Liar

1

Slowly.

Slower than a snail Tori. The bed creaked under me and I stopped moving, feet just above the floor, teetering on the edge. If I could get out of here without this guy waking up, it would actually make my week. There is nothing worse than talking the morning after. What don't they seem to get about a one-night stand? We can speak for hours in the lead up, buy me drinks, flirt, fight with me when I'm acting like I'm hard to get and we both know I'm coming home with you anyway. But in the morning? Just have the decency to pretend to be asleep whilst I slip out. Don't offer breakfast, don't ask for my number. Just pretend it never happened. It's that fucking easy.

I watched him carefully as I stood up, waiting until he stopped moving again, gentle snores resuming so I knew I was in the clear to get dressed quietly and quickly. The car was already downstairs waiting for me to get me away from here.

It wasn't a regretful walk of shame. I didn't regret this. Ever. It's just fun, I'm always safe, my location is turned on for Lexi and Kenz like they have with me. It's more of a, dip out before they get attached kind of thing which, after the first few months, I learned was for some reason very easy to have happen.

I made a few mistakes when I started doing this a few years ago. Letting them wake me up, staying for food, trading numbers 'just in case'. It lead to problems. I don't do feelings. I don't do relationships. I don't do exclusive or dating or whatever else they seem to want to label us as. I mean if I meet a guy online, I'm not about to jump into bed with him instantly. I make him work for it a little. Let him take me out, wine and dine, back to his place and start the process again. Just never see them more than once. Ever.

The bedroom door creaked as I pulled it open, the guy waking up and turning over slowly. Blonde wasn't normally my type. It had shocked me a little when I woke up. He was pretty though. Stunning even. I just didn't have a thing for blond-haired blue-eyed boys. I don't my brain got the memo though because the scratches down his back tell me and the hickies covering his chest told me we'd had a good time. At least he'd have something to remind him it wasn't a dream. Poor guy didn't know what he was signing up for when he walked over with his friends last night.

I could tell he thought it was all his idea. But our tactics didn't fail. Like heat seeking missiles, once we had our targets, we didn't miss. The girls and I had an extremely specific way of working. Though I wouldn't exactly class the 2 of them as friends, we did work together well and saw each other often, using each other for the same reasons. We had certain rules between each other we had to follow so that it didn't screw it up for everyone else. If one of us went down, we all did. So, we agreed.

Our first rule. Always keep your location on and check in when we get home. This was just so we knew we were all safe.

Second rule, never the same person twice. Again, it just saves things going sour

Third rule, mid-week dates had to be reported to each other. This was another safety thing, so we all knew to watch their location.

The final rule was the most important. No matter what, never use your real name. Despite our families being some of the biggest in the country and one google search of our names giving you our faces, it was easier to give a fake name. Lexi went by Layla; Kenz went by Abi and I went by Willow.

Most of these were put in after the 'incident' as they called it. Otherwise known as my mistake. It almost burned our whole thing to the ground, things got dangerous. Not physically. Physically I was safe. Just like as a threat to life as we all knew it. An incident we would not be risking again, so the rules were introduced to stop it. Everything had been fine for a solid year now. No more problems. A* behaviour from all involved.

I had my own set of rules on top of these 4, just to make sure I kept myself on the right path. Unharmed and emotionless was a hell of a lot easier if I was just checking boxes.

"Wait-" I pulled the bedroom door closed, swallowing and holding my shoes, jacket and bag tight as I gave in on being sneaky. Blondie was awake and had seen me sneaking out, which screwed with my plan to dip unseen and unheard. I turned his key in the front door as his feet padded down the hallway, reaching the entrance way as I pulled it open. "Don't go yet. Let me- uh- let me get you breakfast." He scratched the back of his neck and I looked him up and down slowly. Yeah, okay I got why I let him bring me home now. The tattoos, the leather jacket thrown haphazardly on the floor. Bad boy persona 101. Stood in his boxers, this guy stared at me, ocean eyes so blue they'd drown you if you looked hard enough. The animal in me begged for more as I locked it back in its cage, holding the key tight.

I pulled on my jacket, the cold March air hitting my bare skin without the influence of alcohol leaving me feeling like I was being stabbed with hundreds of needles all at once.

"No can-do Ace." He dropped his shoulders, stepping forward. "One night stand babe. This is where it ends. Have a good day." I smiled gently, pulling the door closed and dashing before he inevitably opened it and tried to call me back. I walked at a decent pace down the long hallway. Not so fast that it looked like I was panicked but not slow enough for me to look like I wanted to come back.

"I DIDN'T GET YOUR NAME." He called from the middle of the hall; hand pressed into the door frame so he didn't lock himself out. Jesus Christ was I being tested today. Maybe I did have a little thing for blondes because I had to reel my tongue back in. I smirked at him over my shoulder, turning my head back forward and waving backwards as I continued walking. Home free.