A Bad Boy's Brother (Book #2)

14. Lying

Emily's P.O.V.

I looked at Corey as he walked in. Something was wrong with him. "Corey?"

He looked at me and smiled, but it didn't look real. "Hey, Em."

"You sound like you're going to cry again." The last time I'd heard him about to cry was right before he left. "You're not going to leave us again, are you? I don't like it when you go away from us. Please don't leave, Corey."

"I'm not going anywhere, I promise," he said quietly, still giving me an unconvincing smile.

"I don't believe you."

"Why?"

"Because you never mean what you say when you're sad. When you get sad, you lie. And lying is bad."

"You're completely right, Em. Lying is bad." He crouched down so that he could look me in the eye. His eyes were red, like he was allergic to something or crying. "Lying is an awful, horrible thing, and it can hurt people. It can ruin what little good there is in the world, so you should never do it. Can you promise that you'll never lie to anyone?"

"Yes. I promise I won't lie."

"Thank you, Em. Can I get a hug?"

I wrapped my arms around him, smiling. Then, I looked at him. "Corey, you told me not to lie, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, I lied to you once."

"About what?"

"When I said that Ryder was okay when you were gone. That time you called me and asked about my dolls. I said she was okay, because mommy told me that white lies are okay to tell if it means making someone feel better. But she wasn't okay. She cried a lot, and I didn't think she was coming back. But you wanna know a secret?"

"Sure, Em. What's the secret?"

"I think she still likes you. Even at Christmas, when she yelled at you for buying me roller skates, she was still kind of nice. And when you stop looking at her, she smiles. It's like when you were her boyfriend. She looked at you all the time when you were dating her."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

He gave me a small smile, but his eyes were more red now. "Well, if she did still like me as much as she did before, she doesn't anymore."

"Why?"

"Because I did a bad thing."

"What thing?"

"Well...I did something that I shouldn't do with girls that have boyfriends. She's dating Cain, which means she loves him more than she loves me. But I tried to make her love me more than she loves Cain. It didn't work. But it was still a very bad thing for me to do."

"She does like you more," I decided.

"Why do you think that?"

"Ryder looks at you a lot more than she looks at Cain, even when she's mad at you."

"Really?"

"Mhm. She looks at you all the time. Only when you aren't looking, though. But I can see it."

Corey pulled me in to another hug, tighter this time. "Thank you, Em."

"For what?"

"You make things seem so simple sometimes."

"Things are easy," I said, smiling and still a little confused.

"You make them seem like that," he murmured before pressing a kiss to my hair.

"Do you wanna know another secret?"

"Sure."

"I liked it more when you were dating Ryder. It's not as fun when she dates Cain. Can she date you again?"

"I sure hope so, Em. But I can't promise that."

I paused, thinking. "Well...mommy said that she looked happier with you than with Cain when she was talking to daddy. She said that Ryder smiles and laughs but that her eyes are still sad, even when he's talking to her, because she'd rather be smiling at you. Mommy's always right, isn't she? Like when she said that the blue dress would be prettier on me than the pink one. She was right about that. And when she said I looked like a princess. I totally do. So, doesn't that mean that she's right about this too?"

"You were spying again," he said quietly, laughing a little.

"Mhm. But it made you happy that I did. I can tell."

He kissed my hair again, then stepped back a little bit. This time I think his smile was real, because his eyes weren't red anymore. "Mom's right about a lot of things, Em. I don't know if she's right about this, but I hope she is."

"Me too."

Corey stood up finally and ruffled my hair. "I'm going to my room, alright? I'll come play dolls with you later."

"I don't play with dolls," I protested, "I'm a grown up!"

"You're not even ten."

"So? I'm not six anymore. Which means I'm a big girl now."

"You're completely right. My bad."

I smiled up at him.

"Sometimes you're more of an adult than I am," he muttered.

"That's because you're a boy, and boys are stupid heads."

"I think you're right, Em."