First to Lie: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Unraveled Book 1)

by Marie Johnston

  In the kitchen, I couldn’t escape the steady drip from that sink, either. Might as well unplug her fridge for all the food it contained. Leaving to get something for breakfast was the first order of business.

  I pulled aside the drapes to check the weather outside. One end of her picture window was missing a screen and I didn’t have to look out the window to guess the temperature because the cold air drafted through the frame.

  Locating my phone, I called Flynn. My buddy owned an industrial construction company and was just who I needed.

  “Grab your tools and something to eat and get over here. I’ll text you the address.”

  My groggy friend mumbled a curse and I heard a female’s voice reply.

  We hung up and I texted Flynn directions to Mara’s.

  Flynn’s reply: U owe me. Morning wood doesn’t take care of itself.

  I dressed and had time to play a few rounds of Super Mario before Flynn knocked on the door.

  “What a freaking dive, dude.”

  Defensive instinct rose. “It’s not that bad.”

  Flynn snorted and came inside. He carried a bag of food in one hand and an old, dusty bag of tools in the other.

  “How long has it been since you’ve gotten your hands dirty?” I asked.

  “Fuck you. I still do some work. Usually on the weekends so I don’t have to put up with anyone.” Flynn set his bag down but didn’t come any farther inside. “Besides. I like to see how the contractors dick with me when they think I don’t know what they’re talking about.”

  I grabbed the food. “I’m starving. You should see what that girl eats.”

  “If it looks like this place, I don’t want to.” Finally moving inside, he didn’t stop, roaming Mara’s house. “Ready to get your hands dirty, bro?”

  Yeah, actually, I was. I looked forward to hanging out with Flynn and improving Mara’s home.

  Chapter 16

  Mara

  I didn’t want to face Wes. Not after the paradox of last night. The way he’d taken care of me and tucked me in.

  Could I be getting through to him or was it still some elaborate ruse to prove…what? Whatever reason had made him introduce himself as Sam was no longer the reason he stayed Sam. I doubted he’d ever watched a movie with a girl and not gotten past first base. The naïve girl inside of me I couldn’t get away from suggested the intimacy we shared was more than just sex. We enjoyed each other’s company, were physically compatible, and had similar interests. How many couples could watch season after season of Star Trek together? That was more than sex.

  Yet I was the one who was ultimately behind his troubles with the city, and how could I forget the lawsuit?

  Useless. All of it. While he may be deceiving me, I’d had no reason to think he did dirty business. Even Chris’s friend had had to make up a reason to stall Wes’s plans.

  But I’d go along with it because it might buy some time for Wes to come around. Dare I wish for him to apologize for how he’d acted? It was the best-case scenario. The opposite outcome could get very ugly.

  It was already dark when I pulled up to my house. Wes jogged outside to meet me and climbed in.

  Instantly my mood lifted with his ready grin. Then the deep kiss he gave me wiped out the rest of my melancholy.

  What was between us was real. Had to be.

  “Where to?” he murmured against my mouth. “Or should we sit here for a while and keep each other warm?”

  “Groceries first. And then you can warm me up.”

  I backed out while he buckled up. As I drove to the store, I wondered if Wes had ever been in one. Was grocery shopping too plebian of a task? Did he have “people” who did these kinds of things?

  My question was answered as Wes darted from stand to stand. He stopped to read greeting cards and trotted over to show me the funny ones. “People still send these?”

  Then he picked up everything I tossed in the cart and read the ingredients.

  “There’s not even real cheese in this.”

  “No,” I agreed. “But a box of mac and cheese costs a dollar and a small brick of cheese costs four.”

  He grabbed canned green beans. “Look at the sodium in this.”

  “I drain and rinse them first. It helps.”

  He wandered next to me, more subdued. “But even frozen has to be better.”

  “While I could eat healthier on a budget, I’m sticking to dirt cheap until I get back on my feet after Arcadia closes.”

  I watched him closely. He scowled and a zing of satisfaction went through me. He had no idea how the rest of us lived. Never wondered where his next paycheck was coming from. Never been run out of business by a resentful real estate tycoon.

  What must it be like for him? See it, buy it. No thought of cost. No waffling between canned and frozen, or eating based on the weekly sale ad. A million dollars could land in my lap and I didn’t think my thrifty tendencies would vanish.

  We waited to check out and while I noticed all the appreciative glances he received, he inspected the magazines.

  “Have you heard of this new movie with the Greek gods?”

  I nodded and smiled fondly. “I never read the books but I’m going to the movie. Anything Greek has a fond place in my heart.”

  I began unloading my items on the belt and Wes stepped in to help.

  “I was thinking that after this, I wanted to make one stop,” I said.

  “Whatever. You’re driving.” He dropped his head to whisper, “I’m at your mercy.”

  He might not be after I played the last card I had left against Wes’s power and money.

  I explained my reasons without telling him where we were going. “I really appreciate you doing this with me. It’s just that I’ve not gotten the chance to visit this place for months. I should have this summer, but with Arcadia closing, I just feel like I need to stop and pay my respects.”

  Out of the corner of my eyes, Wes’s expression froze. Inch by inch, he turned to face me.

  “Where are we going, Mara?” His tone, so somber, so full of dread.

  “I need to visit my friend before the snow flies. You never know when it’s going to come this time of year.” My voice shook.

  There was still time to turn around. This errand felt dirty, but Wes had to know how much his father meant to me—and how much he still meant to Wes.

  I’d been honest when I’d said I didn’t agree with how Sam had reacted to Wes after the divorce. He’d never come out and said it, but Wes’s mother was indeed a nasty, selfish person.

  Still, I didn’t feel much better than Jennifer Robson as I drove under the wrought-iron archway into the cemetery.

  Wes had fallen quiet, his mouth clamped shut. His hand twitched like he was going to open the door and dive out with a tuck and roll.

  Having been here only once, I found my way without getting lost. His headstone, more like a monument, was in place. It hadn’t yet been erected the last time I’d visited.

  I parked with my headlights not directly on Sam’s resting place. “Are you coming out?”

  His stricken gaze was glued to the towering gray masterpiece. “Why would I? I didn’t know him.”

  Except the pain in his words sounded fresh and torn from his soul.

  Tears prickled my eyes as I walked to the grave. The visit brought clarity as if Sam spoke in my ear that Wes’s actions had to do with Sam and not me directly.

  “What do I do, Sam?” I whispered. A tear rolled down my cheek.

  My friend had been so good at advice, spilling it readily to all who’d listen. A product of his years of being in a leadership position.

  I glanced over my shoulder. Wes’s head was down. This had to be killing him.

  “Why didn’t you tell him? Why’d you cut him off entirely?” Why’d I get dragged into the middle?

  There were no answers from the grave.

  Wes

  I poked at my food. Unappetizing macaroni coated in yellow-dyed powder was soaked
in half a cow’s worth of butter. When Chef made mac and cheese, it was the stuff a five-star restaurant could serve with pride.

  Sam’s grave.

  My stomach turned. What had possessed her to go to Sam’s fucking grave?

  Mara’s gaze was on me, but I wouldn’t look at her. I couldn’t decide if I was furious with her, numb, or should drink a liter of whiskey and crawl inside the bottle.

  She set her fork down. “Are you done?”

  I nodded and she took our plates to the sink.

  “Did you…did you fix my sink?”

  “Yeah,” I said hoarsely. “I had a friend help me.” Without Flynn, I’d have gotten nowhere. “Hope you don’t mind. We also fixed the bathroom sink and the cupboard doors.” She jerked around to look for sure. “And we sealed the windows for winter.”

  “Wow.” She stared at the sink with a stunned expression and my chest threatened to puff with pride. “Thank you. Your friend’s kind of handy to have around.”

  The corner of my mouth lifted at her teasing. “He’s not a bad guy.” A swell of emotion hit me. I liked pleasing her, liked making her life easier, liked joking around with her. Confusion morphed into remorse and the combo churned the processed food in my belly. I pushed back from the table before he did something stupid like confess everything. “Listen, I’m going to have to get going. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Disappointment creased her brow. “Is everything okay?”

  “It’ll be fine. Just not feeling well.” I went in search of my duffel and grabbed my coat, not bothering to put it on.

  She met me at the front door. I dropped a light kiss on her lips before I left, the worry in her eyes haunting me.

  The drive home felt longer than normal. I never looked forward to going home, not like when I went to Mara’s place.

  My house was empty. I pulled into my four-car garage, relieved that my mom hadn’t taken root while I’d been gone.

  I took the stairs at an easy pace and dropped my duffel by the laundry basket. The clothes I’d worn with Flynn were dirty. Flynn had made the crack that I could wash them at Mara’s because he knew full well I had never run a washer in my life.

  In the upper level where I spent the majority of my time, I bypassed my home office and the master bedroom and went to the door at the end of the hall.

  I flipped on the light and faced tubs full of toys and cardboard boxes full of comics. When I’d been shipped off to boarding school on the East Coast, my mom had put them all into storage. A move unusual for my mother, who was more likely to burn things than store them. But even my mom had expressed rare sympathy for how Sam had abandoned me.

  For hours, I sifted through old comics while memories assaulted me. I wondered if that old comic book store was still open.

  A quick search on my phone revealed that it’d been closed for ten years. Years after the divorce. Had Sam gone in until the day the doors had shut? If he had, had he remembered how much fun we used to have? No less than once a month, we’d collected the latest comics.

  I pulled out Sam’s old Star Wars comics. I ran my hand over the plastic cover booklet and recalled Sam’s gruff voice bitching about how the comics in those days weren’t canon and strayed from the origins of the Star Wars universe.

  I smiled despite the sharp pain in my chest. It was why I’d named my night club Canon.

  With a frustrated sigh, I shoved all the books back in place and glared at the piles of toys. I’d completely unravel if I cracked the lid of any of those.

  My phone rang and I expected Mara to be calling, but it was Helen. I frowned. This late on a Saturday? I couldn’t let it go to voicemail.

  “Mr. Robson, I need to meet with you about the findings I have on Miss Baranski.”

  “Meet you at the office in the morning? Ten o’clock?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  I hung up and put my head in my hands. Meeting tonight would’ve been best, but my intuition said I should try to get some rest first.

  Chapter 17

  Wes

  I dressed and drove to my office tower. Helen waited outside and I let us in.

  “We don’t need to mess with going upstairs. Have a seat in the vestibule, Helen.”

  Brusque and to the point, she laid out a folder of papers. “I didn’t have to dig very deep, sir. Two major concerns popped out immediately.”

  She handed me a form and I scanned the print, my eyes narrowing as I read.

  “Is this a trust?”

  “From one William Kostopoulos to Mara Baranski. One point five million dollars when she turned twenty-two.”

  “What’s the relation? Or was it a relationship?”

  She crossed her penny loafers at the ankle and leaned in. “Mind you, the financial department hasn’t dug that far yet. However, I found no marriage certificate for her mother so I assume Baranski is a maiden name. Again, nothing is proven, but something I felt you should know since this seemed an urgent matter.”

  I set the paper down, my heart thundering. “If that’s the first, I’d hate to see the second.”

  Helen’s entire demeanor changed to disapproving and not directed toward me. “Academic records.” She handed me more sheets. I read the report, but my brain refused to comprehend the gravity of it all.

  “Her last semester and she was failing a critical class needed for her degree. Odd because all her other grades had been decent. She could never claim summa cum laude, but she did all right. Yet she never finished, not at that college.”

  Yep. I’d gotten to that part. An ocean rushed through my ears, dimming Helen’s explanation.

  “Miss Baranski, perhaps thinking one point five wasn’t enough for her to live on, wanted to graduate, so she struck a deal with Dr. Jake Johannsen. They both scored in a way. His wife caught wind and went to the administration. Mara left the school with no degree and Dr. Johannsen got divorced.”

  Mara was a home-wrecker.

  My hands curled into fists. My comic book shop owner had destroyed another man’s life before going after my father.

  How the fuck had she gotten a trust with that amount of money? What had she done for that? Who had she done for that?

  The papers shook in my hand. Helen clasped her hands on her lap, her back erect. “We have more investigating, but I thought perhaps this could put that legal nonsense to rest.”

  “Yes, Helen. Thank you. You may go. Enjoy your Sunday.” One of us should.

  She left me with the incriminating evidence.

  I tossed the papers onto the chair next to me and threw my feet on top of the table. Surrounded by glass and all alone, I stretched out and ruminated.

  My phone rang.

  Jennifer. My mom. I could answer and ask her how a woman could do that to men. But then she’d get ideas. Worse, she’d sniff out another woman trying to get her claws into Sam’s empire. I pitied any future wife of mine—not that I would ever marry.

  I rubbed my temples. What had I expected? These reports were exactly the reason I’d hooked up with Mara.

  So, what? It made me feel better that Sam had been seduced by Mara and hadn’t preferred a stranger to his own son?

  Did I have anything to drink in my office? A day getting shit-faced sounded divine.

  My phone rang again. I stared at the ceiling. During the shittiest five minutes of my life, no one was going to leave me alone.

  I glanced at the screen. Franklin.

  Let the good news rain down.

  “What’s up?”

  “Mr. Robson. We’re hitting some obstacles with the permits in New York. I think you should be there in person tomorrow to resolve them.”

  Fucking New York and the mess it was turning out to be. Flying there used to be a pleasant change, now it was a nuisance. “I’ll fly out tonight. Send the info.”

  I hung up on Franklin. If I weren’t such a control freak, I’d let Helen handle Franklin and New York. It’d serve the old boy right.

  A long flight with nothing
but my fury to keep me company.

  Unless…

  I punched in Mara’s number. “You awake?”

  She chuckled. “It’s almost noon. I’m on my way to see Mom. Are you feeling better?”

  I grimaced. Her concern sounded genuine. She was good. “I’ve got special plans for tonight. We’re going out and it’s a surprise.”

  “But—”

  “Saying no isn’t allowed. Have I got a surprise for you. I’ll pick you up at five.”

  I heard the smile in her voice when she finally said yes.

  Yeah. I had a surprise, all right.

  Mara

  Giddy butterflies danced in my stomach as I raced out to meet Wes. How long had he been parked out there? I’d expected him to come to the door. I’d happened to peek out and had seen him sitting and staring straight ahead, his profile barely discernible in the fading daylight.

  When I crawled in, I gulped at the predatory look he gave me. Streetlights gleamed over his dark hair and shadows shaded his eyes. His dark green Henley and black jeans added to the sinister effect.

  “Ready for the surprise?”

  My first instinct was to say no. The change from how he’d left last night to this set off faint alarms. “Absolutely.”

  He leaned over and brushed my lips with his. “You’ll have to wait.” With a wink, he tore off.

  He didn’t talk much so I tried to guess what he had planned. When he started slowing down and making turns, I couldn’t believe it.

  “The airport?”

  He grinned. “Just wait.”

  I’d never flown anywhere, none of it was familiar, but he seemed to be driving places most normal people wouldn’t.

  What was he pulling?

  He parked in a small lot. “Come on.”

  He pulled me out in the brisk air and I had to trot to keep up with the hold he had on my hand.

  A small white plane with blue lines sat with blinking lights. A small set of stairs ran down from an open door.

  “Sam?”

  His smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Surprise.”