The Lies We Tell (The Four #1) - Becca Steele Page 0,28

to accept. He stared at me, his mouth set in a flat line.

“What’s that tattoo?” he said suddenly, pointing at my upturned arm.

“You’ve seen it before, haven’t you?” I raised a brow at him.

“I haven’t really taken any notice of it before,” he admitted, finally taking my outstretched hand and pulling me closer.

Why did my hand feel so good in his?

“Quadrantids,” I managed to stutter.

“The fuck are you saying? Is that English?”

“The tattoo.”

He dropped my hand and lifted my arm to inspect it, trailing a finger across the meteor shooting across the sky—well, across my arm. What was he doing? I shivered, again. For fuck’s sake.

Swallowing hard, I tried to concentrate on what he was asking me.

The meteor itself was tattooed near my wrist, and the trail extended almost all the way to my inner elbow, sparks flying all along it. I had a few tattoos, but this was by far my favourite. It held a special meaning to me.

“It’s a shooting star?”

“Yeah. Well, a meteor, really. The Quadrantids are a meteor shower that happens every January. My dad is—was an astrophysics professor, and he liked to tell me this story of how I was born. And it reminds me of him, so I had the tattoo.”

“What’s the story?” I looked up to see Weston, his head cocked at me, and Cassius and Zayde eyeing my tattoo. They were standing much closer than they had been a moment ago. My attention had been so focused on Caiden’s hand on my arm, I’d completely tuned out my surroundings.

Caiden’s head shot up, too, and he blinked several times, as if he’d been as surprised as I was. He dropped my arm, looking away from me.

“You really want to hear the story now? Right before we’re about to go into the party?”

“No.”

Right. I rolled my eyes at Caiden. “I’ll save it for another time. We can compare tattoos and bond with each other. You can tell me all about the matching tattoos you four have.”

Cassius’ lips curved up in amusement at my sarcastic tone. “The more time I spend around you, the more I like you.”

“I’m very likeable.”

“Enough of this. Let’s just get inside and get this shitshow over with,” Zayde commanded, striding towards the doors. I quickly tucked my arm into Caiden’s before he could say anything. He stiffened but didn’t protest.

Zayde opened the doors.

Showtime.

TEN

It was amazing, the change that came over the Four. Their faces became blank masks, their postures straightened, and they strode into the room like they owned the place. Heads turned, women openly admiring them, the men ranging from admiration, to envy, to something akin to hatred.

As their attention turned to me, I saw curiosity and disdain, and from some of the men…looks that I really didn’t want them to be giving me, making my skin crawl. Maybe this dress had been a bad idea. I stumbled once but recovered and adopted my own blank expression to match the boys, trying to channel their confident stance. Even though I’d felt confident earlier, being the focus of all this attention now…I won’t lie, it shook me. Still, fake it till you make it, right? I wouldn’t let anyone see that I was freaking out inside.

“You’re okay,” Caiden murmured in my ear, proving that I wasn’t so good at faking the confidence, after all. Then he added, “Stop digging your fucking fingers into my arm.”

Oh yeah. I did have a bit of a death grip going on. I loosened my fingers as Caiden, Weston, and I headed over to where our parents were standing, while Cassius and Zayde worked the room, turning on the charm in a way I’d never seen before.

“Winter, darling.” A huge, fake smile spread across my mother’s face as she pulled me away from Caiden and into a hug, kissing my cheek. I stood stiffly, surprised, but at Weston’s throat clearing, I reciprocated the hug, pasting an equally fake smile on my face as she held me at arm’s length to look me over critically. “Couldn’t you have chosen a longer dress?” she tutted, frowning in displeasure.

“You didn’t specify. I’ve never been to one of these parties before, so I didn’t know,” I shrugged, playing innocent.

Her face smoothed. “Of course. John was never one for parties. I’m surprised you’ve turned out so well mannered, all things considered.”

I tried so, so hard to keep my control, speaking through gritted teeth while I dug my nails into the palms of my hands to take my mind off the