"I don't care about him," Ray retorted, an incredulous look on his face. "I care about us. I admit," he continued, lifting a hand and returning to Asher, "that I'm a suspicious guy. I know that's hard to live with. But if you had just..."

There was one good thing about only being able to tell the truth. It meant Ray couldn't lie to himself either. He'd known all along what Asher had done, even without the evidence. It really was all on his own conscience. He couldn't pretend that lashing out at Asher would change that.

"You have no idea how badly I want to ask you whether there is anything else you've kept from me." Ray was suddenly pretty sure that that would be the most damaging question of all. Even he knew that a relationship didn't work without some degree of trust, and testing that trust when the other person couldn't lie would be fatal. "But I'm not going to."