Liar

“Goodnight, Kent.”

I shut the door softly and crept down the stairs thinking of reasons for being gone for fifteen minutes. The only excuse I had was embarrassing, but worth it for what I’d just done with Olivia.

“You get lost?” Daniel joked.

“No. Something just isn’t sitting right with me.” I laughed and laid my hand on my stomach.

Daniel cringed and tossed the remaining amber liquid down his throat. “Maybe we should leave.”

“Yeah, that’s probably best.”

I definitely needed to get out of there before I went back to Olivia’s room and really defiled her.

23 Olivia

“Look who I found,” Oaklyn deadpanned behind me.

I turned away from the computer to find Oaklyn and…

Fucking Aaron.

“Livvie-baby.” He held his arms wide with a cheesy-ass smile that instantly annoyed me. “I couldn’t miss lunch with my favorite girl.”

Oaklyn’s disgusted face almost made me want to laugh out loud at the situation if I wasn’t sitting in the middle of Kent’s hotel lobby, where Kent could appear any moment to see me talking with my used-to-be fuck-buddy. I quickly looked around as if Kent would pop around the corner at any moment and ran through all the ways I could get rid of Aaron without just kicking his ass out the door.

Two lanky arms wrapped around me, and I immediately pulled out of his arms as gently as possible to avoid a scene.

What the fuck? I mouthed to Oaklyn.

She shrugged with pursed lips, her eyes screaming, I told you so, about Aaron. “I was kind of hoping for just a girl’s lunch,” she said, trying to save us from any more time with the octopus, I was currently trying to escape.

“Livvie wants me here,” Aaron defended, standing too close behind me.

“I’m looking right at her, and she looks thrilled.” Oaklyn forced a smile to match her sarcastic tone, but it went over Aaron’s head.

“Told you.”

Ugh, what an idiot. I was rolling my eyes when I saw two tall men walk in. Oh. Fuck. Me.

Kent’s eyes locked with mine, hardening to flint when he took in Aaron.

I took an exaggerated step away from Aaron, not bothering to hide my annoyance when he smiled down at me.

Seeing him here, standing in Kent’s hotel, I barely held off a shudder. How did I screw around with him as long as I did? Oaklyn was right, I did deserve better, and tracking Kent across the lobby, I knew I’d found it. Being with him—loving him—had me realizing I’d only kept Aaron around to control him and the relationship I decided to have with him. I couldn’t get hurt if I didn’t open up, and nothing about Aaron encouraged me to open up.

“Listen, Aar—”

“Is that my favorite niece slaving away?” Daniel said, interrupting my attempt to politely tell Aaron to fuck off.

“Hey, Uncle Daniel.”

He walked over and wrapped me in his arms, thankfully, putting more distance between Aaron and me. And Oaklyn, the goddess she was, took the opportunity to stand between us too, her eyes letting me know how fucked up this whole situation was.

It was like the beginning of some bad joke. A girl walks into the bar and sees her past fuck-buddy, current lover, and uncle all smiling at her. What does a girl do? If I had a choice, I’d have loved it if a hole would’ve opened up and swallowed me alive. I would have loved for Kent to wrap his arms around me and tell Aaron to fuck off and then have lunch with him.

None of that happened.

The disappointment of it not happening mixed with the gratitude that Kent held himself back in front of Daniel. And then, there was the guilt at creating a situation where he couldn’t stake his claim. But right now, wasn’t the time.

“We were just about to have some lunch,” Oaklyn said.

“Fantastic, so were we.” Daniel smiled but eyed Aaron skeptically. “Kent had lunch ordered in for everyone, I’m sure a few extra friends can join, right, buddy?”

“Sure,” Kent managed from his clenched jaw.

We made our way to the mostly empty conference room. A few people still lingered, finishing up their breaks. Daniel and Kent sat on one side of the table, and we sat on the other. Unfortunately, Aaron snagged a seat right next to me, but I did my best to make it clear I was scooting away.

“Are you the uncle that owns the sex club?” Aaron asked around a mouthful of food.

“No,” Daniel answered with a dead stare.

“Oh…” Aaron’s eyebrows furrowed and turned his confused gaze to me. “How many uncles do you have?”

“Just Daniel.”

I would’ve laughed at his confusion if I wasn’t so desperate for him to just be fucking gone.

“It’s not a sex club,” Daniel explained. His tone was casual, with a hint of irritation bubbling underneath. “Just a regular club.”

Aaron still looked baffled by Daniel’s explanation until his mouth dropped open into an “oooooohhh” like a lightbulb had just gone off. “I see,” he said with an exaggerated wink. Now I was confused. “Got to keep it on the down-low.”