A Truth and a Lie

by V. Sousa

  She knew damn well what happened to Sammy, and she knew better than to point her bitchiness in that direction. Hate me all you wanted, but don’t say shit about my brother.

  With that being said, I didn’t feel bad for what I was about to do.

  Without giving myself or anyone else any time to process what I was doing, I flew out of my chair and went right for her smug face.

  Have fun finding some poor sap to buy you another nose, bitch.

  She fell off her chair and slammed against the floor. I landed partially on her, so I quickly righted myself and continued to punch her over and over until I was being pulled back, but it didn’t stop me from still trying to attack. I’d be damned if I would sit here and let her talk about my brother like that. Momma didn’t raise no bitch, so you got to do what you got to do.

  I managed to escape the hold I was in, and right when I got close, someone else was grabbing me when I was mid pounce. I turned to see who was holding me back, and of course, it was Emmett.

  God forbid I ruin his chances of him getting his dick sucked.

  I looked around to see if anybody saw, and sure enough, everyone was looking, including my father, who looked pissed. He’d probably heard her, or he was mad that I’d caused a scene—either way, I really didn’t care.

  Victoria was still on the floor, clutching her nose that was currently pouring blood and crying. A dark chuckle left me at the sight.

  “I suggest you leave before I kick Emmett in the dick and come after you again.” I turned to Emmett this time. “You can show your little friend out.” I pried his hands off me and walked away with my head held high.

  I felt my eyes filling up with tears and silently cursed myself for being an angry crier. I was trying to hold it in as much as I could, at least until I made it to my room, but I stopped at the top of the stairs when I heard my name being called.

  I turned back to see who it was, and my eyes automatically searched for Emmett, hoping it was him, but when I finally found him, he was holding his hand out to help Victoria up.

  I couldn’t hear them, and Emmett’s back was toward me, but I could see her nod, and then he pulled a napkin off the table, handing it to her so she could clean up some of the blood.

  Shaking my head, I turned back around and continued to my room. How could he even stand to touch her after what she’d just said?

  I got in my room and went directly into the bathroom to wash that bitch’s blood off my hands. I was checking my dress to make sure I hadn’t gotten blood on it when I heard my bedroom door open.

  I really didn’t want any visitors right now.

  “If you’re Claire, you can come in, but if you’re not, then kindly fuck off.”

  “I’ve never been happier to be Claire in my life.” She popped her head into the bathroom, and I started laughing. “So, Rocky, what do you say I force Tommy to buy us some alcohol, and we go to my house, get drunk, and forget our problems?”

  She really knew the way to my heart. “I say, let me get out of this dress and pack a bag.”

  “How about you change, and I pack the bag—deal?”

  “Deal.”

  I changed with lightning speed into a pair of short shorts and a tank top and walked to the stairs with Claire hot on my heels.

  I stopped short going down the steps when I saw everyone was now gone except for my dad and a few staff members.

  I put my head down when I reached my father. “Hey, sorry about the scene I caused, and I’m sorry you had to kick everyone out.”

  He let out a sigh and shook his head. “No worries. I heard what the girl said, and if it had been me, I probably would’ve done worse.”

  Well, that went a lot smoother than I’d thought it would go.

  “Okay. I’m glad you’re not mad, but I’m going to sleep at Claire’s tonight. We’re going to watch movies and hang out.”

  “Okay, but I want Lorenzo to go inside with you. I know Alessandro is away, and I don’t want you two alone in the house.”

  Alessandro was Claire’s father, who was also the mayor. He and my father had been friends for years. Although, I had no idea how deep their friendship went.

  I’d always wondered if Mr. Rosario was involved in my father’s business, and I knew better than to ask, but if I were honest, why would a mayor be good friends with a mafia boss if there wasn’t anything sketchy going on?

  “No problem. I’ll go tell him.” I grabbed Claire’s hand and practically ran out of the front door.

  Walking outside, I found Lorenzo in his car at the bottom of the driveway.

  Poor Lorenzo. He always needed to be prepared, and on high alert, just in case I made a run for it or something. I hoped he got paid well because even I had to admit I was a handful.

  I walked over to him and knocked on his window. “I’m going to Claire’s for the night, but my father told me you have to be inside with me because her dad’s away.”

  “Fine. Do you want to ride with me, or do you want to take your own car?” he asked.

  “I’ll ride with you because I was downing champagne earlier, and I don’t like to drive like that.” And, honestly, I was still coming off the adrenaline rush I’d gotten from beating up Victoria, so I would probably drive like a psychopath.

  I threw all my stuff in the back, then hopped in the front with Lorenzo while Claire got in the back. I wondered what Lorenzo drove when he wasn’t on Rose duty because, for some reason, I doubted he drove a Hyundai Sonata on the reg.

  Now that I thought about it, though, when was he ever not on Rose duty?

  We started driving away, and I was putting on my seat belt when Lorenzo slammed on the brakes and yelled at me, “What the fuck happened to your hands?”

  I just continued putting my seat belt on and didn’t answer.

  Seeing my hesitation, Claire answered for me. “Long story short, some girl who used to try to bully Rose in high school and who we think is also fucking Emmett came to the party. The girl started talking shit about Sammy, and Rose beat that ass.”

  “Damn, I always miss all the action out here,” he said, throwing his hands up.

  “Well, tonight, you don’t have to miss any more of the action because you will be inside with us. Speaking of action”—I turned around and looked at Claire—“did you text Tommy yet?”

  She lifted her phone in the air. “Yeah, he said he’d be there in fifteen minutes.”

  “Woo-hoo, let’s get this party started.” I rolled my window down and screamed out of it for added effect.

  We’d been in Claire’s basement for a whole ten minutes, and in that time, Claire and I had already downed six shots of whiskey each. I guess it was safe to say we were feeling it. Fingers crossed that I didn’t do anything reckless.

  I was about to take another shot when I looked over at Lorenzo and noticed he was staring at the alcohol like he was in the desert, and it was the last bottle of water.

  I knew he wouldn’t drink with us because he thought my father would go crazy on him, but I wouldn’t tell if he didn’t.

  “Lorenzo, take a shot with me, please,” I yelled.

  “You know I can’t do that, Rose. I’m supposed to be watching you.” He shook his head at me.

  “Funny you say that because, if my memory serves me correctly, I believe I saw you taking a body shot off that blonde chick at the club when we went, and you were supposed to be ‘watching me,’ so just take the fucking shot.”

  Lorenzo underestimated how observant I was sometimes.

  He thought it over for a little bit and finally nodded. “Fine, but only one, and that’s it.”

  Tommy finally took his tongue out of his date’s throat long enough to turn in my direction. “Damn, Rose, I bet you could convince a priest to curse. Your manipulation skills are grade A. I kind of feel bad for Emmett.”

  Annnnnd there went my smile.

  In Tommy’s defense, he was super drunk, but still, ever since Emmett came back around, he was all everyone eve
r talked about.

  I didn’t want to sound like a brat but, does anybody remember the pain I went through when he left me? Was I just supposed to sit here and be happy now that I was marrying him? Just because the wound healed didn’t mean there wasn’t a scar. I just wanted to be able to go a full twenty-four hours without hearing his name.

  At that, I poured everyone in the room two shots each, and I started handing them out. I’d spilled a decent amount, and my form was a little sloppy, but could you blame me?

  Whiskey is some serious business.

  I must’ve said that last part aloud because Claire agreed with me. “You’re right. I’m definitely going to be hurting in the morning.”

  “Speaking of Emmett, where is my wonderful fiancé.” I must have slurred my words because it took everyone a minute to understand what I was asking.

  I lifted my left hand in the air and pointed to my ring to help speed up the understanding, and they all said “Ahh” at the same time, finally getting what I’d asked.

  Out of everyone in the room, I was shocked that Lorenzo was the one to answer. “I believe he’s taking care of some business at the club.”

  I felt like this was my last hoorah before I was married, so I slammed back another shot before I responded. “How would you know, Lorenzo?”

  It wasn’t like they’d talked from the time we’d left until now, and he’d been with us the whole time.

  He must have been feeling a buzz because once he realized what I’d asked, his facial expression showed me that he’d slipped up.

  I spotted his phone on the table in front of him, so as quickly as I could, I dove toward the table to grab it.

  Once the phone was in my hands, I ran into the bathroom and locked the door so he couldn’t come in and take it back.

  His phone didn’t have a password, so it unlocked easily. I opened the messaging app, and sure enough, Emmett’s text thread was the first one.

  7/3/19

  Lorenzo: Going to the mall.

  7/5/19

  Lorenzo: No movement today.

  7/7/19

  Lorenzo: She’s spending the night at Rosario’s.

  Lorenzo: I’m going with her. John’s orders.

  Emmett: Okay. Make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.

  Lorenzo: Got it.

  I felt so betrayed.

  Lorenzo was supposed to be in my corner. Not his. Mine.

  I opened the bathroom door and chucked his phone across the room at him while screaming, “Traitor.”

  “Rose, I’m sorry. Please don’t be like that,” he begged.

  He looked genuinely sorry but still. If he’d known I’d be mad, why’d he go along with it?

  “Please don’t be mad.” Lorenzo gave me his puppy dog eyes, and I sighed.

  “Fine. But don’t talk to me for at least twenty-seven minutes or until I get over it, whichever comes first, got it?”

  He nodded in response.

  “Is Emmett’s number still the same as before?” I asked.

  Another nod.

  He was really taking that no talking for twenty-seven minutes thing seriously. Good.

  I pulled out my cell phone and dialed his number.

  It rang twice before he picked up. “Rose.” His voice rumbled through the phone.

  “What’s up, my dear fiancé?” I snarled.

  “Are you drunk?” He didn’t sound very happy.

  Well, welcome to my world.

  “Oh, me? I’m with my friends Robert and Marco. I just finished jerking them off in the bathroom, and now we’re on our way back to their place. They said something about a train, and you know I love rides.”

  I was about to go into detail when Claire ripped the phone away from me. “April fools,” she said into the phone and hung up, throwing my phone across the room like it was a grenade about to detonate.

  It was silent for a minute, and everyone was staring at my phone on the floor. Even Tommy stopped doing whatever the hell he’d been doing to look at my phone, and after about two minutes of silence, we all burst into a fit of hysterical laughter.

  We ended up lying on the floor, still laughing about it ten minutes later when everyone abruptly stopped.

  I opened my eyes to see what had happened, and that was when I found Emmett standing above me with his clothes soaked.

  “Did you forget to take your clothes off for your shower?” I asked him, lifting myself off the floor.

  He didn’t think it was funny.

  “Everyone out except for Rose. I would like a word with my future wife,” he said, still not taking his eyes off me.

  “You sure you want to talk right now? I’m very much intoxicated, and you barely like what comes out of my mouth on a regular day, so imagine what I’m going to say when I’m wasted?”

  Everyone started walking out of the room until it was just me and Emmett left. He looked really pissed and I didn’t really want to have this conversation with him right now. He was just going to ruin my buzz.

  I tried walking away, but he just blocked my exit and growled.

  “Rose, why do you have to keep testing my patience? You’re making this harder than it needs to be. I’m trying to help you here.”

  Funny, last time I checked, I would’ve been fine living the rest of my life without him. I survived the aftermath of my twin’s murder without him, so I’m sure at this point, I can do anything.

  I saw him flinch, and I realized I must’ve said that aloud too.

  Dammit, I had to stop doing that. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

  “But you still meant it, right?” he asked.

  Well, he had me on that one.

  “What do you want me to say, Emmett? You know it’s true, so let’s not pretend we don’t have a past, and to be honest, don’t act like what I said hurt you. If you even gave a shit about me, you wouldn’t have slept with Victoria Diego after everything I had to go through with her in high school.”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but I didn’t sleep with her.”

  “Oh, yeah? So that whole time we were broken up, you never slept with anyone else?” I crossed my arms and tapped my foot.

  “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to, Rose.” He scowled at me.

  He obviously had. Otherwise, he would’ve told me.

  “So, you have. Here I thought I was special. Maybe I should go even the score? Tommy probably hasn’t started yet. I’m sure I can convince him to do me instead.” I uncrossed my arms and pointed in the direction that everyone had left in.

  I started to walk toward the steps when Emmett grabbed my arm, stopping me from going. I looked up at him once more, and I noticed his hard gaze had softened a bit.

  “Rose, stop. It was a mistake. One that will not happen again. If you really want to know, there was only one girl, and that’s it. Now please don’t tell me yours because I don’t want to know. It’ll just make me angry.”

  “There’s nothing to even tell. I haven’t been with anyone except for you, asshole.” I poked a finger at his chest and crossed my arms.

  It was true.

  I could barely leave my room the first year, and the second year was spent trying to find a new normal—no time for dick. The thought of a random hookup or even dating had never even crossed my mind.

  The slight grin on his face made me instantly regret telling him. Cocky bastard. I couldn’t take it back now because he would know I was lying, so I blurted out the next best thing.

  “Don’t look so smug. There’s still time,” I snapped, and the grin slid right off his face. Score!

  Rose: 1.

  Emmett: 0.

  The alcohol must have been wearing off because two things happened at once. I yawned, and I was hit with a wave of nausea.

  “Um, Emmett? I think it’s time for bed.”

  “Okay, I’ll walk you to your room.” He grabbed my hand, and we made our way up the stairs toward the guest rooms.

  He stopped
when we reached the top of the stairs. “Which room are you staying in?”

  That was an excellent question because I had no idea. Emmett kicked everyone out before I’d had a chance to ask.

  “Well, there are three possibilities, so the way I see it, I’m just going to open them all and see which one is empty.”

  I opened the first guest room on my right and saw that it was full of storage stuff. Definitely no room for me there.

  When I opened the second guest bedroom door, I immediately regretted playing this game of “what’s behind the door.”

  At first glance, I thought it was Tommy and his girl, but then I heard what sounded a lot like Claire’s voice moaning Lorenzo’s name, so I squinted my eyes to get a better look, and sure enough, there was Lorenzo pounding into my best friend.

  I could’ve lived a happy life, not knowing what Lorenzo’s naked ass looked like or Claire’s boobs, but some things could never be unseen once you’d seen them, and this was one of those things.

  Emmett must’ve seen them too because he looked at me with wide eyes when I turned around.

  I didn’t know what to say, so I closed the door and blurted out the first thing I could think of. “No room for me behind door number two. Onto door number three.”

  I scurried toward the next guest room, fingers crossed that I didn’t see any more live porn, and I slowly opened the door, taking a cautious peek inside.

  I was happy to report that the room was empty of all human life. I was a little scared that I would see Tommy’s ass too, but we were clear.

  Actually, I wouldn’t mind seeing Tommy naked.

  I heard Emmett growl behind me, and I realized I was thinking aloud again. Oops.

  I walked inside the room and went straight to the attached bathroom.

  I didn’t know if it was the fact that I’d drunk so much or that I’d just seen Claire and Lorenzo going at it like rabbits, but whichever it was, I barely made it to the toilet before I started blowing chunks.

  After five minutes of nonstop puking, I finally stopped and started to feel better.