Half-Truths: New York Times Bestselling Author

by Contreras, Claire

  “So do you.”

  “Been putting in overtime at the gym.” He flexed his bicep to show me.

  “I can tell.”

  “I guess that’s what happens when your girlfriend leaves you. You get bored and workout more often.”

  “Hm. I bet your coach wishes I’d left you sooner.”

  Travis laughed. “Probably.”

  “Are you ready to graduate?”

  “I am. Ready to graduate, ready to start law school. I’m excited.” He smiled. “I got into Princeton.”

  “Holy shit.” I gaped, slapping him on the arm. “When did you find out?”

  “A couple of weeks ago.”

  “You should’ve told me.” I slapped him again. “That’s crazy amazing, Trav.”

  “Yeah. I’m happy. Mom’s happy. Dad’s ecstatic. I think he reported it on the news the other day instead of the weather.” He laughed.

  “I’m so freaking proud of you.” I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. With the movement, I could definitely feel my toga riding down in my chest area, so I lowered myself and fixed myself quickly, just in case.

  I’d learned as a teenager that getting drunk at parties wasn’t a brilliant idea, but if you were going to do it, you should always be mindful of your wardrobe and your surroundings. I’d learned that, of course, by wearing a tube top at a party. Thankfully, there was no recorded proof of what happened, but I never let myself live it down.

  “Hey, you want to go outside?”

  “Sure.” I grabbed a bottle of water and started walking beside Travis, quickly grabbing onto his arm when I realized the room was indeed tilting again.

  “You really did have a lot of shots earlier, huh?” He smiled down at me. “You usually only do the public affection thing when you’re drunk.”

  “Not true.” I frowned. “And I’m not being affectionate. I’m holding onto your arm so I don’t fall over.”

  The wind blew my hair wildly. I reached up with one hand and fixed the thin gold crown on my head, pressing myself closer to his body for body warmth. We walked to the edge of the wraparound porch. I let go of his arm and leaned against the column. He stood between my legs and brought a hand up to my face.

  “I miss you, Mae.”

  “I miss you too.” I closed my eyes.

  Right now, in this moment, I thought maybe I did miss him. Every other day, I hadn’t really. Not that I hadn’t thought about him or wondered what he was doing. He was my safety for so long, it felt weird not to have him around, but still, I couldn’t truly say I missed him. Or us.

  “So, let’s work this out.”

  “No.” My eyes popped open. “I miss you, but that doesn’t mean I want to be with you. We don’t work together, Trav. You know this.”

  “We can try again.”

  “I knew this was a bad idea.” I shook my head, walking a little further down the porch, pulling far away enough that he had no choice but to drop his arms.

  “Mae.” He exhaled loudly and reached for me again. I took another step back. “We can be friends. Forget I said anything.”

  I looked at him. I knew him so well, too well, to believe he’d want to talk and just leave it at that. From the way he was looking at me, I knew he still wanted me, and the only thing I wanted was the comfort his arms brought, and the ease I felt around him, not because I was in love with him, but because I had been once. I seemed to be so far from that girl though. Too much had happened.

  “Do you mind if I go inside and grab a beer?” Travis asked.

  “Not at all.” I sat down on the white swing. “I’ll be right here.”

  He looked at me one last time before he disappeared inside. I sat down on the swing and leaned my head back, closing my eyes as I kicked my foot away from the porch and let myself swing.

  “That looks comfy.” It was Hailey.

  “It is.” I kept my eyes closed.

  “Mind if I join you?”

  I shrugged and finally opened my eyes to meet hers as she took a seat. Her toga covered a lot more than mine. I’d never seen her with her hair up in a bun like that.

  “How shitty is this party?” She rested her head beside mine.

  “It’s not bad.” I smiled.

  “I haven’t gone inside yet. I just got here.” She tapped the porch with the front of her foot and started swinging us. “Did you know that approximately ten thousand people go missing each year here?”

  “I didn’t realize it was that many, no.” I eyed her. She looked like she was high on something. Not that I knew Hailey to do drugs, but who knew anymore. “Where did that piece of information come from?”

  “I was researching something earlier and it came up.”

  “What were you researching?”

  “Just . . . things.” She closed her eyes. “I guess there’s a club for girls to hire sugar daddies.”

  “Oh?” My heart beat faster.

  “I was using my mom’s computer and saw she’d marked the tab. Probably research for a story.”

  “What did the website say?”

  “It was catered towards students who needed money and mentorships, but everything was so . . . I don’t know.” Her eyes popped open. She looked at me in a haze. Maybe mine, maybe hers. My head was spinning with information and the swing. “The website looked sexy.”

  “Did you ask your mom about it?”

  “Actually, I did. She said Lana had told her about it. I guess she wanted to write a story on it for the paper. It’s weird that she’d disappear while investigating that and secret societies, isn’t it?”

  “I guess.” My heart continued hammering.

  “This is why these secret groups need to be brought to light. Secrets can be dangerous, you know?”

  My palm itched. I nodded in agreement. Secrets can be dangerous.

  “Remind me again why you’re so obsessed with this particular society?”

  “If the two things are linked, they could be human traffickers for all we know.”

  “Oh my God.” My heart pounded. “I doubt it. Wouldn’t they have been caught?”

  I wanted to tell her that was ridiculous, but what the hell did I know, though? I couldn’t exactly scratch that off the list of things that may be going on. Could my father be involved in something like that? I wanted to shout no way, but if he was really sleeping with Lana, his friend’s daughter, his son’s friend, a girl not much older than his own daughter, I couldn’t be sure of anything. I felt sick.

  “Not necessarily. I don’t doubt it at all.” She looked away from me. “Have you had any more run-ins with Fitz, the man, and his little crew?”

  “Um. A couple. Why?”

  “Because he’s watching you like a hawk right now.”

  I tore my gaze from hers and looked beyond the rail of the balcony. My heart galloped when my eyes met his. Even in the dark, I knew he was looking right at me. I didn’t know how Hailey knew that, though. I looked at her again.

  “He could be looking at you, you know.”

  “Yeah, right.” She scoffed. “I tried that once, nothing came of it. Even when he’s drunk and comes by the bar and I think I just might get somewhere, I don’t. The guy has a fort built around his feelings.”

  I glanced in his direction again. Not too long ago, I used to think that about him. Now I wasn’t so sure. Logan was the kind of guy who was used to people making assumptions about him. Maybe that was why he was always quiet and brooding in front of people he didn’t know. Maybe he was trying to figure out what version of himself we wanted him to play. I liked to think that he was himself in front of me. My heart skipped a beat at the thought. The screen door opened with a squeak beside us and shut with a thump. Hailey and I turned our heads to see Travis coming back with a beer in one hand and a red cup in another.

  “Oh, you’ve got company.” He handed me the red cup. The whiskey didn’t even burn my throat as I took a sip. “I was worried I’d taken too long. I’m Travis.”

  �
��Hailey,” she responded. “I haven’t seen you around.”

  “The campus has its own zip code. You know everyone on it?”

  Hailey laughed. “Nah, but I’d remember you.”

  “Some people are worth remembering, am I right?” Travis chuckled.

  I rolled my eyes and kicked my foot to start the swing again.

  “Definitely,” she agreed.

  He was trying to make me jealous and it wasn’t going to work. Either way, I didn’t feel like sitting there while he flirted with Hailey, so I stopped swinging and stood.

  “Going to the bathroom. See you later, Hailey.” I smiled at her as I brushed past Travis. “You’re welcome to take a seat beside her and continue your conversation while I’m gone.”

  I didn’t wait for a response, instead, I actually did head to the bathroom, closed the door behind me and dragged the shower curtain open to make sure no one was there. Once I knew I was in the clear, I sat on the edge of the tub, kicking my leg up and leaning on the tile behind me with a sigh. I lifted the red cup to my mouth and took a sip. At least I had this.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  My phone buzzed in the wristlet purse I was wearing. Closing my eyes, I banged my head against the tile. It was probably Travis, calling to see where I was, and the thing was, I didn’t want to talk to him right now. Seeing him was great for all of five minutes, but I was over it now. I set the cup down inside the tub and opened my purse, taking my phone out. It wasn’t a call, it was a text, and it wasn’t from Travis, but from Logan.

  Logan Fitzgerald: Are you ready to leave the party?

  Me: Currently locked in the bathroom because I’m dying to leave the party, so yes.

  I stared at the little dots as he formulated a response. When he took too long, I picked up my cup again. I was mid-sip when the pound on the door came. It made me jump so fast, I spilled whiskey on the front of my toga.

  “Motherfucker.” I walked over to the door. “Occupied!”

  “It’s me.”

  I groaned, but unlocked the door anyway, before heading to the sink. The door opened, closed, and locked, but I didn’t bother to look up as I cupped water and splashed it on the fabric over my chest.

  “You made me ruin my toga.”

  “What are you doing in here?”

  “Getting drunk.” I shut the faucet and looked at him, blinking when I finally got a good look.

  He looked like he belonged in a toga, like an emperor, and the rest of us mere thespians in a school play. Logan, with his dark hair—tame yet messy—his dark green eyes, his golden skin and roped muscle, in a toga was definitely something to be admired.

  “You’re staring.”

  “I’m drunk.” I closed my eyes, shaking my head.

  “Yet you’re still drinking, apparently.” He closed the distance between us just as I opened my eyes and suddenly, he was standing within touching distance, kissing distance, and my heart couldn’t seem to handle the mixture of his proximity and the alcohol swooshing in my brain.

  “You know what? You should just kiss me.”

  “Oh yeah?” His lips twitched. “Why’s that?”

  “Because the last time we kissed it was pretty good.” I leaned closer to him. “And you obviously wanna do it again.”

  “Is that so?” He chuckled as he brought his hand to my face.

  “It is.” I searched his eyes. He was entirely too amused and apparently too sober.

  “Do you want me to kiss you?” His thumb caressed my jaw as I nodded. “Tell me.”

  “I want you to kiss me so bad you have no idea.” My arm felt like lead as I lifted it and draped it over his naked neck. I let it slide and grabbed onto his shoulder blade. “You have a big muscle here.”

  Logan laughed. “Oh, Mae.”

  “What?” I blinked. “Are you going to kiss me or what?”

  “I am.” He leaned closer still. I closed my eyes upon feeling his breath on my lips, then his lips landed right at the corner of mine. My heart stopped. Suddenly, I felt like I was going to puke and it had little to do with the alcohol and more to do with the butterflies running rampant “I’m just not going to kiss you right now.”

  “What?” My eyes popped open. He laughed. Placing my palms on his chest, I shoved him away. “You’re an asshole.”

  He laughed louder and reached for my hands, but I stepped away.

  “No. Keep laughing. I’ll find someone else to kiss at this party.” I moved to brush past him, but he grabbed my hand and pulled me back. I turned to face him. “I bet you if your last partner would’ve asked you to kiss her, you would have,” I said. “Oh, that’s right, you did.” I yanked my arm from his grasp.

  “Amelia, you seriously need to let that go. Besides, your entire chest is showing because you splashed water on the white sheet you’re wearing. The fact that you haven’t noticed or care means you’re drunker than you think.” His gaze moved from my face and darkened when it reached my chest. “And I’m not letting you leave this bathroom like that.”

  “What do you expect me to do, Julius Caesar? Do you have another sheet I can use lying around? Besides, who the hell cares? Nobody will notice.”

  “Trust me, they’ll notice.”

  “They won’t.” I rolled my eyes.

  “Well, I’ll notice and that’s enough.” He grabbed the white towel hanging on the towel bar and wrapped it around me. “Here.”

  “Thanks.” I pulled it tightly around myself. “Now, wait a minute before you come outside. I don’t want to give people the wrong impression.” I shot him a look. “If you would’ve kissed me, I wouldn’t have minded the rumors, but I’m not going to go down as one of your groupies without cause.”

  His loud groan was the only indication I got on his agreement as I walked out and closed the door behind me. I froze at the sight of Travis in the hall, right outside the door.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “You took a long ass time in the bathroom.” He frowned, looking at the door. “Let’s go back outside.” I moved forward, grabbing his arm.

  “Nah, I’m good right here.”

  “Trav. Come on.” I tugged his arm again.

  His gaze met mine. “Who were you in there with?”

  “A friend. It wasn’t . . . it’s not . . . ” I stopped talking. Why was I explaining myself to my ex-boyfriend? “It doesn’t matter.”

  It was loud in here with Lizzo’s “Truth Hurts” blasting from the DJ’s speakers and the women shouting the lyrics, but I still heard the moment the bathroom door opened behind me. Or maybe it was Travis’s eyes widening slightly that gave it away. Either way, my heart picked up a few notches.

  “A friend,” he said, looking at me again. “Nice try. You storm in here acting all pissed off because I’m flirting with someone and grab the first guy you see? Is that what happened?”

  “First of all, I was not pissed off. Flirt all you want. I don’t care,” I said. “Secondly, that’s none of your business.”

  “Who the fuck are you?” Those were Logan’s words, booming from behind me.

  My mind instantly went to the last party I went to, where Celia said that the minute the hockey players showed up, they caused a ruckus. I stepped back, hoping to act as a shield both ways. Logan damn well knew who Travis was and he knew he’d be here tonight. He was just trying to start trouble.

  “Who the fuck are you is the real question.” Travis pushed away from the wall, standing at his full height.

  I wasn’t even sure who could win this fight. If I were a betting person, I wouldn’t bet on it at all. I knew Logan had a rough upbringing, with his dad and all, but Travis had grown up in a bad part of the city, the kind where people took their bikes inside their apartment and chained them anyway.

  “I already told you, he’s my friend.” I glared at Travis.

  “Friend.” Logan scoffed. “We’re not friends, Amelia.”

  In my drunken state, that hurt. It wasn’t that he said we weren’t frie
nds, but the distasteful way in which he’d said it that got me. I managed to shoot him a glare over my shoulder and almost took it back when I got a good look at his clenched jaw and flexed bicep. He definitely looked like he was ready to fight.

  “This is my ex-boyfriend. Travis, this is my friend, Logan.”

  “Stop calling me your friend.” Logan’s glare met mine.

  “Are you kidding? You wouldn’t even kiss me in there and you want me to call you what exactly, if not my friend?”

  Travis snorted. Logan’s gaze turned murderous. I started sweating, my feet shifting as I stood my ground between them. I was definitely sober now.

  “Okay, I’m going to walk away from both of you now because you’re both being ridiculous.”

  “I’ll go with you,” Travis said.

  “Fuck you. She’s leaving with me.” Logan stepped up to my side.

  In the old romance movies I’d watch with my parents, this was the scene that would always make me giddy—two men fighting over the same woman. Who wouldn’t want that? Well, the answer was me. I didn’t want that and the entire thing was making me feel sick. Really sick this time. My stomach made an angry sound that had me running back to the bathroom and kneeling over the toilet. I held on to the bowl with both hands and threw up again. From the corner of my eye, I could see them both standing by the door. I glanced up briefly before turning my face toward the bowl again.

  “Please leave,” I whispered.

  I flushed the toilet but stayed on the floor. I was disgusting. I’d never vomited in my life, not from drinking, not in front of Travis, who was staring at me with a look on his face that said he might vomit soon too if he didn’t get out of here. I heard shuffling and closed my eyes at the loud whispered discussion they were having that I couldn’t make out on top of the EDM music that was now playing. Soon after, there was banging, and then shouting and finally, the door opened and closed again. I didn’t even bother to look up.

  “Please leave. I’m throwing up.”

  The footsteps continued toward me. This time I did look up because guys were stupid and didn’t know how to aim in the first place, and I definitely didn’t want a drunk one to pee on me by mistake. I was surprised to see it was Logan walking toward me with paper towels and a bottle of water.