Two Little Lies

  Two Little Lies

  by Rhonda Helms

  Copyright © 2014 by Rhonda Helms

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher of this book, excepting brief quotations used in reviews. Purchase only authorized editions.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, businesses or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Proofreading by Mickey Reed

  Cover © 2014 by Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations

  Formatting by Polgarus Studio

  Dedication

  To my writing friends—you keep my brain sane when I get overwhelmed and discouraged. Thank you so much for your love and support.

  Erin, thank you for your brainstorming help with this series. Our Panera trips are the best, even with mobs of old people and loud kids, haha.

  And to my husband, who is my rock. I couldn’t do this without you.

  Chapter One

  “Open your Christmas present!” Bianca practically yelled at me. My friend flung a small wrapped box on the coffee table in front of me, her red lips curled in a smile. “It’s amazing. Perfect. You’ll love it.”

  “Okay, okay,” I said with a laugh as I held my free hand up and stood. My other hand clutched the stem of a perilously empty glass of wine. “But can I get more to drink first, Your Majesty?”

  “I suppose, if you must.” She gave me an imperial wave and sipped from her glass.

  “Hey, Natalie, can I get a reload while you’re at it?” my other friend Anna asked, a twinkle in her eye. Her phone buzzed, and she peeked down at the screen, her grin widening.

  “Tell hotpants to lay off it for one evening,” I teased her with a saucy wink. Since she and Gavin had started dating last month, the two of them had been almost inseparable. It was adorable, though if I were brutally honest with myself, I’d admit that a tiny part of my heart was jealous of their intense connection.

  Her eyes flashed with guilt, and she crammed her phone in her pocket. “Sorry. Gavin planned a surprise for me and he wanted to make sure I’m free tonight.”

  I filled our glasses and nestled back in the corner of my couch then handed over her wine glass. “Hey, it’s okay,” I said in a gentle whisper. “I was just joking. Text away.” Since Anna had moved to Edgewood Falls a few months ago, all her rich New York City friends had ditched her. I thought she worried about losing us too, despite my reassurances that we weren’t going anywhere.

  It was so good to see her happy and not stressed about money anymore. Her parents’ divorce was proceeding along without a hitch, in spite of the dramatic situation that had kicked it off, and Anna was no longer bearing the burden of caring for her heartsick dad.

  I grabbed the present on the coffee table and shook it a bit. We’d agreed to meet the day after Christmas to exchange gifts, with the caveat that they had to cost under ten bucks. “So, what’s in here?”

  Bianca just grinned then took a swig of wine. The bracelet I’d made her adorned her right wrist, pretty purple beads sparkling in my living room’s lamplight. Anna had on her new earrings I’d also made; the pearly drops looked great against her light blond hair.

  I opened my package and saw Bianca’s favorite silver thumb ring nestled in the tissue paper. I’d been admiring it for a while now. Delicately carved into the exterior was the word Namaste. “Oh, I can’t take this.” It had to be valued at far more than ten bucks.

  She shrugged. “I knew you liked it, and I want you to have it. No give-backsies.”

  I hugged her then slipped it on my thumb. “Thank you. I love it.” I pointed at the hefty paperback romance novel on the table, courtesy of Anna. “And I can’t wait to read that. It looks super sexy.”

  Anna held out her glass over the table, sincerity shining on her face. “Guys, I couldn’t have gotten through these last three months without you. Thank you for being here for me. Here’s to a great forthcoming year.”

  We all cried out, “Cheers!” as our glasses clinked. I sat back and listened to Bianca and Anna talk about Bianca’s most recent gig. As the lead guitarist in an all-girl rock band, Bianca lived and breathed music. Anna and I had gone to see her perform, and as usual, they’d sounded amazing. While they talked, I nodded and mmm-hmm’d where appropriate, but my heart wasn’t quite in the conversation.

  Snow was falling gently outside my apartment window, and I had nowhere else I had to be tonight. I had a great glass of wine and thoughtful presents, and my two best friends were at my side. But I couldn’t shake off my edge of melancholy. And I wanted to kick my own ass about it.

  My boyfriend West had gone out of town with his family to celebrate Christmas on a skiing trip. We were meeting up to exchange presents sometime tomorrow. But I missed him right now. With the holiday season being full-on crazy at his dad’s car dealership, we’d had hardly any time together over the last several weeks. Spending the holiday without him had sucked.

  I got up in the pretense of going to the bathroom then quickly ducked into my bedroom to see if he’d called my cell. Nothing. He was probably busy skiing and being around his family, but I couldn’t help the swell of disappointment in my gut. My fingers flew across the keys. Miss you! When will you be home tmrw? Call me later, ok?

  Then I headed back into the living room, shoved away all my mopey thoughts and jumped into their conversation.

  The next hour flew by. I turned on music, and we drank and danced in my living room. Thankfully I was on the ground floor, so no one in my apartment building would complain about our buzzed stomping. My heart grew lighter with our giggles and booty grinding.

  I chugged the last bit of wine in my glass then threw my hands in the air as one of my favorite songs came on. The buzz hit me fast, turning my limbs to jelly. “Wow, that wine is strong.”

  “We’ve had two and a half bottles between the three of us,” Bianca said with a hearty laugh. “Of course it’s strong.”

  “And that’s the way we like it,” Anna added with a shake of her ass. When she gave us a shit-eating grin, her teeth were pink from the red wine.

  A giggle-snort escaped me, and then we all collapsed into laughs, pointing and looking at each other’s red mouths.

  I heard my cell ring from the bedroom, and my heart picked up. Maybe that was West. I ran down the hall and breathlessly answered, “Hello?”

  “Babe?” My boyfriend’s familiar warm voice poured through my phone.

  “Hey! So glad you called!” I peeked back at the doorway and dropped my voice. “I don’t have a lot of time to chat right now. Can we talk in an hour or two?”

  “Can’t. We’re going to dinner and then a party, so I wanted to call now.” I could hear ambient noise in the background. He cupped his hand over the phone and mumbled something, and I heard a piercing female laugh in return. Sounded like his mom.

  “What are you doing?”

  “What? What’s that?” There was a pause. Before I could say anything, he rushed on, “Hey, I can hardly hear ya. I’m gonna go. I’m sorry. I’ll pick you up tomorrow for lunch, okay? Just wanted to say hi before I went out tonight.”

  I tried to fight off the sinking feeling in my stomach. “Okay,” I started, “I—”

  “Bye!” He hung up.

  A flash of irritation made me frown. I sighed, dropped my phone on my dresser and then slipped back into the living room. The music was quieter now; while Anna st
uffed her face with slices of cheese, Bianca eyed me with a knowing look.

  I gave a casual shrug. “That was West.”

  Her voice was flat when she said, “I figured.” She moved into the kitchen and got a glass of water.

  I wasn’t dumb. I knew she hated my boyfriend. She was vocal about it every chance she got. Bianca and I had a strong friendship—had for years, since she’d moved to Edgewood Falls our freshman year of high school. In all that time, he was the only big area of contention between us.

  She didn’t know my boyfriend like I did though. Yeah, I realized that sounded cliché, but it was true. I saw a side of West no one else did. When his grandma had died six months ago, I’d held him in my arms as he’d sobbed from a broken heart. His dad was a severe workaholic, and his mom liked to spend more time with her friends than with her own son. Those things hurt him—he’d told me about them in our private time together.

  Moments of vulnerability like that had cemented our bond. They got me through the days when his own workaholic tendencies interfered with our plans. Or when he spent more time with his buddies than with me. Sometimes I struggled with patience, tried to remember that things would get better between us. They had to.

  Right now though, with wine surging through me and disappointment festering in my gut from the all-too-brief call, I stomped into the kitchen and said, “Why can’t you just let this go and stop hating him?”

  Bianca spun around and leaned her backside against my kitchen sink. She crossed her arms over her chest. “I don’t hate him.”

  I raised an eyebrow.

  Anna moved in beside me, taking a seat at the kitchen table, not saying a word. She nibbled on a piece of cheese.

  Bianca rolled her eyes. “Okay, I severely dislike him. I admit that because it’s no big secret or anything. Frankly, I think you can do better. You deserve better than someone who can’t even bother to spend more than two minutes with you on the phone.”

  “He’s busy—”

  “How many more excuses are you going to give us about his behavior, Natalie?” she blasted at me. “You do it all the time.”

  I reeled back, stung. “What? They’re not excuses.”

  “Bullshit,” she challenged. With a regal toss of her head, her dark hair flipped over her shoulder. “You can lie to us all you want, but at least be honest with yourself. West is more concerned with making money and pleasing himself than with your happiness. Probably why he’s—” Suddenly she stopped.

  “Why he’s what?” Anna asked in a timid tone.

  I blinked as I crossed my arms over my chest. “Yeah, care to explain what you mean, Bianca?”

  “Not really.” She clenched her jaw and looked away. I saw a vein ticking on the side of her face. “Okay, you know what? Screw it. I’m just going to say it because, as your friend, I think someone has to.” She leveled her eyes at me. “I believe West is cheating on you.”

  I sat there for a moment, silent. All I could hear was the thudding bass of whatever song was playing on the radio in the living room. I forced a scoff to cover up the sickness churning in my gut. “Have you actually seen him cheat on me?”

  Her jaw tightened. “Not yet.”

  “Have you?” I asked Anna.

  Wide-eyed, she held her hands up in a universal sign of innocence. “Whoa, I haven’t seen jack shit. I’ve only met the guy a couple of times now.”

  It was so hard to rein in my sudden anger, which swelled and bubbled. I turned to Bianca, whose exasperation flashed in her eyes. “So basically you’re accusing my boyfriend of doing something when you have no evidence.”

  “I didn’t say that,” she countered. “I saw him sitting really close to this redheaded woman at Tino’s a couple of weeks ago when I swung to pick up a lunch order. He had his hand on her lower back.”

  I had to admit that hearing that made me pause. Bianca was a lot of things—nosy, bossy, unfiltered—but she wasn’t a liar. Even if she hated West, she wouldn’t make something up just to make me dump him.

  “Wait, a redhead? That’s just one of his coworkers.” He got along well with all of them. They were a tight-knit group. I knew who Bianca meant—Coraline, who also worked in sales. Probably was just a business lunch. I’d never seen them flirting or felt any weirdness around them.

  No, Bianca had to be reading into the situation. Maybe West had been helping Coraline into her seat or something. Or she’d been about to fall off her stool and he’d kept her upright. Just because Bianca had seen something didn’t mean it was a sign of cheating.

  She bit her lip and eyed me. “And since I’m confessing everything, I might as well tell you the rest.”

  “There’s more?”

  With a lift of her chin, she said, “I…might have hired Kyle to look into the whole situation.”

  Anna gave a small gasp.

  “What the hell? You’re joking, right?” A shocked laugh flew out of me. “Seriously? You hired a private detective to snoop on my boyfriend? Are you crazy?” Who did things like that? Bianca, that was who. My throat tightened, and it was hard to swallow. “How could you?”

  She took a step toward me, but I held my hands in front of me, shooting her a warning with my eyes.

  She stopped in her tracks. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to tell you until I had evidence to prove what he was doing, but I couldn’t hold it in anymore.”

  “You’re sorry?” Yeah, right.

  “Okay, I’m not sorry about hiring Kyle, but I’m sorry for telling you like this. I didn’t mean to upset you.” She sighed and her shoulders slumped. With a stilted walk, she headed into the living room.

  “I think I should go,” Anna said to me in a low tone.

  I tried to focus on my other friend instead of on the knot of tension lodged in my chest. “Sorry about all of this. Do you need a ride home?” I could probably call for someone to pick her up, since I’d had a few too many to feel safe driving her myself. “Or you can crash on the couch if you want.”

  She gave a wooden headshake, but her eyes were filled with sadness for me. “Gavin’s gonna pick me up. He’s on his way.” She jumped up and hugged me then whispered in my ear, “I think you two should talk this out. I’m here if you need to chat about it, okay?”

  I hugged her back. The last thing I wanted to do right now was hash things out with Bianca. I was furious. I needed time to think. “I didn’t mean for you to get caught in the crossfire, and I’m sure she didn’t either.”

  When Anna pulled away, her eyes were fierce. “Hey, it’s okay. Things happen. But don’t let this come between your friendship, okay? Trust me. I know how important that is.”

  The smile I gave her was weak and unconvincing, but she didn’t comment on it. Instead, she grabbed her stuff and left.

  Bianca stood awkwardly in the living room, her coat already on and purse in hand.

  “I want you to know I’m calling this off on Monday,” I told her in a low tone. “It’s a stupid waste of money. And I can’t believe you did that behind my back.”

  Besides, it wasn’t true. Things weren’t great, but he wouldn’t cheat on me. Would he? Hot tears flooded my eyes, and I sighed.

  Bianca ran over and hugged me, though I was still too upset with her to hug her back. My arms hung at my sides. “I’m so sorry,” she crooned. Typical Bianca—blow in like a hurricane then try to soothe away the damage. “I didn’t mean to hurt you, Natalie. I’m gonna go and give you some space. We can talk about this later, okay?” She pressed a shaky kiss to the side of my forehead then left.

  I shut off the music, and the apartment flooded with silence. With a groan, I collapsed onto the couch. Dropped my head in my hands. How could Bianca do this to me, plant this seed of doubt in my head about West’s faithfulness?

  I wallowed in misery for a few minutes then lifted my head. Well, it didn’t matter what Bianca thought or did. I was going to have a wonderful lunch with West tomorrow, and I’d visit Kyle on Monday and call the whole thing off. Then I
’d make sure Bianca knew to keep her nose out of my relationship. She’d crossed a line, and we were going to talk about this when I was feeling up to it.

  Chapter Two

  “I like that necklace,” West said as he sipped his glass of water. “Is that new?”

  Light noise of conversation and tinkling of glasses surrounded us in the small but hip café. The windows let in the bright white reflection of snow outside.

  “Thanks,” I said, twisting the glass pendant between my fidgeting fingers. “I made it a few weeks ago when I was bored. So how was your skiing trip? Tell me everything.”

  West raised one massively muscled arm and raked it through his hair. The bold grin he gave me made my heart flutter. “Epic. I admit, I wasn’t sure I’d like it at first. But once I gave it a shot, I was flying down those hills like a pro.”

  His phone let out a tone, and he dug it out of his pocket, holding it just below the table surface. The corner of his mouth crooked the smallest smile as his thumbs flew across the screen.

  I touched my Christmas present from him, a delicate silver chain bracelet, and tried my best to push down my growing frustration. We’d just gotten here about twenty minutes ago, and he’d been on his phone a half dozen times already.

  Couldn’t he bother to put it away long enough to finish a conversation with me? Surely whatever stupid shit his friends were texting wasn’t that important. We hadn’t seen each other in days. More like weeks, other than the occasional meal or hangout here or there.

  A tiny voice in the back of my head nagged at me that maybe it wasn’t a friend on the phone after all. Thanks a lot, Bianca, I growled in my head. I wouldn’t have had that kind of thought before last night’s wine-fueled disaster.

  “Everything okay?” I asked as evenly as I could muster. “You seem to be busy today.” With a nod, I looked at his phone nestled in his lap.