Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 98992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Or at least not a clear one.
“Can we um…,” my feet in nude-colored heels cross at the ankles, “can we just get started? Get to the point you want to use me to prove for you?”
“I’m not using you to prove a point,” Katherine tries to dispute while lifting her mug to her lips. “I am simply listening for testimony that can be presented in the topics I’ve chosen in a fashion that I desire.”
“How is that different from what I said?”
“Your way sounds like I’m manipulating your words.”
“Should I repeat myself?”
“I am not manipulating your words to benefit me!”
“Benefiting from manipulating my words then?”
“Well, there’s the sassy bitch that I was ready to mud fight Richard Gere for.”
Laughing at the retort as much as the memory is happily done.
“Glad to see she still exists and has arrived to talk to me about lying.”
“Must she?”
“Yes.” Katherine leans back in her seat and hits the button on her phone. “I wanna discuss how people lie for love.”
“People lie for a lot more than that.”
“They do, but they often lie for love. To their friends. To their family. To each other. To themselves.”
Guilty.
One-thousand percent guilty.
“Do you agree?”
I reluctantly nod.
“Have you ever lied for love?”
“Xander and I don’t lie to each other. There’s no…point. He doesn’t lie to me because he can’t understand the logic in prolonging something that is going to occur inevitably – aka the truth –, and I don’t see the point in wasting that much energy when I could just be honest. Coming up with lies, keeping the lies straight, and then living lies is just way more taxing than being truthful.”
“That’s a very mature, upfront approach to communication.”
“I don’t trust your compliments.”
“You shouldn’t,” she sassily states prior to continuing her investigation. “What about before Xander?”
Seeing where the conversation is headed has me uncomfortably adjusting against the cushion.
Or rock.
Whatever the fuck it is I’m sitting on.
“Do you remember the guy you were with?”
“Um…gym rat? Trainer wannabe. Didn’t last long. Couple months.”
“Did you lie to him?”
“No, although he wasn’t the brightest, so even if I had, I’m not sure he could tell the difference.”
“Did you lie for him? Make him out to be more intelligent than he was? Maybe to boost his self-esteem?”
“No.”
“What about before him?”
“A college TA. Had a really crooked nose but a tongue you’d wanna ride like a rodeo.”
Katherine looks both surprised by the openness and caught off guard. “Did you lie to him?”
“No. Probably should’ve. He had this way of making me feel dumb and perhaps had I let him rather than told him, he wouldn’t have ghosted me the way he did.”
“Did you ever lie for him? Curve the truth to again cover up something shameful about him?”
“Nope.”
“What about with Ryder?”
Hearing his name fall so freely from her lips infuriates me.
I mean it shouldn’t.
I shouldn’t be overly protective of someone who damn near destroyed me as much as he showed me devotion like I’ve never known since.
And here we back are to the topic of “shoulds” in my life not matching the way things actually are.
“Did you lie to him?”
My lips press together in a refusal to answer.
“You were young. Practically kids. Did you pull punches to keep from hurting his ego?”
“He was a lot more fragile than he let on. His homelife was shit, proving yet again, that money isn’t everything.”
“Did you ever lie to protect him?”
A deep inhale struggles to be had.
“Did you lie to protect your relationship?”
I attempt to answer but am stopped by an internal unknown source.
“This really only works if you talk to me, darling. We’ve discussed this. We’ve also discussed that the book will not include any personal details that will incriminate you in any crimes that you have committed-”
“Cheating is only an actual crime if you’re married.”
“Excuse me?”
“I mean it’s not…right regardless of if you’re married or have just been together for a while, but like legally speaking, it’s only an issue when-”
“Presley,” Katherine promptly cuts me, voice riddled in curiosity. “You cheated on someone?”
The slip of information causes the familiar tingling to bury my brain in something soft.
Crunchy.
Even in one of those in-between things.
“Presley Morrison, my best friend, the advocate for honesty, the model citizen for virtue and morality-”
“Why are you making me sound like a nun?”
“You cheated?”
“And got cheated on so much that year,” I callously clip.
Intrigue seeps swiftly into her stare. “Oh, darling, I am all ears.”
The deep breath that leaves me is slow yet poorly controlled. “Okay. Remember that guy who stood up for me at the football game? The one with the hot Cuban accent that I later learned – like myself – got free tuition because his parents worked for the school?”
“Your dad did…computer security?”
“Tech support.”
“That’s right!” She nods like she was close enough. “What did his do?”
“He was head of greenery maintenance.”