Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,167

she saw Declan. “I got out early, so I thought I’d come over and surprise you with a home-cooked meal.” Then her eyes fell on me, and a confused look moved over her delicate features. Her gaze moved to Declan’s hands, one of them wrapped in mine, the other still on my thigh. “You have got to be kidding me. Again, Declan?”

He stood up, quick as a flash. “Amanda,” he said. “No, it’s not…. this isn’t what it looks like. This is Olivia. She’s my sister.”

“What?” Amanda and I both said at the same time, both of us staring incredulously at Declan.

“I mean, she’s my foster sister. We grew up together.” He said ‘we grew up together’ the way you really would say it about a sister, and not about someone you’d made a promise to be with forever, a person you’d pretty much promised your heart to. “There’s nothing going on between us romantically. Right, Olivia?”

His eyes met mine, and I saw that same familiar look reflected there, the one Declan and I used to give each other whenever we were sharing a secret, telegraphing to the other that something needed to be kept just between us.

But those secrets, those lies we told back then, all of them were about survival, about keeping each other safe -- a lie about how much we’d eaten so that we wouldn’t be punished, a lie to a social worker about our living conditions so that we didn’t end up separated or in an even worse place. The lie he was asking me for now was just to be deceptive.

I should have told the truth. But I didn’t.

“Right,” I said, and I could taste acid burning the back of my throat. “There’s nothing going on between us.”

“Oh,” Amanda said, sounding relieved. “I’m Amanda, Declan’s girlfriend.” She stuck her hand out to for me to shake. There was an expensive-looking watch on her wrist, with a white leather band and tiny diamonds around the oversized face that sparkled under the lights. Her nails were neatly manicured and painted a muted pink, not too bright, not too flashy.

I took her hand.

Her skin was cold, and when she smiled, her teeth were white and perfect.

She was the exact kind of girl that Declan had said he’d never end up with.

She was the exact opposite of me.

“Are you staying for dinner?” she asked.

“No,” Declan said quickly. His eyes flashed to mine, and I could tell immediately what he was trying to tell me – don’t say anything, we’ll talk about this later when we’re in private. I thought it was crazy how I could still read him, even after all this time.

“No,” I said, swallowing around the lump in my throat and trying to force a casual brightness into my voice. “I’m not staying.”

I picked up my bag, and then I was out the door, rushing down the sidewalk, Declan calling after me. When I didn’t turn around, I heard his footsteps behind me.

“Hey,” he said when he got to me. I turned, watching as he ran his hands through his hair nervously. “Olivia, I’m sorry.” He shrugged. “I just… I didn’t know what to say, how to tell you.”

“It’s fine,” I lied. It wasn’t fine. It was dishonest and horrible. He hadn’t just lied to Amanda, he’d lied to me, too. He’d told me he’d kept his promise to me. And yeah, I’d broken my promise, too, but at least I’d been willing to own it. Declan had been about to to kiss me back there, to let me believe that he’d never kissed anyone else.

“Listen, I want to see you again,” he said.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you want to see me again?”

“Because I missed you.”

I squeezed my eyes shut tight. How could I have gotten this so wrong? This whole time, I’d been thinking about Declan, missing him, planning my life around him, pinning all my hopes on him. And meanwhile, he’d been pinning his hopes on himself, creating a job, a girlfriend, a home, a world.

All the things I should have been doing.

I turned.

And I ran.

He called after me, but when I glanced over my shoulder a few seconds later, he wasn’t following me. He was just standing there at the end of his driveway. I kept running and when I looked back again, he was gone.

I ran all the way down the hill, back toward the end of the street, faster and faster, my legs pumping. Soon I got caught up in the momentum