Loving Your Lies by Piper Shelly Read Free Book Online Page B

and
twisted away from Quinn’s hold. A moth circled around the beam of
light from the streetlamp. I watched it land on the bulb then
flutter away. “So I invented her honorable death.”
    Strong arms closed around my shoulders and
turned me back. Quinn pressed me to his chest. “I didn’t know.”
    “Of course you didn’t.” The cotton of his
t-shirt muffled my words. “Your disgust would have been the least
bearable of all.”

 
     
     
    4
     
    SHIPPED OFF TO THE CONTINENT
     
     
    THE LAST NIGHT in the orphanage seemed like
the longest in my life. After Quinn had returned to the pub to give
our excuses to my mother and her weird attendant, he drove me back
to the place I still called home. Not until he promised to come and
see me off at the airport the next morning did I let go of my only
friend’s arm.
    Fear of the coming weeks clamped like a fist
in my stomach and kept me from falling asleep till the early
morning hours.
    I had seen all kinds of emotional farewells
on the small TV in the common room, but none of those applied to my
leave-taking that day. Apart from Quinn, Debby would have been the
only person worth a goodbye—if she hadn’t sold me to the devil the
other day and brought about my unholy punishment.
    At seven forty-five, I returned to my room
after my last shower in the common bathing area. Pulling back my
wet hair, I fixed it with an old rubber band I’d found in the
pocket of my jeans when they had been handed down to me. As I
slipped through the door, I yelped, and my heart shot to my throat
at the sight of Julian sitting on my bed.
    Elbows braced on his knees, he leaned
forward. His blond hair gleamed like minted gold in the sun
streaming in through the window. “Not quite the welcome I had hoped
for.”
    Frantically, I scanned the room for the
other intruder, but the dragon was nowhere to be found. “What are
you doing here?”
    “Summoning you. Your mother is settling your
check-out with the headmistress.” The bedsprings squeaked when he
rose from my cot, then he glanced around the room.
    Crap, not what I wanted him to do,
especially when he focused on the cobwebs in the corner above his
head.
    “Isn’t this a lovely place?” he
murmured.
    I let a casual shrug roll off my shoulders
to cover how much his words offended me. “Cobwebs, dust, it’s still
home.”
    “After the dramatic end of last evening, I
wasn’t sure if you’d still be here today.”
    “What a terrible shock for you to find my
room empty then. Especially, after all the trust you put in me at
the court.” I picked up the book from my night stand and withdrew
my only pen, which had served as a bookmark last night. I dropped
the pen into my backpack. “I’m sure you and the dragon wouldn’t
have hesitated a minute to search the city for me.”
    Quite nonchalantly, Julian stepped into my
space. Biting the inside of my lip, I remained where I stood when
he lowered his lips to my ear. “With that tongue of yours, we
wouldn’t have had any trouble finding you.” His warm breath brushed
my hair as he spoke.
    I sighed, inhaling his scent. His skin
smelled of wild wind and ocean, and that melted my armor. A memory
surfaced in my mind of the one day last spring when Miss Mulligan
had taken us to the sea and I had waded through the gentle waves
rolling to the shore. Closing my eyes, I could still feel the wet
sand between my toes.
    “Are you ready to go?” Julian’s question
came from behind me.
    I opened my eyes, blinking against the
bright light from outside. It seemed even the sun chided me for the
moment where I’d let down my guard. I straightened and turned. “As
ready as one in my sick situation can be.”
    “Good.” His impudent grin mocked me from
three feet away. “Let’s not waste any more time in this nasty place
then.”
    He bent, picked up my bursting backpack from
the floor, and headed out. It was nice that he carried my heavy
bag. Although, compared to my mother’s inescapable presence,