Fraud

Ivy

“You can’t keep going like this. Eventually, you’ll have to decide one way or another.”

Casting a quick glance at Emily, I slip my hand from the hanger of another dress I don’t want or need. I can’t bring myself to try them on anymore, the constant shopping a distraction that no longer satisfies me.

I know.

I sound like a spoiled brat.

Poor Ivy. All she has to do is shop, go to the spa and take vacations. Her life must be miserable for how hard it is.

But that’s the problem. My life isn’t hard. Which makes it ridiculously boring.

I’d give anything for something to challenge me. I’d love to find myself vulnerable for once, where the only person who can save me is me. My father has never given me the opportunity. He’d rather cover me in bubble wrap to ensure his reputation is never harmed.

Emily doesn’t seem to mind being in the same boat as me. If it weren’t for getting married to a man she can’t stand, she’d be perfectly content being spoiled.

Ava is the lucky wench whose parents pushed her to find a career and do something with herself. It’s becoming infrequent that the three of us can find time to spend together, so when these days happen, I enjoy them.

Emily nudges Ava with her shoulder and pulls a green wrap-front dress from the rack. “This would look amazing with your skin tone. You should try it.”

“Are you ignoring me?” I ask, intentionally raising my voice to be heard over the blasting store music. Why they turn it up so high is beyond me. Maybe to make you feel like spending money is some kind of blowout party.

Turquoise eyes finally meet mine, Emily’s signature grin tugging at her lips.

“I heard you. And I don’t agree. In less than two years, I’ll be married. It’s not like I can start a real relationship with anyone. So why can’t I keep going like this?”

Ava takes the dress from Emily’s hand, her expression tight as she gives us a fake smile. “I’ll go try this on.”

Immediately feeling like shit for starting a conversation that led to the topic of Mason, I fight the urge to run after her and apologize.

Emily and I glance at each other and back to Ava, both of us feeling helpless to comfort her.

It hasn’t always been this hard, but now that the engagement is official and a three-carat diamond sits on Emily’s finger, the love triangle has become a sticking point in what used to be an easy friendship between the three of us.

I love Ava and Emily like sisters. We were raised together, learned to walk together, went through school together, got in trouble together. You could have surgically stitched our skin together and it would have been fine. We were that attached at the hips.

Until college.

While I was shipped off to an all-women’s college, Emily traveled the globe, and Ava went to Yale.

The morning I received Ava’s text that she’d hooked up with Mason, I knew it was the begi

Fast forward ten years later, and here we are. Shakespeare himself couldn’t have written a better tragedy. The sad part is, it should have been avoided. Emily and Mason have been promised to each other since before they left the womb.

Ava knew that.

But it didn’t matter.

In a way, I’m almost jealous of her experiencing a love like that. Even if it’s poison and will ultimately destroy her.

I’ve certainly never had it. The only boy who’s ever held my interest happens to be the one who hates me. The same one with emerald green eyes that were bruised and swollen on the day I met him.

Frowning, Emily rounds the clothing rack and chases the image of that boy away, her turquoise eyes replacing his, her voice sliding into my thoughts before I can remember what he’d once said to me.

“I wish I could wrap Mason up in a big red bow and give him to her. Not that I have any idea what she sees in him. He’s one of the most arrogant jerks I’ve ever met.”

“They all are,” I comment while pretending to look through the clothes again.

If the Inferno boys have a claim on anything, it’s the arrogance that drapes them all like a second skin.

“Which is exactly why you shouldn’t have given Gabriel your phone number. He’s not worth your time. None of them are. The only thing those men are good for is ripping your heart out.”

I laugh at that. “Says the girl sleeping with two of them.”

“That’s been going on since high school. They started it. Plus, it’s different. With my situation, I have very few options except to have a good time while I still can. No strings, you know?”

Her assessing eyes are on me again a second later. “Has he called you?”

That’s a question I don’t want to answer, not with the way she’s looking at me like I’m an idiot.

And maybe I am.

I’m not stupid enough to believe that Gabriel has changed enough to defend me against his friends. Especially not against Ta

Why Ta

It was insane of me to go to Ta

“He did call you,” Emily snaps, accusation in her voice.

I flip through the clothes faster, taking care not to meet her eyes.

“What did he say to you?”

She gasps.

“Wait, what did you do?”

Why she bothers to ask me questions is anybody’s guess. Emily can read me like an open book.

Thankfully, Ava walks up to us and sets the green dress back on the rack. “Are either of you hungry? I want to get out of here.”

It’s enough to distract Emily and get her off my ass for an answer I don’t want to give.

Gabriel did call me. The night of the party, in fact. It’s been four days since that night, and we’ve been texting back and forth ever since.

The second I tell Emily I agreed to a date with Gabriel this weekend, she’ll ship me off to the nearest mental facility. And maybe it would be what’s best for me.

My history with Gabriel is complicated, to say the least. And Emily has every right to worry. Gabriel’s the reason I was sent off to an all-women’s college. And he’s also the reason my father put me on lockdown with the very real threat to disown me should I embarrass him again.

I’ve been on my best behavior because of that threat. Hopefully, I can stay that way. I have to stay that way, which is why Ta

“Not me,” Emily answers. “I have somewhere I need to be.”

Ava and I glance at each other and laugh.

“Tell Damon and Ezra I said hi,” Ava jokes.

A shadow darkens Emily’s eyes. I don’t like the look of it. “That’s not where I’m going. You two have a good time, though.”

After giving us both hugs, Emily walks off, leaving Ava and me to stare.

“What was that about?”

Unsure, I shake my head. “Maybe she’s mad at me,” I offer. It’s not a convincing excuse, but it’s enough to appease Ava.

Relieved to walk out of the store and escape the pounding beat of music blasting above our heads, I wait for the inevitable question I know will come.