Wicked Games: Book Two of The Psychopath Series

Chapter 42

"I'm still not sold on this." Faith frowned in the mirror tugging on the collar of the red dress shirt. "I'm not hospitality material" She scowled at Isabeth sitting on the bed running her hand down Delilah's wide muscular neck. Faith spun around knocking down the perfume bottle to the floor. "This is what you do."

Isabeth bounced off the bed. "I don't feel like seeing people today." Isabeth clicked the gold cap back on the glass bottle placing it back on the unstained oak dresser. "And we both can't be MIA." She straightened Faith's collar. "Kieran would fire us." She smiled as Faith pouted. "Just be nice, courteous." Isabeth looked at herself in the mirror. Was that a pimple? She leaned in closer, picking at the mark on her forehead. Whew, just a piece of lint!

Isabeth yawned, releasing a breath filled with anxiety. "And follow the Kieran and Blackbird Code of Conduct." She tilted her head back, drooping two drops of Clear Eye in each of her red, tension-laced eyes. She blinked the solution in then watched the liquid get to work. "Which means no profanity and nothing sexually, Faith. Please!"

"You know my rules." Faith pulled up the zipper of the white pencil skirt.

Cooing from the middle of her bed grabbed at Isabeth's attention. She abandoned the mirror to lie on her side on the firm mattress. "Shh," she soothed Teddy with the graze of her finger along his chubby cheek.

Faith flicked her hair off her shoulder standing in front of the floor-length mirror. "If you're married, in a relationship, or have a kid you get none." She coyly grinned, satisfied at how her plump derriere filled out the skirt. "And I can't bit my tongue."

"Try." Isabeth smiled as Teddy's little hand clung onto her curling locks. The muscles wrapping tight around her shoulders loosen and they dropped down. Her chest relaxed and she inhaled an easy breath.

Faith looked at herself in the mirror and the clump on her eyelash, "What the fuck!"

"That's it!" Isabeth pointed her finger sharply at Faith. "You hit your limit. Stop swearing around my—" A loud thump erupting in the living room and she remembered they weren't alone. "Stop cussing in front of Teddy."

"He can't hear you." Faith looked out the bedroom past Delilah laid out in the hallway then at the sunrays flooding into the living room. "Isn't it time we tell them?"

"Why didn't you tell Gavin that you didn't cheat on him because you were hot to trot but were raped? Why don't you tell him that you still love him? We don't tell people the bad things that happen to us. We have rules the three of us follow."

"Is Teddy a bad thing?" Faith gestured toward him kicking his sock-covered feet in the air.

Isabeth tugged at her earlobe, "It's time for you to go to work. The hostess can not be late."

"It just can't always be the three of us, Isa. We're a family. Isn't that what you always say." Faith waved her hand in the air. "Harper, Dalton, Malachi, and Troy are a part of that family. The lies are getting hard to keep track of."

Isabeth narrowed her eyes, "Like your lip and the baby oil, right."

Faith turned her face away, seeing a woodpecker jamming away at the tree in the backyard.

"You may lie like an actress but I know your tell", Isabeth toyed with the gold ring on her middle finger.

Faith clapped, "Good for you. We all can't be Isa. I'm a wolf." Faith clenched her stomach as the hair on her neck rose. "I own that shit. But we can't all fake it."

Isabeth pointed to herself, "Am I wrong because I don't want to be ridiculed because of something that happened to me?"

"It happened to me too! But I'm not too busy trying to be little Miss Stepford Perfect."

"No! Faith but we all can't be a raging bitch taking our pain out on the world!"

"Fuck-you, Isa." Faith waved her off.

Isabeth clenched the sides of her waist, "Is that a fuck-you like you did Gavin or Orin and Paolo?"

"That little son of a bitch!" Faith slapped her thigh. "Alex told you about Paolo!"

"No." She gestured toward Faith. "You just did." Isa's eyes narrowed. "Right now."

"Paolo pushed me to my limit."

"He was your free pass. I'll take care of Egan."

"Take care of Egan? For what?"

"He's not what he appears to me."

"And what is that?"

"A good guy."

"He's not The Artist."

"How do you know? Have you seen The Artist?"

Faith tsked.

"Because I've looked up Egan Siegmeister, Chocolatier..." Isabeth told. "And he doesn't exist. Not here, not Europe, not anywhere. And he has the funds to buy prime real estate in Evening. Not to mention he magically appears to console you right after Fiona dies. I could smell the lies in his breath when he spoke in your room. I may be playing a part but he's a fraud."

"He pulled me from the car. He saved my life."

"Fulton was once our school therapist, too. People aren't always what they appear."

Faith erupted in laughter. "You're good!" She held her mouth to stop the giggling. "I almost stormed out of this room in a fury. You truly are the daughter of an Oscar winner. I almost forgot about how we need to tell the truth to the people we love." She pointed at Isabeth. "How can you be anger at Alex for lying, if you don't want to stop doing it yourself."

"We three have a code and we don't lie to each other." Isabeth stepped back looking over at Teddy who had fallen fast asleep regardless of their raising voices. "And for our other friends, I'll tell my truth." She clung to her chest, pressing her lips tightly together. "After you tell yours. All, of yours."

"You're right." Faith checked her watch-free wrist. "I shouldn't be late for opening day."