Believing Lies (22 page)

We all agreed it was a good idea, so Sophie tried to get a hold of him. “It went straight to voicemail. It must be off.” She looked deflated. “I guess it’s a cab after all.”

“We could walk there and ask him in person,” I said before thinking it through. I quickly amended my suggestion by adding, “That is if you think
that person
won’t be there. I’m not in the mood to see
that person
tonight.” It wasn’t the most covert way of saying it, but I was thinking on my toes.

Cassie looked at me as if I’d just let the cat out of the bag. “Who are you talking about?”

I stammered incoherently.

Courtney came to my aid with a smooth white lie. “Just this girl who works at The Turning Point who’s a bitch to Sienna and Sophie.”

“Oooh, why?” Cassie further inquired, sticking her nose where it didn’t belong.

Courtney was in charge of this lie, so I let her continue. “No reason. She’s just a bitch for the sake of being a bitch.”
Wow, even I could’ve come up with something better than that
. Luckily, Cassie seemed appeased with the feeble answer and didn’t press further.

Now that Cassie was taken care of, Sophie was free to answer my question. “No. That girl’s not going to be there tonight. She’s going to a party with her friend, um . . . Zacharina.”
Zacharina? Seriously? Sophie’s worse than Courtney and I put together
.

Learning that Adam would be with Zach, instead of at The Turning Point, filled me with relief. However, following close on relief’s heels came disappointment.
Disappointment?
I need to get my head checked
.

Three sets of eyes were looking at me for the final decision. “Yeah, let’s walk there. If Conner says he can’t drive us, we can still call a cab when we’re ready.”

We left Shakers straight away. We didn’t want to wait because there was the possibility that Conner could get done early, and we didn’t want to miss him. As we walked, my stomach started to twist in knots, and each step caused the knots to further tighten. I stopped dead in my tracks and stared unblinkingly at the sidewalk. Alarms were going off in my head, warning me to turn around. The girls backtracked to me when they noticed I’d stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Courtney asked, sounding confused.

“Are you feeling okay?” Sophie added, sounding concerned.

“What’s the holdup?” Cassie questioned, sounding frustrated.

Get it together. You’re going to ruin the night, Sienna
. “My feet are hurting, that’s all.” In an effort to back up my story, I pulled off my heels and started to walk barefoot. “Let’s keep going. We’re almost there.”

“Like, ewww.” Cassie’s face scrunched up. “You’re going to need a Tetris shot after walking around like that.”

I forced a smile. “Thanks for the concern, but I’ll be fine . . . And, by the way, it’s Tetanus, not Tetris. Tetris is a game.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Whatever, Sienna.”

Courtney was behind her and didn’t see the eye roll, but Sophie saw it, and her eyes widened at the same time mine did.

Courtney laughed and shook her head simultaneously. “Cassie, it’s not like we’re walking on rusted nails. Let her walk barefoot if she wants.” Courtney glanced at my feet. “Actually, it’s not a bad idea.” She popped off her own shoes. “My feet are starting to hurt too.”

Cassie appeared to be utterly repulsed. “That is, like, so gross. When you slice your foot open, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Don’t worry, Cassie. When we get there, we’ll put them back on.” I mentally flipped her the bird and snidely said, “Then I can sit on a
barstool
.”

Sophie giggled as she said, “I think sitting on a
barstool
sounds like a fabulous idea after walking.”

“Like I said, whatever,” Cassie snapped. “Can we keep going now?”

We walked the few remaining blocks without further incident and stopped just outside the entrance to The Turning Point.

“Will you put your shoes back on?” Cassie requested icily, wearing a scowl.

We put them on, and Courtney said to Cassie, “There. Are you happy? You’re lucky I love you enough to put up with your crap.”

Sophie and I exchanged looks, which silently said, “Courtney’s not only aware of Cassie’s crap, but she just called her out on it!” We always thought Courtney was oblivious to it. Apparently, we were wrong.

To my astonishment, Cassie’s scowl was replaced with a very tiny smile. “Yeah. Yeah.”

Chapter Eighteen

Sophie recognized the bouncer, and he told her that Conner was working the second bar. She pushed her way through the crowd and directly to the bar, us following in her wake.

I had to admit that Conner looked super-hot behind the bar. Sophie was a lucky girl to find a boyfriend who was not only great looking but also genuinely nice. His face lit up like the Fourth of July when he noticed Sophie coming toward him.

“Hey, Babe. You look amazing! Please God, please, tell me you’re here because you changed your mind about staying with me tonight? I don’t know if I can go home alone after seeing you in that dress.”

“You can see me out of it tonight if you’ll do us a favor first,” she replied seductively.

One side of his mouth pulled into a sly grin. “Your wish is my command.”

A guy sitting a few stools down interrupted them. “Hey, Buddy, stop trying to get laid and get our drinks already.”

I was used to seeing fun, yet easy going Conner, so I was taken aback when he replied, “I’ll get your damn drinks when I’m good and ready. Keep it up, and you can find somewhere else to get your drinks, BUDDY.” Conner glared at the guy, and the guy looked as if he was ready to say more, but his friend stopped him.
Smart friend
. Conner turned back to Sophie, and his face instantly relaxed. “Where were we? Oh yes, your favor.”

Sophie looked as if she was ready to jump over the bar and rip off his clothes. “Wow. Bossy Conner is hot. Maybe I’ll let you order me around tonight.”

Courtney made a gagging sound. “Just ask him already, so the rest of us can go dance,” she urged.

“Can you please drive us home at bar time? Our DD bailed.”

“Sure, Babe. As long as I can stay at your place tonight then.” She instantly agreed to that stipulation, and he leaned over the bar. “And yes, I’ll order you around tonight.” He winked at her. “I have to go get that jack-hole his drinks. You girls go find a table, and I’ll bring you some shots.”

We pushed our way back from the bar and looked for an open table. Unfortunately, they were all full. However, that wasn’t an issue for Cassie. She went up to a tall table that had two middle-aged men sitting at it.

“Hey, boys,” she drawled.
Boys?
“Our feet are, like, killing us from dancing in these silly shoes all night.” She batted her eyes and popped out her chest. “I don’t suppose you boys would be willing to let us have your table, like, would you?”

“No problem, sweet thing,” the heavier of the two said. “Anything for a pretty girl.” They stood up, relinquishing their stools. “How about we get you ladies some drinks, and then get to know each other?”

Cassie seemed to be contemplating the idea, so I answered for us, “Thanks, but no thanks. We’re having a girls’ night.” I tried to use a regretful tone, but I didn’t think I pulled it off. “We appreciate the table though. That was really nice.”

I was happy that they didn’t press. Instead, they bid us a nice night and walked off.

Cassie glared at me. “I don’t get this whole girls’ night thing, Sienna. We’re in a bar full of guys. I think it’s time to, like, put an ixnay on the whole no boys rule because I don’t feel like going home alone tonight.”

I glared right back at her. “That’s way more gross than walking without shoes, but knock yourself out.”
Oh shit
. I changed my expression to a cheesy fake smile and said, “Just kidding!” She didn’t look amused. “Um . . . I have to go to the bathroom. I’ll be right back. Sophie, will you watch my
barstool
for me?”

Sophie giggled, “Oh yeah, I’ve got an eye on your
barstool
.”

“I’ll go with you,” Courtney said to me.

The line for the bathroom was a little long, making me grateful that Courtney chose to join me. That was until she bombed me by saying, “It’s barstool, isn’t it.”

Well, I’ll be a monkey’s uncle
. “How did you know?” I asked sheepishly.

She shrugged and smiled. “I’ve code worded with you and Sophie enough in the past to know when you’re doing it. I started to get suspicious when you both didn’t want to sit on barstools anymore at The Green Light. It didn’t make much sense because we were sitting on chairs. But the main give away is that you both are over-the-top emphasizing the word when you say it. I’ve got to hand it to you, normally the code words are harder to use in a sentence. Barstool was a good choice. I don’t think she’ll pick up on it.”

I felt crappy. “I’m sorry. We’ll stop. It’s a stupid thing to do anyway.”

She waved the thought away. “I don’t care if you do it.”

“Huh?” I looked at her, baffled by her words.

A goofy grin appeared on her face. “You say ‘huh’ more than any other person I know. Has anyone besides me ever told you that?”

Adam
. “It’s been mentioned,” I answered dryly. “Back to the subject.”

She nudged me with her shoulder. “I know that you and Sophie don’t really like Cassie. There are lots of times I don’t like her either, but it’s usually only when she’s around other girls. She can get catty and competitive. I don’t really care if she wants to slut around; it’s not my business. When it’s just the two of us, she’s a different person. Most of the time, she’s nice and thoughtful, and she’s a pretty good dorm mate.”

“Good to know. I’ve always wondered why you liked her,” I confessed.

She smiled warmly. “Her good outweighs her bad.”

After using the bathroom, we pushed through the random people once more on the way back to our table. I hoped the shots would be waiting for us because I was way too sober. In fact, I’d only had the one martini and a few sips of that awful amaretto sour all night
. Time to catch up
. Courtney was leading the way while holding my hand behind her. I was just letting her pull me along, not paying too much attention, when I ran right into her back.

“Whoa. Sorry,” I apologized. “Why’d you stop?”

She didn’t say anything, just discretely pointed in the direction of our table. Sitting with Sophie and Cassie were Zach and Adam. Cassie was laughing, and I watched her put her hand on Adam’s bicep.

I felt a rush of possessiveness overtake me. I pulled a deep breath and grabbed Courtney’s arm. “If she leaves with him, I won’t just say the code word. I’ll actually pick up a barstool and beat the crap out of her.” I was dead serious. “Am. I. Clear?”

“Crystal. I’ll get her alone as soon as I can and explain he’s off limits. She’ll leave him alone if I tell her to. Promise.”

I was freaking out inside. “Promise, promise?”

“Cross my heart,” she swore, literally crossing her heart. Feeling only marginally better, we slowly started to walk again, only for her to stop once more. “I need to warn you that she’ll probably be all over him until I get the chance to tell her to back off, so I’ll need you to keep it in check until then.”

“I’ll try,” I gritted out.

We reached the table just as Conner walked up, holding a full tray of shots, limes, and a saltshaker. I mentally groaned.
Tequila . . . Could this get any worse
? He carefully slid them to the center of the table before standing behind Sophie and wrapping his arms around her.

“Perfect timing,” Cassie said to Courtney, beaming. “Look! We have company.” Before Courtney could even respond, Cassie shot me a condescending smile and said, “I told you that silly girls’ night thing was a waste of time.” She was twirling her hair around her finger. I imagined myself yanking it out.

Completely ignoring Adam, I looked at Zach and politely said, “Hi, Zach. I’m not sure if you remember me, but I’m Sienna.” I nodded my head to Courtney, “And this is our friend, Courtney.”

Zach gave me a friendly grin. “Of course I remember you. It’s good to see you again.” He turned his attention to Courtney, flashing her a charming smile. “It’s always a pleasure to meet a beautiful girl, and right now the pleasure is all mine.”

She blushed, but kept her cool when she said, “If that’s your best line, then you have some work to do.” She winked at him “But I’ll give you an ‘A’ for effort.”
Shit. Can everyone pull off a wink except me?

Zach chuckled and was about to say something back to Courtney when Cassie interjected by saying to me, “You’re being rude, Sienna. Aren’t you going to introduce Courtney to my new friend, Adam, too?”

“She’s already met your new friend,” I snipped. “Where’s a
barstool
when I need one?”

I could hear Adam quietly laughing. I finally allowed myself a glance at him, and sure enough, his chest was shaking as he tried to keep in his laughter. I took a second to take in his appearance. The thin black fabric of his T-shirt showcased his toned body, and his hair was extremely messy—but in a good way.
Dammit. Just once, would it be too much to ask that he look like crap?

Adam got off of the barstool and gestured for me to sit down. “Here you go,” he said to me. “I wouldn’t want you to be without a seat.” Zach followed example and did the same for Courtney.

“Thank you.”
See, we can play nice. This is just normal human interaction
. I hesitated when I noticed he was still standing extremely close to the stool.

“Sit down already,” he coaxed. “I won’t bite.”

I didn’t want him to know that being so close would be hard for me, so I set my purse down on the table and took a seat.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Adam hissed loudly, irritation evident in his tone.

“Huh?” I faced him and furrowed my brows. “What’s your problem?” I spat. “You said to sit down, and now you’re mad that I did. What gives?”

He didn’t have a chance to respond because Sophie burst out in laughter, moving all eyes to her. Her eyes, however, were only on Adam. “Do you like the dress?” she asked him with a devilish twinkle in her eyes and a smug smile on her lips.