Page 64 of A Real Good Lie

Callahan Understands for the First Time

“Where is my brother?” Rhys asked once Callahan reached the stage where the ribbon cutting event was meant to happen.

“Looking for Daniella.”

“Where is your lesser half?”

Callahan sighed, squeezing his eyes closed. There were many nights he lay awake wondering what he’d seen in a man like Rhys. Had he really liked Rhys when he was younger, or had he just liked the attention? Rhys was a skilled doter, capable of making any person in his orbit feel like the world revolved around them, and he was just as practiced at revoking that feeling when it suited him. He was manipulative and calculating, but above all else, he was cruel.

“He’s far better than me,” Callahan said, frowning.

“He has nothing, you know.” Rhys winged up an eyebrow. “He won’t amount to anything.”

Callahan stared over Rhys’s shoulder at the McMillian name emblazoned big and bold over the door to the building his father’s money had helped build. He rubbed the back of his neck, counting the letters, tracing the angles and curves of the name with his eyes, wondering when that name had stopped mattering to him.

His whole life had been centered around living up to the McMillian name, the McMillian brand. He’d been pushed into a school he didn’t want, a degree he didn’t want, a career he didn’t want. He wasn’t foolish enough as to act like his life wasn’t charmed for the dollars in his bank account, but at what cost?

He turned his back to Rhys and stared out at the quad, wondering where Jace and Sebastian were, if they’d found Daniella, when they’d be back. God, he wanted Jace to come back.

“When are you going to call off the wedding?” he asked.

“Why would I do that?” Rhys stepped alongside him, shoulder to shoulder.

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“After finals, probably,” Rhys answered.

“Why did you even ask her to marry you?”

“She was getting antsy.”

“Jesus, listen to yourself.” Callahan folded his arms over his chest, but continued to watch the direction in which Jace and Sebastian had disappeared.

“My father would never allow me to marry a child, Callahan,” Rhys said, like it was known fact, like Ashley should have realized it would never go anywhere. “Just like he’d never allow me to marry a man.”

Spit caught in Callahan’s throat and he swallowed it down, clearing his throat under his breath. He hooked his finger under the collar of his shirt, trying to make room to breathe.

“What are you trying to say?”

“I would have, if he’d let me,” Rhys said softly.

Callahan turned sharply, his eyes narrowed, but he was surprised to find Rhys’s face downcast, a small frown pulling at the corners of his thin lips.

“No, you wouldn’t have,” Callahan snapped.

“There you are!” Ashley’s sharp soprano rattled Callahan’s ears, and he and Rhys both turned in the direction of her voice.

“Here I am,” Rhys’s face cleared of whatever emotion it had previously held and he stretched his hand out for Ashley, who made sure to take it with her left hand, flashing that gaudy diamond in Callahan’s face.

“Callahan,” she greeted, offering him air kisses on either cheek.

“You look lovely,” he said, another ingrained default reaction.

“Rhys insisted I get a new dress for the occasion.” She smoothed her hands down the front of the silk gown. She did look good in it, the pale yellow material dancing around her hips as it fell to the ground. “I’ve never had one this nice.”

“It was a good choice.”

“Have you seen Daniella?” Ashley asked, her attention shifting between the two of them. “I can’t find her.”