The Lies We Tell (The Four 1)

“Okay. Well, what’s done is done. Let’s draw a line under it for now, yeah, and tomorrow we can concentrate on finding out everything we can to bring Christine Clifford down.”

“Alright.” She was silent for a minute, holding on to me, and then she sighed heavily. “Cade? What about West? Don’t you think he has the right to know?”

I stiffened. “No. He doesn’t need to know. Do you know how much fucking guilt and failure I feel? There’s. No. Fucking. Way I want him to feel even a tenth of that.”

“He’s an adult. He has a right to know.”

“Leave it,” I warned her through gritted teeth.

“Fine. I’m not comfortable keeping it from him, though.” She buried her face in my chest.

“It’s not your place to tell him.”

“I know,” came the muffled voice. Raising her head, she continued. “I won’t say anything. Just telling you I don’t feel comfortable.”

Before I could say anything else, she swung her body round so she was straddling me. “Can we finish off tonight with something happy?”

“Fuck, yes.”

All other thoughts flew out of my mind as she rocked her hips against me, and we ended the night the same way we’d started it—with my dick buried deep inside her, and her screaming out my name.

TWENTY-EIGHT

I?

?d been a ball of nerves all morning. Today was the day the guys were going to Alstone Members Club. The last week, I’d hardly had a chance to see Cade, let alone the other boys, other than in passing. We were all completely swamped with end-of-semester assignments and exam prep, on top of everything else.

My mother had made no effort to speak to me since I’d walked out on her a week ago, and I was in no hurry to reconnect with her after everything. I’d told Kinslee that I’d fallen out with her, leaving out the part about Caiden’s mum, and she’d been horrified. We’d ended up talking late into the night, and I was beyond grateful to have her support. She’d had her share of family problems, from the few things she’d mentioned, and I had the feeling that she really understood where I was coming from.

Standing in line to pay for my lunch after a long morning of lectures, I scanned the cafeteria tables and saw Weston waving at me. There they were. The Four, on a central table right by the windows.

I paid for my lunch and walked towards them with a smile. Their faces were masks of indifference, but I could see past the hard exterior now. Somehow, against all odds, we’d gone from enmity and mistrust to friendship and mutual respect.

Placing my tray down on the table in front of the empty seat next to Caiden, I pulled out the chair. His arm shot out, stilling my movements, and I turned to meet his intense gaze.

“Hi,” he said, then pulled me into his lap and kissed me, right there, in the middle of the crowded cafeteria.

“Wow. Hi.” I stared into his stormy eyes, taken aback by his public display. “What was that for?” I distantly heard Cassius say something, and I felt both curious and hostile stares burning into me from every direction, but all my focus was on the man in front of me.

He shrugged. “Just felt like it.”

“Um, okay.”

He spun me around. “Eat,” he instructed, then buried his face in my hair. “I missed you,” he muttered, tightening his arms around my waist.

My stomach flipped at his words.

A huge smile spread across my face. I reached for my plate and started eating, while the boys spoke in low conversation around me.

“Still slumming it, Caiden?” Portia’s irritating voice startled me, and I looked up to find her standing at the side of our table, staring at me sitting on Cade, her lip curled in the disdainful sneer she seemed to favour around me. She looked beautiful as always, her perfect red hair falling over her shoulders in tumbling waves, her boobs straining against her tight knitted top, and her artfully applied make-up giving her skin a flawless appearance.

“Insult my girl one more time and I’ll make your life hell.” Caiden’s low, growled threat came from behind me, close to my ear.

My mouth fell open in shock.

Portia’s brows flew up to her hairline, and her eyes flicked from me to Caiden in disbelief.

“Your girl?”