Page 166 of Tell No Lies

Talia seemed to be the calmest now. Always the wise one. “The age gap might seem worse at this age, but in the grand scheme, it really doesn’t matter. I can understand why he would want you to enjoy your teenage life, but I don’t think he was blowing you off. You should talk to him again.”

“Talia’s right,” Mac agreed. “You tried it his way, and look how things have turned out. Maybe it’s time to talk to him again. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, Bree. He doesn’t just think of you as Brandon’s little sister.”

I wanted to believe them, but I also couldn’t get my hopes up again. I barely survived the first time he broke my heart, and I didn’t think I could handle it again. “What if he turns me down again?” I paused, trying to keep myself together. “What if he doesn’t feel the same? I can’t lose him all over again. It felt like my heart was being ripped from my chest the first time. I can’t go through that pain again.”

Mckayla moved next to me and pulled me into a hug. “Then you call us, and we’ll come and feed you ice cream until you puke. After, we’ll drive to his house and use it as target practice with a few dozen eggs.”

Despite everything I was feeling, I had to laugh. It started out silent, but soon my shoulders were shaking, and I was drying tears from my eyes. The girls joined in and tossed around different ideas to get back at him. It took almost an hour for us to settle down and stop laughing. As long as I had them back with me, I could handle anything.

☼ ☼ ☼

My opportunity to talk to Carter came much sooner than I was prepared for. He was sitting on the couch, watching a game show, when I got home from dance the next night.

“Hey, Aubrey.”

“Hey, what are you doing here?” I walked past him to drop off my bags in my room but turned back to join him in the living room.

“I thought I’d come by since Brandon is having another late night.”

“Again? When does he ever get a break?”

He looked over at me and smiled. “Soon. The project he’s been working on is almost finished, and the buyer is already lined up. He’s already promised to take a break once this is over so he can spend more time with you.”

“That will be nice.” I sat on the other end of the couch.

“I haven’t seen you in a little while. How are things?”

I stared at his profile, wondering how much Brandon and Liv had told him. Probably everything about the stalker, but had they mentioned Mike? I didn’t want that to be the first thing I told him.

“Dance is going really well. I’m going to be doing my solo again in our next competition, and Brandon said there might even be some scouts there!”

Carter finally tore his gaze away from the show. “Aubrey! That’s amazing!”

“Yeah, I’m really excited but also way nervous.”

“Don’t be. You are an amazing dancer. I bet you’ll have your pick of schools to go to.”

I could only nod. This wasn’t what I wanted to talk about, but how could I bring up something like this?

“Anything else going on?”

It was an innocent enough question, but I couldn’t help but wonder if he already knew more. I decided to get rid of the elephant in the room and replace it with a bigger one.

“Mike and I broke up.”

I counted in my head until he replied. One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight …

“Why?” His voice was barely above a whisper.

I exhaled and almost laughed. “Several reasons, actually.”

He met my eyes and waited.

“My psycho stalker sent him a picture of me and my friend, Gage, together, so Mike accused me of cheating on him. Even after I explained it, he didn’t want to believe me. He wanted me to give up dancing to be around him more. He didn’t think it was something I should be wasting my time on since I don’t have a future in it. Finally, he gave me an ultimatum and that was the final straw.”

“What an idiot.” He scoffed.

“Yeah, I think so.”