Love & Lies

by Jessica Wood

  “Oh.” My body froze at the thought. “Well, actually…” I racked my brain, trying to figure how to tell her to truth.

  Her face fell in response to my hesitation. “Look, I know I shouldn’t have surprised you last week, and in hindsight, it wasn’t the best way to introduce you two. But Ben, she’s very important to me. She’s my sister, and she’s going to be a very big part of my life. I really need you to try to get along with her.” Her eyes searched my blank face for an answer. “Please, Ben. For me?”

  I opened my mouth, ready to tell her the truth, but before my words came out, I stopped. Blair’s words hit me like a ton of bricks. They were sisters, and I didn’t need to know the meaning behind her infinity tattoo to know how important family was to her. I knew that if I told her now, I might lose her forever.

  Forced to pick between two difficult choices, I once again chickened out. I smiled at Blair and caressed her face. “Blair, you know that I’d do anything for you, right? You know that you’re the most important thing in my life now, right?”

  Tears welled up in her eyes as she nodded. “I feel the same way, Ben. You mean so much to me, and I can’t imagine a life without you.”

  My heart felt full at her words, but my body felt tense with dread for Saturday night.

  Just let her be happy for another week, Ben. Just get through that night and tell her next week. Just enjoy your last week with the woman you love before you lose her forever.

  ***

  “Dude, thanks for agreeing to do this,” I greeted Josh when he got into my car. I knew going into tonight that I need another guy friend around to be a buffer between me and Katherine.

  “Anytime. Thanks for thinking of me.”

  I chuckled. “You make it sound like I’m inviting you to a real party. Like I explained on Thursday, this is a game night between you, me, my girlfriend, and my crazy old ex who turns out to be the long-lost sister of my girlfriend. I’ve recruited you to keep the crazy bitch busy, so I don’t have to interact with her too much tonight.”

  Josh shook his head. “That’s really nuts. What are the chances this would happen?”

  “Tell me about it.” I cursed my bad luck. “Anyway, I just need to get through tonight. I’m going to sit Blair down tomorrow when it’s just us and tell her everything.”

  “Good for you, man. I’m glad you’ve decided to tell her. I know it’s a shitty decision to have to make.”

  “Yeah.” I pushed away any further thoughts of how my conversation with Blair would go tomorrow.

  “But I’m serious. Thanks for inviting me. I know it’s not going to be a fun night for you, but I really needed to get out of the house.” Josh sighed.

  I looked over at Josh and felt sorry for him. “How are things with you?”

  “I’m not going to lie, bro. It’s been rough since Kim moved out. Sometimes I forget she’s gone and I reach over in the middle of night to wrap my arms around her, but she’s not there.” He shook his head at the thought. “It sucks.”

  “Sorry to hear that. Have you guys talked since you broke up with her?”

  “Nope. Two months and counting of complete radio silence. It hurts, but I don’t want to reach out just because I’m lonely. I don’t want to give her false hope. I broke her heart, I’m not about to bat it around and hurt it some more.”

  “You’re a good guy, Josh. Did you really think your issues with her were things you couldn’t change?”

  “Yeah, it sucks. There wasn’t really anything wrong between us, per se. We had become a boring old couple, but we still loved and cared for each other. But…sometimes there are things outside of a good relationship that can ruin it. Her parents hated me and thought I wasn’t good enough for their daughter. I would constantly hear them talking shit about me to her on the phone, and I never once heard her stand up to them and defend me. After two years of that, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I started wondering if she thought the same thing—that I wasn’t good enough.”

  “But shouldn’t your relationship with her be the only factor in deciding whether to stay together?” I wasn’t sure why, but I felt the need to defend their relationship. “You two loved each other. Isn’t that enough? Who cares what the parents think.”

  “Blood is thicker than water, dude. Yeah, we may love enough other, but no matter how much we love each other, they are her parents, and they’ve always been a tight-knit, close family. I knew that they would always be an important part of her life. I couldn’t ask her to choose between me and them—I didn’t want to, either. Plus, I would never want her to resent me for being the rift between her and her parents.”

  “Right.” I thought about his comments as we drove the rest of the way to Blair’s place in silence. Blood is thicker than water— the words rang in my ears as a growing knot twisted in my stomach.

  ***

  Two hours later and several drinks in for the four of us, I began to relax as I watched Katherine and Josh talking excitedly about some elaborate drinking game.

  I smiled for the first time tonight as I pulled Blair closer into my chest and kissed her forehead.

  Blair looked up at me with a gorgeous smile, and I could see the sheer joy in her eyes. She leaned up against my ear and whispered, “Don’t you think they’d make a cute couple?” I could hear the delighted squeal in her voice and couldn’t help feeling hopeful that maybe Katherine found someone else to be interested in. I knew Josh needed a rebound to help him get over Kim, so this could be perfect.

  I watched as Katherine flirted with Josh and wondered if I had it all wrong. Maybe Katherine finally realizes that nothing will ever happen between us again. Maybe she finally realized that things were serious between me and her sister when I had told her that I loved Blair.

  “Let’s play a drinking game!” Katherine broke through my thoughts.

  “I’m in!” Blair agreed in delight. “What do you wanna play?”

  A devious smirk spread across Katherine face. “Let’s make this interesting. Let’s play strip blackjack.” She giggled as she got up and walked over to the kitchen counter and grabbed a bottle of rum. She placed the bottle between us and flashed one of her high-voltage smiles. “So, it’s easy. I’ll be the dealer. If I lose against two of your three hands during a round, I lose and have to take a shot and remove an article of clothing. If you lose your hand, you take a shot and remove an article of clothing.”

  “Um.” Even through the numerous glasses of wine Blair had taken with Katherine, I could tell she still had some reservations. “Are you sure you want to play that?”

  “Oh, baby sister of mine, don’t be so modest.” Katherine flung her hair back with the back of her hand and laughed. “We’re all adults here. It’s not like we’re going to see something we haven’t seen before.” She swung an arm over Josh’s shoulder and beamed at him. “Don’t you wanna play, Josh?”

  “Cool. Sssure,” Josh slurred.

  I rolled my eyes at how drunk Josh had gotten tonight. He was supposed to be my buffer, but instead of making things better, he was making them worse.

  “Well…” Blair tried again.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I said flatly as I shot Katherine a look. What is she trying to do?

  “Oh, come on, Ben.” She shot me a smoldering gaze as she leaned toward me, letting the soft flesh of her cleavage to spill out from her tight top. “From what Blair told me, you’re quite the adventurous type. This seems right up your alley.”

  I glanced at Blair from the corner of my eyes and noticed her blush at Katherine’s admission.

  “Come on. Don’t be prudes. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen it all,” she gave me a meaningful look and smiled. “Besides, it’ll be a lot of fun! Little sister, wasn’t it you that said tonight I should try to get to know Ben better? He’s been pretty quiet all night and hasn’t come out of his shell yet. Don’t you think this would be a fun ice breaker to change that?”

  “You’re not making any sense, Katherine.�
� My body tensed as it became apparent that Katherine was up to her old tricks again and hadn’t lost interest in me.

  “Oh, don’t be a party pooper. Blair says you’re such a fun boyfriend.” She turned to Blair. “Didn’t you say that, little sister?”

  Blair shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I did, but…”

  Katherine turned her attention back to me. “Well, I’d just like to see for myself how fun you really are.” She kept her eyes trained on me as she sipped her drink. Her tongue moved purposefully around the straw.

  Rage engulfed me as I stared at disbelief at how low Katherine was able to stoop.

  “Hey, babe.” I rubbed my hand up and down Blair’s arm. “Bathroom break. I’ll be right back.” I gave her a kiss and got up and headed to the bathroom down the hall.

  When I got out of the bathroom, I found Katherine standing in the hallway waiting for me.

  “Hey there, stranger,” she purred through the crooked smile on her face.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I hissed at her.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She looked at me innocently.

  “Cut the bullshit, Katherine.”

  “Fine,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’m doing everything you want me to do but are afraid to admit.” She walked toward me, causing me to back up away from her.

  “I don’t want you to do anything, Katherine.”

  “Oh, come on, you don’t mean that.”

  “I do.”

  “Don’t you remember how much you loved me? Don’t you remember how whipped you were? And rumor had it, that day when I broke up with you over the phone, you’d flown to LA to surprise me and ask me to marry you.”

  Fury churned inside like molten lava as she reminded me of the fool I once was. “That was when you were the only pussy I’d had. But that’s not me anymore, you conniving bitch. I’ve had 735 different pussies after you, so if you must know where you rank now in my mind: you’re in 736th place.”

  She glared at me, but her lips challenged me as they curled into a smile. “Ben, how do you really think this will play out?”

  “What the fuck are you talking about? I don’t follow.”

  “I’m talking about you and Blair. Do you honestly think things will work out?”

  “My relationship with Blair has nothing to do with you, so stay the fuck out,” I hissed at her.

  I tried to walk past her to get back to the living room, but she blocked my way. “Baby, I just call it the way I see it. And the way I see it, I have everything to do with you and Blair.”

  She ran a finger down my chest. I quickly pushed her hand off me and backed away. “Get your hands off me.”

  “You see, Ben. You’re mine, not hers. She has nothing on me.” She took a step toward me and batted her eyes up at me.

  “You’re fucking nuts!” I spat in a low, forceful voice. “I’m not yours. I wasn’t yours the day you decided to fuck my frat brother. And do you know what the funny thing is? I’m so relieved that you did fuck him. I can’t imagine having to be married to a crazy bitch like you.”

  For a second, Katherine seemed taken aback by my words. But then to my surprise, she started to smile. I saw her eyes look past me at the end of the hallway and before I could turn to follow her gaze, she grabbed my shirt and pulled me on top of her.

  Shock paralyzed me for a second when I felt her lips on me and her tongue pushing it ways into my mouth.

  A gasp came from behind me. “What the fuck is going on?” The last voice I wanted to hear at that very moment cried out from behind me.

  I pushed Katherine off me and turned toward the voice.

  The look on her face stopped me cold and I felt my chest tighten as all the blood drained from my face.

  It was Blair.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Blair

  My chest constricted, and I couldn’t seem to breathe. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw them kissing passionately in the hall. Were my crazy suspicions about them actually right all along?

  “What the fuck is going on?” I managed to scream out. There must be a reasonable explanation for this that doesn’t involve Ben cheating on me, a part of me tried to reason.

  But as soon as I saw the pale, guilty expression all over his face, my heart lost all hope. I didn’t need to wonder whether something had happened between them. The look on his face told me all I needed to know.

  Time seemed to pass slowly. Seconds seemed to feel like minutes as we stared at each other in shock.

  It was Katherine who broke the silence. “I wanted to tell you, Blair, but I was trying to protect Ben. I’m so sorry you had to find out this way.” Her face twisted into a forced frown, and it felt as if she had stabbed me with a cold, sharp knife and twisted it inside my wounded flesh for good measure. How can my own sister do this to me?

  “Blair, she’s lying to you. Please let me explain. This isn’t what it looks like!” Ben pushed past Katherine to rush to my side.

  I took a few steps back to maintain his distance from me. The ultimate betrayal committed by both the man I loved and my sister fueled the anger that grew inside. “So, you’re telling me I didn’t just witness the two of you kissing or my sister’s tongue down your throat?”

  “I…” He blinked. “She kissed me, but I didn’t kiss her back. It all happened so fast, I was shocked when it happened.”

  Waves of confusion crashed through me as I tried to make sense of what he was telling me. I cocked my head and narrowed my eyes at him. “Don’t try to rationalize what you just did. The two of you kissed. That shit just doesn’t happen!”

  He flinched at my words and his face feel into a sunken despair. “No, you’re right. This doesn’t just happen. There is a reason it had happened, and it’s something I’ve wanted to tell you since that night you brought Katherine over to my place.”

  His words were more than I could take. He had just admitted there was indeed something going on. I felt sick to my stomach as the image of Ben and Katherine kissing replayed in my head. Suddenly the room began to sway back and form. I braced my hand against the wall as the room spun around me. “Oh, God,” I moaned, “I need to throw up.”

  “Blair?” Ben’s alarmed voice came rushing toward me.

  “Don’t touch me!” I screamed as I pushed him and stumbled toward the bathroom.

  “Blair, you look sick. Please let me take care of you.” Ben’s face twisted in agony as he reached for my arms.

  “What the fuck, Ben! What the fuck!” I screamed as my hands pounded against his chest as I felt myself spiral deeper and deeper into a state of crazed frenzy.

  Just then Katherine walked up to us and I saw a triumphant smile spread across her face. “For the record, little sister, I didn’t steal Ben away from you. You’re simply having some fun with my leftovers. So if there was any sort of ‘sister code’ for dating, I’d say you’re the one that broke it.”

  “Shut the fuck up, Katherine!” Ben interjected. “Haven’t you done enough damage? She’s your sister! Do you have no compassion?”

  Their words and Ben’s angry expression sent my world into a tailspin. Her leftovers? I broke the sister code? I looked at Katherine, unable to respond. I then turned to Ben, searching his face for answers. I saw the guilt, betrayal, and fear splashed across his face and knew Katherine was telling the truth.

  “Blair, please let me explain,” he pleaded as he approached me.

  It was then that all my crazed anger gave way to intense, unbearable pain. I pushed past Ben and Katherine and ran as fast as I could toward the bathroom. Ben raced after me but he was too late. I slammed the bathroom door right on his face and immediately locked the door.

  My heart ached and I gasped for air. I felt everything inside me shatter into a million little pieces, with each shard of my being seeming to cut against my insides, causing such an overwhelming intensity of pain that my body began to feel numb and detached.

  How had things t
urned out like this? In a matter of minutes, my lost-long older sister had become more of a stranger to me than she was the second we had met over a week ago.

  “Blair, please can we talk?” came Ben’s voice from the other side of the door.

  “Please just go home, Ben. I want to be alone.”

  “Josh and Katherine are gone now. Please, let’s just sit down and talk about this. I need to explain this to you. Baby, this is a misunderstanding.”

  “How is any of this a misunderstanding?” I spat, feeling the anger take over my every thought. “Are you telling me nothing has ever happened between you two?”

  “Blair, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.”

  “Answer my fucking question, Ben! For once in your life, can you tell me the complete truth? It’s a simple yes or no question. Do you two have a history?”

  “Yes,” he mumbled. “I was going to tell you everything, Blair.”

  I scoffed in disbelief. “Right, and when exactly were you planning on dropping this bomb? It’s been over a week! And this entire time, I thought I had done something wrong to upset you, that it was my fault things were so awkward the night I introduced you two.”

  “Please, Blair. I fucked up. I wanted to tell you the day you brought Katherine to my place, but she twisted things around and I…I was afraid if I said anything at the wrong time, I’d lose you forever.”

  “I don’t even know how to respond right now, Ben. I feel so betrayed and hurt. You just broke my heart.”

  “I am going to tell you everything, Blair, and I’m going to tell you now.”

  I didn’t respond but waited for him to continue. For the next half hour, Ben told me about his past with Katherine over a decade ago, about how she was his first love and lover, about how he had flown to LA to propose to her, about how he found out she had cheated on him, and about how he had transformed into the anti-relationship playboy.