One Lovely Lie

One Lovely Lie Addison Beck CREDITS Indie Author Creative Editor: Angela O’Connell Cover Design and Formatting: Kari Monty Copyright Copyright © 2023 by Addison Beck All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher or author, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law. Contents Blurb Dedication Preface 1. Chapter 1 2. Chapter 2 3. Chapter 3 4. Chapter 4 5. Chapter 5 6. Chapter 6 7. Chapter 7 8. Chapter 8 9. Chapter 9 10. Chapter 10 11. Chapter 11 12. Chapter 12 13. Chapter 13 14. Chapter 14 15. Chapter 15 16. Chapter 16 17. Chapter 17 18. Chapter 18 19. Chapter 19 20. Chapter 20 21. Chapter 21 22. Chapter 22 Epilogue Afterword Acknowledgments What Comes Next? Sneak Peek of One Manic Lie Blurb Someone needs to tell me it’s not okay to be in love with my best friend. Daniel: All of my life, Magnus has been my entire world. It’s not easy being in love with your hot, incredibly perfect best friend. It’s certainly not easy watching him jump from guy to girl to guy at the drop of a hat, but I’m surviving. Mostly. Mostly surviving. So, when he proposes teaching me about sex, how can I say no? Despite all the reasons this is a terrible idea, I have to jump at the chance. If this is the only way I can have him, then I’ll take what I can get. I just hope this doesn’t end with a damaged friendship, leaving me even more heartbroken than I already am. A guy has to be optimistic, right? One Lovely Lie is a fast-paced, steamy, friends-to-lovers romance with quirky friends, swoon-worthy moments, and a HEA that’ll melt your heart. Content warning: drug use, side character exhibiting signs of mental illness. Dedication For everyone out there that told me to get off my ass, believe in myself, and write a book. This is for you. Preface I wrote my first book when I was ten. Of course, it was this terrible pile of trash with no discernible plot and only two characters but a book is a book. I was so insanely proud of myself that I showed everyone who would read it. Needless to say, they also thought it was a big pile of trash. For the rest of my life (or I guess since then), I’ve dreamt about writing an actual book. I wanted to write something that would transport people into another world, make them forget their problems, make them fall in love, make them experience heartbreak, and—most of all—make them disappear. Well, here it is. My first ever book. I just hope that you can feel the love I have for the story and for the characters through my writing. I hope that you can empathize with Magnus and sympathize with Daniel. I hope that you all have a little Avery in you with the spirit of Carter and Ozymandias. Overall, I hope that you enjoy because this is for you. Like my Spotify linkfor songs that inspired this story! https://spoti.fi/3YZqdjK (for paperback readers!) Chapter 1 F reshman Year Daniel “Magnus! Slow down!” Magnus must be able to feel my trembling fingers by the pulse point on his wrist because he looks down and gives me a reassuring smile. He chuckles to himself and finally stops, throwing his arm around my shoulders as he ushers us through the crowded train car. “Come on, Daniel. Aren’t you excited?” Magnus asks as he hands our luggage over to the attendant and guides us down the hallway. “Of course I am,” I say, but after years of friendship, he can surely tell I’m lying. Now that we’re fourteen, my forever best friend and I are heading off to boarding school. It’s not because we’re bad kids, or because we fucked up our lives somehow, but as the future CEOs of two thriving multi-billion-dollar companies, we’re expected to get the best education possible. That education happens to be located in Switzerland, over three thousand miles from our home in New York. But Magnus, smooth and charming Magnus, doesn’t even seem to mind that we’re being shipped off. The prospect of meeting new people and living on our own after we’ve been homeschooled our entire lives doesn’t scare him. Nothing scares him. Magnus and I were brought up with a strict understanding of what our duties would be as the children of society’s most elite. We were taught all about the inferiority of the working class, along with the advantages and benefits we get from being filthy rich. If we’re going to inherit our parents’ companies, then we need to learn how to act accordingly. “Mag, I can’t believe you really decided to wear…” I gesture wildly at his outfit. “…that. Did you see the way my mom reacted when she saw you? She freaked out.” “Well, Danny,” he says, emphasizing his nickname for me. “You know I take any opportunity to piss off our parents.” I roll my eyes and scoff as I take in his leather jacket and ripped jeans, the way his dark hair is a perfect mess, and those brown eyes that are framed with black eyeliner. It wasn’t until the summer before boarding school that Magnus started to rebel—listening to unsuitable music, dressing in the latest trends, and flaunting his bisexuality every chance he gets. His parents hate it—Magnus is convinced they hate him—but they have a way of wearing blinders when something isn’t part of their ideal plan. I, on the other hand, accept my parents’ expectations of me. Some of the brutal and, honestly, outdated traditions of theirs haven’t really stuck, but unlike Magnus, I never go against them. It’s not that I believe everything they say, but it’s hard to shake years of conditioning in one go. I listen to my best friend’s sermons on equality, and his rants about how evil our parents are, but I never