All The Ugly Things (Love and Lies Duet Book 1) Read online

  “Yeah. I’m Lilly.”

  I waited for her to say more. She wobbled the table by the way she bounced her foot on a leg. If she was so damn nervous, she didn’t have to sit by me. There were plenty of open tables around.

  My gaze narrowed on her as she pretended to open her laptop. Mine was on its last dying breath. Hers looked brand spanking new.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” I said when she didn’t stop fidgeting and didn’t do any actual work.

  She looked up and flailed her hand in the air. “Oh, I don’t think that.” She whipped her hand again and sent her water bottle flying right off the table. “Shoot!”

  She bent to grab it and I slid my homework into my backpack. Lunch was ruined. So much for wanting company.

  “Wait,” she said and slammed her hand down on the top of my backpack.

  I gave her one slow arched brow and that hand disappeared into her lap, probably tangled with the fingers on her other hand.

  “I came to ask you something. But um… well... I didn’t want to be rude. Or offend you.”

  “You’re worried about offending me when everyone knows I’ve been in jail?”

  Jail wasn’t prison but jail made people think of spending the night in a drunk tank, not being sentenced for murder.

  Even as we talked, people glanced in my direction. Then hers. I wasn’t sure anyone had willingly talked to me this entire term and the few who did last semester pretended I didn’t exist once word got out.

  She played with her braids before she leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “I-I have a brother. He’s into not-so-good stuff. I was wondering if you’d tell him what it’s like… where he could end up.”

  God. The irony.

  “You love your brother?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “We’re twins and Josiah is well, he’s awesome. Can be sweet, really. Good to our mama and our little sister and brother but his friends… they’re bad news—”

  I’d heard it all before. Seen it. Lived it. His name was so eerily similar to Josh a fist gripped my heart and squeezed.

  “Leave him be.”

  “What?” Her face turned ashen and she licked her lips. “But he’s my brother.”

  “Yeah. And he needs to make his own choices and he has to know when he needs the help to get out. You can’t fight his battles for him and if you start thinking you can, you’ll be the one who drowns.” I stood and grabbed my backpack. My skin itched. Too hot for my bones, too tight for my frame. Needle pricks spiked down my spine. I needed air. “Trust me.”

  I got the hell out of there. From the first person who talked to me in months but only wanted something from me. It wasn’t that I was opposed to helping. I just didn’t trust easily.

  I’d been burned enough.

  I was perfectly content staying far away from any more fires.

  Eleven Years Earlier

  “Please. Don’t make me go home.”

  “You can’t be here, Lilly. You can get in trouble.”

  I stared up at my big brother, big man on campus in our school of thousands. “I’m not your business, Josh. And besides, you started coming to these parties when you were a freshman.”

  “Yeah, but I was friends with juniors on the team and we were all invited. Guys here will eat you alive.”

  “Ew. I just want to see it. Have fun.”

  Keaton Malloy’s parties were legendary and for years Josh had talked about them. Keaton’s family traveled frequently and they had no problems with their only child hosting keg parties. They were infamous. The only thing even freshman at my school had talked about for months.

  And I was finally able to come and my brother was ruining everything.

  “Trust me.” My brother gripped my arm and started pulling me away from the crowd. I should have known he’d spot me. He was overprotective, to say the least, but then again, he’d pretty much raised me.

  “No. I came with Nina and she’s taking me home.”

  He glared at me and then pointed over my shoulder with his other hand. “Nina? The girl currently dancing on top of Lawson’s lap?”

  Gross. She was our neighbor, same age as Josh and when she said she was coming to the party tonight, she told me I should come with her. So what I didn’t know anyone else and none of my friends were allowed to be out this late. I knew my brother’s friends and lots of his ex-girlfriends because he’d had so many.

  “You’re leaving. I’m taking you home.” His grip on my arm tightened.

  “You’re hurting me,” I said, fighting to get him to loosen up. “Seriously, Josh. That hurts.”

  He dragged me while I fought against him and only stopped when Keaton Malloy stepped in front of us. And he didn’t look happy.

  God. How embarrassing. Being hauled off by my brother and then stopped by one of the hottest boys I’d ever seen. I yanked my arm, but Josh held tight.

  “She’s telling you you’re hurting her, Josh.”

  “Out of my way, Malloy. I’m taking her home.”

  “She want to go home with you?”

  “No,” I growled and kicked Josh in the shin. He wobbled back enough he let go of my arm but he was fast. One of the state’s best high school quarterbacks. He already had offers for college. Full-ride scholarships. There was talk of him being the next Brett Favre, which pissed off Chicagoland’s Bears Fans.

  “She’s my sister, dick,” Josh said, hands fisted and looking ready to charge Keaton. “And I’m taking her home. She’s only a freshman.”

  Kill me. Kill me now. Had a hole in the ground opened and swallowed me whole, I wouldn’t have minded.

  He glanced at me quickly and then dismissed me with a shrug. “My bad. You get my concern though, yeah?”

  “Fuck off, Malloy. You got my keys in that bag?”

  I’d noticed it on the way in and he had two straps wrapped around his shoulders now. If you drove, you handed over your keys. Keaton’s parents might not have cared about the parties, but that was their one rule. Any drivers who drank crashed in their rec room.

  “You been drinking?”

  “Anyone else going to get my sister home?”

  Keaton sighed and looked beautiful doing it. He was a senior, varsity running back. He and Josh didn’t hang out much unless it was places like this I guessed, but I hadn’t spent a lot of time around him. I didn’t blame him for not knowing who I was. Up until this year, I’d been a middle schooler. Who paid attention to little kids?

  But I wasn’t a little kid now, and Josh was ruining my chance to grow up.

  “How many have you had? You good? Swear it?”

  “Yeah, I swear it.”

  “Or, we could stay and keep having fun.”

  Josh skewered with me a glare, making me feel about two feet tall. “No. You can go to parties like this in two years.”

  I glanced at my brother then. Sweat lined his temple and his breath smelled like raccoons had died in his mouth.

  “You sure you’re okay to drive, Josh?” I asked.

  He’d been getting in trouble for drinking lately. Pretty sure Dad had busted him for other things too. He lost his car for a month and over spring break, he went somewhere to feel better.

  When he came back, he’d put on weight and didn’t look so antsy. He told me he went to football training, but I wasn’t stupid. Dad had spent hours while he was gone screaming at my mom about how badly she screwed up in raising a son worth a damn outside of football and was throwing away his future. The rehab facility he went to was thrown out in the argument while I locked my bedroom door and huddled in the corner like a terrified child. But when Dad got pissed like that, no one was safe.

  “I’m fine, Lilly.”

  “Don’t make me regret this shit, Huntington.”

  Keaton tossed Josh his keys, tagged with his name and Josh hauled me off toward his truck parked in the street.

  “I hate you for this,” I muttered. There was no more point in fighting it.

  “You’ll t
hank me someday. And promise me, you ever go to a party or place like this and need help, you’ll call me. I don’t give a shit where I am, I’ll always be there to take care of you, yeah?”

  “Whatever.”

  Josh stumbled and let go of my arm. He tripped over something in the yard and laughed a strange laugh as he righted himself.

  “Damn. Where’d that come from?”

  I didn’t see anything, but it didn’t matter, Josh shoved me playfully and then shouted, “Race you!”

  I had no hope of beating him but that didn’t mean I didn’t try.

  The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my dad shouting about something being wrong with Josh’s truck, a pale bruise on my arm, and a strange feeling in my gut.

  But it never stopped me from keeping my promise.

  5

  Hudson

  The pictures I’d seen of Lilliana Huntington didn’t do her justice. I stood in the parking lot outside the cover of the flickering lights, my car parked in the hotel parking lot next door so I could prepare myself to see Lilly.

  I put my dad off for a week. His SUV was now fixed, a leak in his coolant line like Lilly predicted, and now he was more focused than ever.

  My hands were shoved into the pockets of my athletic pants. I hadn’t intended to come tonight.

  If I had my say, I wouldn’t have come at all, but Dad called me out earlier today and left me feeling like shit.

  There was nothing I could say to her that he hadn’t already done or tried.

  But God… this was torture.

  Her hair was pulled back, a low ponytail at the base of her neck. The uniform she wore was atrocious, straight out of the sixties, that matched the diner motif with all the chipped vinyl booths and speckled tabletops. Her makeup was heavy, making her look harder and fiercer than I knew she did otherwise. Without it, she looked young. So much younger than twenty-five. Freckles laid a bridge over her nose, connecting her cheeks and her lips were made for smiles and kissing. Now, it was painted a vicious shade of dark red, thick black lining her eyes made her round eyes smaller, almost narrowed with irritation. She didn’t wear jewelry, not even a watch. She painted herself in a way that said back the fuck off. I hadn’t even met her yet, but I still wanted to scrub all that shit off her so I could see her.

  She served a table of four guys, too happy and into shoulder-slapping their buddies to be sober, with the patience of a woman who had none.

  And I stood outside in the dark, like a fucking psycho.

  I headed toward Judith’s when Lilly pushed through a set of silver swinging doors and disappeared from view. The four-top of guys watched her, that leering look told me they wanted her to serve up more than burgers and milkshakes.

  She worked in a shithole diner and probably lived in a shithole place when she was the daughter of a state judge, probably grew up in private schools with a Mercedes gifted to her on her sixteenth birthday and more money than my own parents had. This shouldn’t be her life.

  She’s better than this. Better than her circumstance and I believe her. She just needs someone to help.

  The memory of Melissa’s pleading eyes made me squeeze my own eyes shut. “Fucking bleeding heart.”

  Since she could walk, she had a calling to save everything from kittens and frogs and turtles in the road to classmates and children where she worked.

  One last request. Promise me.

  I’d wanted to throttle her slim, pale throat.

  I gripped the door handle and scowled at the silver-plated handle, before I threw it open.

  “Happy now?” I asked, and somehow, I knew she was.

  Lilly was still in the back when I entered. Where Dad said she always stood, there was an old laptop with notebooks spread open. I took the seat at the far end and waited, snagging a menu from the counter on my way.

  The food was cheap, basic diner food, perfect for the clientele a place like this brought in. Greasy, thick burgers, patty melts, and Reubens. Sandwiches and burgers and two salad options.

  It was late enough none of it appealed to me. Probably why my dad came for the pies.

  Fortunately for me, he’d said they were the best he’d ever tasted, and I’d inherited his sweet tooth.

  The creak of old, squeaky door hinges rang out and I lifted my head.

  Lilly came out carrying a tray stacked with food, focused on the four-top. I didn’t move for fear of distracting her. Not a great first impression to make if she ended up covered in grease and condiments.

  The guys at the table did more shoulder-slapping, whooping and hollering like they were watching the Super Bowl and not their food being delivered. I kept my eyes on them, waiting for one to give me a reason to put an end to all of them. The dark-haired guy would be first. He sat at the outer edge of the booth and as Lilly leaned forward to deliver a tray to the guy next to him, his hand hovered inches from her backside.

  The blond across the table egged him on with a nod but she stood back, put space between them, and barked, “Even think of touching me and none of you are leaving with your dicks still attached to your body.”

  “Oohh. I’ll show you mine happily,” one said, hands dropping to his lap.

  She glared at him, resting bitch face I was certain she learned in prison firmly in place. It didn’t look right on her. Too hard. Too forced.

  What would she have been like as a smiling, happy teenager before life was stolen from her?

  Damn it. I felt it then. That pull my dad had when he first saw her.

  She’d lost too much.

  She dropped the three remaining plates at the edge of the table so she didn’t have to get too close and swung her tray around, almost smacking one of them in the head. He ducked and cursed at her.

  My hands balled into fists. I’d hit him first.

  “Need anything else?”

  “Yeah, our food without a bitch serving it,” another said.

  He’d be next.

  “Whatever.” She swung around and headed toward the counter. She pulled to an abrupt stop, jaw dropping, eyes widening when she saw me.

  Her steps restarted quickly and she dropped the large brown tray on a stand filled with a stack of them.

  “Good evening.”

  Amazingly, her anger from the table before wiped clean in a moment as she skirted behind the counter. Fake smile plastered in place.

  I hated it instantly, almost more than the hard look she’d just given those guys.

  “What can I get for you?”

  “Have any apple pie left? My dad says it’s the best.”

  I’d considered how to handle this, whether to let her know who I was off the bat or not. After what I just saw, I figured she dealt with enough drama during a shift. She didn’t need more and I was going to be enough on my own.

  “Your dad?” That same hardened look returned.

  “David. I’m Hudson.”

  With a sigh that made her shoulders fall, she asked, “Same decaf as Mr. Valentine, too?”

  “No, thanks.”

  Her eyes narrowed and darkened right before she thrummed her fingers on the countertop.

  “There’s a sign on the door that allows me to refuse service anyone for any reason, you know that?”

  “Does that mean there isn’t any pie left?” I smirked. Ladies loved it. Not that I cared what most liked.

  She didn’t fall for it.

  “Yeah, there’s pie, but I think I’m gonna decline your request. I don’t know why your dad keeps coming here and I sure as hell don’t know why you’re here, or care.”

  If she wasn’t looking at me like she’d slip a steak knife from a bucket and slam it directly into my heart, I would have laughed.

  “Dad told me about you.”

  “Don’t care.” She spun and went to the back. Right before the door closed behind her, she dropped her forehead into her hand and rubbed along the width of it.

  My hands fisted. The guys at the table had quieted now that they could stu
ff their mouths filled with food, but I knew those looks on their faces… the faces of guys who didn’t like being denied their fun and didn’t mind forcing it if they had to. Lilly probably learned how to handle herself in a scrap if she had to, but four guys against one?

  No way in hell was I leaving.

  She came back out a few minutes later, gaze sliding in my direction before those eyes of hers rolled high to the ceiling’s stained tiles. Ignoring me, she went straight to the tabletop, ripped off their checks and cleared empty dishes.

  She didn’t say a word to them, and their dishes and silverware clattered into the bin she passed on the way back—straight to me.

  “Didn’t I make myself clear?”

  “You said you wouldn’t serve me, didn’t say I had to leave.” She opened her mouth, but I didn’t let her speak. “You don’t want to talk, fine. But I’m not leaving until those guys do.”

  Her lips pressed together and her shoulders fell with a heavy breath. “Why do you care?”

  “Because Dad likes you. Thinks you’re a good person. And because he’d fire me from my job if I let anything happen to you.”

  Her lips twitched then. Just a small hint and it wasn’t exactly friendly or happy. “Couldn’t have that, could we?”

  She dripped sarcasm as she spoke. I ignored it.

  “It’d make Dad sad. He’s had enough of that.” I let her see the truth in my eyes. I could be an arrogant prick when called for and a stubborn ass when I needed to be. I could win any argument if it was important enough to me, but this wasn’t for me. Dad had lost enough.

  “Fine. Stay.”

  “Does that mean I can get some pie?”

  She blinked at me, stone-faced, and then she cracked, a slight twitch at one corner of her lips. To some it was nothing, but for her, I figured it meant she found me hilarious.

  I was pretty certain there was a grin on her face when she turned away from me. By the time she came back with a glass of water and slice of apple pie, any emotion was gone.