Page 158 of Tell No Lies

“Then promise me something. Promise me you’ll stay away from Gage.”

My heart sank. “You can’t ask me to do that.”

“That’s what it’s going to take for me to trust you.”

“I would never ask you to do that to one of your friends, Mike. Don’t you get that?” That was the real problem.

“None of my friends are a threat to my safety.”

“Gage isn’t a threat!” I finally snapped.

“If you won’t agree with me, then I’m done. I can’t handle stressing about you when you don’t care about yourself. I’m done.”

I shook my head in utter disbelief. He’d given me an unfair and impossible ultimatum. He’d pushed me into a corner with no other option. “Goodbye, then.”

I quickly opened the door and stepped out, taking my bag with me. Without another word or look, I walked back to the studio and called Diane for a ride.

☼ ☼ ☼

After a long bath, I sat on my bed and stared at my phone. I just went through a breakup and I wanted—well, needed—to talk to my friends. I missed Mckayla, Alexis, and Talia. It wasn’t fair they cut me off without the opportunity to explain. I knew they all hated Gage and didn’t trust him, but they should trust me.

Their quick and final judgment was hard to take, but if I really tried, I could see it from their perspective. After everything that happened, this was the final straw. You can only push people so far before they reach their breaking point, and apparently me choosing Gage over Mike, or appearing to, was theirs.

But I was their best friend, not Mike. They knew Gage was my friend. If there was something else going on between us, they would have been the first I told. I would never hide anything from them. Why didn’t they know that?

I was still staring at my phone when Brandon walked in.

“Practicing telekinesis?”

“Yeah, still no luck.”

He leaned against the doorframe, chuckling. “Give it time.”

“I’m willing it to ring, but that’s not working either.”

“Ah. Well, give that some time too.”

I glanced up at him before resuming my stare-off with my screen. “What do you know?”

“I know that your friends love you, and they’ll get over things soon.”

“Doubt it.”

“Girls are so dramatic. Guys would never give each other the silent treatment. We just yell or punch or move on.”

“I’d take that right about now.”

“How are things with Mike?” He tilted his head and snorted.

“Like you don’t already know.”

He moved farther into my room, grabbed the chair from my desk, and sat in it, facing me. “I haven’t heard from him in a few days.”

“You probably won’t anytime soon.”

“What happened?”

“Do you really want to hear about my lame drama?”