Page 99 of Surviving Lies

“I get it, Bec, I know. It’s OK. Let’s go find Lanie. I’ll hand you over to Lanie, and you never have to see me again, if that’s what you want.” I kept her walking ahead of me while I talked in her ear, hoping to calm her.

Her head snapped toward me. “I didn’t fucking say I never wanted to see you again! Don’t put words in my mouth, Ty Brennan!”

She was a walking, drunken contradiction at the moment. And she needed to get home and into her bed. If I couldn’t find Lanie, I would get her into an Uber myself. But suddenly, two large hands were dragging both Becca and I to the back of the basement.

“Hey, you two, where are the pirates going? The contest is starting now. You can’t leave,” Nate said as he pulled us both by the shoulder. “You both look too good to not enter. We need you to do it. Not enough people are joining.”

I tried stopping the progress as he pulled us along, my resistance not doing much since I was working to keep Becca upright.

“Becca, you look amazing. Everyone here should have the chance to see how good you look,” Nate told her. “We made a stage over here, and I want you on it.”

He knew exactly what he was doing, and I was not going to win this one.

“Why, thank you, Nate. I’m glad someone noticed how hot I look tonight,” she said. Her eyebrows lifted at me as she turned around to make sure I heard her comment. “I’m not sure Ty is all that interested in being in the contest, though.”

“Well, it’s a couples contest, so it’s both of you or nothing,” Nate responded.

Becca deflated. Her eyes found the stage, and we both noticed a few couples starting to gather on it. Lanie and Xander were among them, as well as Jake and Kayla. As she turned toward me, I became hopeful that her desire to be up on that stage had trumped her anger with me.

“Can you let Ben borrow your costume?” she asked me.

I was stunned.

And speechless. For a moment.

“Are you kidding me?” I asked her.

“No.”

“You’re serious? The guy you were hitting on? My fucking roommate. You want me to give him my costume so you can do this with him instead of me? You’re out of your mind, Becca!” I yelled and stormed off.

And for once in my life, I didn’t stick around to make sure Becca got home safe.

Chapter 29

Ty

“Hey, man, want to hang out?” Jake asked. “Haven’t seen you all weekend since the party.” He had come into the kitchen while I was getting something together for dinner. “That looks good. What are you making?”

I headed home after the Halloween party to see Savannah, and it was already Tuesday. Already November. It seemed like the semester was flying by.

I didn’t mind getting out of there after the party. It didn’t go the way I’d hoped.

At all.

“Steak tacos,” I told him. I actually loved to cook. It was a favorite pastime of mine, and I had a lot of time to kill lately. “I’ve got plenty, if you want some. Is anyone else home?” It was rare that all four of us were here at the same time.

“Aaron might be upstairs. I can check,” he said. “But I know Ben is in class. His loss.” He ran upstairs to check while I took out a couple more plates. It would be nice to have unexpected company to eat with to help distract me.

Both the guys came strutting into the kitchen, and the three of us began devouring all the food I made. It was a good thing Ben wasn’t here.

“Ty, man, that was fucking amazing,” Jake said. “Who taught you how to do that? The most I can do is make toast.” He laughed at himself.

“My dad is a good cook, so I grew up learning from him. Mom cooks, but only because she had to. It’s my dad who loves to cook.” They were a good team; Mom would cook during the week, since she worked from home and had a more flexible schedule. She called it “sustainable cooking.” But then on the weekends, we got Dad’s gourmet meals.

“Well, he taught you well,” Aaron said.

“Thanks,” I told them. I cracked open another beer as they put the dishes in the sink. That was their idea of cleaning up. Those dishes would still be there until I put them in the dishwasher later.

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