Page 113 of Threaded Lies

“You want to fight me?” Rhett asks.

“No, Wiping that fucking pompous smirk off your face is what I want.”

“Pretty. Fucking. Please.” Rhett takes a step forward as I stand there helpless and oddly relieved that this charade is all over.

But I don’t have time to process either of the emotions because there is murder on Chad’s and Rhett’s faces.

“Stop. Just, everyone—stop,” I shout at the top of my lungs.

One glance at my mom says I’ve devastated her. Embarrassed her. Disappointed her.

Another at Chad says pretty much the same with a dash of heartbreak and shock.

And then there’s Rhett. He’s furious at me for hurting his friend and jonesing for a reason to go at Holden.

But it’s Holden’s face that startles me. There’s a smugness to it. A veil of pleasure almost as if he was waiting for this, welcoming this, and I don’t know how that could be possible, but it’s my first and last impression.

They all stare at me as tension ratchets and tempers heighten.

Everyone starts arguing at once and I do the only sensible thing possible.

I run.

FORTY-FIVE

Rowan

“There’s nothing to say. I got caught and I’m not exactly sure why or how, but it happened. The irony is I was going to call the engagement off anyway, but now…”

“Now it’s a scandal.”

“Fucking perfect,” I mutter.

Sloane gives a noncommittal sound and then pauses as she stares into her glass of wine. “What a clusterfuck.”

“Pretty much.” I chuckle self-deprecatingly. “No one is talking to me. Well, except for the one person I don’t want to talk to. He keeps texting and calling and I’m not answering him.”

“Holden.”

“Yep. You got it. Holden.” I sigh. I can still hear my mother’s screech, still see the utter shock on Chad’s face. Still feel the disgust from all of them. “I just need time to think and when he’s in the picture, I can’t freaking think.”

Her smile is fleeting. “We’ll get to him in a second.”

“I’m sure we will.”

“How did both of you end up at The Vine at the same time?”

“Holden planned a night out for us. We’re always freaking hiding and so he wanted to do something nice, somewhere way out of town. He’s been gone and … I don’t know. It was just—”

“And Rhett was there, why?”

“Apparently someone had treated them to it over some real estate deal they were working on. And as a treat, they invited my mom and Florence and … well, you know the rest.”

“But they walked into your private room,” she stated definitively.

“Yes. There was a mix-up. The hostess brought them to the wrong table—room, whatever you call it—I don’t know. It’s not the poor girl’s fault, but apparently she’s been fired over it, seeing as the restaurant is known for the privacy it offers its guests.”

“So it was a complete coincidence.” She chooses her words carefully.