Page 83 of Dirty Like Jude
“Are you lying to me about Taze?” sheasked.
“No. You wantproof?”
“You haveproof?”
“I can get proof, you wantit.”
“What, like pictures?” she said. Playing tough, when she was clearly uncomfortable with the whole subject. When Roni was comfortable, she got all curvy and sexy. Right now, she could’ve had a steel rod right up her butt, she was sostiff.
“Whatever proof youwant.”
Instead, she changed the subject. “Have you ever lied to me?” She stared at me like she was waiting for me to say no, just so she could catch me in anotherlie.
“Most definitely,” Isaid.
That caught her so off-guard she actually laughed, sort of. “What have you lied to me about? And don’t say MC stuff because I know that and I don’t care. I mean importantstuff.”
I didn’t agree with her that “MC stuff” or the lies that went with it were unimportant. But I let thatgo.
I took a sip of my drink and considered how toanswer.
“One time, at a party, you asked me if Piper was coming and I said he wasn’t, but hewas.”
She cocked her head a little, jade eyes narrowing at me. “Why would you lie aboutthat?”
“Because I didn’t want you hooking up withhim.”
She stared atme.
I stared rightback.
“Maybe a few months after we’d met,” I said, “you asked me if Zane ever said anything about you when you weren’t around. I told you he didn’t. That wasn’ttrue.”
She just kept staring at me. She didn’t ask me what Zane had said about her, but I told heranyway.
“He said you had cocksuckinglips.”
She broke eye contact. She stared at her wine, tapped her fingernails on the glass. They were a deep burgundy, almost black, but classy-looking, different from the flat black she’d worn on her nails sometimes as a teenager. I remembered those details about her more than I’d thought I did. I’d always paid attention to the details when it mattered, and being close to her, they were all comingback.
Wasn’t sure if I liked that yet ornot.
“You didn’t want to tell me that?” sheasked.
“Fuck,no.”
“Why?”
“Because it pissed meoff.”
Finally, she looked at me again. “Why?”
“You sure you want honesty, darlin’? Some people say they want it, theydon’t.”
“I don’t ask questions I don’t want the answers to. When I ask you a question, yes. I want an honestanswer.”
Okay,then.
“I wasn’t sure if he meant it as some fucked-up compliment, or if you’d actually sucked his cock. Either way, like I said. It pissed meoff.”
