Page 33 of Half Truths (Secret Society 1)
“He can, but he wouldn’t.”
“So you do it.”
“Me?” I laughed harder, then stopped. “You’re serious.”
“Of course I’m serious. Why not? You can start your own digital paper. It’ll be small for a while, but then you’d expand. I’d write for you.” He smiled. “Gratis.”
“That’s very kind of you.” I smiled back. “But even if I wanted to do that, I couldn’t. That would take marketing and effort to push out there for people to actually read it and I don’t have money to start one.”
“You . . . you don’t have the money?” he cocked his head. “Really?”
“I’m not rich, Max. My parents are.”
“Spoken like a true rich girl.”
“But it’s true.” I lifted the Sangria in front of me and took a big sip. People always assumed because my parents had all this money that it meant I did as well. Sure, I got to reap the benefits of it all—I had all of the designer clothes, took trips at the drop of a hat, but it was all measured by how much they felt I deserved at the moment. Right now, with no Travis and attending dad’s school of choice, I could probably buy myself a Porsche and he wouldn’t bat an eye. Last year around this time, when I wasn’t calling home and they didn’t approve of any of my choices? Well, my credit card was locked after my fifth Uber ride.
“Anyway, I’m going to finish my double major and see what happens. Maybe I can land a job close to home for a newspaper or something that I do not own and he’ll be less upset about the entire thing.” I sighed. “Or I can win the lottery and not depend on him anymore, but that’s looking unlikely.”
“How often do you play the lotto?”
“Never.” I laughed, breaking a tiny piece of bread and throwing it at him as he laughed. Our food came quickly and we both dug in. It was tapas style, so everything we got was shareable and in the center of the tiny table.
“How’s your brother doing?” he asked after a long moment of silence.
“He’s . . . the same.”
“I’m sorry. I’m sure it’s hard on you.”
“It is.” I lifted my napkin to dab the side of my mouth. “Honestly? I’m trying not to think about it because when I do, I feel like I’m going to break down.”
“Well, I’m here.” He slid a hand to my side of the table and set it on mine. “As a friend.”
“Hands to yourself, Paper Boy.”
I jumped. Max’s hand disappeared quickly, but he frowned at Logan. “I thought she told you to let us eat in peace.”
Logan slid closer to me, so close that not even the small shield between us stood a chance. My heart jumped to my throat. I wasn’t sure if he meant to start a fight or not, but I knew that even though he’d been quietly eating his food, he was obviously still drunk. I put my hand on his, pressing down hard. It was futile, my hand was tiny over his, but his gaze snapped to mine nonetheless.
“Please stop,” I whispered, a plea. I didn’t make it a habit to beg people to do things, but Max didn’t deserve Logan’s wrath, not when he was so nice and he’d gone out of his way to bring me here. I pinched Logan’s hand. I kept my voice low, “Logan. Seriously. Please.”
“Yeah.” He shook his head, taking his hand from under mine. “I have to go.”
Without preamble, the three girls he was with stood, readjusting their clothing and tossing their hair before they started walking. Logan moved his table slightly, squeezed out between the two tables and followed. He didn’t say another word, didn’t look at us again, and didn’t bother to look back. I watched as he put his arms around two of the girls and strolled out. I wasn’t sure what was worse—having him sitting beside me, being rude to Max or watching him leave with those girls while my heart felt like it was cracking a little. It was stupid, of course. So, so stupid. I obviously had a crush on him, but I shouldn’t care what he did or who he did it with.
“Well, that was eventful,” Max said, breaking into my thoughts.
“Yeah.” I blinked at him. “I’m sorry. He’s obviously a mean drunk.”
“I don’t think it’s that.” He chuckled. “He obviously likes you.”
“He was on some sort of orgy date. He left with them and I’m pretty sure they’re not going to go home and talk about the food.” I glanced over at their table. “I don’t even think the girls had food.”
“Orgy date or not, Fitz likes you.” Max shrugged. “And all I can say is, be careful.”
“Because he’s a player?”
“Eh, I mean, yeah, that too.”
“Uh oh, are you going to bring up a Reddit form you read?”
