Dirty Little Liars by Missy Lynn Ryan Page A

Dillwyn Motel.
    “We can’t do this.” She pulled away from him.
    He opened his mouth to speak, but she held up a finger to his lips.
    “Don’t say it. I don’t want to live with the memory of you professing what I think you want to profess. I know you don’t get it, but if you really do care about me, you will give me some space. Just let me go, for now. Please let me go.”
    At that moment a car horn honked and they both jumped backward. They weren’t doing anything, right? So why did they look so damn guilty?
    “Is that Melissa?” Ty asked.
    Juliette smiled. “She’s our ride.” The spunky girl with the pixie cut rolled down the passenger side window. “What the hell happened to you guys?”
    “Trust me,” Ty said. “You don’t want to know.”
    Only, as Juliette climbed into the backseat, Melissa gave her peculiar look. It seemed to her that Melissa wanted to know very, very badly.

Chapter 15: News Break
    Back in her Georgetown apartment Juliette was able to reassure herself that she had done the right thing, despite the fact that Tyler appeared to be following the plan. The day after their disastrous trip through Virginia, Courtney cornered her in the lobby of the GWU student union. Juliette had been certain she was in for a beat down. But Courtney gave her a big hug, took her by the hand, and dragged her into the Java Joint.
    They spent an hour talking about the campaign and other than a comment about how happy she was that Juliette was safe, Courtney made not one comment about her being stranded in the hills of Virginia.
    Now, a week later, she was sitting at Courtney’s apartment, watching CNN and stuffing envelopes for a mailer due to go out over the next two days.
    “Do you want iced tea or lemonade?” Courtney called from the kitchen, where she was making popcorn and fixing drinks.
    “Tea.”
    Courtney glided across the floor, balancing two glasses of ice in one hand and a pitcher of iced tea in the other. She set each one down on a coaster. Her eyes widened as she glanced up at the muted television set.
    “Hey, are they talking about Tyler?”
    They were talking about him, or at least that’s what it looked like with the sound off. Courtney reached for the remote and clicked the volume on. But all they managed to catch was, “We will have more on this story and what CNN learned about Senator Chase and his new mystery woman in a moment.”
    Courtney sank down slowly into the couch like a deflated toy. “What did she just say?”
    Juliette couldn’t speak. Even if she could find her voice, what would she say? It was insulting to deny the truth, especially if the news outlets were already broadcasting details of their relationship. It was probably all over every Twitter and Facebook account in America, certainly D.C.
    This can’t be happening. We were careful. We broke it off.

    But they weren’t careful. Not really. Any yahoo with a phone could have overheard their conversations or snapped a picture of the two of them together. In the car, at the TV studios. Or the motel…
    “It’s probably nothing to worry about,” Juliette managed. But she was far from convincing.
    A flashy musical beat accompanied Tyler’s picture on the TV screen. The blonde anchor was practically grinning as she reported the breaking news.
    “CNN recently learned from an exclusive source that Senator Tyler Chase is not the faithful man he claims to be. The senator was caught embracing an unknown woman in the parking lot of the Dillwyn Motel. Our sources say Chase was passing through the small town of Dillwyn on a media tour to major news networks throughout the state of Virginia. This morning the following photo was sent to CNN from an anonymous source.”
    A photo appeared in the middle of the screen. Juliette held her breath as she stared at her and Ty in the parking lot. It had to have been taken by Melissa. No one else knew where they were. She had hoped Courtney’s friend hadn’t spotted them together.