Free Lost In Lies by Xavier Neal Page A

enough,” Peter shrugs it off.
                  Compelled to argue back, I chime in, “Not even a little.”
                  Ignoring me, Peter questions, “How you gonna get us in?”
                  With a devious smirk, Justin says, “Well I—”
                  “Peyton?” A voice cuts his off, causing us all to turn around. 
                  To my surprise, I see Nick with a smile on his face, in black and white plaid shorts, a black polo, and his matching black fedora.
                  “Hey,” I start slowly as he maneuvers his way around my group of friends to be beside me.
                  Belle mutters at Aiden, “God, it’s like the Twilight Zone.”
                  “Or something out of the Matrix,” Eiden mumbles in return.
                  “Or a bad horror film,” Aiden agrees as I do my best to speak over them, so they can’t be heard.
                  “What are you doing down here?”
                  “Headed home,” he points to a set of high-rise apartments about two blocks over from the hotel.
                  “Thought you lived at the beach house.”
                  “I don’t like to sleep at the office,” he shrugs, and I giggle slightly at his cockiness.
                  “Are you implying that partying is a job?”
                  “The hardest there is.”
    His attitude receives acknowledgment from Peter.
    “I second that notion.”
                  “Of course you do,” Justin mumbles.
                  “I live right there,” he points to the top of the building in what I assume could only be a penthouse dream apartment. “What are you doing down here?”
                  A small look of panic comes across my face as Belle feeds me a look like I have to give him something, “Looking for a hotel. See, they lost my reservation—”
                  “Who?”
                  Instinctively, I point behind me, “So my friends were seeing if they could pull together enough money to help me get a room there for the night—”
                  “That hotel?” he questions slowly.
                  “Yeah.”
                  “That hotel, right there,” he asks again as if something I’m saying doesn’t make sense to him.
                  “Hearing’s not one of your better qualities, is it?” Justin snaps.
                  “No, but listening is,” his look bounces off of Justin’s and onto me, causing me to blush. The small reference from earlier today is something I can appreciate—someone who pays attention to the details. “It’s cool, bro. I know it probably sounded a little stupid to hear me repeat myself that many times.”
                  “Just a little stupid?” Justin’s snippy remark is received well by my friends but not by me.
                  “What if I told you I could get you a nice room at that hotel right now, no questions asked?” Nick’s query brings out the tension in Justin once more.
                  “I’d say you’re full of it,” my quick shutdown of his confidence changes Justin’s demeanor as he praises himself for teaching me well.
                  “If I can get you a room at that hotel right now, will you go out with me tonight?” The offer sounds tempting and not very threatening. While, yes, he is a celebrity of sorts, it doesn’t mean that the hotel’s not full or that his name has as much pull as he says it has. For all I know, he could be a delusional playboy who’s all talk and no bite. Though the fact he has a beach house and a penthouse in the same city does hint than he might have some leverage.
                  I glance at Justin, who has the best poker face