Read The Truth About Us for Free Online

tongue and pull my knees to my chest.
    I curl tighter, willing it to go away. Pushing the memory of him back under.
    God, I hate this.
    xxx
    Once I feel calm again, I dress and go downstairs where Tobie sits at the kitchen table, flipping through a magazine, and Tosh is on the couch playing some video game.
    “Morning, sunshine.” He laughs at me. “Have a good time last night?”
    I avoid his eyes and say nothing because he obviously knows I got home after four in the morning. When the bar closes at two, it’s pretty obvious.
    “I bet she got lured out to Mills Lake for a post-bar swim. The old rope and grope.” Tobie laughs and circles this gaudy chandelier in her magazine.
    “The what?” I pour a coffee and sit next to her. Tosh laughs as he mercilessly slaughters an army that’s cornered him on his game.
    “There’s an old knotted rope out on the east side of the lake. The boys favorite pick up is to take girls out there so they’ll either get naked or in their underwear and go in the lake.”
    “Where does this groping come in?” I take a sip of coffee, trying to hide the fact that even the thought of swinging on a rope over the water is enough to send me into a panic.
    Tosh has paused his game and moves to the table wrapping his arms around Tobie. “Well the rope is kinda tricky. It’s a two man operation,” Tosh says and slides his hands down Tobies arms then transfers them to her waist. “You have to stand on this old, fallen tree to get to it. It’s hard to get a grip and balance, so while she’s getting herself positioned on the rope, she needs someone strong to hold her up.” Tosh digs his fingers into Tobie’s side, and she jumps.
    “So you were pretending to be helpful but just being creepy and feeling up wet half-naked girls?” I smirk and shake my head. Tosh smiles wide.
    “It works sometimes. That’s how I got Tobie. She let me get to third base after the first time on the ol’ rope and grope. Because I’m such a gentleman, I helped her on that rope every time she wanted it.” Tosh kisses Tobie’s cheek in an exaggerated, loud kiss, and she glares.
    “That’s not the reason, and you know it.” She pushes his face away and bites back a smile. Tosh laughs and goes back to his game, whatever shared memory they have is staying secret.
    Tobie goes back to her magazine, and Tosh’s game fills the house with the sound of machine gun fire. I sit at the table, looking out the patio doors to the spring buds blossoming on the trees thinking about my own secrets. But none of my secrets make my eyes sparkle and my lips twitch into little smiles like Tobie’s doing right now.
    My secrets require medication.
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter Five
    Corbin
     
     
    Sitting at the bar, tossing my fries around but not eating them, I can’t get her out of my mind. Her small frame and huge grey eyes haunt me as I give myself shit for looking at her too closely. For thinking about her while I was with Kayla last night in my truck. For trying to push the thoughts out but in the end just letting Sophia dominate.
    How messed up is that? I know Garett fucked her. Not that it would be the first time we tried for the same girl, but I have a girl. Sort of.
    I glance at my phone again, but the screen is still black.
    “What are you, like, twelve? You’ve checked that phone every ten seconds since you got here.” Brenda leans over the bar and grabs a fry from my plate. Her voice is harsh, but I know she’s teasing. Being the day shift waitress at a dead bar in a city so small it shouldn’t really be a city has this ability to grind away any of the seriousness of life. For Brenda, her days consist of drinking coffee, flipping through soap operas on the bar TV and serving grown men beer at noon. Brenda knows everything about everyone, and the way her brown eyes are staring me down she knows I’m hiding something. It’s a testament to her skills because I hide everything.
    “I’m expecting a call,” I