“Excuse me?” she ground out after clearing her throat.
“Yeah,” I shrugged, thankful to be back in a role that suited me better, the wild friend who did things like invite her bestie’s scary, kind of boyfriend to her fairy princess party. Not the woman who focuses on the past and ruminates on the disasters that may lie in the future. “As a birthday present,” I added.
Stella was gaping at me. I couldn’t be sure if she was pissed or just stunned. Then she waved her arms toward the fairy forest I had erected in the back yard. “Um, babe, this was my present. For the next decade.”
I disagreed with that but also saw my opening for a Karson reference that wouldn’t completely steal her thunder.
“Okay, well maybe it’s a teensy bit for me too,” I admitted. “Because I’m over the prince, and I need the Big Bad Wolf to come and save me from him.”
Another lie.
My friends thought I was still with the prince. It was more of a lie of omission because I changed the subject whenever they brought him up. It also didn’t help that I’d brought him here tonight. He’d called me to say that he was in town, and I invited him because I had a friend, a total sweetie, innocent, kind, hot—in a girl next door kind of way—that I thought I could set him up with. That was until I saw him, and he made it clear that he was here because he wanted to do the grand gesture thing and win me back.
Yeah, I fucked up.
Still, it was fucking shady.
“Karson?” Stella asked, her eyes open wide.
I took a breath, nodding, preparing myself for the lie. “Karson,” I agreed. “I’ve been biding my time, partly because the prince wasn’t exactly boring. He gave great head and could’ve possibly made me a princess.”
Almost all of that was true.
“But a man like Karson, he’d make me his queen.”
Unbidden, memories of the various ways Karson had worshipped me over the weeks rushed into my mind. I shivered at the mere thought of him, my body reacting viscerally to the recollections.
I shook myself out of it. “But I don’t want to come on to him directly.” Also not exactly a lie. I hadn’t come on to him per se. He was the one who’d broken into my house for sex.
“Not that I think there’s anything wrong with a woman making the first move,” I added. “But with him, it wouldn’t be smart.”
Again, not entirely a lie. I knew what I was doing with Karson wasn’t smart. I knew I was going to get myself hurt, I could feel it. I just didn’t fucking care.
Stella looked concerned. “Wren, you don’t play games with a man like Karson.”
I bit my lip, annoyed at her perception of Karson. The way she said it, like she thought he had a torture basement he’d chain me up in or something.
It was an unreasonable emotion to have toward a friend who was looking out for me, especially since it was exactly the image Karson projected to the world.
My eyes darted to the prince who was staring at me expectantly. I blew him a kiss, even though it sent the wrong message. It worked to punctuate this conversation.
Yeah, Karson and his villainous ways were totally rubbing off on me.
“Of course, I play games with men like Karson,” I told Stella, my tone light. “They’re the only men who won’t let me win.”
Again, none of this was a lie. It was just the details. The timelines.
If Stella pushed me further on this, I wouldn’t be able to maintain the lie. It would all come tumbling out and ruin her birthday. Make it all about me. And although that was the image I projected to the world—that I loved being the center of attention—it couldn’t be further from the truth. It was just more comfortable playing that part than trying to explore who the fuck I really was.
Karson was helping me explore who the fuck I really was.
“Jay isn’t going to come,” Stella sighed.
My shoulders sagged in relief at the change in subject.
The lies wouldn’t have to keep unravelling.
The truth would come out eventually.