Sweet Liar (Candy #2)(25)

Staring hard at me, he said nothing in response.

“You don’t trust him.” I probably shouldn’t have said that, but because of what I now knew about Jonah’s family, I was baiting him. I hated his father and I thought he should too, especially after what Lorraine told me.

“Candy, come on.” He frowned. “If I asked you the same question about your father, you’d hesitate too. With the kind of work they do, they’re different from other people. I trust my father as much as I can trust him.”

“You do that same kind of work, but you’re asking me to trust you. And you’re wrong. I trust my father completely.” I hadn’t always trusted him that way, but I did now.

Jonah blew out a breath. “The way you feel about your father is naive. It’s the hero worship every little girl feels.”

My teeth clenched together as they held back the secrets that wanted to spill out. “You’ve been wrong about my father from the start. You don’t know the first thing about him.”

“I know enough,” he said, sitting forward. “I know he’s the reason you’re so distrustful. Not to mention guarded and skeptical when someone tries to tell you they care about you.”

I balled my hands into fists by my side. “Excuse me? I think you’re a little confused here. He’s never lied to me. Can you say the same thing? If I’m guarded and skeptical, it’s because I’ve been lied to by other people. Not him.”

Jonah’s lips flattened into a straight line. Then he released a long breath and just looked at me.

What just happened? We’d never argued like this before.

He closed his eyes and shook his head. “You’re so damn stubborn. It doesn’t have to be this way between us.”

I jumped to my feet to gather the dishes, and dropped them a little too roughly into the sink.

It didn’t have to be this way, but it was better, safer. I couldn’t get swept up in Jonah again. He made me emotional and unbalanced, and I couldn’t risk that. I couldn’t lose my focus. I had to push him away.

Turning to face him, I asked, “Was anything true that you told me about your girlfriend, Katelyn?”

His eyes flared in surprise at my change of subject before his gaze briefly flicked to the floor.

“That’s what I thought.” I huffed out a disgusted breath. “I guess you weren’t above faking a relationship after all. What about your father having Raynaud’s like me? I bet that was a lie too.”

Jonah stood abruptly, and his chair screeched along the floor. “Is this what you’ve been doing? Sifting through everything I ever told you, then itemizing the lies so you could justify your bad opinion of me?”

I just looked at him, watching the way his expression wrinkled with frustration. I was being hard on him, it was true, but a strange momentum had taken hold of me and I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

“Look, Candy. I had to warn you away from Mr. Harris,” he said defensively. “What I said about him was true, and I know that because I’ve seen the complaints that have been made against him by female students. I couldn’t tell you about the complaints, because how could I possibly know about them if I was just a high school student? But I needed a story that you would believe. So yes, I lied to make sure you didn’t take the tutoring job.”

He shrugged. “The rest of it was true, for the most part. Katelyn and I dated. It wasn’t fake, and it helped smooth my transition into the school. But it was never serious, and she did end up cheating on me, even though it wasn’t with a teacher, which didn’t feel so hot.”

“You used it, though, to make me think we had that in common.”

After a moment, he nodded.

“And your father having Raynaud’s? You used that story to explain how much you knew about it. But you knew because you already knew all about me. You probably googled CREST while you were at it.”

“Maybe I did. I was curious about you.”

My mouth opened and closed again. He’d really googled CREST syndrome? “And what about Heather?”

His shoulders slumped at yet another question. “She really is a friend of mine. I met her in school, and she happens to live here now. She’s one of us, though. Both her parents work for the organization. They’re pretty high up there, actually. I left that out when I told you about her.”

Heather was one of us? Another kid of the organization?

“You’ve told more lies than you even realize.”

He shook his head sadly. “I had to, Candy. But that’s done. I won’t lie to you again. I promise.”

I tilted my head at him. “Maybe that’s a lie too.”

Jonah closed his eyes briefly and drew his hands down his face. After a long moment, he asked, “Do you hate me?” He asked the question like it just occurred to him, and if I answered yes, he would deflate before my eyes.

I swallowed. “I don’t hate you.”

His gaze held no relief. “But you don’t like me very much.”

I looked at him, noticing how his hazel eyes watched and waited for my reply. My gaze inadvertently focused on his right eye and the scar that dragged it down.

Next I looked at the small scab on his bottom lip. It had mostly healed, but I’d done that to him several days ago, biting him when he tried to kiss me. Looking at the two marks, the pang I felt said I cared about him still, but the guilt that followed told me caring was a mistake.