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It Started with a Lie (Truth and Lies Duet Book 1) by Lisa Suzanne (1)

chapter one

 

In my wildest dreams, I never imagined I’d be walking down the aisle with Reese’s arm tucked into mine.

She’s glowing today. I glance briefly at the steep curve of her stomach, and a dart of something unfamiliar pings through my chest. She’s pregnant with a little girl who I know I’ll love and cherish even though I don’t really do the kid thing.

I force my eyes from the woman by my side and find my parents in the crowd. I shoot them a quick smile. My brother sits beside them, but his gaze is on the woman whose arm is tucked into mine.

As we make our way to the front of the church together, I think for the millionth time how I never deserved her.

It’s probably why I didn’t end up with her and my brother did.

It’s also probably why the baby she’s carrying will be my niece and not my daughter.

Reese Brady and Brian Fox were never meant to be—not in the way she was meant to be with my brother, Mark.

You’d think I’d have learned my lesson after what I did to her and my brother, but I didn’t. It’s hard to learn a lesson when everyone was so quick to leave the past behind us—a benefit of being born into the Fox family, where our parents taught us to forgive and forget.

I’m the living, breathing definition of a selfish prick, but admitting the problem’s the first step, right? Only it’s not a problem, and I don’t plan to change any of that any time soon. I’m happy for my brother that he’s having a kid with the woman we both slept with once upon a time, and I’m even happier it’s not me in his position.

We approach the front of the church. Reese turns to take her place in the spot reserved for the matron of honor while I shake hands with the groom and take my place beside him as his best man.

The music changes and everyone in the church rises as they wait for their first glimpse of the bride. I keep my eyes focused to the back of the church even though I feel someone looking at me. It might be Tess, the bridesmaid who has been giving me the eye at every event we’ve attended leading up to this wedding.

I think tonight might just be the night to finally break the ice with her.

There’s a few problems in our way, like the fact that she dated one of my best friends. But we’re two single adults capable of making our own decisions, so whatever happened in the past doesn’t matter anymore. I guess I could ask him, but I tend to follow the apologize later attitude.

I can’t help but give myself a little pat on the back when the doors burst open and the bride makes her grand appearance. If I’d never have used Reese the way I did, we wouldn’t be standing here at this wedding today. Everything happens for a reason, and as I watch Jill make her way down the aisle toward my best friend, a little part of me is even glad for everything that happened.

The physical wounds have healed—literally—and I never felt the burn of the emotional scars. I just assume every woman now only wants me because of my famous rock star brother, and I’ve stopped allowing that to hurt and started using it to my advantage. It only took once to learn that lesson—pretty easy when the only girl I ever really loved cheated on me with him.

People laugh and cry right on cue as the minister performs the wedding ceremony, and I’m bored as fuck and ready for the party afterward. I force myself to pay attention as we near the end of the ceremony.

“Every one of you in this room has a love story,” the minister says. “Some stories are brief while others are longer. As we celebrate the love today between this beautiful couple, reflect for a moment on your own story. Grasp your main character’s hand a little tighter, or open yourself up to the vulnerability that comes with finding your other half. Wherever you’re at in your story, make it a good one.”

What the minister failed to mention is that all stories eventually come to an end. I’ve already lived part of my story, and it didn’t end well. Some people are meant to have happily ever afters, and then there’s the rest of us. If you open your heart up for heartbreak, you’re only going to get what you expect.

My eyes lock with Tess’s for a beat, and I raise a brow before I look away. Staring too long at her as we stand at the front of a church during a wedding could lead her to the wrong conclusion. I’m not looking for anything more than a single night of pleasure, and I’m not too concerned with whether she gets hers before or after I do.

From what I’ve heard, that’s how she operates, too.

She sounds like the perfect end to this night. Besides, isn’t it sort of the duty of the best man to hook up with a bridesmaid?

 

* * *

 

Whiskey sloshes over the side of my newly filled glass as someone slaps me on the back a little harder than absolutely necessary. I turn around with an offending glare for the perpetrator only to find my brother, Mark.

I slap him on his back, too, a little harder than I need to in some quest to get even, a true representation of our relationship. Our parents walk up behind him, effectively ending any sort of shit we might give one another.

“So nice seeing my boys together again,” our mom says, wrapping her arm around my waist.

My dad rolls his eyes and glances at my mom. “Raise your hand if you’re shocked that they’re standing at the bar. What did we do wrong, Diane?”

Mark laughs and mock punches my dad in the arm, and my mom looks up at me while my dad rubs the spot of his son’s offense. “Everything okay, Brian?” she asks quietly. She still thinks I was the one who got fucked over in the whole Mark/Reese thing, and I love her for it. She’s the only one who was on my side even after everything was revealed—that I was using Reese when I knew Mark had feelings for her first, that my ex, Kendra, cheated on me with my brother when he didn’t know she was my girlfriend...the list goes on. It pays to be the youngest sibling, I guess. My mom’s always had a soft spot for all her children, but that soft spot becomes pure cashmere when it comes to me.

I nod and take a sip of my whiskey. I look around the room and don’t even realize my eyes have landed on Tess until she glances up and catches me staring. I look down at my mom without missing a beat.

“Everything’s great, Mom.” I give her a smile despite my lie.

She glances at Mark. “And you?”

“Aside from freaking the fuck out over this baby business, yeah, we’re good.”

“Language!” she scolds, and Mark and I laugh like we always do when she tries to tell her adult son to watch his mouth. She lets go of me and places her hands on her hips as she glares at Mark.

“Sorry, Mother,” he says.

“You better not talk like that around the baby. Not even when she’s in the womb.” She points to him and gives him her scariest, most threatening look. “I know you use that sort of language in your songs, but you better listen to me—”

Mark leans in to give her a hug, mostly to interrupt her, and it totally works. “Thank you. You’re gonna be the best grandma this baby could ask for.”

She says something that I miss into his shoulder as my dad turns to me. “How’s work?”

“Fine,” I say, purposely avoiding his penetrating gaze. He’ll know I’m lying if we make eye contact.

Things aren’t fine. They haven’t been for a long time now, and that’s why I need to get my brother alone this weekend.

“What’s really going on, Bri?” my dad asks. He’s trying to appeal to my sense of family by calling me by a nickname no one ever uses. He knows I’m lying even without the eye contact, and I hate that. My eyes land on Tess again, and this time when she catches me staring, I don’t look away.

“Nothing,” I murmur. I take a bolstering sip of my drink then glance at my dad. I press my lips together in a polite attempt at a smile. “Excuse me.” I set my suddenly empty tumbler on the counter and stride across the room toward Tess. I’ll see my family at brunch tomorrow, but tonight? I’m not talking business with my father when a hot girl has been eyeing me all night.