One of Us Is Back (One of Us Is Lying, #3)

by Karen M. McManus

“It must drive you crazy, huh?” he asks in the kind of buddy-buddy tone the golf guys use when they try to make me talk sports. “That even though I spent a lot more time than you did behind bars—wrongly, I might add—you still have to serve me. And you always will.” His eyes glint as he folds his arms on the counter.

The third woman takes a long swig of her drink before saying, “Go ahead and hit him, Nate. I’ll tell everyone it was self-defense.”

“Have faith in the long game,” Gavin says. “Patience is a virtue.”

Bronwyn has proved a hundred times over that she’s in it for the long haul with me, and I’m not going to let Jake Riordan make me question it. Or ruin it.

It’s unreal, though, how fast the inner voice you thought was gone can jump back into your head to tell you how much you suck.

I’m always on edge when I come to this house, flashing back to when I used to live here.

it’s still the kind of place that makes you feel like giving up before you even start trying.

An image pops into my mind then, of Jake Riordan leaning over the country-club bar with that smarmy grin of his. You know what I can’t wait for? For you to lose it all, Macauley. And then he had the goddamn nerve to talk about Bronwyn: Once she’s gone, you’re gonna spiral so fast….

Saying her name calms me down a little, grounding me in a way that only Bronwyn can.

“Cooper, you are such a Taurus,”

My father wouldn’t think of that on his own, but he’d cheerfully walk through a burning house if Bronwyn asked him to do it. We have that in common.

“It’s been strange working here. Spending so much time walking these halls, when I barely set a foot inside while you were a student, Nate.” He clears his throat. “Wish I could’ve gotten my act together when you needed the help.”

I feel a little light-headed as I face her, thinking of all the times she stood in that exact spot and lectured me about what to wear and how to act around Jake. It’s been almost two years since he showed his true colors, but it feels as though nothing has changed between my mother and me. No matter what I’m doing, it’s always the wrong move. “I just want to get to the party on time.”

Luis shoots her a look that’s half admiration, half alarm. “Sometimes I don’t know whether to be turned on or terrified by you,” he says.

Maeve smiles serenely. “Both is fine.”

“Maybe only the person behind it gets to play,”

I wish I could time travel back a few years, now that I know how much toxicity can hide beneath perfect, and view the Riordan family through older, wiser eyes.

I’m hit by a wave of loneliness so deep that it makes my chest ache. Even though I’m surrounded by friends and we’re worried about a lot of the same things, it still feels like there’s an invisible wall separating me from everyone else.

The problem with being in perpetual crisis mode is that you forget that other people might be having a hard time too.

All you did with Owen was create another Brandon, and you couldn’t even see it. So, you became the target instead.” Her eyes gleam. “My practice.” Makes perfect.