Second Lies (The Second Life Series) Read Online Free

recovery.  There’s no record of this.  It’s like that night never even happened.  Besides, she has more than one DUI earned on record, so this whole thing isn’t exactly farfetched.  Think about it.  Her life never changed even when she thought she almost killed herself from drinking.  You would have thought this would’ve been exactly what she needed to change her life for the better, but I can bet anything she’s drinking just as much as before the accident.  Not even this could change her.” He shook his head. “I’ve kept this a secret for almost a year.  Don’t pull away from me.  We’ve watched out for each other our whole lives, and from the sound of it, you have your own demons.  Are you going to tell me what that is or did you suddenly forget that I’m not the only one with a closet full of skeletons?”
    “Don’t be an asshole, Nick,” I buried my head in my hands and fought to accept this secret.  My brother betrayed my mother and possibly killed an innocent man.  Dennis covered the whole thing up; he didn’t think twice about it.  I was playing with fire, trusting Darth.  Nothing he said could be trusted.  Finally, when I was unable to think about Nick anymore, I blurted out. “I danced!  I’m a fucking stripper!”
    After everything that was just said, I was somehow able to shock Nick.  Amazingly, he laughed, “You’re fucking kidding.  There’s no way you could do that.” I nodded my head.  He became suddenly serious. “Why?  Mom and Dad would give you anything.”
    I shrugged my shoulders and continued in a hushed voice, “My friend’s a dancer.  She got me into it.  I started doing drugs while I was there and drinking all the time.  It was all about control and letting loose.  It was amazing, losing all my inhibitions like that and making a shit load of money.  No one ever thought the daughter of the saint, Dr. Thomas Ward, would ever snort a line of coke, but all of a sudden it became a regular thing for me.  It became regular, and no one at the club judged me.
    Well, one day my boss wanted me to do this photo shoot with my friend, and I didn’t feel comfortable with taking semi-nude pictures to have up on the web.  He gave me some pills, and then, I was so high I really didn’t give a shit any more.  I was standing in just my underwear with another girl.  I bought all of the photos back except one…and now, Dennis has it.  The funny thing is I quit just a couple days ago.  I had a plan to get the last picture back, but Dennis has it now.  I have no fucking clue how he even figured out I worked there.”
    “Face it, Adriana.  We’re two fucked up people, must be in our blood,” he sat down next to me again, and I somehow found the ability to look at him.  As much as I wanted to run or scream at him or call my mom and tell her the truth, I couldn’t.  Nick was right.  We were broken, sad individuals.  We were broken, and we needed each other. “So can I count on you to keep my secret?”
    “Can I count on you to keep mine?” I shot back.  We both stared at each other for a second until finally I cracked a sadistic, appalling, possibly crazy grin.
    He smiled back, “Yes.”
    “Then, yes,” and just like that, we were one in the same.  His demons were mine, and mine were his.  Maybe it was crazy, maybe it was too soon, but Nick was right about one thing.  Our blood was the same, and I could never deny protecting my brother.  I’d do anything for him, and he’d do anything for me.  This was a sick test to prove that, and there was no way I could fail him.

Chapter 3
     
     
    I woke up in the guest bedroom in Nick’s apartment.  Honestly, I couldn’t even remember getting to this point.  Yesterday was exhausting, yet I was sure it was a day full of topics that we’d never discuss again.  I was just glad everything was out on the table, and we could kind of go back to how things used to be.
    When I climbed out of bed, I flipped