Page 62 of Married to Lies

“Something happened with Jada, didn’t it?” I asked. “What did Jude do?”

Bryce’s lips pressed together, but I already knew I’d hit the mark.

Cruz leaned forward. “Did they used to be together?”

Aaric’s blue eyes were wide. “Is he jealous? Is that what the takeover was about?”

We’d been asking Bryce and Jude ever since it happened, so I doubted we’d get anywhere near an answer. But Bryce said, “It’s complicated. Look, guys, you know me. I don’t make enemies.”

Aaric nodded. That much was true. Bryce had this unique way of bringing all different types of people together. Proof of that could easily be found in our group of founders.

Cruz, playful and joking but surprisingly sly.

Aaric, sensitive, inclusive, weaving the team together like an expert of the craft.

Jude, cunning, decisive, assertive, and capable.

And then there was me. Quiet Quentin, the practical one who spoke less and thought more, made choices based on data and logic. Rei was the only person who brought out the other side of me, the one that could take risks.

Bryce could be stubborn, especially if he felt like he was making a choice between right and wrong. “So you won’t tell us,” I rumbled, frustrated and yet resigned to the fact.

Bryce shook his head.

“But it’s bad,” I confirmed.

He took a drink. Good enough.

Aaric made his voice so low that we could hardly hear him. “Should the rest of us be worried?”

Bryce had a tortured look, the weight of everything more apparent on his visage than ever. When he finally spoke, his words carried the stilted cadence of someone speaking very carefully.

“However this all shakes out, our group will never be the same.”

28 Jude

My co-founders used to be my best friends.

My family.

The one I got to choose, not the one I couldn’t leave.

And yet sitting with them at the table, trying to ease the strength of my discomfort with even stronger bourbon... I’d never felt more alone.

Aaric looked at me with pity, like a broken thing to be pieced back together.

Cruz avoided eye contact. He was all about having a good time, and this infighting was the opposite.

Quentin tried not to get involved in office politics, which meant he was pretty much ignoring me unless he needed something.

And worst of all, Bryce saw me as an enemy. A devil beyond redemption.

Maybe I was. I definitely had earned the reputation.

Alone in the safety of the back seat of a town car with my thoughts blurring at the edges, I texted her. My salvation. The one luxury I couldn’t afford but ineffably craved.

Jude: Can I come over?

But she read my message and didn’t reply.