Page 4 of Sharp Lies

I watched him pull a beer out and pop it open and bit my lip. Beer. Terrific.

“Well, as long as you’re here when you’re still mostly alert,” I replied, trying to make a joke. Tony came home late more often than he came home early, and it made it difficult to talk to him about anything that required brain power.

The look he shot me, though, told me that the joke had fallen flat.

Still.

“I just mean we have scheduling stuff to go over,” I said quickly. “Leo asked me again today about his party this weekend.”

Tony’s face went from mildly annoyed to furious, and I tensed.

“Leo? What’s he doing, calling you now?”

I laughed. “No, I don’t think he even has my number. He’s your friend, not mine. I saw him and Cindy at the market, though, and they were shopping. They asked me what sort of drinks we’d want. I told him I wasn’t sure what you’d want there, though, and that I’d ask you and have you call him.”

I thought it was a pretty innocent remark. Leo was his best friend, and I’d seen him at the market with his live-in fiancée. They were planning a birthday party for Leo and had invited Tony and me, but we hadn’t responded yet because Tony was, for some reason, dragging his feet.

I thought he’d laugh and say we really needed to decide whether we were going or not.

I thought he’d be reasonable.

But that, it turned out, was naïve.

He took the three steps to close the distance between us and pushed me back against the counter, then leaned over me in something that felt like it should have been in a movie. One of those films that makes you think the girl is about to die a horrible death.

“You met him in the market?” he hissed. “You were just in the market and he happened to be there? You sure you didn’t meet him there on purpose? Wait, let me guess.” He took another step toward me, pressing my back up against the counter hard enough to leave a bruise. “Let me just guess! You were there because you’d already been together and decided that you needed a little snack! All that sex get you hungry, Lily? All that action make you thirsty enough that you had to go to the market for something to drink?”

Every word was louder, his voice rising until he was screaming right in my face.

I backed up as far as I could, my mind reeling and trying to make sense of this. Sex? Activity? What the hell was he talking about?

Leo was his best friend. And he was engaged. I’d also only met him a few times.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, positive that this must be some sort of joke. I’d just been at the market getting food for dinner tonight!

Tony’s hand lifted up, and he wrapped his fingers around my neck. I jerked and gasped, my blood running cold and then hot in horror.

What. The. Hell?

I jerked again and tried to get away from him. “Tony, what are you doing?”

“Exactly what I’d do if I found out that you were having an affair with my best friend,” he ground out, his voice now eerily quiet and threatening. “Are you having an affair with him, Lily? Are you?”

“No!” I tried to shout. “Are you insane? He’s your best friend!”

I hated that my voice came out wavering with fear and horror, but I couldn’t get it to stop. I’d known Tony had a temper—hell, I’d seen it more than once—but he’d always gotten upset about small things. Clothes that weren’t folded quite right. A mess in the kitchen. Trash building up in the trash can.

I’d thought he was just a neat freak, and I’d thought further that it wasn’t the end of the world if he was. I mean, everyone wants a clean house, right? That wasn’t the end of the world.

But this... The accusations about an affair with Leo? Flying off the handle over absolutely nothing?

Fingers wrapped around my throat and squeezing, slowly cutting off my air?

This was way beyond wanting a clean house.

My body, which had come to that conclusion a whole lot faster than my brain, was already tensing and getting ready to try to get away from him. My skin was hot with the need to move, my heart hammering against my ribs and adrenaline rushing through my veins. I wanted out of here. I wanted to get back to my tiny apartment and my mother, who’d tell me it was all okay.

I’d thought I was safe here, but I was so, so wrong.