Web of Lies

by Elizabeth Knox

  Web Of Lies

  A Lie Anthology Brought To You By Knox Publishing

  Rae B. Lake

  Jessica Ames

  Leah Negron

  Elizabeth Knox

  W.M. Dawson

  Taylor Dawn

  A.C. Williams

  Elizabeth York

  Sonya Jesus

  Alice La Roux

  Courtne Lynn Rose

  This book(s) is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are all products of the authors’ imaginations and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblances to persons, organizations, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book(s) may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in articles or reviews.

  Deceptive Love. Copyright © 2020 by Elizabeth Knox

  Of His Own Accord. Copyright © 2020 by Courtney Lynn Rose

  Betrayal. Copyright © 2020 by Leah Negron

  Kisses & Lies. Copyright © 2020 by Sonya Jesus

  Last Standing Rock. Copyright © 2020 by WM Dawson

  Little White Lie. Copyright © 2020 by Elizabeth York

  Pretty Little Deceiver. Copyright © 2020 by Jessica Ames

  Raven. Copyright © 2020 by AC Williams

  Summer at the Cipriani. Copyright © 2020 by Alice La Roux

  The Ex. Copyright © 2020 by Rae B. Lake

  The Thong Diaries. © 2020 by Taylor Dawn

  Cover design by Clarise Tan, CT Cover Creations

  Content Editing by Courtney Lynn Rose, Knox Publishing

  Copy/Line Editing by Kim Lubbers, Knox Publishing

  Formatting by E.C. Land, Knox Publishing

  Proofreading by Jackie Ziegler, Knox Publishing

  Contents

  Rae B. Lake

  The Ex

  Jessica Ames

  Pretty Little Deceiver

  Leah Negron

  Betrayal

  Elizabeth Knox

  Deceptive Love

  W.M. Dawson

  Last Standing Rock

  Taylor Dawn

  The Thong Diaries

  A.C. Williams

  Raven

  Elizabeth York

  Little White Lies

  Sonya Jesus

  Kiss & Lies

  Alice La Roux

  Summer at the Cipriani

  Courtney Lynn Rose

  Of His Own Accord

  The Ex

  Catch A Liar, 1

  Rae B. Lake

  Acknowledgments

  To my boo-thang! You know that spark that everyone talks about when they find the one they are supposed to be with? I found that with you. Even through everything that we have been through, I am lucky to have found you.

  To the Baby J’s, I hope you find someone who never has to lie to you, someone who treats you how you deserve to be treated and someone who sets your souls on fire, preferably all in the same person.

  To my Readers, this is a little bit of a lighter read, I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it!

  Prologue

  Incoming text from The Job

  My ex destroyed my life. I gave everything that I had and it wasn’t enough. I have never felt so broken in all my life. I didn’t deserve it and I want payback.

  Me

  Send me the information and the payment. I can get you the payback you want.

  This is my job and I am a magician at it. I will embed myself into the ex’s life. Get them to trust me, confide in me. Hell, if all went well, I would get them to love me. Then I’ll strike. I would be so embedded in their lives, no one would suspect it’s me. Beware the snakes in your midst.

  Chapter One

  Lance

  “Order up!” the cook in the small diner screamed out of the small window in the wall. I cringed and tried to close my eyes. To say I had a killer hangover was the understatement of the fucking century. People shouldn’t be allowed to drink as much as I did last night. I don’t know the exact number of shots I had, but I know Greg, my bastard boss, was taking photos and I have no idea where those photos ended up. If I ended up a fucking meme or gif somewhere, I am going to kick his ass.

  “Do you want your regular, babe?” She gave me one look and shook her head. “Did you at least take an aspirin?”

  I looked up at Megan. She had been working at this diner for as long as I could remember and she knew me like the back of her hand. The only times I came here was when I was drunk, hungover, or having a bad day at work. Lucky for me, one of those three situations happened at least three times a week. I was a regular here.

  “Megan, I am dying. I feel like my insides are coming out through my fucking pores.” I cringed as someone dropped a fork on a plate somewhere near the back of the diner “Does silverware have to be so goddamn loud?”

  Megan was around my age and had been down on her luck since she started working in the diner after high school, but she had a great sense of humor. She knew what was up.

  “It’s your own fault, Lance. You may be in your twenties, but you treat your body like it’s a darn amusement park. You’re going to have to take it easy at some point. Settle down a bit, babe.” She squeezed my shoulder and walked towards the back where the rest of her tables were. I knew she would be back with coffee. Exactly what I needed to get through the day.

  I looked out the side window and it was almost like the headache that had been pounding at my temples ebbed away. I watched as two women made their way up the outside stairs, laughing and talking as they walked into the diner. I tried not to stare and make it weird. The last thing I wanted to do was look like a fucking stalker, but this woman was beautiful. Her gorgeous red hair swung carelessly around her back, the animated conversation and the way she moved her neck causing it to bounce and move prettily. I loved a woman who took care of her hair.

  “She’s a new one. I have only seen her for the past two weeks or so. I think she works over there in that real estate office,” Megan said as she placed a steaming hot coffee in front of me.

  “Yeah?” I knew there was no reason for me to be embarrassed. Megan had seen me in short-term relationships, long-term relationships, and unfortunately even the ugly breakups in between. “What do you know about her?”

  “Boy, what do I look like? A soothsayer? A psychic? I just told you I don’t know anything. Get up off your booty and go say ‘hi’ if you’re that interested.” She left the milk and sugar near me and walked off to tend to her next table.

  I looked down at what I had on. I definitely wasn’t dressed to impress and I didn’t want to get laughed at. If there was anything I knew, approaching a woman when she was with her friends could end really badly. I settled for just admiring her from afar.

  I ordered my usual pancakes with extra helpings of bacon.

  “Just go talk to him already!” I heard the friend whisper yell at the beautiful red-haired woman.

  I didn’t want to chance it and look up. I mean, they could be talking about anyone in the diner.

  I glanced up, looking over the rim of my coffee cup, and sure enough, the friend was looking over to me and smiling while the red-headed goddess was looking down, her cheeks almost as red as the locks tumbling from her head.

  I waited until the shy woman looked in my direction and gave her a wink, then went back to my food and coffee.

  “See!” I heard the friend practically scr
eech out loud.

  I laughed silently. Now that I knew they were talking about me I would wait to see what their plan would be. I didn’t want to seem too desperate, but just looking at that woman had me thinking about some seriously rated R scenes. I had just gotten out of a relationship, but I was always down to have a bit of fun if the opportunity presented itself.

  I ate my breakfast slower than usual, but even after completely finishing my plate and starting on my third cup of coffee, the woman had yet to make a move to come over to me.

  I watched in surprise as the girls paid for their food and began to get their stuff together so they could leave. I knew I didn’t want her to leave without my phone number, but I didn’t want to seem too eager. If I saw them walking towards the door, I would pay and maybe accidentally bump into her on the way out, try to slip her my number that way.

  She beat me to the punch.

  I sat back as she walked over to where I was sitting with a small piece of paper in her hand and her friend standing in the background with the biggest grin on her face.

  “Hey, um, I’m sorry. This is so strange.” The woman looked down and her face bloomed that gorgeous shade of red all over again.

  “Nonsense, please, sit.” I gestured to the empty seat across from me.

  She sat and coyly looked up at me. “My name is Amber and I never do this, but my friend over there,” she said, using her thumb to indicate who her friend was, “promised if I didn’t, she would make my life a living hell. I believe her.”

  I gave a small laugh, making sure to show my pearly whites. “We can’t have your life be hell now, can we?”

  “No, well, what’s your name?”

  “Lance. It’s nice to meet you, Amber.” I put my hand out to shake hers. I let it linger only a second longer than usual, letting her know that I was interested in touching her but still not make it weird.

  “I don’t know if you have a girlfriend or not, I mean, it’s not even my business . . .”

  “I’m single, Amber. You?”

  She smiled, a bit of relief shown in the way she let her shoulders relax. “I’m single too.” She fumbled with the paper in her hand. “Look, I don’t know if you want to or not, but I would like to maybe go out for a cup of coffee or something like that.” She slid the paper on the table and took a deep steadying breath. That must have taken a lot out of her.

  “I think I would enjoy that a lot.” I smiled and put the piece of paper in my shirt pocket, making a show of patting it to ensure that it was secure.

  “Yeah?”

  “Absolutely, Amber.”

  “Ok, well great, well, um, yeah, call me,” she said as she stood up from the booth and basically speed-walked back over to her friend.

  “Now was that so hard?” the friend said as Amber pulled her towards the door. I had no choice but to laugh at the embarrassment. I quickly pulled the number out of my pocket and transferred the digits into my cell phone.

  “Well, that was quick,” Megan said as she walked by and placed my check on the table.

  I dropped a twenty down and stood up to kiss her. That would take care of the check, the tip, and my goodbye to her for the day.

  “Don’t jinx it for me!” I said and walked out of the diner, my hangover a distant memory.

  Chapter Two

  Amber

  I hated my job, I hated every single person at my job, and honestly, the only thing that was getting me through the day was that my best friend Lee was downstairs hating her own job just as well.

  I just lost my dream job. Never did I think telling the truth would be enough of a reason to be fired but then again, my ex-boss was never one to like being confronted. I found out that one of the senior members was stealing petty cash. I used to work in one of the largest ad agencies in the Midwest and we always had hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in cash and pre-paid cards just in case one of the clients decided they wanted to be wooed over drinks and dinner.

  We were blowing through petty cash like water and when my boss began to ask questions about where it was going, I thought nothing of telling him that his partner was using it on his spa trips and other trysts he believed we didn’t know about. I mean, how could he not know that we all knew?

  That was where the problems began. From that day on, every little thing I did at work was scrutinized and criticized. They put me on probation for saying ‘Happy Holidays’ when I greeted someone at work. The complaint was that I wasn’t sensitive to other people’s religious beliefs. I nearly lost my shit at that one meeting. I began working for the company fresh out of high school. Five years later, I had climbed my way up the ranks to executive assistant. Unfortunately, I didn’t make myself as unexpendable as I thought. They let me go four days after the holidays, saying they were going in a different direction with the company and my services were no longer needed.

  I cried, I panicked, but after all that, I was just angry. Angry and screwed. I didn’t have any other schooling besides my high school diploma and there were very few career options that would hire me without some level of college education.

  I had to move on with my life. I was an adult with bills to pay and food that needed to be bought. Lee told me about a real estate firm that was looking to hire new people and was willing to train. I tried to be happy about it. I had a job, but the only money I really made was off commission, and this particular real estate firm specialized in low-income apartments. I wasn’t exactly pulling in the big bucks, as they say.

  In fact, it was all very competitive so all of the women that worked with me were grade A bitches. It wasn’t in me to be rude or ugly to anyone. I just didn’t fit in with anyone here.

  “Hello! Earth to Amber!” One of my colleagues stepped in front of my face and snapped her fingers. Like I was a dirty dog instead of a human being.

  “Yes, did you need something, Lana?” I asked, trying my damndest to keep the smile on my face. The one I had to plaster there with crazy glue.

  “I asked if you had finished with the paperwork for the Linden sale. You know, your job?” she asked with a firm hand on her hip and a roll of her eyes.

  I wished I could just smack the shit out of her, just one good time. Watch her mouth open and close like a guppy at my audacity. Just once.

  “Yes, I already told you on three separate occasions that it was done and where it was filed.”

  “Who told you to do the filing? You just barely started working here. You don’t know how to do that yet.”

  How dumb did she think I was? The filing was just alphabetical. I was pretty sure that even with just a high school diploma, I knew that B came after A. I shook my head. I didn’t want to be ungrateful, I really didn’t.

  She flicked her hand in the air, dismissing what I had just said. “Well, I need to see it. Print me out a copy, so I can verify your work.”

  “Why? Can’t you just get it from the files?”

  “Why don’t you want to print it? Did someone else do it for you? You know that is cause to be fired, right?” Lana asked, a little smile on her face. If she thought she was going to get rid of me that easily, she had another thing coming.

  “No, I did my own work. Give me one second.” I opened up my computer application and began printing out the fifty-plus page document for her. She stood there as the printer spit out each page.

  A slight buzzing sound caught my attention and drew me out of the awkward waiting game I was playing with Lana. I reached into my purse and pulled out my cell phone.

  *311-555-1567* - Hey, hope it’s ok to text. My boss is an ass about me being on the phone.

  I looked at the phone. I had no idea who this was. Everyone who had my number was either a long-time friend or family. I hadn’t met anyone . . .

  I could feel my cheeks heating up from the smile I was sure was spreading all the way up to my eyebrows. It was the man from the diner. It had to be. Even though I was sure he would call, I didn’t expect to be this happy to see the text.

&nb
sp; Amber - Who is this?

  I had to be sure. The last thing I wanted was to be talking to a client or someone I accidentally gave my personal number to. How embarrassing would that be?

  *311-555-1567* - Well, how presumptuous of me. This is Lance. The young man you met at the diner this morning.

  Amber- Oh, yea. Sorry. I had to make sure. Lol

  Lance- Of course. How is your day so far? I hope it’s ok for me to text you?

  Amber- Yeah, text or call, whatever you like.

  Lance- Cool, I don’t want to seem too forward but I’m very interested in getting to know you. Would you want to do dinner with me tonight? No pressure :-)

  No pressure! Was he crazy? That request held a lot of pressure!

  Amber- Sure, how do you feel about Korean BBQ?

  Lance- LOVE! Know a great place. Can I pick you up at 7?

  Amber- We can meet there?

  Lance- For sure. I’ll get you the address.

  I spent the rest of the day talking with Lee and trying to figure out what was appropriate to wear for a last-minute date. Apparently, I couldn’t try too hard because there was no real plan behind this date, but I still had to blow out my already straight hair and put makeup on.