I open my mouth to say something, but nothing comes out.
“Think long and hard before you say anything,” Heather warns, her glare resting on each of us. “You’ve all been lying to me for weeks, and I’m done with your bullshit. If I hear another lie, I swear to God, I’m going to wake up my dad and tell him everything I saw tonight. I thought we were friends. But we can talk about that during the ride home. Follow me. My car is parked right over there.”
Chapter 3
Two Truths And One Lie
ZARA
Apart of me would rather walk all the way to the Gamma house rather than ride with Heather.
It’s not because I know she’s going to yell at us; it’s because she’s right to feel hurt.
We’ve been lying to her. She has a right to feel hurt about it, because she didn’t deserve it.
I’ve been justifying that by telling myself that she’s the sheriff’s daughter and telling her would have been too much of a risk. I’m sure Chance and Lev kept their involvement in the races a secret from her for the same reason.
But however I look at it, as we follow Heather down a short path behind the hangar, I still feel like a complete asshole.
Heather has been nothing but a good friend to me from the second we met two years ago. And since I followed Mom to Star Cove, she’s done everything in her power to make me feel at home; she’s included me in everything she’s been doing, opening her social circle to me.
I know a lot of people who would have been possessive of their friends, but not Heather. She has welcomed me with open arms, and I repaid her generosity with a bunch of lies.
Heather’s Mustang isn’t the only vehicle parked behind the hangar.
By the looks of it, someone cut down the tall grass and the shrubbery that covered the ground to free a patch of land where ticket holders could park their vehicles. To do that, they would have to come from the opposite direction we came from, driving past the gas station by the town border.
“Morelli is getting really organized.” Lev considers. “Tickets, online bets and a parking lot. In a couple of weeks, this thing went from a couple of frat boys racing to get a rush bid to something pretty big. There must have been a couple hundred people here earlier.”
“Yeah.” Ares looks around at what now is a dirt patch with a dark scowl. “How the fuck does he think this is going to stay a secret?”
Heather presses her key fob to unlock the car. “Probably because everyone knows that just by being here they’re breaking the law. That includes me. If my dad knew I was here tonight, he’d lose his shit. Getting arrested would be the only thing that would keep me safe from his anger.”
“Does that mean that you’re not going to tell on us?” Chance asks.
That was obviously the wrong thing to say, because Heather takes offense. “Really, Chance? How many secrets have I been keeping for you and your brothers since forever? Have I ever tattled to our parents about anything you guys have done that went against their wishes?”
“No, but?—”
Heather cuts him off. “If Candace hadn’t bought us all tickets to tonight’s race, I would have no idea about all this. How can you not get how much it hurts that you still don’t trust me? I’ve always been loyal to you, even before I started dating yourbrother. And my loyalty has never changed, even after Atlas was gone. I shouldn’t even need to remind you of that.”
She holds his gaze until Chance lowers his.
“You’re right, Heather. I’m sorry.”
“So I guess nineteen years of loyal friendship means nothing to the three of you, if you thought I’d run to tell my dad.”
Lev intervenes. “No, Heather. That isn’t why we didn’t tell you. We know we can trust you; it’s just a matter of plausible deniability. It’s the same reason we didn’t tell Zara. We didn’t want you to have to lie to our parents if things went south and they started asking questions.”
“That, and also once we knew that Fox was back in town and involved in this, we thought it would be safer to keep you two away from it all. We made that decision even before we knew that Morelli was sponsoring the entire thing.”
I’m not surprised.
When Chance and Lev didn’t tell me about the races, I knew it was to keep me safe. “Heather,” I intercede. “They’re telling the truth. They didn’t tell us to protect us.”
She raises her voice. “What are you even talking about, Zara? I thought we were friends too, you know?”
“We are.” I plead.
