Page 45 of Vicious Little Snakes

Everything about her says no, but she says, “I’m fine.”

I want to speak, but I don’t know what to say, so I opt for, “Do you want to go back?”

Caroline frowns. “Why did you bring me here?”

I open my mouth to answer, but I close it just as quickly. Her frown grows. But I stand there, like an idiot. She wipes her eyes with her free hand and smiles—but it’s cold.

“Why do you do that? It’s so stupid.”

I wrinkle my forehead. “Do what?”

“You never say what you really want to say. You lie.”

I guess she has been paying attention to me. Suddenly I don’t like it as much as I did before.

“Well? Are you a mute? Or a coward?”

I thought I was brave.

“Neither,” I snap back, letting go of her hand, but she holds it tighter.

“Then, speak, Liam.”

“I’m not a dog, Caroline. God, you’re such a—”

Her brows rise, but I don’t finish saying the curse word I was thinking. Caroline’s voice is so level and intentional that it instantly makes me angry.

“Then, if you aren’t a dog, Liam, say what you were going to and quit acting like a little bitch.”

My eyes grow wide as she smirks. Caroline Whitmore is a viper. A vicious little snake, and right now, I realize why Van hated her.

“No.”And you can’t make me.

She nods as if she’s read my thoughts.

“I’m leaving. It smells like dirt, and I don’t want to hang out with a liar.”

She tugs her hand away, but this time I don’t let go because, for whatever reason, I want to hold her hand even more. Maybe to make sure she doesn’t run away.

“I’m not a liar,” I exhale harshly. “You want the truth? I was going to say you look sad, so I thought you’d want to be somewhere nobody could see that. Sorry for being so nice.”

Her nails dig into my hand.

“Liar. You aren’t nice—you pretend to be. Just be yourself, Liam. God, I’m so tired of people being fake. We aren’t friends. Right? Nobody will even know we were out here. Go ahead, you baby. Use your big girl voice.”

God, she’s the worst. My chest feels tight, like I can’t breathe. I try to swallow, but my throat is dry. The longer she stares at me, the angrier I feel. Until all the words I hid away erupt. Because she’s right, I did lie.

“Fine. I thought you needed to come out here because you don’t look regular sad. You look, like, broken-sad. And I felt sorry for you. But when Grey comes back, I’ll never speak to you again. You’ll go back to being a girl I don’t know. So I wanted to steal this moment and try to do something nice for you while I could.”

Her eyes swell with tears, but this time, she doesn’t say anything, just keeps her hand in mine without her nails digging into me. Regret hits me like a rock to the face, and I feel bad for telling her all of that. But I also feel like my chest is lighter, and I can breathe again.

Caroline looks down, bringing her fingertips to the ends of her hair, rubbing the strands between her fingers.

“My birthday is tomorrow.”

I don’t say anything because she speaks it like a confession.

“I hate my birthday. Weird, right?”