A Love Song for Liars (Rivals #1) - Piper Lawson Page 0,12

from the label or school or hanging out if it was one of those nights. The worst part wasn’t finding a place to crash. It was waking up and not knowing where I was.” He grimaces. “Especially somewhere cold.”

I set my coffee on the counter, my stunned gaze never leaving his face as I think of the T-shirt he must’ve pulled over me after I passed out, the blankets tucked in around me. “Tyler—“

“Annie! Your dad wants to talk to you.” Ryan’s voice comes from down the hall.

“Be right there!” I shout back, then lower my voice. “I didn’t mean what I said about you living in the pool house. It was cruel and insensitive, and I’m sorry. You said that thing about my garbage bag, and I lashed out.”

The machine finishes brewing, and Tyler reaches past me to toss the pod. His shoulder brushes my breasts in a way that sends awareness flowing through me. I tuck my hair behind my ear, swallowing as I sneak a look up at him, but he’s oblivious, and before I can respond, he continues.

“We all do shit when we’re hurting. It’s a good reason to keep from getting hurt in the first place.”

I go to the giant fridge for cream, setting it in front of him. He stares at it as if he’s surprised I know how he takes his coffee.

I turn away, going to the cupboard for cereal. “I said I hate you. I don’t. I envy you. You take what you want, and you don’t feel bad about demolishing whatever’s in the way. Like friendships.”

“If we’re not friends, tell me how we’ve talked more this week than in the past four months.”

I freeze in the middle of the kitchen, watching him add cream to his coffee. “Because lately whenever I get into trouble, there you are.”

He puts the cream back in the fridge without so much as an indication he’s heard me. I shake my head to clear it as I set the cereal on the counter. “Listen—don’t tell my dad about Kellan.”

“Or what?”

His words have me stiffening.

If my dad finds out I can’t handle myself, it’s more evidence I’m not as capable as I should be, as capable as Tyler.

Tyler might be the Prince of Oakwood, but he’s in my castle now.

I close the distance between us, stopping when my bare purple-painted toenails graze Tyler’s socks. I tilt my head up to take in every line of his handsome face, his chocolate eyes bright with challenge.

“If you tell Dad about Kellan,” I murmur, “I’ll tell him I woke up in your bed.”

My dad is protective. The day he finds out I’m not innocent, heads will roll.

Tyler’s jaw tics because he knows that too. He reaches up to brush a thumb along my cheek, tracing beneath the pale red scratch I saw in the mirror this morning.

“You’re not built for games,” he replies at last, his breath light on my face. “You’re too earnest.”

“You don’t know me anymore. You said it yourself. Dad would freak if you let me ride your bike. He’d lose his mind if he found out I was riding you.”

Tyler reaches for his coffee on the counter and takes a long sip while I wait impatiently.

“What?” I say sharply, and his mouth twitches.

“I think you’d lose your mind if you were riding me, too.”

His gaze traps mine, and heat floods my body, hardening my nipples, settling between my thighs.

My small victory gets smaller because I’m vibrating from his words.

Our friendship never came with barely veiled innuendos. No sexy, loaded provocation.

So, what the hell is this?

The rules of what’s between us are changing…

But I’m not the one who changed them.

“Annie!” Ryan hollers again.

I take a step back, still staring at Tyler. “Your T-shirt’s in the washing machine. I’ll leave it by the back door.”

All day Monday at school, people are talking behind my back. I’m dreading rehearsal that afternoon, but it’ll be a relief too, because I’ll find out what they’re saying.

Turns out I don’t have to wait long.

Jenna leans over in calc, when the teacher steps out, to whisper, “Are you okay? There’s a rumor going around that you begged Kellan to punch your V-card, he said no, then when he tried to leave, you crawled after him.”

I cut a look at Carly across the room. “That’s how it happened,” I deadpan. “I planned the whole party so some jock would stick his dick in me.”

Jenna goes back to her book. My gaze lands on Pen’s