Lies in Blood by A. M. Hudson Read Free Book Online

immature display of ownership. “But it’s not our place to interfere. We’re not in their relationship, so we can’t pass judgement.”
    “ Who’s passing anything?” I said. “I’m more worried about what Morg’s saying to Em. I think she has thing for Mike. What if she’s advising Emily out of the relationship?”
    Jason gave David a smug grin. “Told ya.”
    I looked at David. “Told you what?”
    “ I told him you wouldn’t get caught up in the drama of it all.” Jason stuffed his capo in his back pocket. “We’re worried about the same thing.”
    “ Then I should go find them,” I decided.
    “ Okay.” David grabbed his guitar case. “Just . . . Remain objective, okay? Don’t listen to too much of what Em says about Mike. You know what he’s like.”
    I nodded. “I know he loves her. I know he’s. . .” I thought about it, having a laugh to myself for a second, “—downright stupid when it comes to girls sometimes, but I’ve also known him longer than she has. She can’t badmouth him in front of me, I won’t let her.”
    “ Good.” David nodded. “Because that kind of chatter is infectious. Before you know it, an argument she had with Mike will become a full-scale cause for hatred. Don’t let Morg get inside her head.”
    “ Yeah, she’s good at that,” Jason added, and both boys walked away, side by side.
     
    ***
     
    “ Hey, what’re you guys doing?” I asked, catching them on the stairs.
    “ Sleepover,” Emily said.
    “ Sleepover?”
    “ Yeah.” Morgaine stepped past Emily. “Mike and Em had a fight. She doesn't want to sleep in the same room.”
    I noticed Em’s red eyes then. “Are you okay, Em?”
    “ Yeah,” she said, her voice still shaky. “I just…you know what he’s like.”
    “ Um, no.” I frowned. “What do you mean?”
    “ He just doesn't get it.”
    “ Ara won't either, Em.” Morgaine wrapped her arm around Emily. “She's his best friend.”
    “ Try me,” I said.
    “ He doesn't listen to me,” she started, and it all came pouring out with tears. “He doesn't understand what I'm trying to say. He thinks I'm being needy and bitter, when all I want is for him to want to spend time with me. That's all. I just want him to want to. He doesn’t even have to, that’s not what I’m after, you know. And I know he doesn't have time, but…it’s just, maybe if he’d meet with me for a coffee every morning, or even invite me, or maybe if he’d spent time with me last night instead of going fishing with the boys, then I wouldn’t be so upset. I don’t want all his time…” She took a few jagged breaths. “I just want him to want to be with me, even though he can’t.”
    “ How do you know he doesn’t want that?” I asked.
    Emily wiped her cheeks, angling her face away from me. “He doesn’t show it.”
    I sighed, dropping my arms. “For what it’s worth, Em, I do understand. And I also understand why Mike doesn't understand how you feel.”
    “ Why?” she asked.
    “ He’s just…that's just how he always was with girls, before he and I were together.”
    “ But I'm not just some girl. I'm his fiancé.” She held up her ring hand.
    I shrugged. If she thought she would be any different, she was kidding herself. She knew Mike only for the curse-captured, obsessed version of himself he was with me. But that just wasn’t who he was.
    Morgaine hugged Emily close, rubbing her back. “Where’s David, Ara?”
    “ Um, he’s on the phone to National Security, dealing with some human issue.”
    “ Well, come on then.” She grabbed my hand, keeping an arm around Em. “You’re having a sleepover with us.”
    “ Okay,” I said. “But no scary movies.”
    Emily and Morg exchanged grins.
     
     
    “ Knock, knock,” David said softly, peering into the dark room.
    “ Shh.” Morg scowled at him.
    He pretended to zip his lips, then tiptoed in slowly and crawled onto the bed between Emily and I.
    “ What are you doing here?” I