The Lies We Tell (The Four 1)

?

??You fuck him?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

Silence. Then—

“You two gonna kiss?” He prodded my shoulder, his voice louder than before, and my eyes flew open.

“Huh? Who two?”

“You and Kins.”

Kinslee and I stared at each other for a second and started laughing at the same time.

“Uh, I have no idea what your thought process was there, but that would be a no. Sorry.”

Kinslee smirked and turned to whisper something in Weston’s ear while I stood up and leaned over to grab my pint glass, which started steaming up as soon as I held it over the tub. Settling back down next to Cassius, I sipped my drink, idly making swirling patterns in the water with my hand.

“Alright, mate?” Cassius’ lazy slur had my head snapping round.

Caiden stood in the doorway, ignoring Cassius, his eyes on me and his expression unreadable.

SEVENTEEN

She looked at me uncertainly, biting her bottom lip, her eyes huge. I took in the setting—Kinslee wedged between my brother’s legs, swigging straight from a bottle of wine, and Cass sprawled out in the tub like a fucking king, his arm around Winter. My eyes flicked to his, and he smirked at me. The fucker was stoned; his eyes were half-closed, and from experience I knew he’d be passed out soon enough.

“West. Help me out, will ya.” I nodded over to Cassius.

“I’m fine,” Cassius protested.

“Yeah, I see that. Just…get back in the house, mate.”

He gave an exaggerated sigh, his head lolling back.

“Cass.”

“Fine.” He clambered out of the tub, his movements sluggish, picking up one of the towels draped over the decking railing and pulling it over his shoulders. He disappeared inside and I stood, my mind torn between checking on Cass and the girl that was right in front of me.

My brain caught up, finally.

What the hell did I do? Fuck Snowflake. As in, sticking my dick in her.

Self-loathing filled me as I looked at her. Yeah, maybe I’d been wrong about her working with her mother. Maybe. Probably. But it still didn’t change the fact that she looked just like her, with that long dark hair, those huge eyes, and the way she tilted her head…yeah, that sounded minor, but it was identical to her mother. My stomach lurched. How could I have been so fucking weak? I was no worse than my father, and because of him, because of her…the only woman that I’d ever loved, the only woman I’d ever cared about, was dead.

The unwanted, hated memory rolled through me, and I pressed my palms to my temples and closed my eyes, trying to block it out, but it was no use.

“Mum?” I banged on the bathroom door. No answer. I banged harder. “Mum!”

No answer.

Dread coiled in my stomach, and I pounded at the door with all my might. She hadn’t been the same since she’d found out about dad’s affair with that fucking snake. She’d become withdrawn, distant, shutting herself away from us.

“Mum!”

No answer.