Loving Your Lies (6 page)

“Alas, this is the first good news of the
evening,” I exclaimed.

From across the table, strong legs circled
around my crossed ankles, lifting my legs in haste. The quick move
dragged me lower into my chair, and I clasped the table with a
startled hold. This time, Quinn’s kick missed my shin.

“That one was predictable,” Julian said, his
eyes as dark as shards of obsidian. He lowered my feet to the
floor, then withdrew his legs, and left me wondering whether he was
referring to the kick from my friend or my cold retort.

Everyone fell silent. Shooting a glance at
Quinn, I realized my mother’s illness wasn’t a surprise to him. She
must have talked to him this morning in the court after my
spectacular failure at fleeing her presence. Probably twirling him
around her little finger with his pity for the helpless. And he
totally fell for it.
Stupid policeman
.

Her days were numbered, so what? All the
better, I would say.

“You see, Jona.” With her mentioning my
name, my mother drew my eyes away from Quinn. “I don’t want to
leave
without taking the chance of making up for the hard
life you’ve had.”

“You want my forgiveness?” That was
ridiculous. A tight laugh escaped me.

“I beg you to accept your aunt’s offer to
live in her house. She can provide you with all the decent comforts
of life that I never could. She’ll see to you having a good start
into your adult future.” Her lower lip trembled. “And for me, I
only wish you could forgive my weakness in the past.”

“Then I’m afraid you’ll go down with your
only wish denied.” A growl of menace made it up my throat. “I’ll do
as the judge ordered and spend the remaining six weeks till my
birthday in shackles on the vineyards of an aunt I don’t know. Not
quite the time to form a suitable future. As soon as the punishment
is over, I’ll return to London and make my living here. Without
you. As I’ve done during the past twelve years.”

“With the police fast on your heels and Abe
Smith holding a cell free for you?”

It wasn’t so much Quinn’s bantering that
bothered me at this moment as it was Julian’s low chuckle when his
eyes met mine.

“I’m not a half-wit as you all may think.” I
squared my shoulders, clenching the table cloth in my fists. “And
if it means I’ll have to wash dishes in a pub like this ten hours a
day to fund my future, then I dare say it’s the lesser evil
compared to the hell I’m going to be sent to tomorrow.”

Tears stung my eyes. Finally coming after
half a lifetime, they couldn’t simply be blinked away. My abrupt
rise from the table knocked the chair backward, and it landed on
the floor with the piercing sound of wood clattering to
stone-tiles. If the dragon and her friend decided to finish their
drinks of victory over me, I needn’t be part of their
celebration.

I made a dash for the exit. The curious
faces that followed me from every table in the room lanced my
heart.

Cool outside air slapped me in the face. The
door slowly closed behind me.

Run
, my mind screamed. But where
should I go? The brave speech inside was nothing but a betrayal to
myself. Hardly able to do the math of a senior high school student,
I didn’t think London had much to offer for me. No one would hire
me for an honorable job just because I was able to recite Jane
Austen by heart.

The sleeves of my sweater soaked up my tears
before they could roll down my cheeks. The solid wall at my back
provided mild comfort. I tilted head back and studied the night
sky. It couldn’t possibly be my destiny to end up in one of Abe’s
iron curtained cells one day.

The door of the pub opened, and out stepped
a tall figure. Through the mist of moisture pooling in my eyes, it
took me a second to recognize Quinn.

“Oh, there you are,” he said softly as he
leaned against the wall the same way I did. “I almost feared I’d
have to spend the night on the streets searching for you.”

After a few blinks, my gaze moved to his
face and back to the sky. “There’s no place for me to go. No one
wants to have me.”

He took my hand. “I just met someone who
does. And I’ve heard of a handful more people who’d be delighted to
welcome you to their home. Kiddo, look past your pride for once and
see the great chance they’re offering.”

“Why are you so willing to shove me down the
lion’s gorge? You heard all her false words,” I spat. “The only
thing this woman wants is peace for her soul before she kicks the
bucket.”

“And is this really such a bad thing?”

I jerked my hand out of his. “Damnit, Quinn,
whose side are you on?”

“Yours, Jona. Can’t you see?” Without
warning he pulled me into an embrace that knocked the air out of my
lungs. “I hoped for a twist like this ever since you first strode
up to my desk at the office and planted your butt on my stack of
case files. You were the cheekiest brat I’d ever come across, but I
saw the hurt in your frightened eyes when you tried to mock us both
with your snappy talk.”

He brushed strands of my hair out of my
face. “Why don’t you give your mother and her family a chance to
meet the great girl I know must be hiding somewhere deep in there?”
The hint of a grin appeared on his lips while his finger stabbed
the spot between my collarbones.

If there was any great bit of me, then I
would make a double effort not to let my goddamn mother get within
reach of it. “Want to know why I told everyone my mother died in a
car crash?” I sniffed.

Quinn’s eyes held mine as he nodded.

“Because I was ashamed of them to know the
truth. That she abandoned me for the sake of her violent lover who
whacked the shit out of me every night anew. She gave me away. She
chose her sick boyfriend over her own child.” My throat constricted
as the words wrenched out. “I couldn’t bear peoples’ disdainful
glances any longer. Their whispered taunts behind cupped hands
about what a miserable daughter I must have been that my own mother
refused to keep me.” With the back of my hand, I wiped my nose 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, it was
only a small burden.

My gaze swept over my small room a final
time. It felt as if I was leaving a part of me behind. After all,
this had been my home for so long. Listlessly, I closed the
door.

“The lift seems to be out of order today. We
have to take the stairs,” Julian informed me when I caught up with
his long strides.

“That lift has been out of order ever since
I moved in.”

He looked at me, his gaze filled with sudden
irritation.

“What did you expected to find here?” I
sneered. “The Grand Plaza?”

Julian shook his head and walked a little
faster. Even if I didn’t see his face, I could just picture him
rolling his eyes.

Three flights of stairs gave me plenty of
opportunity to study his backside. The muscles flexed with every
step he took. Never being one to stare at a boy’s butt, it
surprised me how hard I found it to tear my eyes away from the
stunning view.

Between the first and second landing, he
shot me suspicious glance over his shoulder. Throughout the years,
I’d become an expert at muffling the sound of my footfalls while
wandering through the building at night to grab a book from the
library.

“Thought I was going astray?

“Just checking,” he murmured, facing the
steps again.

Downstairs, my backpack landed with a dull
thud on the floor. Julian planted his nice bottom on the second
step, his elbows propped on his knees. A spider made its busy way
past his shoes and disappeared into a crack in the brittle
wall.

Julian angled his head to gaze at me. “Don’t
tell me you’re going to miss this place.”

I shrugged and folded my arms over my chest.
“You should come here in winter when the mice move in for a warmer
place to stay and a nice meal in the cafeteria.”

His brows arched and seemed to plead with me
to tell I was only joking. I didn’t bother, but shifted my weight
to my other foot, mimicked his raised brow, and dared him to call
me a liar. He didn’t take the bait.

“Well, in your new home you will have to do
without your speedy companions. The only furry patron there will be
the giant hound.”

A dog? Giant? “No one said I’d have to share
a house with a monster other than my mother.” The image of Rusty
the Rottweiler ran screaming through my head. When I still lived
with the dragon, that stupid dog had flashed his canines at me
whenever I walked by our neighbor’s garden. A hint of wariness
crept to my voice. “And just how big would that dog be?”

Julian waited a second before he answered.
“I know people who mistook it for a horse.” His quiet tone released
a shudder down my spine. “But don’t worry. They keep the dog well
fed, so it should restrain from eating a snotty brat like you.”

The door behind me squeaked open, and I
nearly jumped out of my skin, half expecting to find myself staring
into the open maw of a giant ogre. The beaming face of my mother
was just as shocking.

“Oh, you’re already here.” She reached out
with one hand, but apparently thought better of it and pulled back
before her fingers made contact with my cheek. “I’ve got all the
papers for your departure. The taxi is waiting outside. I suppose
we can start our journey.”

Miss Mulligan shook my hand in farewell then
saw us off to the front door. Julian stuffed my belongings into the
boot of the black car next to two other suitcases. He climbed into
the backseat after me while the dragon sat in front.

“Now put on a nice smile and enjoy the
trip,” Julian whispered as he leaned over to my side. “You’ll like
the flight. I guess you’ve never been in an aircraft before?”

“Aircraft?” Oh shit! I hadn’t even thought
about that part of the voyage. My knees started to tremble. “Isn’t
there a chance to go by car or train. Or a ship even?”