Chapter 3
Two Truths And One Lie
ZARA
Apart of me would rather walk all the way to the Gamma house rather than ride with Heather.
It’s not because I know she’s going to yell at us; it’s because she’s right to feel hurt.
We’ve been lying to her. She has a right to feel hurt about it, because she didn’t deserve it.
I’ve been justifying that by telling myself that she’s the sheriff’s daughter and telling her would have been too much of a risk. I’m sure Chance and Lev kept their involvement in the races a secret from her for the same reason.
But however I look at it, as we follow Heather down a short path behind the hangar, I still feel like a complete asshole.
Heather has been nothing but a good friend to me from the second we met two years ago. And since I followed Mom to Star Cove, she’s done everything in her power to make me feel at home; she’s included me in everything she’s been doing, opening her social circle to me.
I know a lot of people who would have been possessive of their friends, but not Heather. She has welcomed me with open arms, and I repaid her generosity with a bunch of lies.
Heather’s Mustang isn’t the only vehicle parked behind the hangar.
By the looks of it, someone cut down the tall grass and the shrubbery that covered the ground to free a patch of land where ticket holders could park their vehicles. To do that, they would have to come from the opposite direction we came from, driving past the gas station by the town border.
“Morelli is getting really organized.” Lev considers. “Tickets, online bets and a parking lot. In a couple of weeks, this thing went from a couple of frat boys racing to get a rush bid to something pretty big. There must have been a couple hundred people here earlier.”
“Yeah.” Ares looks around at what now is a dirt patch with a dark scowl. “How the fuck does he think this is going to stay a secret?”
Heather presses her key fob to unlock the car. “Probably because everyone knows that just by being here they’re breaking the law. That includes me. If my dad knew I was here tonight, he’d lose his shit. Getting arrested would be the only thing that would keep me safe from his anger.”
“Does that mean that you’re not going to tell on us?” Chance asks.
That was obviously the wrong thing to say, because Heather takes offense. “Really, Chance? How many secrets have I been keeping for you and your brothers since forever? Have I ever tattled to our parents about anything you guys have done that went against their wishes?”
“No, but—”
Heather cuts him off. “If Candace hadn’t bought us all tickets to tonight’s race, I would have no idea about all this.
How can you not get how much it hurts that you still don’t trust me?
I’ve always been loyal to you, even before I started dating your brother.
And my loyalty has never changed, even after Atlas was gone.
I shouldn’t even need to remind you of that. ”
She holds his gaze until Chance lowers his.
“You’re right, Heather. I’m sorry.”
“So I guess nineteen years of loyal friendship means nothing to the three of you, if you thought I’d run to tell my dad.”
Lev intervenes. “No, Heather. That isn’t why we didn’t tell you. We know we can trust you; it’s just a matter of plausible deniability. It’s the same reason we didn’t tell Zara. We didn’t want you to have to lie to our parents if things went south and they started asking questions.”
“That, and also once we knew that Fox was back in town and involved in this, we thought it would be safer to keep you two away from it all. We made that decision even before we knew that Morelli was sponsoring the entire thing.”
I’m not surprised.
When Chance and Lev didn’t tell me about the races, I knew it was to keep me safe. “Heather,” I intercede. “They’re telling the truth. They didn’t tell us to protect us.”
She raises her voice. “What are you even talking about, Zara? I thought we were friends too, you know?”
“We are.” I plead.
Her voice cracks as she fights the urge to cry. “If we were, you wouldn’t keep lying to me.”
“I’m not.” I insist.
“Bullshit. You’re in a race suit. They obviously not only told you, they gave you a bike so that you could race too.”
I can see why she would think that’s the case. “They didn’t, Heather. Chance and Lev had no idea that I knew they were racing.”
“But you obviously knew they were.” Ares says. “From the sound of it, this wasn’t Smith’s first race in Star Cove. Morelli must have seen you race before if he was so keen on having you race for him.”
There’s no reason not to tell the truth at this point. “Yeah. I raced twice before tonight.”
“So Chance and Lev told you,” Heather accuses me. “As usual, I was the only one who got left out.”
“They didn’t tell me.”
Chance’s blue eyes meet mine. “Heather, Zara is telling the truth. We kept the race a secret from her and from anyone who wasn’t involved.
At first because this all started as a Gamma Delta Tau initiation task, so it was supposed to stay secret.
Then, because we got blackmailed into racing and we didn’t want Zara or you to be any near people like Fox or Morelli. ”
Lev backs him up. “Fox threatened to divulge our initiation video if we didn’t show up to race.
It was a shitty enough situation. We didn’t want them to possibly have something else to threaten us with.
But since Chance and I didn’t tell you,” he turns to look at me.
“How did you know? Did you buy a ticket? JJ showed up pretty much immediately after our initiation night, so where did you get a bike?”
My eyes drift to my feet. I’m a little embarrassed. “I followed you. On initiation night, I was at the Zeta house. The Zeta president had us all camping out in the living room; everyone had pink sleeping bags.”
“I can only imagine.” Chance grins. “Did you girls get into a pillow fight and play ‘Never Have I Ever?’ and watch cheesy rom-coms?”
“How do you know about the pillow fight?” I ask, surprised by the accuracy of his description of Rush Night at the Zeta house.
Chance shakes his head, a chuckle rumbling from his chest. “I don’t. I was just thinking about every sorority movie Heather has forced us to watch over the years whenever she got to pick the movie on our movie nights.”
Heather isn’t in the mood for Chance’s ribbing tonight. She flips him off.
“Will the two of you knock it off?” Ares scolds them. “So, Zara, you were at the Zeta house sleepover on initiation night…”
“I couldn’t sleep. I went to the kitchen to grab something to eat but then changed my mind and decided to step out in the backyard for some fresh air.
I heard some noises and hushed voices coming from the fence, and I saw a few men leaving the neighbors’ yard.
I would have turned around and gone back to the sleepover, but I recognized Chance and Lev, so… I followed them.”
The guys look a little shocked. “You followed us through campus in the middle of the night?” Lev gasps. “We never saw anyone. We thought we were the only ones out at that time on a school night.”
“I just stayed a few steps behind; it wasn’t hard to hide in the darkness. But the point is, I saw what happened. I knew that Cal was blackmailing you, and I decided to race because I wanted to be there just in case you needed help.”
The tension in Heather’s shoulders eases off a little. “I get that. But why didn’t you tell me? You know you can trust me.”
“I didn’t tell anyone.” I sigh. “Like Lev just said, I thought that if you didn’t know and our parents or anyone else asked you about it, you wouldn’t have to lie.”
Chance takes my hand in his, squeezing it to comfort me. “I understand. Lev and I aren’t mad at you, but I wish you had told us you were JJ.”
I pull my hand out of his hold when I notice that Heather is looking at us.
“Yes,” Lev agrees. “If you had told us that you were Smith, we would have never made that deal with Morelli. We would have protected you.”
“That’s why I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want you to have to worry about me, and I decided to race to make sure I could intervene if things went wrong.”
My boyfriend’s gaze softens. “You were trying to protect us?”
When he pulls me into his arms, I go willingly. “I would do anything for you.”
“You two are so cute.” Heather smiles. “Ok, since I wasn’t the only one you were keeping secrets from, you’re all forgiven. But don’t let that happen again, I mean it.”
Guilt twists my insides at the thought that we still aren’t being totally honest with her about our relationship.
I know we should tell her, and I think it would be received better if it came from me.
But this isn’t the time or place to talk about it; and besides, I don’t know where I stand with Ares.
We haven’t had a moment to talk after the fight we had earlier, and I’m sure that tonight’s events made the situation worse rather than better.
Before I tell Heather anything, I need to know if I can fix things with my older stepbrother.
Ares notices that I’m looking at him.
He meets my gaze for a second but then looks away. His stoic expression is even harder to read than usual.
“Let’s get out of here.” He bites out. “We have a lot to figure out. I would like to think that things will look better in the morning, but you three got yourselves in such a fucking shitshow that I can’t see a way out.”
The worst thing is that he isn’t wrong.
Chance and Lev pile up in the backseat of Heather’s car. They barely fit as it is, so I’m surprised when Ares makes a move to join them.
“Let me sit in the back. This car isn’t built for three big men.”
Ares’s eyes slide from me to Heather in the driver’s seat. “I guess.”
“Zara is right, Ares.” Heather provokes him. “Come sit in the front. I’m not going to bite, even if you deserve it.”
He rolls his eyes but gets into the passenger seat once I’m settled between Chance and Lev. “Lucky for me, my tetanus shot is up to date.”
“You’re such an asshole.” Heather growls, backing out of her parking spot.
“Easy there.” He chuckles. “Maybe I should get a rabies shot too.”