A Truth and a Lie

by V. Sousa

  I cracked the window open a tiny bit and frowned up at him. “Sammy knows I’m with you, so if you’re here to kill me, I’m just warning you that your friendship is going to be over, and he will probably murder your ass.”

  I got a little laugh out of him before he shoved the key in my door and unlocked it, then yanked it open. “Don’t be so dramatic, Rose. I want to show you something.”

  I contemplated not going, but my curiosity got the best of me, so I quickly got out, not giving myself time to change my mind.

  “You know this is how they come up with horror stories,” I rushed out, ducking when I heard leaves rustling over my head. “You’re never supposed to go into the woods in the middle of nowhere at night.”

  He didn’t respond, just pulled me behind him toward a trail entrance, and after walking uphill for ten minutes, we reached this huge clearing.

  I was about to continue my shit talking but I was stunned into silence when I looked up.

  The intense vibrancy of the moonlight lit the clearing, and the stars looked so close that I was tempted to reach a hand out and see what happened.

  I could feel Emmett staring at me, probably waiting for me to say something, but this view had me at a loss for words.

  “It’s so beautiful. How did you find this place?” I asked, not looking away.

  “Well, I know you like to look at the stars, so I got bored one day and went exploring.” He pulled a blanket out of nowhere and laid it on the ground. He motioned for me to lay down, so I awkwardly slid down onto the blanket, cursing my decision to wear such a short dress.

  I didn’t think this place could get any more perfect, but when I laid back and looked up, it did. This place just became my favorite place in the entire world, so I officially made this our spot.

  “Oh, my God, Emmett, this is so beautiful.” I finally looked away to turn to him and frowned when I noticed his eyes were black.

  I looked away from him and let out a sad sigh. I wished he would just talk to me and tell me what was wrong.

  “How was your dad’s?” I asked.

  “Fine.”

  I hated that I had to force it out of him, but he would be like this for a while if he didn’t let it out now. “Emmett, what’s wrong?”

  He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “Sometimes, I just wish my father would leave me be. He wants me to be just like him and go into business with him, but the last thing I want is to be tied to my father. There are so many things my father does that are unnecessary and just cruel. I don’t know. I just wish he was more like your dad. I’ve always respected that your father keeps business away from you guys as much as possible and doesn’t force it on you.”

  It broke my heart to see him so sad like this, but a part of me loved the fact that I was the only person who saw this side of him.

  “I know what you mean. No offense, but your dad’s an asshole,” I said with a shrug.

  He gave me a small laugh in response.

  “See, there’s that laugh I love to hear. If it makes you feel any better, my father has guards follow me around, and he thinks I don’t know. I swear, the other day, one of them accidentally followed me into the bathroom.”

  “I wish it were that simple for me,” he whispered.

  I didn’t know how to respond, so I just kept quiet.

  It was silent for a little while, and it was starting to make me antsy. The silence made it so that you were in your own head, and that was when your thoughts took over, so I blurted out the first thing I could think of.

  “Emmett, tell me a lie?”

  I practically heard him roll his eyes. “Not this again, Rosie. You know I don’t like this game.”

  “First of all, it’s not a game. It’s a form of communication, and second, it will grow on you, so hush up and tell me.”

  “Fine, but only one. I liked the shirt you wore to school today.”

  Well, that was rude. “Geez, if this is the lie, then I’m scared to hear the truth.”

  “You should be scared. I sure as hell am.”

  I waited for him to continue, but he never did, so I got pushy. “Well, go on, tell me your truth.” I flicked his hand.

  “I love you, Rose.”

  “Okay, I love you too, but tell me.”

  “No, Rose, I love you. That’s my truth.”

  Was I missing something? “Huh?”

  “I mean, I want to be with you. Boyfriend and girlfriend, and maybe I’m talking crazy, but I kind of want to marry you too. Not now because we’re still young, but in the future. I talked to Sammy, and he’s cool with it. He actually said, ‘It’s about damn time,’ and he also threatened my life, but that’s beside the point, and I’m rambling, but it’s only because—”

  I decided to put him out of his misery and put my hand over his mouth. “Of course I’ll be your girlfriend. It’s about damn time,” I said with the biggest smile.

  He pulled me onto his lap and grabbed both sides of my face. “You’re so damn beautiful.” He ran his thumb along my bottom lip, and I melted into his touch. He slowly pulled me closer, and I leaned into him until, finally, his lips met mine. It took him a torturous full second before he deepened the kiss, and I let out a soft moan.

  And I swear, in that very moment, everything felt right.

  It was as if nothing could really be that bad because at least we had each other. Like, no matter what happened in life, it would always be okay—even if it was only for a little while.

  Five

  Rose

  I had about thirty seconds of peace when I woke up this morning, but then everything that happened last night at dinner came rushing back to me and made me wish I was still asleep.

  I honestly didn’t know how to feel about this whole situation. I knew running out of dinner hadn’t been the best way to go about it, but I didn’t see that shit coming, and I’d just needed space before I said or did something crazy.

  I had always figured I would be married off for tactical reasons, but after I turned eighteen, there was no more talk of marriage, so I figured it wasn’t going to happen.

  I used to hear whispers from the other bosses’ wives, saying that the people my brother and I were being married off to had already been chosen for years.

  After Sammy died though, the only whispers I heard were that nobody would want to marry such a broken girl. They all laughed when one woman mentioned that the men enjoyed breaking their wives in themselves, and me being in the state that I was in, took the fun out of it for them. Safe to say, I never when to another event after that.

  I was really dreading leaving my bedroom and facing my parents, but delaying the inevitable was pointless, and it was time to put on my big-girl panties.

  Of course, the minute I went down the stairs, I saw my father sitting in his office. He looked up at the sound of my footsteps and barked at me, “Rose, come in here, please.”

  I took my sweet-ass time walking in because I was pissed at him, which earned me a dirty look in response. Oh well.

  “I will not have you embarrassing me like that again. It makes me look weak that my daughter does whatever she feels as if she has no consequences.”

  Now, I knew I was very fortunate because my father had never been the type to raise a hand to me, Sammy, or my mom, and he tried his hardest to give us the most normal life possible. The last thing I wanted was for him to look weak, but what did he expect me to do? Thank him?

  “I’m sorry, but I wasn’t expecting that,” I said with a shrug.

  “And I know that, but my hands are tied. The last thing I wanted for you was this, but I can’t afford another war. Be grateful you get to marry Emmett and not someone you don’t know.”

  He wasn’t even giving me the option to say no to the marriage, practically telling me that if I didn’t marry Emmett, there would be a war, and the lives lost would be on me. He knew exactly how to get me to go along with this. I would never be able to live with myself if people died because of a dec
ision I’d made.

  I was about to tell him that it wasn’t fair to put that on me when he continued, “I thought you’d be happy considering you guys were such good friends growing up.”

  Little did my father know, Emmett and I were much more than “good friends.”

  Nobody other than Sammy and my best friend, Claire, knew that little piece of information, though.

  “Things change. We haven’t been friends for a while now.”

  “Very well, then. Like I said before, be grateful it’s someone you know and not a stranger.” This time, his voice was stern, telling me I needed to stop arguing.

  I hadn’t talked to Emmett since Sammy’s funeral, so I think, at this point, it was safe to say that I really didn’t know him anymore, so he might as well be a stranger to me. But I knew when I was fighting a battle I couldn’t win, which this was, so there was no sense in me continuing it.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry I embarrassed you,” I said through gritted teeth.

  He nodded and straightened his shirt. “Just don’t let it happen again.”

  Not knowing what else to say, I turned and walked out of his office and back to my room.

  I needed to get out of this house. Everything that was going on was making me crazy.

  Grabbing my phone, I texted Claire.

  Rose: Hey, girl, any plans for tonight?

  Claire and I had been friends since we were freshmen in high school.

  One day, I was on my way to the cafeteria when I saw Emmett talking to Victoria Diego. She was captain of the cheerleading squad, blonde hair and blue eyes—the typical bitch that no one and everyone liked. Emmett had hooked up with her off and on for a while but broke it off a few months before.

  Now, at this point, I would’ve liked to say that Emmett and I were on our way to becoming more than friends, so seeing him with Barbie 2.0 was really a punch in the balls.

  Not wanting him to see me hurt, I went into the bathroom, and, of course, Victoria followed me. She came up behind me while I was wiping my eyes and looked at me through the reflection of the mirror.

  “He will never want someone like you. You’re so boring and act like his little puppy dog.” I wanted to laugh when she said that, like how much more cliché could this get.

  Next, she was probably going to give me the whole “He’s mine, so stay away from him” speech.

  I turned around and was ready to give her my full wrath when out of nowhere, a girl with bright red hair flew out of one of the bathroom stalls and just punched Victoria dead in her face, causing her to fall on the nasty bathroom floor.

  The girl turned to me and said, “I really can’t stand the bitch.” She let out a breath and stuck her hand out toward me. “My name’s Claire,” she said with a wink, and we’d been best friends since.

  My phone started ringing, and I answered when I saw that it was Claire. I didn’t even have time to say hello before she was talking.

  “Now, I do. We’re going to the club.”

  Ugh, I hated the club. Huge crowds of people made me paranoid, especially when under the influence of copious amounts of alcohol, but I guess it was either that or staying home all night, wallowing in my self-pity.

  I’ll take the club for two, please (insert smiley face here).

  “Okay, meet at my place?”

  “I’ll be there in an hour,” she replied before hanging up.

  An hour later, I spotted Claire walking up my driveway with a suitcase rolling behind her.

  Here we go.

  Opening the front door, I pulled her in before my father could see her in the security footage. “I thought we were going to a club, not on vacation?” I said in a rush.

  “We need options. We’re going to that new club that just opened downtown, which is twenty-one plus, so we have to look the part,” she said with a wink. “I convinced Tommy to give us a ride, but I didn’t tell him we were going to the club because we don’t need him hovering.”

  Tommy is Claire’s hot older brother, who had been friends with Emmett for years. Sammy too when he was alive.

  Tommy’s a little taller than six-foot, with dark brown hair, ocean blue eyes, and a killer fucking body. He looked like a pretty boy, but he had gotten into a few fights in my presence, and let me just say, he was extremely underestimated in all of them.

  There had been a few times where I’d had to snap out of the trance that his mouthwatering figure had put me in, especially now that he was covered in tattoos.

  “I haven’t seen Tommy in forever. Why can’t he hang out with us?”

  “Because, Rose, he’s friends with the enemy, and we don’t associate with the likes of them,” she stated.

  Emmett and Tommy still talked to each other a lot from what Claire told me, but I couldn’t hold it against Tommy because even though Emmett did me dirty, it didn’t mean that he deserved a lonely, miserable life.

  “Don’t you think you’re being a little overdramatic? He’s your brother. Besides, if I don’t have a problem with him, you shouldn’t have a problem either. Tommy’s cool.”

  “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but since you’re being pushy”—she put her hands on her hips and huffed—“ever since Tommy has gotten back from summer break, he and Emmett have been hanging out almost every day, and I don’t want to invite Tommy, and then Tommy invite Emmett.”

  Fair point. Moving on.

  I really wanted to tell Claire about what was going on, but I knew she would ask a million questions, and tonight, I just wanted to drink and pretend like I wasn’t being coerced into marrying Emmett Rossi.

  Looking through the clothes Claire brought, I decided on a beautiful backless wine-colored sparkly dress that showed the perfect amount of boob.

  I might as well go wild, considering in five months and twenty-nine days, I was going to be getting married.

  I went into the bathroom to put the dress on when I heard Claire whisper-yelling on the phone. “What do you mean you’re going to pick up Emmett? I told you to be here to pick us up at nine, and it’s already ten.” She must have been talking to Tommy.

  I would have loved to have heard Tommy’s response. He wasn’t always the brightest bulb when it came to certain things.

  “No, Emmett cannot go with you to drop us off. What is wrong with you? Just turn around and come get us—alone.”

  She must’ve hung up because the next thing I knew, she was barging into the bathroom. “Damn, girl, you clean up nice. If I were into girls, my face would be motorboating the shit out of your tits.”

  Looking at her outfit, she’d picked a cute plain wine-colored crop top and a jean skirt, an odd pair up, but like anything else, she pulled it off nicely.

  “You’re not looking so bad yourself. We kind of match.”

  She pulled two whiskey nips out of her bra and passed them to me. We silently cheered and threw it back, grimacing at the warm, spicy taste of cinnamon.

  “Are you ready? Tommy’s five minutes away,” Claire said before moving to the mirror and doing a final check of her appearance.

  “Yeah, let’s head down now and meet him at the bottom of the driveway. I don’t want my dad to see us.”

  Usually, I wouldn’t care if my father saw me going out, but I didn’t want him to tell Emmett I was going out all dressed up and make him suspicious.

  By the time we reached the bottom of the drive, Tommy’s Maserati was pulling up to the sidewalk, and he was rolling the window down.

  “I thought I was bringing you guys to the movies. Why are you two dressed like you’re about to go to a brothel?” he yelled at us from inside the car.

  I didn’t know if I should be insulted or if I should laugh. I knew my dress was a little skimpy, but I didn’t think it was brothel skimpy.

  I rolled my eyes at him and laughed. “Hello to you too, Tommy. Yes, it has been a while, and it’s great to see you too.”

  “Oh, come on, Rosie, you know I still love you.” He got out of the car and rounded the f
ront, pulling me in for a big hug. “Just give me the word, and we can run away together.” He lifted me, spinning us around a few times before gently placing me back on the ground and kissing me on the cheek.

  “I’m ready right now if you want to go.” I was only half-joking, of course.

  Although running away with Tommy sounded much more appealing than having to look at Emmett’s stupid face every day after we were married.

  Who was I kidding, though? If I were ever to run away, it would either be Emmett or my father hunting me down. They were very resourceful men, and the mafia made it so that they had fingers in every pie, my father more than Emmett, but I was sure the both of them would make it a team effort.

  Claire shoved her arms between the two of us and used all her strength to push Tommy away from me. “First of all, ew, no, she will not run away with you. Second, just because we’re going to the movies does not mean we can’t dress up.”

  “Didn’t that club just open up across the street from the theater?” He gave us a look that said he wasn’t stupid.

  Shit. We were busted.

  “It’s twenty-one plus, genius, and last time I checked, Rose and I still have a few months until then.”

  I’d always admired how Claire could talk us out of any situation. She had a way of mixing some truth with the lie and adding a dash of annoyance in her voice to make the other person feel stupid for even asking. I had no doubt in my mind that she was going to be able to get us into this club.

  Tommy let out a huff of annoyance. “Fine. Let’s go.”

  We all jumped in the car, and ten minutes later, we were pulling up to the movie theaters.

  I took a quick look across the street to see the line outside of the club, and I was getting impatient just looking at it. I mean, it was a Sunday night.

  Granted, it was a holiday weekend, but still, it was Sunday. Didn’t anybody go to church anymore?

  I could only imagine what this place looked like on a Friday or a Saturday.

  “Thanks, bro,” Claire said, slapping him on the shoulder. “I’ll text you later to pick us up when the movie’s done.”