Lying Hearts (Small Town Lies 1)

“Are you okay? What happened? Do you…” I leaned in further and kept my voice low so no one else could hear us. “Did you have too much coffee again? You know I told you—”

“—No, man, let’s just go. Go, go, go, now! Right now.” He yanked me by my jacket, and I nearly hit an old man with a walking cane.

“Sorry, sorry. He’s unstable,” I mouthed, pointing at my brother that currently pushed me into the next aisle. We weren’t near the lights, but the wood stain now. This could work for the porch, but we were far off from needing supplies like this.

Ethan peeked around the corner as if the FBI was out to get him, and I snorted, picking up a small can of red cherry stain and tossed it in the air just like I did the apple earlier, and caught it.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “Just walk. Walk, walk, walk.” He ran toward me and pushed me again, and this time, I nearly dropped the stain.

“What the hell is your problem?” I said with annoyance. He was acting completely out of character.

“I thought I saw a spider or something. You know how I am about those things,” he said, still whispering as if the spider could hear him.

“You’re acting insane, Ethan—”

“Dad, what do you think of this color?”

I stopped in my tracks and looked left, the cans of stain in the way of the owner of that sweet voice. Ethan ran into my back and tried moving me again, but I held fast, planting my boots on the concrete ground so he couldn’t move me.

“It’s still kinda purple, isn’t it?” a deeper voice said, an older one. One that sounded like Mr. Nightingale’s voice.

My heart hammered, and my breath stuttered as I waited for the woman to answer.

“Come on, let’s go.” Ethan tried to push me down the rest of the aisle, but I was frozen in place.

“Crap, you’re right. Why do I like those colors so much? Maybe I should go with a light green or a grey. Oh, what if I did grey walls and then had the accent furniture—”

I stopped listening to her voice when I realized who it belonged to. My world tilted, and I had to shoot my hand up on the shelf to keep my balance.

“Whatever you want, Star, whatever you want.”

That solidified it. It was Luna. Only her father ever called her Star. She was home. She was here, and she was in the next aisle over. My feet had a mind of their own, and I didn’t walk, I ran down the aisle and turned left, then left again.

“Don’t!” Ethan tried to grab me at the last minute, but I yanked my arm out of his hold. Now it all made sense. He didn’t want me to see her.

Or he didn’t want her to see me.

I stood in the middle of the aisle, hearts in my eyes as they landed on Luna. Time warped, everything stood still, even my heart stopped pumping. My world stopped spinning, and all I could see was the smile on her face as Luna spoke with her father.

God, she looked beautiful.

She grew up. Her body was perfect. I smiled when I realized she was still short, she hated that about herself, but I loved it. She had full breasts, a small waist, and her ass was round and perky.

But it was that damn laugh that had me tripping over myself. A thousand memories, a million moments, but only one girl starred in all of them.

“We need to go, Easton. Now. We need to go right now. Please.”

My brother’s voice tried to control me, but my heart was in control now. I took a step forward.

“Easton,” Ethan whispered. “Easton, don’t.”

I took another step forward.

And another.

And the closer I got, the more I noticed about her. Her hair was longer but still curly and wild, just like her spirit, and it was plopped right on top of her head in a tangled mess.