AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This is the part I didn’t really want to tell her. It happened while I stayed with my brother, after abandoning Luce when she needed me the most. Yeah, I totally let my bestie down and selfishly took a timeout. I didn’t mean to, it just sort of happened.
I never thought she could say or do anything that would make me need time away from her, but it happened. Finding out she had kept so many secrets for the ten years we’d known each other was quite the shock. And if I’m completely honest, learning she comes from a Mafia family was scary as hell.
My dad and brother work in law enforcement, and when you spend enough time around a police officer and a detective, you end up with a healthy respect for the law. At least I did.
“It happened just a few days after I left our apartment and stayed with Jamie,” I whisper, almost hoping she won’t hear me and that we can just move on.
“What the hell?” she shrieks, standing so abruptly I jerk back in my chair. “Abigail Rosie Wilson, I’m so livid with you. How could you not tell me?”
I momentarily consider standing, but decide against it. Luce is at least one inch taller than me, and she’s wearing killer heels today. So even if I get out of the chair, she’ll still be towering over me, which I know she’ll use to her full advantage to stare me down. Something I’m refusing to play into. Not for any particular reason other than I don’t feel like making it easy for her to scold me.
“Calm your tits, Luce,” I mumble. “We weren’t exactly talking. Besides, I’m telling you now.”
Unbothered by the dye in my hair, she bends and hugs me tightly. “You have no idea how much I want to shout at you for keeping this a secret,” she accuses. “But I’m not that much of a hypocrite. So let’s focus on what you need. We have a spare room if you want—”
She stops talking when I scrunch up my face. “No thanks,” I say before I can stop myself. But seriously, she and her husband Sawyer can barely keep their hands off each other. No way am I going to live with them. “I’ll be fine. I’m not officially unemployed until January first, so I have time to figure something out.”
My best friend’s eyebrows furrow, her fierce green eyes studying me with such focus that I actively have to stop myself from fidgeting. “Sure… two days. Do you have anything lined up?” she asks, predictably.
“Oh, you know,” I say with a shrug. “I have my feelers out.”
“Abigail!”
For one of the first times in my life, I wish Luce didn’t know me as well as she does. Because she knows my vagueness means I have nothing.
“Fine,” I say, exasperated, as I throw my arms up in the air. “I’ve been working a few jobs.”
“What jobs?” she asks, perfectly matching my tone.
I shrug. “Some hostess stuff.”
“Hostess stuff?” I can’t blame her for sounding incredulous. Luce knows I’d rather die than work in a restaurant or bar.
“Yup,” I say with a nod. “The tips are great.” And by great, I mean life-changing-unbelievably-fucking-great.
“Gail…” Lucia pauses and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Can we make a new agreement?”
I nod hesitantly. “Maybe.”
“If we don’t want to talk about something, we say so. No more lies, please. Not between us.” Her plea is so heartfelt I feel guilty for keeping my new job a secret from her.
“I want to tell you,” I whisper, looking around. “But it’s… hard.”
She gives me a look that tells me how little she cares about that, and I’m oddly grateful to know she’s going to get it out of me. Sometimes it’s hard for me to open up, and I need Luce’s brand of force to loosen up.
“Gail, I swear. If you’re not—”
“Simmer down,” I sigh. My mind is a chaotic maze, my thoughts tumbling over each other in a jumble that makes no sense.
My brain is pulling me in so many different directions I struggle to find the right words to tell my best friend the truth—the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. On the one hand, I want to tell her. But on the other hand, I’m irrationally worried she’s going to judge me. Yeah, did I mention I’m not making any damn sense?
“Look, I’ll tell you, okay? Just not here,” I say, deliberately making the promise so I can’t weasel out of it later. “There are just too many things.”
The weight of keeping these secrets from her is crushing me, especially since she has always been my confidant, my rock in stormy seas. My heart aches as I remember how easily she kept secrets from me in the past, and though I have forgiven her, the memory still stings.
But Luce is the one person in this world that I trust with every fiber of my being, and the thought of jeopardizing our friendship terrifies me. Yet I know that if I don’t come clean, things will only spiral further out of control. It’s now or never, and I must find the courage to reveal my truth before it’s too late.
She beams. “Our usual haunt?”
