Lie to Me (A Touched Trilogy) (10 page)

“Chill, Phoebe. I don’t tell my dad everything. You think I
would’ve been at the party if I’d told him there was going to be alcohol?” He
gave me a half smile. “You may just want to head home, unless you want your dad
to start asking questions about what went down tonight.”

“What? Why?”

“Lily’s asleep again and, even though she’s tiny, I doubt
you can carry her all the way to her room.”

I resisted the urge to smack him. He had a way of knowing
just what to say to nettle me. But he was right. Lily was out of it and, small
as she was, I wouldn’t even be able to get her out of the car, let alone to her
room. Waking Dad up to help wasn’t an option, at least not if the three of us
wanted to have any social life for the rest of our lives.

Strange as it was, Dad would have been okay with us
drinking, but using our gifts in public? No way. While Nanna and the rest of
the family had no problem with using their gifts, Dad was more protective,
which Lily and Chloe didn’t make easy for him. Maybe it had to do with losing
Mom, but if he knew what was happening to Lily when she healed Dylan, we’d all
be grounded from using our gifts for life. Not that that would really affect
me.

“I know, you hate it,” he said and laughed as I sighed and
made a turn, changing directions from his place to mine.

“Hate what?” I asked.

“That I’m right, but that’s okay.” He gave me a wickedly
smug smile. “One day you’ll love that about me.”

I rolled my eyes. I refused to consider the idea that of all
the things that I already liked about him, that him being right would be
something I’d love. His cute butt and stormy eyes definitely. Being a know it
all? No way.

 “Whatever.” God, was that the best I could do? But any
smart remark I would have normally come up with was gone. I shot him a glance
then followed it up with a smack on the arm when I saw his smug smile.

He laughed and a bit of the stress I’d been feeling ever
since the fight left me. We pulled up to my house and I shut the engine off.

“This is your place?” he asked with surprise as he looked at
the house and I realized that he’d never actually been over.

“Yeah, why?”

“I don’t know. I just thought with your dad being some fancy
lawyer you’d live in a bigger place.”

“Nope. Dad is big on the pro bono cases. Nanna calls him a
bleeding heart. Besides, Mom picked the place out and Dad said this is where
Mom would have wanted us to grow up. He even let Nanna help decorate it. So be
prepared to get bombarded with lace and flowers.”

We got out of the car and Nathan opened Lily’s door,
catching her in his arms when she slumped out. He shifted her carefully as he
lifted her out of the car and her head flopped back. Watching how gently he
held her, a stab of jealousy hit me before realizing how ridiculous it was to
be jealous of my sister’s ability to pass out simply by touching someone. I
shut the door softly as she gave a loud snore and both of us had to muffle our
laughs. As delicate as Lily was, she could pull in a snore like a linebacker.

Nathan followed me to the front door and I opened it slowly,
lifting it slightly to avoid the loud shriek of protest it would let out when
opened at the wrong angle. Inside was dark, the only light coming from a lamp
either Dad or Nanna had left on in the living room. I didn’t want to disturb
Lily or risk waking anyone, so I left the other upstairs lights off and led
Nathan down the steps, flicking on the hallway light in the basement as we
went, and then into Lily’s room. The light in her room revealed what a perfect
reflection of her it was - perfect. Everything neatly put away and no dirty
laundry piled on the floor. Even her desk was meticulously organized, three
pencils sticking out of a mug in a perfect tripod.

After laying Lily on her bed, we left and closed the door
behind us. I walked into the small sitting area that Dad had designated as our
area and switched on the light.

“Thanks for helping me. Dad would have killed me if he’d
seen her like that,” I said, turning around to face him. He nodded absently,
his mind clearly somewhere else.

“That stuff Dylan was talking about...He was just joking,
right? And you were only going along with it to tease me? To see if I would
fall for the freaky Matlin thing, right?” He sat on the arm of the couch, crossing
his arms over his chest. The doubt was there, not just in his question, but in
his eyes and defensive stance. I couldn’t tell if it was because he was worried
it was true, or if he was a bit put out by the idea that I would try and mess
with him.

I considered telling him it was a joke, but to what end?
Even if so far I was able to control my new urge to call people liars, my
sisters had no problem sharing their gifts despite Dad’s and my best efforts.

“No, it’s the truth.” I tried to give a smile, but it
slipped from my face too quickly to be believable. “My mom’s side of the family
is all like us. My great-great-grandmother was the first as far as we know. She
was a healer, like Lily.”

“Come on, Phoebe. You really expect me to believe this?” His
doubtful look grew, a hint of anger slipping through. Apparently, he figured I
was messing with him.

“It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not. I don’t care,”
I snapped and turned on my heel to walk down the hall. Nathan caught me near
the bottom of the stairs.

“I’m sor-”

“Shh!”

Light footsteps sounded overhead. I grabbed his arm,
dragging him to my room. I shoved him in and closed the door before making my
way to the bathroom.

“Phoebe dear, is that you?” Nanna called from the top of the
stairs.

“Yeah. Lily and I just got home. She’s crashed already and
I’m just going to brush my teeth then go to bed.”

“You’re home early. Didn’t you have a nice time?”

My eyes rolled. “It was fine, Nanna. Lily and I were just
tired so we came home. G’night.” I popped my head into the stairway and gave
her a brief smile and wave before disappearing behind the wall.

“Goodnight, dear,” she said, not moving. I wondered if she
knew Nathan was down here with me. All she needed to do was touch something of
mine and she’d see everything that had happened tonight. Eventually she moved
away and I let out a deep puff of air.

I went into the bathroom and brushed my teeth, listening to
her shuffling steps above me in the kitchen until finally they drifted off to
her room. Once it was quiet again, I put up my toothbrush then nearly ran to my
bedroom.

I flung the door open and caught Nathan doing exactly what I
suspected he’d do. The ass was going through my underwear drawer. I made some
kind of inarticulate sound of outrage and he looked up, eyes bugged out and a
pair of hot pink panties in his hand.

 “Oh, my God!” I leapt forward, snatching the panties from
his hand. I shoved them back in a drawer then slammed it shut. “I can’t believe
you’d look at my-my...”

“Panties?” He laughed and I whacked him. If he didn’t watch
his mouth, I was going to get arrested for assault.

“Yes!” Another whack.

“I was just playing with you. Swear. I didn’t go through
your- your...stuff. I was looking at your books and they were right there in
the middle.”

I waited for the voice, or at least the cramps, but nothing
came. Considering the state of my room, there was a high probability his story
was true. My temper settled, yet nothing could lessen the flaming heat that
pulsed through my cheeks.

“Come on, Phoebs.” He gave me one of those twinkling smiles
and I felt my lips twitch in return. Then his eyes turned back to serious. He
moved in closer and looped his arms around my waist. I ran my hands up his arms
and clasped them around his neck. I could definitely get used to this.

“I’m sorry I pissed you off before and then just now. I
didn’t mean to. It’s just a bit hard to believe something like what you’re
telling me.” His voice seemed softer than usual, or maybe the sound of my
quickened breathing muffled the normal gruffness.

“I guess that’s understandable.” My eyelashes fluttered and
I struggled to control them when I remembered how stupid I’d looked practicing
in front of the mirror earlier.

“Is that how you knew Tonya was lying about driving?”

“Yeah,” I said, letting my head drop to his chest. “Until a
few weeks ago, I’d never had any hint of my gift. I’d always assumed Mom had
been wrong, or even lied about it. Then Tonya lied to me and it happened. My
stomach started to hurt and a voice in my head said liar.”

“And was she?”

“Yeah. She finally admitted it, but she didn’t talk to me
for almost two weeks. And that’s what happened again tonight when she told me
she was driving, except this time I didn’t say anything to her.”

He stared at me for what seemed like the longest minute
ever, before cocking his eyebrow.

“So that’s it, right? I mean, you’re not going to read my
mind or anything?”

“No, that would be my cousin Kevin. Which I have to say is
really disturbing, especially when he has yet to learn how to keep his ten-year-old
mouth shut.”

“It may be best if I don’t meet Kevin until he’s a little
older.” He flashed a sexy smile, and I laughed, rolling my eyes.

“Trust me, I avoid the kid as much as possible, so the
chance of you meeting him are pretty slim. Although, I could use some dirt on
you, so I might just arrange a special meeting between you guys.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so,” he said and tugged me a bit
closer. “Why do you think Tonya did it? Why lie about being the driver? If she
gets caught, she’ll be in even more trouble than he would have been.”

“I don’t know. It was not like her at all. Trevor’s actually
what started the whole voice in my head thing. That first time I heard it was
when she lied about meeting him. I don’t think she’s ever lied to me before, at
least not about anything important.” I shrugged, hating the idea that Tonya
could be changing so much because of some guy. “Maybe I’m wrong. She could have
been driving. I mean, it’s not like this Truth Teller thing has been working
all the time.”

“What do you mean?”

“Chloe tried to test me and I pretty much failed. I didn’t
pick up on a single lie until she was done and I’ve only managed to pick up on
a couple of lies from other people, mostly my little cousins who I’m sure are
compulsive liars.”

He was quiet for a moment, as if trying to process
everything, then quirked his eyebrow at me. “So apart from me not being able to
lie to you, you’re basically normal right?”

“Yes.” I bugged my eyes out and then rolled them.

“Good.” He dipped his head down and brushed his lips across
mine. I sucked in a deep breath and then leaned in to deepen the pressure.

“What the hell, Phoebe!”

Nathan and I broke apart, and I twisted round to see Chloe
standing in my door. Her hands were on her hips in the typical holier-than-thou
stance she took anytime she felt she had the upper hand on me.

“You know Dad will kill you if he catches Nathan down here,”
Chloe said.

“Well, if you kept your voice down that won’t happen. I
thought you were going to spend the night at Nadine’s.”

“You really think I’d stay there after what I saw?”

“Saw?” Nathan interrupted. “You mean like saw saw or saw
saw?”

Chloe and I flashed him matching are-you-serious looks.

“What?” he asked, a sheepish smile creeping across his face.

Chloe shook her head and turned her attention back to me.
“What happened with the accident? How are you okay?”

“I wasn’t there.”

“What do you mean you weren’t there?”

“Exactly that. After the fight, we left with Lily and Dylan
in my car. Lily passed out after healing Dylan, and then I kicked him out. We
were heading to Nathan’s place when we saw it.”

“It?”

“Well, Tonya really. She and her new boyfriend Trevor were
the ones you saw in the accident. He-she wrapped the truck around a tree,” I
said.

“Whoa-whoa. You knew about the accident before it happened?”
Nathan stepped closer up, trying to get in to the conversation.

“Yeah, but it’s not right.” Chloe’s voice trembled. “Phoebe,
you were supposed to be driving. I saw it.”

“So you just get flashes of the future?” Nathan asked,
interrupting again.

“No, well, yes at least with Lily and Phoebe since they’re
my sisters, but with others I have to be physically close to a person and then
I’d need to let it happen,” she explained impatiently before addressing me
again. “Why didn’t you drive Tonya home?”

“She wanted to stay with Trevor, but I couldn’t leave Lily
to deal with Dylan alone. He was smashed and trying to get her in the car with
him.”

“I just don’t understand.” She sank onto my bed, her pale
complexion and squinted eyes giving me a glimpse of her utter confusion and it
froze me. This was not typical Chloe behavior.

“I better get going,” Nathan said, looking from Chloe to me.

“Do you want me to drive you home?” I asked.

“Nah, the walk will give me time to air out before my dad
gets a whiff of me. Although, I could use a bit of mouthwash.”

We left Chloe in my room and after Nathan gargled in the
restroom, I led him upstairs and to the front door, making sure to keep the
lights off. Caution kept us from talking, even to say goodnight. I opened the
door and he passed through, pausing at the top of the steps while I tugged off
his hoodie and gave it back to him. He dipped his head and gave me a peck on my
cheek. Then he was gone, leaping over the porch steps, and I watched him walk
down the path to the sidewalk. He glanced back once and a cocky smile flashed
when he saw me watching. After that, he started doing an exaggerated swagger
and I barely managed to hold in my giggle.

Back in my room, I found Chloe precisely where I’d left her.
The giddy feeling Nathan had planted in me vanished. Her hands hung limp,
dangling over her knees and her head drooped. I sat beside her and wrapped my
arms around her.