Page 70 of Whisper Pretty Lies (Lust & Liars #1)

At this moment, I don’t care either way. I could be done pretending to be Chase’s girlfriend. I could finally yell at him for fucking around on me and throw in his face what I’ve been doing with the Devil’s trio. Things I’ve never wanted to do with him.

For a moment, Damon’s blue eyes search mine and I think he’s going to press the issue.

But then Damon releases my arm. I make sure the coast is clear when I step out from beneath the bleachers. I hurry back to the bathroom and rinse the tears from my cheeks. Thankfully, I’m not wearing makeup tonight.

I head back up, skirting wide of the area where Damon grabbed me.

When I get back to our seats, Jackson is gone. I release the breath I’d been holding and sit down next to Mia.

“You feeling okay?” she asks.

I nod. “Just too much soda.”

“Jackson Riordan, Evan.” Mia shakes my arm as the band marches out for halftime.

“Yeah?” I look at her and her cheeks are flushed. She’s grinning.

Maybe Jackson has changed. Maybe I didn’t know what was happening at the time and misread the situation. A cold chill runs through me.

“How did I not know about hockey?” Mia looks at me like I might have the answer.

I shrug, still feeling off. When halftime is almost over, Damon walks past us. He doesn’t look at me and I don’t look at him, but I take comfort in his earthy scent.

“I feel like I’m in a candy shop and can’t decide what candy to try next.” Mia sighs. “Maybe I should lock down a boyfriend so I won’t have any more temptation.”

“Which one would you choose?” I ask, needing to take my mind off Jackson and get back into the game. I try not to look around to see where he is. Why was he even here? Are we playing his school?

“That’s a tough call.” Mia starts spouting hockey stats of all the players she’s looked up.

I breathe a little easier as the game continues and there are no more surprises. Our team wins, which means Chase will be wanting to party tonight. Part of me is wiped out and wants to go home, snuggle into Damon’s bed, and forget this whole week happened.

“Where’s the party tonight?” Mia asks.

I look at my phone and Chase has texted.

Chase:

I’ll meet you at Fletcher’s

We’re celebrating tonight

“Fletcher’s.” I tense up. That’s where I caught Chase cheating on me last weekend. Fuck.

Mia takes my hand so we won’t get separated in the crowd as we make our way out to her car.

She’s seen my car, so I drove to her house and let her drive here.

I don’t know how I’ll get home tonight. Hell, I don’t know when I’ll get my actual car back.

I didn’t see Mom at home, so I haven’t been able to ask her about the repairs.

It’s been a week. Surely, it’s fine now.

I try not to search the crowd for the Devil’s trio or Jackson. I’m sure the guys will be at the party, but I’m hoping Jackson won’t. It’s not common for someone outside of our schools to be invited to a party, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility.

Mia chats the whole way about the Devil’s trio and Fletcher and Liam and Jackson and some other hockey guys until I’m ready to drink and dance just so I don’t have to hear about hockey anymore.

When we pull up, we’re obviously early. There are only twenty cars here. Usually there are around a hundred by the time the partying really begins. I’m wearing jeans and a Devil’s shirt Damon threw at me earlier. He didn’t like the sweatshirt I had on.

His scent clings to it. His way of marking me for tonight probably. At least the only visible mark. The hickey on my shoulder never gets a chance to heal before he’s sucking on it again.

Mia is wearing a pair of short shorts and a crop top that clings to her curves. I can see why guys are drawn to Mia. We may have similar coloring: blond hair and blue eyes, but she has the curves to go with it.

Main character energy.

As we enter the house, the dance floor is already dark and lights swirl around the area. A few people are already dancing. I honestly don’t know what room this is in the house, besides the dance space for parties.

“Oh, I love this song.” Mia swings her hips in time with the music.

I laugh. “Come on, I’ll dance one song.”

“Hell yeah!” She pulls me onto the dance floor and she’s doing all sorts of moves while I try to stay in rhythm. I’ve had some musical theater experience, so I can do some dancing, but it’s never been my strong point. Just enough to get me into Anteros.

She grabs my hands, and we dance together through that song and into the next.

“I need something to drink,” I yell after the third song.

She nods and we walk into the kitchen where the drinks are. The house is more packed now. I wonder where the guys are. Someone grabs me from behind and everything stills in me again.

“Babe!” Chase. Fucking hell, he scared me. “We won.”

I turn and his mouth is on mine before I can even cough. Fucking hell. The rest of the room is chaos, but all I can think is I’m in fucking trouble. I don’t want to kiss Chase—not that he cares or notices that I’m not kissing him back.

He pulls back and draws me into his body as he whoops and hollers with the rest of the football team. He didn’t even notice I didn’t kiss him back.

I resist the urge to wipe my mouth and hope none of the Devil’s trio saw that. I don’t know what Damon meant by punishment, but it doesn’t sound like fun. I guess I’ll find out soon enough.