Page 69 of Tell No Lies

“I don’t think that you want to believe me, Mike. Nothing happened. Gage is just my friend, and I shouldn’t have to defend myself like this.”

“You know how I feel about that guy, and you still hang out with him.”

“Your problems with him have nothing to do with me.” Why should his opinions of people affect me? “I don’t care who you hang out with, and I would never accuse you of cheating if I saw you sitting with a cheerleader. That’s the real problem, Mike. You don’t trust me.”

“It’s not you, Aubrey. It’s Gage.”

“Then why are you avoiding me?” I pled, “Why are my friends icing me out?”

“We’ve warned you since you met him to stay away from him, and you’ve ignored us. We don’t trust him. He could be your stalker, for all you know!”

“He’s not! He’s my friend! It’s not like I snuck out to hang out with him. Brandon knew, and he was okay with me going with him.” I was repeating myself, but he wasn’t hearing what I was saying. He was so locked in that he refused to listen.

“It doesn’t matter! He’s not one of us. He’s not someone to trust. If you wanted to go out, you should have called me or Mckayla or just gone to your gym. Anything but going out alone with him. We’ve all been working together to keep you safe, and it’s like you don’t even care. You don’t realize how much danger you’re in!”

“I trust Gage,” I replied as calmly as I could.

“No one else does! We’re the ones who care about you and are there for you, but every time you get the chance, you take off with Tucker or Gage. Don’t you get it? We’re scared for you, but you don’t seem to care how it makes us feel when you put yourself into situations where you could end up being hurt.”

I shook my head, exasperated. “Gage would never hurt me. He’s always been there for me, even when you guys aren’t.”

“You don’t get it. I’m scared, Aubrey. We all are. I want to be there to protect you every second, but you won’t let me.”

“Because you can’t. That’s impossible.”

“I’m going crazy. I want to keep you safe and happy, and the only way I can make sure that happens is if you’re with me.” He paused and met my eyes. “I want to be with you.”

My stubborn resolve to be right was crumbling. “I want to be with you too.”

“Then promise me something. Promise me you’ll stay away from Gage.”

My heart sank. “You can’t ask me to do that.”

“That’s what it’s going to take for me to trust you.”

“I would never ask you to do that to one of your friends, Mike. Don’t you get that?” That was the real problem.

“None of my friends are a threat to my safety.”

“Gage isn’t a threat!” I finally snapped.

“If you won’t agree with me, then I’m done. I can’t handle stressing about you when you don’t care about yourself. I’m done.”

I shook my head in utter disbelief. He’d given me an unfair and impossible ultimatum. He’d pushed me into a corner with no other option. “Goodbye, then.”

I quickly opened the door and stepped out, taking my bag with me. Without another word or look, I walked back to the studio and called Diane for a ride.

☼ ☼ ☼

After a long bath, I sat on my bed and stared at my phone. I just went through a breakup and I wanted—well, needed—to talk to my friends. I missed Mckayla, Alexis, and Talia. It wasn’t fair they cut me off without the opportunity to explain. I knew they all hated Gage and didn’t trust him, but they should trust me.

Their quick and final judgment was hard to take, but if I really tried, I could see it from their perspective. After everything that happened, this was the final straw. You can only push people so far before they reach their breaking point, and apparently me choosing Gage over Mike, or appearing to, was theirs.

But I was their best friend, not Mike. They knew Gage was my friend. If there was something else going on between us, they would have been the first I told. I would never hide anything from them. Why didn’t they know that?

I was still staring at my phone when Brandon walked in.

“Practicing telekinesis?”