Beautiful Liar (The Reed Rivers Trilogy #2) - Lauren Rowe Page 0,88
are. He’s stupid.”
“He’s right.”
“No, Ally.”
She looks out the window for a long moment. “Just, please, don’t lie to me again. Not about anything. I know you think you need to protect me, but you don’t. I don’t want your protection. I want your respect.”
I choke back a sob. “I’m sorry.”
She looks at me and melts when she sees the emotion ripping through me. “Aw, sweetie. What happened to you tonight? What did Reed do?”
I shake my head, too mortified to say it out loud, even to Alessandra: he broke my heart. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I rub my eyes. “Tell me about Fish. Did you kiss him?”
She sighs wistfully. “No. I was positive he was finally about to kiss me, when stupid Reed showed up with Keane and Zander to smoke a joint, and the moment was lost.”
“Oh my God. Reed was freaking Godzilla tonight. Smashing everything in his path.”
“Even if we’d kissed, nothing could have come of it, anyway, with me going back to Boston on Monday.” She exhales. “But, dang it, I just wanted to kiss him so much, even if I never saw him again. I just wanted to cap off the perfect night, with the perfect boy, with the perfect kiss...”
“Fucking Reed! In addition to everything else, he fucked up a lifelong memory for you? God, I hate him.”
“Okay, Georgie. Come on. You have to tell me what the hell he did to you.” She grabs my hand. “Because the way he was following us out of the house, babbling and begging, he seemed so desperate and pathetic. So sincere.”
A dam breaks inside me. “He fucked Isabel Randolph!”
Alessandra gasps. “When?”
“Tonight. During the party. In his garage!”
“No.”
“Yes. He said he only kissed her, but I don’t believe him. But even if he did only kiss her, it doesn’t matter. Either way, he’s a liar and a cheater and I can’t trust him.” I wipe my eyes. “I gave him my whole heart, Ally. I trusted him like I’ve never trusted anyone. But none of that mattered to him. He took my heart and stuffed it into his pocket like a pack of gum.” I shake my head at my stupidity. “I bet it drove him crazy when he found out Isabel was engaged. I bet he dragged her into that garage, the first chance he got, to remind her what she’ll be missing out on when she marries her pervy grandpa.”
“Did you actually walk in on them in the garage?”
“No, I saw them as they were coming out. Her lipstick was smudged. Her hair all messed up. She was a hot mess, and he looked like a dog who’d just shit the bed.”
“What did they say when you saw them?”
“Well, Isabel ran off to find her fiancé. I’m sure she was freaking out I might tell him what I saw. And then I dragged Reed into the garage and read him the Riot Act. Which is when he swore he only kissed her and it ‘meant nothing.’” I pause. “And then I went ‘Left Eye’ Lopes on his ass.”
Alessandra’s jaw drops. “You burned down his garage?”
“You know ‘Left Eye’ Lopes?”
“TLC. Georgie, what did you do?”
I smile. “I totaled his Ferrari with a golf club.”
She gasps. “The yellow one that just got back from the shop?”
“That’s the one. I’m thinking maybe Reed should take it back to the shop. Although I don’t think they’ll be able to fix it this time.”
“You seriously totaled it? Or you just gave it a couple dents?”
“I smashed the crap out of it. I literally broke a sweat, I was swinging that damned club so hard and so many times.”
She laughs. “Holy shit. And what did Reed do while you were murdering his Ferrari?”
“Nothing at all. He just stood there watching me, not saying a word.”
“Not a word? Not even ‘no!’?”
I shake my head. “Nope. He didn’t tell me to stop. He stood there with his arms crossed, silently watching me.”
“Now that’s a guy with money to burn.”
“No, that’s a guilty man. He didn’t say anything because he knew he deserved every swing of that club. Because he knew he was lucky I wasn’t swinging the club at his head. Or his Bugatti.” I look out the car window at the passing cars on the freeway. “His non-reaction reaction was an admission of his guilt, Alessandra. I mean, what man, I don’t care how rich he is, lets a woman total his Ferrari over a freaking kiss?”
“Good point.” She winces. “On the flipside, though. If he did only kiss Isabel—not that I’m okay with that at all—but, if he did only kiss her, then, holy fuck, Georgina, you totaled a Ferrari over a freaking kiss. If that’s not going ‘Left Eye’ Lopes on a guy, then I don’t know what is.”
She giggles, but I stare at a car passing us in the adjacent lane.
There’s more to this story, of course. Namely, that Reed is the one who paid my salary. And, quite possibly, pulled strings behind the scenes to get me this job, in the first place. What strings, exactly? I’m not entirely sure. What I do know is that Reed wanted to fuck me, and he arranged things to make that possible, unbeknownst to me. Was it unbeknownst to CeeCee, as well? Again, I’m not entirely sure. The only thing I’m sure about is Reed wanted me, so he paid whatever price, and pulled whatever strings, to get me. And once he got me, he got bored of the game, as he warned me he always does, and moved on.
But I have no desire to tell Alessandra the truth about any of that. It’s far too mortifying to say out loud. Even more so than the idea of Reed having sex with Isabel in that garage.
Is the fact that Reed cheated on me painful? Yes. Embarrassing, too. But it’s a betrayal I can wrap my head around, thanks to Shawn. But admitting I was some sort of purchase to Reed, every bit as much as his Ferrari or Bugatti? Admitting I might not have earned my dream job, like I thought, but, instead, got hired because Reed wanted to sleep with me... and, also, that, maybe, CeeCee was perfectly willing to go along with that plan? Well, shit, all of that is downright soul-crushing.
Alessandra sighs and grabs my hand. “I’m so sorry, Georgie. I know you really liked him.”
No, I loved him, I think. But what I say is, “I really did. And I stupidly thought he was feeling the same way.” Another sob lurches out of me. And then another. Until, suddenly, I’m a weeping mess and the Uber driver is handing me a box of tissues.
“Aw, sweetie, come here,” Alessandra says. She opens her arms and I dive into them, and then proceed to sob from the depths of my soul the rest of the drive to my father’s condo—the tiny two-bedroom in the Valley that, thanks to Reed, is now bought and paid for... every bit as much as me.