’t truly comprehend that she’s here. I can’t do anything but stare as she gives me an uneasy half-smile. “Hi, Cade.”

The sound of her voice jars me out of my daze. Every emotion I’ve felt over the last few years amplifies tenfold as it soars through my body.

“‘Hi, Cade.’ That’s what you want to say?” My voice gets louder with every word. And I’m vaguely aware that Morgan has stopped her ridiculous speech on the stage. Not that it’d matter because all eyes are on my mother and me.

“There’s nothing I can say to make up for—” I cannot stand to listen to a pitiful explanation. Her voice goes weak, breaking like she’s about to cry. Like she’s the one who’s hurting. Like she’s the child whose mother abandoned them.

“No, there’s not anything you can say. So shut the fuck up and go back into whatever hole you crawled out of.” I shift my gaze to the smiling vixen still standing on the stage. “Or whatever pit that bitch pulled you from.”

I don’t know how any of this came about, why or how my mother is standing in front of me. But I’d bet my life on it all being Morgan’s doing. And this time, she went too far. It’s too much. All of it. My mother being here. My father wagering on my game. My brother asking me to bail the piece of shit out of a bind. Me being too fucking weak to refuse.

Neil looks about how I feel, like he’s seen a ghost, as he makes his way to stand beside me, his hand is on my bicep, tugging me away from Mom as he says, “Let’s go get some air.”

But all it does is remind me of how deep the shit is around here. How the kindest person I know murdered someone, then I helped cover it up and gave Coach King the ammunition to blackmail me into doing whatever he wants.

I don’t need some air. I need to get the fuck out of here. Now. Before I do something I regret. Because the only thing I can latch onto is anger. At everyone. And someone is about to end up on the receiving end.

Jerking my arm out of Neil’s grip, I haul ass towards the nearest exit. The French doors can’t open fast enough to let me out of the suffocating room. As I step out onto the patio, I hear my mom’s pleas behind me. “Cade, please wait.”

Why the fuck won’t she back off? Halting, I turn to face her. She stops about two feet away, so I close the distance. “I’m shocked you even remember my fucking name because you sure as fuck had a problem remembering everything else—my phone number, where we lived, when you were supposed to pick me up after practice so we could go buy new cleats.”

Her face turns away, her eyes looking down with shame. Good. The only other thing I need her to feel is pain.

Morgan decides to take this moment to show her face and steps in front of me, blocking my view of my mother. “Don’t talk to her like, Cade.”

This bitch is truly crazy. They all are. Leaning down, I move so that my cheek touches Morgan’s. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll get the fuck away from me and take that bitch with you.”

“I’m not going to let you talk to Kelly like that. She’s been through a lot. At least hear her outafteryou chill the hell out.”

The sound of Mom’s name on Morgan’s lips, the fact that Morgan is defending her, all of it infuriates me. “I don’t give a fuck about what she’s been through,” I shout, my finger pointing at the woman cowering behind Morgan. Still hiding. Still not owning up to her destruction. “No. I take that back. I hope she’s been through hell.”

“It was hell. But I deserve it.” Mom hardly speaks loud enough for me to hear.

I go to respond, but Morgan cuts me off. “Just leave her alone, Cade.”

“Don’t, Morgan. Don’t put on a fucking show or pretend that you give a fuck about anyone but yourself,” I scream in her face.

Her lips stretch into a smile as she says, “I gave enough fucks to keep in touch with her all these years.”

I’d question what I just heard, if she’s lying, but this is the one time I know Morgan King is telling the truth. Because it was another way to hurt me, make me pay for hurting her, leaving her, like the coward hunched behind her left me.

Reaching up, I grip Morgan’s chin in my fingers, slightly tilting her head back as her eyes stay locked with mine. “I was right. As much as I hate her and my father, I still hateyoumore.”

2

MORGAN

Perfect. Absolutely fucking perfect.I knew Cade would be out of sorts when he spotted his mother for the first time. But his reaction was even better. Because his anger is directed towards me more than anyone else.

“Morgan, I’m so sorry,” Kelly utters from behind me.

When I turn to face her, I feel nothing for her. Not even pity. I kept in touch with her more out of spite than anything else. “Eh. Nothing new.”

“Maybe my being here isn’t such a great idea.” She looks in the direction where Cade sulked off to.

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