Liar

2

"Hi Steve." I pulled the door closed. "Thanks for coming so quickly." He chuckled. I know it wasn't his choice. He was paid to be there when we needed. Still. He deserved to be thanked for it.

"Every weekend you know? I wake up at 6, get ready and sit in the car, look at your location and park around the corner for when you need me." I chuckled. "You're bags in the middle. I put some painkillers in there too after last week."

"You are an angel you know? Like god actually sent you down to earth to look after me."

"Technically your dad sent me."

"Does that make him god then? Because if that's the case I have a few complaints." He laughed at me as I took the bag, starting to neaten up my makeup in the back of the fancy pants car. I don't know makes or models, I can just about tell you the colour and to be honest, the only time I'm jumping in Steve's car is when I'm trying to get away from somewhere fast and I'm not paying attention to the colour of the car I'm in. Just the personalised license plate.

Steve had been dad's driver for a few years now. It wasn't a super demanding job now we all drove but dad hated the thought of any of us getting an Uber or something so had Steve on standby constantly.

Dad had certain expectations of his kids. Whether we were in the public eye or not, we had certain standards to uphold and these one-night stands were not a part of it. Working our asses off was. And in his mind, if we were out, we should really be doing something productive. My excuse on this was if I was with the girls, I was forming relationships in the business world. He barely bought it. Raised his eyebrow at me and I had to defend it on the spot. Dad works in finance. The family business is finance. That's where I'd be, that's where Emmett will be too. The 2 of us running the place when dad decides he's done in 20 years. Lexi's dad was in the stock market, Kenz's mum owned a huge country wide paper. If I kept them as friends, I could get insights into what was going on and we could potentially save ourselves millions if we were on the edge of a stock market crash or a big business was going under.

This information had proved itself once before when we were able to pull out of a business deal a month before the company went bust. Lexi had told me their stocks were crap and Kenz had someone look at it a little and we found them in terrible shape monetary wise. I told dad, he pulled out, saved us a quarter of a billion pounds. He didn't question me at all after that, going so far as to push me to spend more time with them.

I didn't have time for friends really. I had 4 jobs for crying out loud. I was a freelance editor for Kenz's paper. Jumping in on projects when people were on sick or holiday or they were over run. It paid super well and I only really worked for that twice a month. I'd probably spend 3 or 4 hours on it and be done. I had a series of online courses I ran on the business world, making money from home and other stupid shit I had somehow mastered over the years. Then I had hours I pulled with dad and, my most time-consuming job, the virtual assistant.

It wasn't supposed to be as time consuming as it was. It started off as a small thing, answering emails, making sure the CEO didn't have any clashes in his calendar. Just whilst his PA was on maternity leave. But he ended up putting her elsewhere when she came back because he was so happy with how I was doing. Now I'm in office once a week helping him keep on top of filing, fulfilling some minor HR duties and he's showing me the ins and outs of being a CEO. It was nice to have another view of it because right now all I had was dad's way of running a business and Mark certainly had a more relaxed approach. In the 6 months I'd been working with him, I'd learned so much and I was a hell of a lot more confident in making decisions with dad now too which was always a positive when you're still looked at like a little kid.

I leaned between the seats, kissing Steve on the cheek as we pulled into the drive.

"Thanks Stevie boy."

"No problem Victoria." I climbed out the car sighing that I could see Emmett wandering around already. There was no way I could sneak in. Chances are he's already seen Steve pull in and no one else would be using him at this time in a morning when mum and dad are likely at the club, he's home and Julia will be out shopping in her own car since it's not parked up. But that also meant he was home alone. Win. I smiled, walking up to the front door and opening it, getting in and out of the cold.

"DON'T YOU DARE GO UPSTAIRS TORI." Damn it. His head appeared in the doorway, smirk across his face. "Walk of shame?"

"Only the walk of shame if I'm ashamed." I rolled my eyes, walking down the hall to him, sitting down on the table and taking my heels off.

"That is not the meaning of the term."

"Shame insinuates it's something that should be shameful. What does that mean in reality? Theoretically-"

"Oh god don't start, I was joking." He sat down opposite me, sliding a cup of tea he must have had most of the way made in anticipation for me coming home because there's no way he could have made this that quickly. "How do you keep it up?"

"What?"

"No one knowing about this boyfriend you're out with every weekend?" I smirked, bringing the cup to my lips.

"Because it's not one guy. In fact, I don't know any of their names. Usually helps with the whole, not dropping it into conversation thing." His eyes went wide. "What?"

"So, you just sleep around?"

"Yup." I nodded.

"That - Are you mad?"

"No. Why would I be mad?"

"He's going to kill you when he finds out."

"No, he won't. Because he's not going to find out Emmett."

"Tori." Em sighed. "That's not healthy."

"Why not?"

"Because- I mean, are you even planning on settling down?" I laughed.

"No way. Not yet. I'm happy and having fun. Why would I let some guy with money ruin that?"

"Because you love them?"

"Yeah, right. Love." I snorted at him, standing up with my cup of tea. "It doesn't exist."

"Tori-" He sighed again.

"Love is a deluded idea built up centuries ago by people who literally went crazy with chemicals and couldn't control themselves. It's useless, unimportant and not necessary."

"You're such a pessimist Tori."

"Realist." I raised a middle finger as I walked towards the stairs, needing a shower and a nap desperately. "I'm realistic and people don't like knowing I'm right, especially about that."