Little White Lies

by Lizzie Shane

  “You know that, Charlotte,” Tug said with a calm, patronizing air. “She came onto me—I admit it—but I pushed her away. She was drunk. Upset. Jealous. Her life has just fallen apart. Her husband left her. She’s damaged goods. No one will want her now and she knows it. You’re about to get the life she wants—things are perfect for us, so of course she’s envious. I was only comforting her. I thought you would want me to be kind to your friend.”

  “Which is it, Tug?” Candy interjected. “Were you pushing her away as she came onto you and she just happened to fall onto your dick? Or were you comforting her for her jealousy with your penis? Because I’m pretty sure what I saw was raunchy sex bent over a desk, not a nice, friendly hug.”

  Neither Tug nor Charlotte acknowledged that she’d even spoken.

  “I’m disappointed in you, Charlotte,” he said, still with that calm, paternalistic voice. “I thought you were smarter than this. I can’t believe you, of all people, would accuse me this way.”

  “Baby, I didn’t—”

  “How could you doubt me? You’re supposed to be the one person I can always count on to have my back.”

  “Tug, I’m sorry. Please, baby—”

  Charlotte reached for her fiancé, every line of her body pleading and Candy groaned. “This isn’t your fault, Charlotte! He slept with Alicia!”

  “Shut up, Candy!” Charlotte snarled, whipping toward her. Tug put a hand on her arm and she instantly melted, simpering up at him. “Baby. Forgive me?”

  “You’re lucky I’m feeling generous this morning.” Tug went on, magnanimously. ‘’You betrayed my trust. You’re lucky I’ve already decided to marry you. If I jilted you, after everything that happened with your first husband, do you think anyone in this town would ever touch you?”

  “Tug,” Charlotte sniffled pleadingly. “Baby…”

  At the sight of her sister’s tears, something snapped inside Candy and she started toward Tug. She would make him beg Charlotte’s forgiveness, even if she had to use the only language bullies like him understood. Force.

  She would rip out his throat with her bare hands—

  A firm arm closed around her waist from behind, Ren’s scent surrounding her as she was drawn back against a lean, hard body. “Easy,” he murmured in her ear. She wasn’t sure whether to thank him for the intervention or elbow him in the gut for getting in the way.

  “I’ll never doubt you again, baby,” Charlotte vowed.

  Candy winced. She couldn’t watch this.

  Charlotte wanted the perfect-on-paper life. She’d always wanted the picket fence and the powerful husband who provided well for their family and valued her as the little homemaker—and Tug had brainwashed her into believing the only way she was going to get it was if she went along with him. She had to convince the lying asshole that she believed his lies or he would be petty enough to snatch her dream away from her.

  “I was wrong.” Charlotte’s fervent whisper carried easily to them. “I was so wrong. You’re a prince for forgiving me. I love you so much, Tug. Thank you, baby. Thank you.”

  Each word gouged into Candy, until she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to scream or cry.

  Tug nodded once, somehow managing a martyred air. “I’ll see you at the altar. If you’re lucky.”

  Ren’s arms tightened on her, keeping her from popping out Tug’s eyeballs with her thumbs. That asshole. Threatening her sister on her wedding day. On any day. Didn’t Charlotte see what he was doing? Candy had thought Tug was like her mother, but he was worse. So much worse.

  Only Charlotte evidently didn’t see that. As soon as her fiancé was out of range and Ren had released Candy, Charlotte turned on her with fire in her eyes. “Are you happy? You almost ruined everything!”

  “I did? For telling the truth?”

  “I’m getting married today, Candice,” Charlotte said with exacting dignity. “And you’re lucky you’re still invited to the wedding after the crap you pulled this morning.”

  “He’s brainwashing you!”

  “He’s my husband,” Charlotte declared—as if that absolved him of all gas-lighting. “Or he will be in a few hours. You were wrong.”

  Candy shook her head militantly. “I know what I saw.”

  “Do you? You were awfully drunk.”

  “Do you really want to take that chance?”

  Charlotte’s expression turned pious. “I believe him.”

  “Even if he cheats?” Candy snapped.

  “Yes!”

  The shouted word stopped Candy in her tracks.

  Charlotte was squashing herself to try to force things to work with Tug. He got angry when she disagreed with him, so she never disagreed with him. When she’d said before that she loved all the things that had driven her crazy in other men, Candy had thought it sounded romantic, but now all she saw was Charlotte refusing to allow herself to have real, human reactions because he’d made her terrified of losing him if she ever questioned him.

  That wasn’t love. That was abuse. And no one was trying to stop it. Her parents were throwing them a lavish wedding rather than doing everything they could to get Charlotte away from that monster. Were they all blind?

  “Charlotte,” Candy whispered. “Please, just listen to me—”

  “No. I’ve heard all I need to hear. I knew we never got along, but I never thought you would stoop to this.”

  “Charlotte!”

  “Don’t speak to me again before the wedding, Candice. I’m letting you stay because it would upset mother if I threw you out and I don’t want to have to tell her what you’ve done. But don’t push me.”

  Charlotte made her exit, following Tug back toward the house with all the regal grace of a queen. Candy stared after her.

  So many lies. They’d been swimming in them their entire lives. Until her sister couldn’t even see the truth anymore.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  Four months ago…

  Candy frowned at the video feed showing her front step—she’d expected the pizza delivery guy, but the man who’d rung her doorbell stirred a very different kind of hunger. She’d hoped he would relent. Yes, she was the one who’d ended things, but that had been a mistake and he’d shut down her every attempt to get them back to where they’d been.

  Candy opened the door, greeting Ren with a cautious smile. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” He didn’t look as relieved as she felt. He looked… determined. That was good, right? He must’ve come to some resolution.

  She shoved the door wider. “Would you like to come in? I ordered pizza. You can pick off the pepperoni.”

  He moved past her, hands deep in his pockets like he was trying to resist touching her. God, she’d missed him. Just having him back in her living room felt like a piece that had been ripped out of her had been slapped back into place, shoring up the cracked foundations.

  “Candy…”

  He trailed off and her heart jerked up on a spike of hope. He had to be here to start things up again. They could never stay away from one another for long. “Ren…?”

  “I need you to tell me what’s been going on with Hank the Hammer.”

  The words were so unexpected it took her a moment to realize he hadn’t begged her to take him back. “What?”

  “Max is worried about you and so am I. If he’s harassing you—”

  “If he is, it’s none of your business.”

  “Seriously?” he snapped.

  “I don’t need your protection. I’m taking care of it. I block his numbers. I stay away from him. It isn’t a problem.”

  “Because he hasn’t come after you yet? You do threat assessment for a living. You know he’s escalating. At least file a restraining order—”

  “And put my personal business on public record for anyone to see?” Listen to her. She almost sounded like her mother. But those old instincts died hard. “No. This is my problem and I’m taking care of it. Sorry to screw with your savior complex, but I don’t need you to pro
tect me, Pretty Boy.”

  He shook his head, disgusted. “Of course. I’m doing this to satisfy my own ego. God forbid anyone care about Candy Raines. God forbid you let anyone in. Not one single fucking inch.”

  “You knew who I was when you came here. You knew the first day we met.”

  He looked at her, green eyes bleak. “I love you.”

  The words slammed into her solar plexus, a merciless sucker punch that shoved all the air out of her lungs. She’d wanted him back, but now… Her fight or flight instinct tried to rise, but she tamped it down, forcing her voice to stay steady and inflectionless. “I think you should go.”

  He closed his eyes, exhaling softly, and when he opened them again there was something she’d never expected to see in his gaze. Defeat. “You’re right. I should.”

  He turned toward the door and panic choked her, smothering her voice when she would have called after him. What would she have said? That she loved him too? But the words caught in her throat. She didn’t let herself trust like that. Even if it meant watching him walk away.

  *

  Present day…

  Candy walked back to where Ren waited beside Scott, who looked like all he needed was popcorn to make his enjoyment complete. Trust him to turn family drama into a spectator sport.

  “I guess we’re staying for the wedding,” Ren said, his expression carefully neutral.

  Candy grimaced. “It looks that way.”

  They headed back to the terrace, climbing the stone steps just in time to see Alicia emerge from the house.

  Scott chortled gleefully as soon as he caught sight of her. “If it isn’t the famous Alicia. I hear you’ve been getting around, young lady.”

  “You’re surprised?” Candy asked incredulously, too annoyed with all of them to watch her words. “You’re the one who slept with her at Charlotte’s first wedding.”

  Scott frowned. “No, I didn’t.”

  Candy rolled her eyes. “Scott. I saw you. Thank God I didn’t see much more than the back of your shirt, but it was obviously you. In the coat check room? You didn’t even bother to take off that god-awful purple cummerbund that Charlotte had the wedding party wearing.”

  Scott was shaking his head. “I was on the wagon at Charlotte’s first wedding. I think I would remember having sex in a coat closet—especially since Eleanor was with me and would have used my balls for earrings if she’d caught me back then.”

  Candy looked at Alicia incredulously, trying to recall who else had been wearing the hideous purple cummerbunds. “God, don’t tell me you had sex with her last husband too.” But no—Reggie’s hair was black and Candy wouldn’t have mistaken the back of his head for Scott’s blond one.

  Alicia arched a haughty brow. “I think we’ve pretty much established I wasn’t Reggie’s type.”

  “And that’s the only reason why you wouldn’t sleep with your best friend’s husband? Because he doesn’t want you? Who cares if it’s wrong?”

  “Don’t judge me. I’m not the one who was cheating. It’s not my fault if a man who shouldn’t comes onto me.”

  Apparently in Alicia’s morality, that was the important part. That she didn’t initiate it.

  “You might want to try having less sex in public places at weddings,” Scott suggested helpfully. “Candice seems to have a nose for that kind of thing.”

  “You think I wanted to walk in on that?” Candy snapped, whirling back to Alicia. “What were you thinking? The night before their wedding.”

  Alicia met her eyes without flinching. “Isn’t it better she find out now rather than after she pledged her heart to him? Before she promised to love him for the rest of her life only to realize he wasn’t taking that forsaking all others part seriously? At least now she knows what he is and he can’t hurt her even worse down the line.”

  “So you were doing her a favor by sleeping with her fiancé?”

  “If I’d turned him down, he would have found someone else. At least this way she knows.”

  “Because I told her.” When Alicia regarded her steadily, Candy’s stomach churned. “You wanted to be caught. That’s why you left the door open.”

  “Too bad it didn’t work,” Scott said lightly. “Wedding’s still on.”

  “What?” Alicia gaped at Scott.

  “Your master plan failed. She wants to believe him too badly to hear anything else.”

  “I didn’t plan it,” Alicia said, for the first time sounding defensive. “I only got him alone so I could talk to him about my father’s shipment. I may have massaged his ego a little. I made him feel like the big strong man, told him he was so powerful and influential he could probably wake people up and get the shipment moved on the spot—so he did. Everything else was his idea.”

  “You slept with him for a shipment? I’m surprised you didn’t just screw my father into releasing it for you.”

  “The sex was more of a victory lap than a quid pro quo. Besides, your father doesn’t do political favors in exchange for sex.”

  Candy’s jaw fell. Alicia sounded far too much like the voice of experience.

  And right on cue, her father wandered out onto the terrace. “So this is where everyone is,” he called out cheerfully as he joined them—oblivious to what he’d just walked into.

  “Welcome to the party,” Scott said cheerfully, enjoying himself entirely too much.

  “Where’s the blushing bride?” her father asked, but Candy barely heard him as he came to a stop next to Alicia.

  They weren’t standing particularly close to one another or touching or even looking at each other. There was nothing even remotely suspicious in either of their behavior, but Candy couldn’t seem to stop looking from Alicia to her father and back again.

  And remembering that purple cummerbund, the back of a blond head, the same height as Scott, pinning Alicia to a wall and groaning as he pounded into her between the fur coats.

  Bile rose up in Candy’s throat.

  Aiden’s cummerbund had been ordered in the wrong size, so he’d been in suspenders, and he had darker coloring anyway. But her father…

  “Did you sleep with Alicia at Charlotte’s first wedding?” She didn’t even realize she’d interrupted a conversation in progress until the sudden silence.

  “Candice!” Her mother’s voice, more angry than shocked as she joined them from the gardens.

  Her mother who had quietly hated Alicia for years.

  Her father blushed damningly—and didn’t deny it. No one denied it. She almost wished he would pull a Tug and demand her forgiveness for questioning him. After a weighted pause, her father spoke, low and calm, “That was a long time ago.”

  Her father. Famous diplomat. Master negotiator. The man who could sell a drowning man water. The man who had once been her hero.

  Who couldn’t keep it in his freaking pants to save his life.

  “What about the brunette last night?” she asked, unwilling to let him off the hook so easily.

  Thomas’s expression turned stern as he played the disappointed father. “This isn’t an appropriate topic of conversation today.”

  “Oh?” Candy felt wild, a little unhinged. Charlotte was marrying a world class douchebag. Her father was sleeping with everyone in sight. Scott was already drunk. And she’d lost Ren. Not that she ever had him, but she just couldn’t take any more. “What about Laura?”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Three months ago…

  Ren shifted in his seat, watching the door to the coffee house.

  It felt wrong. Like he was cheating, waiting here for his date—which was ridiculous. Candy had made her feelings more than clear. They were never going to be anything.

  He’d finally woken up to the fact that Candy was never going to change. She wasn’t going to just wake up one day and want to let him in. It was past time he accepted that. He needed to get over her.

  Hence, the date.

  He was probably on the rebound, but he had to start somewhere and in h
is case somewhere was a friend of an old modeling colleague.

  The door to the shop opened and a young woman walked in, scanning the tables until she saw him and her face lit up. It was a pretty face. Gorgeous, actually, though he found himself silently cataloguing the differences between that face and another. Her eyes were brown, not blue. Cheekbones higher, jaw not quite as strong. Her curls were a thick dark brown that cascaded over her shoulders.

  Beautiful, really. And young. Or maybe it was just the fact that her face didn’t seem to be shadowed by secrets that made her seem so much more youthful. There was nothing guarded about her posture, nothing cautious in her smile. No barricades to batter down in her eyes.

  She crossed the coffee shop as he rose from the table.

  “Wow. For once, Monica wasn’t exaggerating.” She smiled up at him, brown eyes glittering flirtatiously—so open, everything she felt shining right there on her face. Like the idea of having baggage hadn’t even occurred to her.

  The anti-Candy.

  He smiled back. “I’m Ren.” He extended his hand and she laid her soft, slim fingers in his grip.

  “Jessica. It’s very nice to meet you.”

  “My sentiments exactly.”

  *

  Present day…

  Ren didn’t know who Laura was, but the name clearly carried significance for Candy’s parents and brother. Only Alicia seemed as lost as he was, her eyes wide and curious as she held herself completely still, as if by not moving they wouldn’t notice she was about to hear something that was obviously a private family matter.

  Candy barely seemed aware of anyone else, staring down her father. “Charlotte doesn’t even remember her.”

  “And why should she?” Candy’s mother declared with forced cheer.

  “Mom.” Candy’s voice penetrated the thick tension in the air like a stone dropping into a pond. “I know. I’ve known for years.”

  “Known what?” her mother asked, and there was a desperate hope in the words, as if she were clinging to the belief that Candy couldn’t possibly know whatever it was she knew.

  “That dad fathered a child on the nanny.” It was Scott’s voice. No longer drunkenly cheerful. Entirely too sober.