Cheater (Curious Liaisons 1)

Our eyes locked.

He leaned forward, just as the rear door opened beside me.

I jumped back and quickly wiped my mouth of any remnants of sugared donut, then numbly reached for my purse.

Walking was an issue.

You know, for obvious reasons. You needed legs to walk, and mine had turned to jelly. I couldn’t even feel my legs, or my face, and it was all Lucas’s fault.

Hating him was difficult.

Being attracted to him was inevitable.

Because many years ago—my life goal had been to find and marry someone just like Lucas Thorn.

Not the one I was helping lie to his entire family or the one who slept with a different woman almost every night, but the one who had held my hand when I watched scary movies.

Or the one who’d kissed me on the night he was found in bed with my look-alike sister after promising me things he had no right to promise.

I was a pawn in his game.

He’d just needed someone to save him from himself.

Great. History was repeating itself, because back then I had been willing to save him over a stupid crush and maybe because I thought he actually cared more about me than about my sister. And since I’d always been in Kayla’s shadow—he made me feel special.

My morose thoughts really weren’t helping things.

The morning went from bad to worse when Lucas’s mom jumped up in the waiting room and shouted by way of greeting Lucas and me: “We’re GOING TO HAVE A BABY!”

“Run!” I gripped Lucas’s hand. “We can still make the elevator if we run.” The elevator doors closed in our faces.

Lucas cursed. “We could always jump through the glass window and pray a garbage truck is driving by.”

Patty barreled toward us, arms outstretched, tears running down her face.

“I’m in.” I nodded earnestly.

Lucas let out a defeated sigh as his mom gripped him by the ears and pressed a kiss to each cheek. She then turned her attention to me and began crying even harder as we all headed back toward the doctor’s office.

Why did she have to cry?

“I just knew it.” She wiped under her eyes. “I’m so sorry, but you’ve just always been my favorite of you three sisters, and when poor Lucas confessed his true feelings for you—”

“Mom!” Lucas yelled.

My mouth dropped open.

“Oh”—Patty covered her mouth with her hands—“I thought she knew?”

“Knew that I adored this little slugger?” He, no joke, pulled me into his arms and noogied my head, then poked me in the chest.

I smacked him in the arm and shoved him away.

His mom blinked in confusion at our exchange, while Lucas turned bright red and pointed to the receptionist’s counter. “Shouldn’t Avery fill out her paperwork?”

His mom’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, we’ll just . . . Why don’t we go get that and you can find a seat.”

Lucas laughed. “Mom, I’m not staying. I came with Avery, but I’ll go wait in the car.”

He was already backing away.

“No.” Patty shook her head sternly. “If you’re going to be together forever, you go through thick and thin together, in sickness and in health!”

“But Avery’s completely healthy!” he argued. “Look at her!”

I preened, couldn’t help it.

“She has a history of anemia!”

I paused as sweat started to pool down my back. How would she know that? There was no way unless—oh no, oh no, no, no, no. I squeezed Lucas’s hand, nearly cutting off the circulation. His eyes narrowed.

“Just how would you know that?” Lucas asked while Patty fidgeted with her purse and then cleared her throat. “Mom?” No doubt, he was ready to make a run for it. Again.

“I may have made a call.” She smiled cheerfully. “But it was for the best.”

Moms.

Whenever they did something wrong, they always justified it by saying, “It was for the best.” As if their manipulation made it all okay because, HEY, I’m looking out for your best interests.

“What was ‘for the best’?” I repeated, my entire body going numb this time. The sweat ran down my back and trickled even more—great, just great.

“The engagement party,” she said, dodging the question. “I’ll just go get a clipboard.”

I gasped.

Lucas swore and looked ready to commit murder.

I quickly dug into my purse to find I had five missed calls from my mom. Five.

I didn’t even want to look at the text messages.

“Not what I had in mind when I agreed to help last night.” I smacked him in the chest with my purse and glared at him. “You need to control her!” I pointed at his mom, who was already on her way back with the clipboard, practically skipping.

“Hey, you’re the one who just HAD to say something to my sister. If anyone points fingers, they go to you,” he said under his breath.

“Oh PLEASE!” I sneered. “Like it was my fault your best friend kidnapped mine and got everyone drunk!”

“Damn it, I should have left you on the street corner.”

I jerked away as though he’d slapped me. “So that’s what I get for helping you with all of your family drama? ‘I should have left you on the street corner’?”

His mom was dangerously close to us.

Ugh, why did I keep doing that? Imagining he cared about me when he was probably checking his watch, counting down the hours until he could be with his next girl.

“Well”—I fought back tears—“we agreed to do this together, to help each other. Though God knows I must have been drunk when I said yes last night. Either we make a plan for how to get out of the party, or we end up pissing everyone off and hurting our families . . . again. Grandpa still hasn’t forgotten what you did, and I can guarantee he still has nightmares from being a POW. The last thing you want is for him to turn all his attention toward you. He’s a very violent man.”

“Your grandfather makes bikes for children,” Lucas said dryly, rocking

back on his heels.

“He was a sniper.”

“Fine.” Lucas’s shoulders hunched. “Let’s just get this part over with, and we’ll deal with everything else later.”

I nodded, too tired to argue, then begrudgingly took the clipboard from his mom and started filling in my information.

Chapter Twenty-One

LUCAS

Don’t panic.

Don’t show fear.

My mom was sitting on one side of me with Avery on the other. I was in absolute hell and was going to have to change my shirt and get another brand of deodorant, since the one I had used clearly wasn’t doing the job.

Then again, deodorants aren’t made for situations that involve trying to right a wrong between two families in the worst possible circumstances. In my case that meant keeping my mom from finding out about my unique sex life while faking an engagement to the younger sister of the ex-fiancée I’d cheated on.

I think if it had been just that tangle, the deodorant would have been like, Chill, Lucas, I’ve got this.

But I was in a damn gynecologist’s office; no male deodorant should have to put up with that shit.

With my mother.

With. My. Mother.

The receptionist called out Avery’s name.

Avery directed a look of pure hatred at me before slowly standing and wiping her hands on her jeans.

The nurse eyed me up and down and smirked.

I tried to keep my groan in.

I knew that look. It was interest. Blatant interest.

But I was here with my girlfriend.

Fiancée.

Even with the fake fiancée, I didn’t appreciate the nurse’s leer.

I stood.

The hell?

I dated multiple women all the time!

Why would I have qualms now when my fiancée wasn’t even real?

Avery glanced back at me, her face pale.

Slowly, numbly, I reached out and took her hand in mine, and for reasons I would probably overanalyze later—I kissed her fingertips and winked.

Ignoring the nurse completely.

And locking eyes with the only woman that mattered.

Only to have my mom ruin the moment by shoving her body between us and wrapping an arm around both my waist and Avery’s. “This is so responsible of you guys.”