Lies That Sinners Tell (The Klutch Duet 1)

“I invited Jay,” she repeated.

I choked on my first sip of martini. “Excuse me?”

Wren’s green eyes were alight with her trademark mischief. “Yeah. As a birthday present.”

I gaped at her. Then around at the fucking enchanted forest I was standing in the middle of. “‘Um, babe, this was my present. For the next decade.”

“Okay, well maybe it’s a teensy bit for me too.” She held her finger and thumb together. “Because I’m over the prince, and I need the big bad wolf to come and save me from him.”

There was only one person she could be referring to. “Karson?”

She nodded slowly. “Karson. I’ve been biding my time, partly because the prince wasn’t exactly boring, he gave great head and could’ve possibly made me a princess. But a man like Karson, he’d make me his queen.” She shivered. Visibly. “But I don’t want to come on to him directly. Not that I think there’s anything wrong with a woman making the first move. But with him, it wouldn’t be smart.”

I shook my head. “Wren, you don’t play games with a man like Karson.”

She blew a kiss at the prince who was hovering nearby, staring at Wren like a lovesick puppy. They all did that. Sooner rather than later. And Wren got turned off by that adoration. Sooner rather than later. Poor guys.

“Of course, you play games with men like Karson,” she argued, focusing back on me. “They’re the only ones who won’t let me win.”

Oh, God. She had her mind set on this. On him. What little I knew about the man spelled disaster.

But there was no telling Wren. In fact, if I’d told her that it was going to end in disaster, it would’ve only made her more attracted to the prospect.

“Jay is not going to come,” I commented, changing the subject.

“You don’t know that,” Wren insisted. “It’s your birthday. The man is crazy about you. You look like an angel from heaven mixed with a succubus from hell. There are some of the most eligible bachelors in the city attending this party. He needs to come, if not to stake his claim.” Wren sipped her drink, feigning innocence.

I stared at her with suspicion. “First, Jay is not crazy about anything. He’s painfully, seriously sane. He’s also painfully serious about the terms of our arrangement. It’s not the weekend. I’m sure he’s making business deals or stealing nuclear bomb codes to sell off to super villains or whatever he does.” I took a large gulp of my drink because I needed the buzz. Jay was most certainly off doing whatever Jay did. Which I knew nothing about. Even now, after months of ... being his. He’d met my father. Stayed at my childhood home. Saw my baby pictures. Had intimate knowledge of my past. Knew everything about my job, my interests.

I was his.

But he was certainly not mine.

That truth seemed so much sharper tonight. Heavier. On the night when I’d expected everything within me to change. And it had. Just not on this night. It happened that night back at Klutch, months ago.

Something Wren said caught me before I could spiral any further. Although it was my birthday, and I could cry if I wanted to, I did not want to cry while wearing custom made Alexander McQueen. That was some kind of crime, surely.

“Jay wouldn’t know who was attending the party,” I pointed out to my friend, narrowing my eyes.

She shrugged. “Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t.”

I stepped forward. “Wren,” I warned. “You better not be playing games with Jay tonight. Because he is a man who you don’t want to lose to. I’m serious.”

She didn’t look even a little bit afraid. “He’s the one who’s going to lose. If he doesn’t nut up and stop holding you at arm’s length with this weekend only arrangement rules bullshit.”

She reached up to cup my jaw. “Because sweetheart, he is missing out on you. On your magnificence. He’s caging you. Clipping your wings, and they are fucking beautiful. And I don’t mean the ones you’re wearing tonight. There are ones he hasn’t even seen yet, because he’s so intent on cutting you down to size. He needs to see you. Needs to realize he’s fucking up big time.” She stepped back. “And if he doesn’t do that, then these men here tonight will be happy to step in, give you the space to fly, with no rules. I may or may not have made it known with the help of a particular dark fairy...” we both looked in Zoe’s direction, “that you are on the market. And trust me, honey. There are men lining up for you. Jay’s heard about this. We made sure he did.”

Oh, fuck.

I frowned at her, only because the other option was crying. I’d already decided against that. “I thought you were all for this. From the start, you supported this.”