Pretty Lies (Watch Me Burn Book 1)

by R. E. Bond

  I kept riding him until he thrusted up with a groan, swatting my ass to dismiss me.

  I was more than happy to get out of that room.

  “Go jump in the shower and head to bed. I’ll be up soon.”

  I gave him a quick kiss before climbing from his lap, ignoring the glances the others gave me as they looked my body over on my way past.

  They had no right to fucking judge me.

  After my shower, I annoyingly found Skeeter and Caden in the bedroom waiting for me.

  I knew something was going on, and I knew I wasn’t going to like it.

  Skeeter sighed with a frustrated expression on his face.

  “We’ve got a problem, hot stuff.”

  “Another dead body problem?” I offered, only half-joking, but Caden’s eyes narrow.

  Skeeter smirked with amusement though.

  “Not yet, but Holloway’s pulled out the legal card. If your father thinks you’re in danger, he’ll bring cops into it. Since you know who I am and what I do, you understand that I can’t have them show up here, right?”

  I rolled my eyes and leaned against the wall, refusing to look at Caden.

  “I can leave here to protect you, sure. Doesn’t mean I’ll go home.”

  Skeeter scowled. “Cops will think I fucking killed you or some shit if you don’t. Everyone knows you’ve been on my dick for the past couple of weeks, so do us a favour and behave until your birthday, or I actually will have to kill you.”

  I finally glanced at Caden and shrugged.

  “Fine, I’ll go home, but if you think you’re safe to sleep at night, Caden Holloway, you’re in for a rude fucking surprise. If you think I’d even hesitate to gut you open in your fucking sleep…”

  Skeeter groaned, pulling me against him and kissing my neck.

  “You’re making me horny all over again, stop it. Did you plan on fighting tomorrow?”

  I said yes at the same time that Caden said no, and he actually looked slightly concerned for his safety when I pushed away from Skeeter and pulled the blade from his pocket, gently poking Caden in the side with it.

  “What are you going to do if I do fight, Holloway? Call the cops to break up an illegal crew operated cage fight? Smart move, jackass. You’d end up in a fucking hole.”

  He held my gaze, but I saw the emotions behind the mask.

  I knew him better than he did, and he was fucking cracking.

  “Rory, I’m sorry. We fucked up.”

  You bet your ass you did.

  I smiled with fake sweetness, turning the blade and dragging it down my own arm, feeding off the adrenaline my body threw out from the pain.

  “Empty fucking words, rich boy. I don’t give a fuck.”

  Skeeter snatched his blade back and tsked me.

  “I’m meant to be the only one who marks you, and you know it. Grab your shit and bail, before I kill Holloway and the rest of his boys.”

  I shrugged, a taunting glint in my eyes.

  “Might just take my fucking time then.”

  He chuckled as he left the room, leaving Caden to watch me as I started shoving things into my massive bag.

  Skeeter had bought me a lot of stuff, and I’d won some decent money from fighting in the cage, so I’d treated myself with a pile of stuff too.

  The rest of the money I’d stashed away for savings.

  “We really are sorry,” he insisted as he finally spoke again, earning an unimpressed glance from me.

  “Like I said, I don’t give a fuck. You’re only sorry because it’s hurting you, not because it hurt me. You want the guilty pain you have inside you to stop, but it won’t. I hope it fucking eats you alive.”

  I shoved past him, dragging my bag behind me and snatching my keys from the table, making sure to give Skeeter a big kiss on the way past.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow night then?”

  He shrugged. “Should do. Unless I get called out to do some shit for the crew, then I want you to stay away from the shed.”

  I snorted, narrowing my eyes on him.

  “I’ve been going there since before it was even yours, Skeet.”

  His eyes blazed as they snapped to mine angrily.

  “The fuck did I tell you today about arguing with me?”

  “Not to do it in your cage. This is different, and you know it.”

  “Like fuck, Donovan. I’ll still slit your fucking throat and watch you bleed out in the kitchen, just as easily as I would in the cage.”

  Jensen’s eyes widened as I kissed Skeeter’s cheek with a giggle.

  “You’d miss my pussy too much.”

  He gave me a smirk, swatting my butt as I headed towards the door.

  “I can still fuck you once you’re dead, babe. Don’t you forget it.”

  Caden cringed as I laughed and blew Skeeter a kiss on my way outside, climbing into my car without waiting for the others.

  Caden walked past, pausing by my window as I put it down to light a cigarette.

  “He really doesn’t scare you? You know he’s not bluffing, right?”

  I glanced up at him, leaning my arm on the door.

  “I know he’s serious, but I’m not afraid of dying, Caden. I have nothing left to lose.”

  I started the engine and turned the stereo up, Lay Me Down by In This Moment hitting my ears before I revved the car and skidded from the yard without another word.

  I beat the guys home, and once I parked the Corvette and switched the engine off, I swung my bag over my shoulder and stalked into the house, ready for a fight.

  I’d only made it to the kitchen when Josie glanced up and gasped, running towards me with her arms out.

  She was never going to fucking learn.

  “Don’t touch me! How many fucking times do you need to be told!” I screamed at her before she could make contact with me, causing her to flinch.

  She ran her eyes over me with panic on her face.

  “Oh my god, who…”

  “Oh, this? Nah, it’s fine. It was just a bit of fighting and good fucking,” I shrugged as the front door banged open and Caden stormed in.

  “Wait for us next time, for fuck’s sake!”

  “Why the fuck would I do anything for you, Holloway? Back off,” I retorted angrily.

  He stepped towards me, but I put my hand up to stop him.

  “I wouldn’t bother. I have a knife and I’m not afraid to use it.”

  “He’s turned you fucking psycho!” Caden snapped, but his mother frowned with confusion.

  “Who? Where have you been, Aurora?”

  I narrowed my eyes. “My boyfriend’s place. I’m fine, seriously.”

  “You don’t look fine,” she said gently, but Caden’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.

  “Boyfriend?”

  “Well I am fine!” I snapped, ignoring Caden, but I tensed when Jensen moved closer to me, his voice soft.

  “Rory…”

  I’d never let them hurt me again.

  I didn’t trust them in the slightest, no matter how much they begged for forgiveness.

  “No, you had the chance to stop it all. You had the fucking chance to tell me, but you kept dodging it. It’s too late, Jensen. You guys fucked up, whether you wanted to or not. You chose to…”

  “Lukas didn’t do shit, so why are you pissed at him?” Caden demanded, but I rolled my eyes and pointed at Lukas.

  “He stole my diary for starters, and he would have known who Tristan fucking was, and he never…”

  “Tristan? What did he do? How do you even know him?” Josie managed to get out as Max walked in and froze, his eyes darting to Josie before I gave him a feral smirk, knowing I was about to fuck everything up for him.

  “Oh, just old stuff. Dad owed Tristan a debt when I was thirteen, and I was the payment.”

  “What?” she tensed, her voice becoming tiny as Max started towards me with anger in his eyes, but I flipped my blade out and stopped him in his tracks.

  “Like I said wh
en we met Josie, you’re way too good for my dad. He throws people under the bus to save himself. He cost me my best friend, he sold my virginity to your fucking husband when I was thirteen, then he lied to my best friend when he said it would only be the once,” I bit out sharply, watching as all four guys went rigid.

  I never wanted them to know it had been a regular thing, but it was all coming out and no one could stop it.

  I laughed as Josie stared at Max through new eyes.

  She fucking hated him.

  “He tried to originally get Lukas to do it, but Lukas loved me and never would have hurt me like that. Dad’s beat me my whole life, and Mom left when I was eight because she couldn’t handle him anymore. The debt, the lies, the cheating, and watching him hurt his own child. He’s put me in the hospital more times than I can count, but I was always known for fighting, so people believed his stories about how I tried to take on older kids when I was younger. I was just something to trade to keep his head above water.”

  Josie turned to Caden, a disapproving tone in her voice.

  “And you boys knew some of this?”

  Caden nodded with shame, and she gritted her teeth, not at all impressed with him.

  “When did you find out about your father?”

  “The same week that Rory took off,” he replied quietly, his mother scowling.

  “And she took off because?”

  He glanced at me, his shoulders slumping as I glared at him.

  “Because, she was a game at the start, and we didn’t realize we cared so much until we’d shown all of our cards. We drew her in just to crush her. Lukas hasn’t met Dad, so he honestly had no idea until we went through her diary.”

  Was he fucking kidding me?

  I let out a small chuckle. “Drew me in? You made me trust you, first. Started warming me up to Jensen around the time I let you fuck me. Lukas got my trust back when he told me the truth about the night I thought he’d walked out on me, but then you wanted to start adding Ty into the little circle of trust too, and I fucking fell for it. Sure, I fell for Jensen, but the bits you didn’t know that weren’t in my diary, were that you guys weren’t just everything to me, you were all I fucking had. I loved all of you, and I would have done anything for you. I let all of you touch me, whether it was just to hold my hand or sexually, but my biggest mistake of all was letting you fuck me, Caden. You were the first person to do that other than the times your fucking father raped me. That’s what fucked me up the most. I trusted you enough to be my first chosen sexual partner after years of trauma, and you threw it all back in my face in front of the school. Leave me alone, or the offer still stands. I’ll fucking gut you in your sleep,” then I turned and headed up to my room, slamming the door behind me for added effect.

  I’d never admit to them how hard it was to finally let it all out, but the moment I was alone, I sank to the floor and cried silently.

  Fuck all of them.

  It had been a long day without Skeeter.

  I knew I’d been too reliant on him because it fucking sucked being away from him.

  It was Friday night, and after a long day at school, dealing with Claire’s posse and avoiding the guys, I pulled into the driveway to see the house already pumping.

  Caden had warned me earlier in the day that it was his turn to throw a party, so I knew I was in for a long night.

  I’d only just grabbed a bottle of whisky after doing a couple lines of cocaine in my room, courtesy of Skeeter, when I ran into Claire in the hallway.

  She honestly seemed surprised to see me as she flicked her stupid long blonde hair over her shoulder.

  “Aurora? What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “I live here?” I stated as if she was stupid, watching her frown and her waxed eyebrows furrow in confusion.

  “But Caden…”

  “My dad’s still fucking his mom, you stupid bitch. You thought since Caden and I aren’t fucking now, that I’d just vanish?” I asked, a grin stretching across her face as she stepped towards me, but Tyler’s voice cut in from beside us suddenly.

  “Claire, don’t even bother.”

  “Don’t tell me you actually pity her?” she exclaimed as she spun around to face him.

  I smirked before grabbing her around the throat with my free hand, slamming her back into the wall and getting in her face.

  “Oh, he doesn’t pity me in any of this. He pities you right now, because I could break your fucking neck and no one would fucking know. I still live here, and I will throw you out if I want. If I were you, I’d stay out of my fucking way, you self-righteous prissy slut.”

  Her blue eyes darted around nervously, but Tyler didn’t move until I’d let go of her.

  He took a step towards me, making me snort.

  “Don’t even bother, asshole,” then I headed down to the main party, swigging on my whisky bottle as I went.

  I felt like a merry fucking pirate actually.

  Feeling stabby with a bottle in my hand and all that kind of shit.

  I’d only just lit a cigarette when the front door opened, and Slash walked in with some of the Psychos behind him.

  Guys stayed back, while girls basically threw themselves at them.

  I stayed right where I was though, they’d find me when they wanted to.

  I was shoved from behind and Claire was suddenly in my face.

  “What the fuck was that for, Aurora? You think you can just throw me around like that, you trailer trash whore?”

  I took a long drag, flicking my ash on her shirt to her disgust.

  “You’re in my house, so yeah, I can. Besides, if you want a real fight this time, I’ll be sure to put you back on the ground where I left you last time.”

  “You wanna fight me? You only got lucky last time, you crazy bitch,” she seethed.

  I was tempted to knock her the fuck out again.

  I was done with people thinking they could walk all over me.

  Skeeter chuckled as he walked over, and it wasn’t a nice chuckle.

  “Claire, she’d flatten you. She’s my best fighter in the cage.”

  Her eyes flew to his and she frowned, irritated by his statement.

  “Wait, you actually know her? C’mon, Skeet. She’s trash.”

  He eyed her with anger and motioned for me to approach him, pulling me against his chest and smirked at Claire cruelly as I reached him.

  “Know her? If I were you, I’d stay the fuck away from her. She’s my girl, and if you fuck with her again, I’ll let her put you in a hole. You feel me?”

  Claire scampered away without another word like the little bitch that she was, a grin stretching across my face.

  “She’s such a pussy.”

  “Speaking of pussy,” he said in a low voice before dipping down to claim my mouth, backing me against the wall with a thud.

  I knew people were watching as Skeeter’s hand went down the front of my pants, but I kind of liked it when he got possessive.

  I liked it that he wanted people to see me with him, too.

  “Hey, break it up and deal with this later. We’ve gotta bounce,” Slash said as he popped up beside us, Skeeter growling like a feral animal.

  “What the fuck for? We just got here.”

  He glanced at me, causing Skeeter to narrow his eyes.

  “Do we have to deal with dead bodies, or are we raiding some cunt, or…”

  “Dead bodies,” Slash muttered under his breath and Skeeter instantly removed his hand from my panties with a sigh, putting his fingers in my face.

  I kept my gaze on his as I sucked them into my mouth and swirled my tongue around them, receiving a satisfied smile from him.

  “Good girl. Go and fuck someone, alright? I might be a few days, and I’d hate for you to be horny the whole time.”

  “What?” I asked as my entire body tensed up.

  We were in a relationship, so why the fuck would I sleep with anyone else?

  “Get laid, baby girl. I mean it,�
� he replied casually before walking off with Slash who was laughing, reminding him that no one would touch me now they’d seen me with him.

  I scowled, downing a mouthful of whisky and noticing Lukas standing across the room, eyeing me warily.

  I was aware of the others watching me from close by, but I ignored them and headed towards Lukas, surprising the shit out of him.

  “Uh, hey,” he managed to get out, my lip twitching as I fought a smirk.

  “Lukas. Having a good night?”

  He seemed confused by the conversation but nodded.

  “Sure. You?”

  “Would be nice if I could get laid without someone barging in or dead bodies showing up, but yeah, it’s alright.”

  “Skeet’s a busy man, makes it difficult,” he responded dryly, receiving a nod in agreement.

  “Tell me about it.”

  I noticed a guy staring at me from across the room as I glanced around, my eyes lingering on him.

  He was pretty hot, and I didn’t know him, which was fucking perfect.

  I smirked, Lukas frowning as he gave me the side eye.

  “Rory, what are you doing?”

  “Skeet told me to get laid, so I’d better get to it,” I winked before moving across the room towards the hot guy.

  He’d finally spotted me and was shamelessly giving me a panty-dropping smile.

  The closer I got the more I realized he was hot as fuck.

  Jackpot.

  “Hey, sexy lady,” he greeted with interest as I reached him, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

  I looked him up and down appreciatively before answering him, my eyes lingering on the scar down his arm.

  I was picking up Skeeter’s kinks, apparently.

  Scars were becoming a major turn on.

  “Hey. You wanna get out of here?”

  He seemed surprised by how forward I was being but nodded, putting an arm around my middle and drawing me closer to his side.

  I ignored the alarms going off in my head as his hands touched me.

  My anxiety could go and fuck itself.

  I tried to enjoy it as he kissed me on the way out to his car.

  But I wished I’d just stopped doing stupid shit when something hit the back of my head and it all went black.

  Dumb bitch.

  Lukas