Page 121 of These White Lies

My heart slams against my ribs, and I realize I’ve clamped down on her fingers when she looks at me curiously.

Love. Shit.

Am I in love with her?

How would I even know?

Fuck.

“Are you okay? You look really pale.”

“Fine.”

She gives me a look. “If I’m not allowed to say that word, neither are you.”

My brain is racing, trying to make sense of what I’m feeling.

Elizabeth eventually grows quiet, and when we get to the office, she says she needs to call Dahlia and disappears upstairs.

I fight the urge to call her back or follow her up the stairs and lose myself in her body and quiet my mind. But I’m not thatlucky because my sister is waiting for me in my office. Sera is trying to look nonchalant, but I know better.

“How was it?” she asks, not meeting my eyes.

I let out a low breath and drop into the chair behind my desk. “Ray is Ray.”

“That bad, huh?”

I don’t answer right away, not only because I want to be careful about how I say it, but because I’m not sure how I feel about the encounter. In some ways, Ray was the same careless asshole he’s always been, but he agreed to help us. Even knowing the danger. Maybe I’m being a fool to trust him, but I believed him when he said he would take care of Elizabeth.

It's the uncomfortable feeling, spreading through my gut at the genuine regret in his eyes when he spoke about Sera, that is fucking with my head.

I run my hand roughly down my face as Sera paces restlessly back and forth across my office. She spins to face me and swallows hard, like she’s making herself ask the question. “Did he ask about me?”

I hesitate.

“Brady,” she snaps. “Did he?”

I exhale. “Yeah.”

Her mouth twists like she’s chewing something bitter. “Did he ask about the scars? What they look like now?”

“No.”

She blinks, surprised. “Really?”

“He didn’t bring up how you looked at all,” I say. “Ray was disappointed you hadn’t come. He even apologized… for what he said back then.”

She scoffs. “Too little, too late.”

“I know.” I let her hear my understanding. She’s the only other person in the world who can understand the tornado ofbeing in Ray’s sphere. The highs of when he’s good and the horrible lows when he reverts to his natural selfish state.

Sera is quiet for a moment, then her shoulders square, and she meets my eyes. “You know it wasn’t your fault, right? I’ve told you a thousand times, and I thought you’d gotten over it, but?—”

“Stop.” My voice snaps like a whip, and she flinches. I close my eyes and take a deep breath trying to keep calm.

She lowers herself into the chair facing me and stares at her hands in her lap.

“Sera, I’m sorry?—”