Fraud (Antihero Inferno #2) - Lily White Page 0,36

out and head the other direction.”

“It kills the dramatic effect,” I comment.

Her lips tug apart at that. “Exactly.”

Tossing up her hands, she drops the tough girl act, her eyes pleading with me from across the bedroom.

“What do you want from me? I don’t have any information to give you about my father, so I’m not sure what I can do to get out of this.”

Unfortunately for her, that’s the last thing on my mind at the moment. I’m still stuck in my junior year of high school, the rain driving down in freezing drops.

She should never have been there that night, and wouldn’t have if she weren’t attempting a prank in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Since then, she’s always seen me as the broken prince. And I can’t stand that she knows it.

We hated each other then, but that hatred was simply a juvenile dislike. A spark burst into life on that night, and neither of us have been able to snuff it out.

She may try to pretend she’s not interested, but I know the truth.

What’s sad is that she’s right to say what she has. Our games only got crueler after she saw the horrible ugliness of what resides beneath a practiced smile and quick wit.

I struck out because the pain and embarrassment were too much, and she struck back because I deserved it.

When I don’t answer, she shakes her head again, the near-white color of her hair shimmering beneath the low light of the room.

“I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? You never had a reason to hate me even before that. You just did. Since we were children. So in this, I think it’s safe to assume your group will torture me for the fun of it. Regardless of whether I can give you information or not.”

So caught up in what she’s saying, Ivy doesn’t notice I’m creeping closer on slow steps. My eyes pin her in place, the distance shrinking, but she’s too upset to realize she’s being stalked.

She’s not wrong though. About anything she’s mentioned. The Gabriel everybody else knows is playful and fun. I’m always good for an easy laugh and quick entertainment.

All of it is on purpose, of course, my good cop act a complete ruse to make people drop their guard.

Tanner knows the truth, but then that’s expected of a best friend. People believe we’re opposites, and maybe in the temperature of our temperament, we are. Where he’s hot, I’m cold. And where he’s quick to react, I take my time.

Tanner will steamroll anybody who challenges him, while I’ll seduce them into believing they’re safe before sneaking up behind them.

But that’s not the only reason Tanner and I are so close. It also has everything to do with what he’s witnessed.

Just like Ivy.

Although she was never invited by me to see that truth.

Like always, this woman didn’t ask permission to know who I am, she simply walked her beautiful ass into the wrong situation and stole it.

She turns to see I’m only a foot away from her, a gasp bursting from her lips as she flinches.

“Jesus Christ, Gabe.”

Taking a step back, her mouth twists into a frown when I close the distance again.

She stills in place, challenge rolling behind her eyes.

“What are you going to do? Murder me? Finally make good on all the threats you made in high school?”

I stare at her and grin to see Ivy fidget in place. Silence falls between us, but she can’t stand it. Her lips parting again to fill it.

“What if I just apologize for what happened and we leave it at that? Go on with our separate lives as if we never knew each other? You can fix whatever you did to make my dad hate me, and we can pretend all of this never happened.”

She never shuts up. I’ve always liked that about her. It makes her more interesting than most people. It means her mind is moving faster than her mouth, her filter usually entirely absent so that I get a front row view of every thought.

Right now she’s wavering, short-circuiting. But then she always has around me, and I like that, too.

“What are you doing?” she asks when I stand here patiently watching her without saying a damn word in response.

I’m gathering intel, examining, assessing. It’s what I do with every person, but especially her.

You have no idea how boring most people are. They say the same things. Do the same things. Act like clones of each other when