Page 12 of A Real Good Lie

“I wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t. Now tell me about this date.”

“It’s late, Car. We can talk about it tomorrow.”

“You’ve already woken me up.”

Jace stood, rolling his neck from side to side to give it a crack, then started walking toward his apartment again.

“What do you want me to say?” he asked.

“His name for one. And how did you meet him for two.”

“His name is Callahan,” Jace said, grimacing. Sebastian’s friend’s name was even out of his league. He couldn’t bear to think about the rest of it. “And I haven’t met him. Actually. If you wanted to be technical.”

“You haven’t met him? Is it a blind date or something? Who set you up?”

“A customer, actually,” he told her. “This guy, Sebastian.”

“Sebastian and Callahan,” Carmen mused. “They sound like money.”

“Hence the suit,” he said.

“Hence.” Carmen chuckled.

“Remington,” he added his best friend’s name to the fancy name mix.

“I know. So, blind date, fancy name. What else?”

“I don’t know much else,” he admitted. “It’s out of town. A couple hours north to this college that they went to or something. It’s a big ribbon cutting event.”

“That doesn’t sound like the kind of blind dates I’m used to.”

“Oh?” he tried to feign innocence, but Carmen was onto him.

“What do you really need the suit for?” she asked.

“It is a date,” he said, turning onto his street. “It’s just…fake. You know what? It’s a silly idea and just forget I mentioned it. I’m going to tell Sebastian no. Never mind.”

He pulled the phone away from his ear and stabbed the end call button, then he grabbed his keys and shoved the building key into the lock of the front door of his apartment complex.

Jace’s phone began to buzz in his hand again, and he ignored it, knowing it was Carmen. It vibrated until he’d reached the apartment and gotten inside, past Remington’s surprised look, and into his bedroom with the door closed and locked.

“What?” he answered, throwing his keys onto his dresser and toeing out of his shoes.

“Monster,” she said.

“What.”

“What do you mean it’s a fake date?”

“Sebastian has a friend who has this school thing that his ex will be at and he wanted to make him jealous.”

“You think you’re good looking enough to make someone jealous?” She laughed.

“You’re so mean to me. All the problems in my life I can trace back to you.”

“Sure thing. And his name is reallyCallahan?”

“That’s what I’m told.”