Believing Lies (31 page)

I shivered as his gaze drifted slowly over my body. I could tell that he was appreciating me in my costume as much as I was appreciating him in his. He grabbed me by the hips and pulled me into him a little roughly, squeezing my butt in the process. He leaned in close and whispered, “A fair warning, Princess. I’m going to tear those stockings off you with my teeth later tonight.”

I pulled back and looked him straight in the eyes and whispered back, “A fair warning, Adam. I’ll be disappointed if you don’t.” I kissed him, not caring who was watching. “By the way, I love the hat,” I said into his lips. I spun around and discretely brushed my hand across the front of his pants before walking away.

“TEASE!” I heard him call out to me. I looked over my shoulder, winked, and then kept walking. My inner vixen was clapping and congratulating me. I’d finally mastered the art of winking.

I scurried through the living room, looking for where Sophie had run off to. I didn’t see her anywhere, but I spotted Courtney in the corner, laughing and drinking with Zach. She looked stunning in an angel costume. It was just the right amount of sexy and beautiful, with feathers and chiffon. He was dressed as a cowboy, and the look suited him well. Over the past few weeks, they’d moved into a friends with benefits sort of arrangement.

Courtney noticed me a second after I noticed her and waved me over.

“You look amazing,” I complimented, hugging her.

“You too,” she gushed.

Zach and I exchanged greetings.

“Hey, have either of you seen where Sophie went? I lost her.”

Courtney nodded. “I saw her go into Conner’s room.”

“Oh. I’ll leave them alone then.”

Zach chuckled. “No need. Conner’s right there.” He pointed toward the doorway. Sure enough, Conner was there, talking with some people I didn’t recognize.

“Thanks. I’ll catch up with you both later, okay?”

Courtney smiled into her cup. “You got it.”

I opened Conner’s door and peeked inside. The room was empty. “Sophie?” I called out.

Her head popped out from Conner’s closet. She looked at me, standing in the doorway, and used her hand to motion me to her. “Close the door,” she instructed. “Lock it too.”

I did as she asked, although I had no idea why. I walked to the closet and found her crouching over the big duffle bag. I kneeled down next to her, and it took me a second to realize the duffle was full of cans of non-alcoholic beer. She handed me a red plastic cup and proceeded to pour beer into it until it was full.

I took a sip. “Wow, this is freezing.”

“I put them in the freezer for about an hour before we left, so that they wouldn’t be too warm by the end of the night.”

“Smart.”

She frowned “No, it’s not
smart
. Smart would have been not going along with this as long as I have. I’m hiding things from my boyfriend and from my friend. She blew out a long breath, zipped back up the evidence, and pushed the bag into the deep corner of the closet. “I’m going to drink tonight, which means our pretend bet will be over. I brought you these, so you would have a way to drink too. But after tonight, I’m done with helping you keep this a secret. Adam has a right to know.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “What does that mean? Are you going to tell him?”

“No, but I’m not going to help you hide it anymore,” she said sternly.

“Okay. I understand. It’s wasn’t fair of me to put you in this position in the first place.”

“You need to tell him, Sienna. Every day you wait is going to be one day closer to him figuring it out on his own. He deserves to be told by you directly.”

“I know it’s time . . . Just not tonight. Tonight, I just want to enjoy.”

She nodded and gave me a reluctant smile. “I know, and we will have fun. I promise no more serious talk tonight.”

“Thank you for, well, everything.”

She pulled me in for a hug, some of the NA beer spilling out of the cup in the process.

I took a drink and wrinkled my nose. “This tastes disgusting.”

“I’m glad I don’t have to drink that shit.”

Sophie and I went back to the party, got her a cup of beer from the keg, and spent some time catching up with Courtney and, yes, even Cassie. She was dressed as a slutty school girl. It suited her. Sophie and I went to look for our boyfriends, eventually finding them playing beer pong against a guy and girl who I’d seen around, but didn’t know by name. Everyone in the kitchen cheered when Conner threw the final ping pong ball to win the game.

Adam saw me watching him, and a glorious smile lit up his face. “Who lost the bet?” he asked, pointing at our cups.

“It was a mutual decision to end the bet,” Sophie answered before I could.

“Thank God. I thought that bet would never end. Let’s play some beer pong, Princess.”

“Nope. She’s
my
partner,” Sophie interjected. “You know that we never play with anyone else. Or have you forgotten all of the times we’ve kicked your asses?” she asked smugly.

He laughed. “How could I forget? Fine. You two play against Conner and me. This time we WILL win. We’re on a streak.”

“Okay, but Sienna and I need to use the bathroom first. We’ll be back in a second.”

Conner said he’d set up our cups, and Sophie grabbed a juice pitcher out of their kitchen cupboard. “We’ll fill this with beer on our way back,” she said to Conner when he gave her a questioning look.

“There’s still plenty of beer in this pitcher,” he pointed out.

“I like mine fresh from the tap, so it’s nice and cold,” she replied.

We hurried straight to Conner’s closet and filled the pitcher with the NA beer. “You better bring you’re A-game cause the less of this crap I have to drink, the better.”

“Pfft. When don’t I bring my A-game?”

“True that, homegirl.” She pounded her chest twice and gave me the peace symbol. I returned the gesture, giggling.

We walked back to the kitchen, and Sophie poured about an inch of NA beer into the pyramid of cups on our side of the table.

“Ladies first,” Adam declared.

Sophie threw first, her ball bouncing once before landing in a cup. Conner had unsuccessfully tried to block it. She laughed as he took away the cup.

As Conner fished out the ball from his newly acquired cup of beer, I took my shot. It landed directly in one of their cups without even bouncing. “Ooh, nothing but net,” I said cockily.

Adam took the ball out of the cup and drank the beer before setting it aside.

“Lucky shot, Princess.” There was a slight challenge in his voice.

“What can I say? I’m a lucky girl,” I replied, multiple meanings in my words.

He chuckled and threw his ball, landing it in one of our cups. The worst part about this game was drinking beer that you just fished a dirty ping pong ball out of.
Yuck!
Couple that with the fact that this was NA beer.
Double Yuck!

When the game was tied, Sophie and I started to bring out the big guns—sex appeal. Our game had drawn quite a crowd, which made me keep my gestures pretty PG-13. Sophie, on the other hand, had no problem playing as dirty as possible. When she smacked her butt with her nightstick, Conner’s ball completely missed the table and went across the kitchen floor. In the end, we won by three cups. They demanded a re-match, which we also won.

Still undefeated, we called it quits after the second game and went into the living room. Adam and Conner went to get more beer, and Sophie and I snuck into Conner’s room to refill mine.

When we re-entered the living room, I saw a girl dressed as Catwoman clawing at Adam’s chest and basically rubbing against him like a scratching post. He wasn’t exactly smiling, but he didn’t look like he disliked the situation either. Undiluted jealousy shot through my veins. Sure, lots of girls flirted with him all the time, but something felt different about this girl. Maybe it was my sixth sense raising a red flag, or maybe I was just being a paranoid idiot. Regardless, she was going to find out that I had some claws of my own.

Sophie saw my glare and pursed lips, and she laughed. “I’m going to the bathroom. Try not to bloody her up too much.”

“I make no promises.”

I walked with a snap to my hips and stood directly next to Adam, looping my arm through his while staring the girl down. For her own good, I was glad she was wise enough to take her hands off of him and a step back.
That’s right. He’s taken
.

“Hey, there you are. I was looking for you,” Adam said to me. “Do you remember Lorna?”

The name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. She took off her mask, and it clicked.

“Oh yeah, I remember you. You work at The Turning Point. You were our waitress the day I met Adam.”

She gave me a wry laugh. “Good memory, but I quit working there about a week after that.”

“Oh. What a shame,” I said with a sweet smile, but obvious sarcasm in my tone.

“Adam, come here! We need your opinion,” Conner yelled from across the room.

“Hold on!” he shouted back.

“Don’t be an asshole. Get over here,” Zach bellowed.

“I’m being summoned.” He smiled cordially at Cat Skank. “Nice seeing you again, Lorna.”

He put his hand on my chin and tilted my head. “Princess.” He gave me a gentle kiss, which made my knees wobble and head light, before going off toward his friends.

“He calls you
Princess
?” Snotty venom laced the word. I turned toward Lorna, and the daggers she was shooting in my direction were razor sharp.

“Yep.” Not wanting to make a scene at Adam’s party, I bit my tongue to keep from telling her off. But seriously, what was this chick’s deal?

“It’s a little pathetic. Never thought I’d see the day Adam Korbell would turn into a whipped puppy. You must be the best fuck in town if you’re able to keep that one on a leash.”

If I wasn’t pregnant, I might have gone ninja warrior on her ass. As it was, I curled my fists into balls, grateful that my gloves prevented my nails from digging too deep into my palms. I saw Adam smiling at me from across the room, oblivious to the situation.
Keep it together, Sienna. She wants a reaction from you. Don’t give the bitch the satisfaction
.

Lorna’s voice quieted, and she leaned in close to me. “How long do you think he’ll be content with playing the role of the doting boyfriend?” Her lips curled into a sneer. “Guys like him don’t change. The second he’s through with you, I’ll be there. And if I’m not, some other girl will be. You’re not special. You may have lasted this long, but in the end, he’ll tire of you. So enjoy him while you have him,
Princess
.”

My blood boiled until it was a scorching current flowing through me. “Who the hell do you think you are?”

“I’m the girl he fucked the night he met you.” She obviously loved the look of pain on my face.

“Screw you.”

“Weren’t you listening? He already did.”
Gotta admit, walked right into that one
. She flipped back down her mask and turned her back to me.

“Bitch,” I hissed under my breath.

Over the loud music, conversations, and laughter around us, I had no idea how she heard me. But when she spun around with a look of pure hatred and unbridled fury on her face and poked me in the chest with her long acrylic black fingernail, I knew this girl was more than just a bitch—she was a bat-shit-crazy bitch.

“What the fuck did you just call me?” she spat. “You stupid little skank!”

My heart sped up to warp speed, and I clenched my jaw so tight my teeth hurt. I’d never been in a physical fight, but I wanted to rip Lorna’s eyes out and cram them down her throat. The image filled my mind, giving me a sick thrill. But my rage took a backseat to the instinctual need to protect my baby. I needed to make sure Lorna didn’t do anything more than poke me in the chest, so I turned around, deciding to take the high road and walk away.

I saw Adam pushing and shoving his way through people. He looked as if he was ready to kill, and his look was zeroed in on the person I’d just turned my back on. Hands shoved me from behind—hard. I fell forward and put my arms out in front of my body in an effort to keep any weight of the fall from impacting my belly. But the impact never happened. Instead, I was cradled in Adam’s arms.

“I’ve got you, Princess,” he assured me softly.

Adam helped me to my feet and released me, turning his full attention to Lorna. “Get the fuck out of my house!” he hollered so loud that the room fell silent, but for the sound of the music. He pointed at the door. “Now!”

She burst into tears. “I’m sorry, Adam! But she started it.” She was pointing at me, and all eyes in the room shifted in my direction.
You’ve got to be kidding me
.

“She would NEVER do that.”

“You could do so much better than someone like her,” she admonished.

Adam gave one loud, yet dry laugh. “You have it backwards.
She
could do better than
me
.”

Conner came and put his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t make a bigger fool of yourself, Lorna.” She jerked away from him and stormed out of the room, everyone parting like the Red Sea for her.

Slowly, conversations picked back up. Within no time, the room was back to a fun, animated atmosphere.

I placed my hand on Adam’s back. “I . . . I’m . . .”

He whirled around, scooped me into his arms, and carried me to his room. The sound of catcalls and whistles were heard until he shut the door behind us with his foot.

He gently set me down and looked deeply into my eyes. “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

Was he asking emotionally or physically? Either way, my answer was the same. “You caught me. That’s all that matters.”

He smiled, but it didn’t touch his eyes. “What happened?”

“Well, let’s just say that she gave me a warning about you, and then rubbed my nose in the fact that you slept with her the same night you met me.” I tried to hold back the tears, and for the most part I did. However, there was no mistaking the glassy sheen coating my eyes as I struggled to keep my emotions at bay.

He looked ashamed. “Are you mad at me?”

“I don’t really have a right to be, do I? I was engaged, and you were single. Hell, we’d just met. We were practically strangers. So, no, I’m not mad.” I may have been telling him the rational answer, but truthfully I was mad. I was really, really mad. “I just don’t quite get it though, Adam. That day, you called her a psycho and said you weren’t interested in her, so why did you sleep with her?”