Pretty Lies: A contemporary YA Romance (Astrid Scott Series Book 1)

by Blake Blessing

  I sighed. “Let’s just say when I met him, he had a friend with him. You can ask him for the rest if you want.” That was sufficiently vague; I mentally patted myself on the back.

  “So, how did you meet Thatch?” He pulled out gum, handing me a piece.

  “There’s a scholarship I’m trying to go for, and unfortunately, I suck at all art except for picture taking. My art teacher set it up so I could borrow a camera from one of his friends at the university. When I went to pick it up, Thatcher was the one waiting. I’ve only met him one other time from tonight.” I watched him as he drove, feeling calmer because he couldn’t stare back.

  “Huh. I’ll definitely have to ask him for the details then.” He popped his gum and smirked at me.

  The drive to my house didn’t take that long and it was over before I was ready to leave him. We listened to music for most of the ride but even that was fun. My house was dark and lonely as he pulled into the driveway, taunting me with the lifestyle my parents were determined I follow. I wasn’t ready for this night to end.

  “Beck?” I said.

  “Yeah, Astrid?” The smile in his voice colored his words.

  “Do you want to come in and see the pictures?” I cringed when I heard the hope sprinkled through my voice. I did not want to seem like one of the groupies at the bar.

  “I don’t know,” he sounded weary, “I don’t mix that well with parents.”

  I brightened. “That’s completely fine. Mine are out of town until tomorrow.”

  He was quiet for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, why not.”

  Excited, I started to open my door, but hesitated. “Just for pictures and to hang out. There’ll be none of what was going on in that room.”

  “Sex?” He smirked. Smart ass.

  “Yes, sex. Nothing like that.” I didn’t believe he was coming in for that, but I wanted to draw the line very clearly. I liked Beck. He was fun, hot, and talented, but I wasn’t ready for one-night stands.

  “That was never a thought in my mind.” He crossed his heart.

  “Good.” I blew out a breath. “Pull in the garage after I open it, that way no one will notice your car. Just in case.”

  “Ah, man. You’re taking me back to my high school days of sneaking through windows to see girls.” He laughed.

  “Ha ha.” I fake laughed. And just like that, I snuck my first boy into the house.

  He followed behind me as we entered the house. I turned the light on over the island in the kitchen, looking around trying to see what it might look like to a stranger. He’d notice the immaculate way the stainless-steel refrigerator and faucet would shine. The smell of apple pie from the bath and body works plug in would assault him. Would he notice the lack of personal touches? The only form of family my mother liked to display were the pictures in the hallway and then a few staple family photos in the living room.

  “So, this is it.” I spun, sticking my fingers in the back of my jeans.

  Beck looked just as uncomfortable as I felt as he hovered in the doorway. For some reason, it made me want to laugh. Where was the Casanova from the bar?

  “Nice house.” He grinned and crossed his arms and taking on a Mr. Clean stance.

  “Thanks… Let’s go in my room. We can put the pictures on my laptop.” I turned to head toward the stairs before I hesitated. My room? Why did I say that? Now he was going to think I was trying to seduce him on the sly. I couldn’t go back on it now, so I kept going.

  His footsteps on the stairs behind me gave me this strange urge to go faster. I jogged the rest of the way, keeping my hand on the camera bag to prevent any unnecessary jostling. It might not be mine, but it was my ticket out of here. No harm would come to this beautiful contraption on my watch.

  In my room, Beck walked over to the window.

  After I connected the camera to the laptop, I joined him while the pictures were transferring. The view was the perfect American suburbia stereotype. Cookie cutter houses, except for the Bennets’, neat and trimmed landscapes, and haloed streetlights. A beautiful prison.

  “Nice street.” He said and I busted up laughing.

  “You’ve been a regular ladies man and expert conversationalist all evening, and now it’s nice house, nice street.” I wiped the amused tears from my eyes.

  He grinned ruefully. “Yeah, when I calm down after a performing high, I tend to lose my charming quality. Sorry about that. I’ll try harder until I leave.”

  “Sit down here, I’ll grab the laptop.” The bay window was the perfect viewing spot. It was surreal to entertain someone here, but I loved it.

  Crossing my legs underneath me, I balanced the cool laptop on my legs. Beck scooted closer as I pulled the first picture up, the one of him crouched down in front of me. I stared at his profile, eating up the awed expression on his face.

  This kind of appreciation made art worth it. I bet that was how he felt with hundreds of fans singing along to his songs.

  “Astrid, that’s… Can you send that to me?” His arm went behind me as he bent closer.

  “Of course. Look at some of these other ones.” I cleared my throat. We flipped through each picture, stopping longer on the ones he seemed to love. It was probably a weak way to spend the time with a boy in my bedroom, but it was the perfect ending to the perfect night. Almost perfect night, outside of getting caught by Jonah.

  “What’s your email address?” I dropped all of the pictures he wanted into an email.

  “I’ll type it.” He nudged the laptop away from me and started tapping the keys.

  I leaned over his shoulder out of sheer curiosity.

  beckfandom@gmail.com

  Snickering, I inched back in the corner against my favorite pillow and look out the window.

  “Don’t laugh, I needed an email for when I make it big.” He laughed at himself and slid the computer back my way.

  The email was gone and the picture of the crowd screaming their love was left on the screen. A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips. He really was going to make it big someday. It seemed everyone had something that could catapult them into adulthood in style.

  “That crowd was completely crazy for you. You’ll make it before too long.” I tipped my head back against the wall.

  “Yeah, maybe.” He let loose a tired sigh. “I’m always a hit in the local places and some people are even starting to sing along to our songs. It’s the greater population that’s hard to reach. A few hundred people aren’t going to support me though.”

  That sounded awfully pessimistic. I sort of wanted to punch him for not being more grateful for his talent. Especially when it was so obvious as tonight with people chanting his name.

  “Why the frown?”

  Beck reached out and touched my knee, then retreated as if he’d never closed the two-foot gap.

  “Whining doesn’t suit you. Where’s the cocky guy from the Iron Horse?” I feathered my fingers over soft denim on my thigh.

  He straightened up and bent toward me.

  “Whining?” His voice went high in his surprise.

  Ah, he hadn’t expected me to be so blunt. His brows slammed together, and he looked like he wasn’t so pleased to be here right now. Yikes, I totally offended him.

  Cringing, I started to reach out, but decided against it and dropped my hand. “Look, I didn’t mean that. Actually I did mean that, but I didn’t have to just say it. You have an amazing gift and you’re going to get out of this town one day. It’s just a matter of when. And it’s kind of a turnoff to downplay it, and say you aren’t good enough.”

  His jaw had slowly dropped, highlighting the slight honey blond stubble. Then he snapped his mouth shut and grinned crookedly.

  “I was turning you on?” His voice dipped into sensual baby making mode.

  “What? No. What?” I replayed my words in my head. Damn. I said it was a turn off and his twelve-year-old brain translated that as I was previously aroused. “Nice jump there. The gap in that logic is so wide
I’m surprised you aren’t a splatter on my floor.”

  He laughed, bending over with his arms wrapped around his middle. The happy, carefree sound warmed my body so quick, goosebumps popped up on my arms. I tried not to stare, but he was gorgeous like this.

  “You’re pretty witty, Astrid.” He said as he wiped tears from his eyes. “And honest. I like that.”

  The look in his eyes heated me for a different reason. Bright green specks in his hazel eyes drew me in, until I couldn’t hold his stare anymore. Dang, he was intense.

  I shrugged awkwardly and stared out the window again.

  “You’re a senior and eighteen, but the way you react sometimes… you’re not like the girls I knew in high school. Those girls were vultures. How are you so innocent?”

  I mulled over his question as I traced a pattern on the window. Was I innocent? I didn’t think I was. I knew things, watched things. Maybe I was lacking in experience because I had the parents from hell, but I wasn’t innocent. I’d like to believe I was more socially awkward than anything.

  “My dad is one of the pastors at Bright Horizon. So let’s just say, I’ve probably had a different high school experience than you.”

  “Aw man. You’re a preacher’s daughter? I should probably leave. I’m surprised I haven’t caught fire being in your bedroom.” He sounded amused and only about half serious.

  “I’m more than just a preacher’s daughter. Like you’re more than just a mechanic.” I snottily replied, my gaze darting back to him.

  “I’m joking, I’m joking. So how did you all come to be here. In sunny Colorado? Small minded Silver Ranch?”

  “Job opportunity. They are also willing to pay for my college. Dad worked it out as part of his salary, but he had to take a pay cut.”

  “Wow, they must love you a lot.”

  “Yeah…” I didn’t want to get into that particular conversation right now. And as much as I actually liked him, he didn’t get that part of my life. He fixed my headlight because he felt sorry for me. What would he do if he knew the whole story? Even Ryan didn’t know everything.

  “How old are you?” I changed the subject and honestly, I was curious.

  “Twenty-one. Two months ago.” He said proudly.

  Wow. He really was an adult. And I was barely out of jail bait range.

  “Why do you work as a mechanic? You should be making music all the time.”

  “I love you for that. But unfortunately, the money we get from gigs has to be split four ways. We barely get a couple hundred and we can only play on the weekends. Hardly enough to pay the bills.”

  I nodded. That was kind of sad. “You didn’t want to go to college?” After the words fell from my mouth, I regretted it. I didn’t know if he didn’t and I was making assumptions. I was an ass. Perfect nickname Ryan gave me.

  “Nah. I never liked school. I didn’t have the grades or money for it either.” He shrugged like it wasn’t even an issue.

  I desperately wanted to ask about his mom, but if I wasn’t willing to talk about mine, I wouldn’t ask him about his.

  Across the street, the garage door opened and a car reversed hard out of the driveway and sped away. I jumped up, mainly because of what house it was. The car that drove away was the same one Mr. Bennet drove here the night of the dinner. And whoever it was, they weren’t happy.

  “What’s wrong?” Beck stood beside me, gazing in the same direction that held my attention.

  “I know the people that live in that house. Did you see that car?” I nearly touched the glass trying to get a better look.

  “I didn’t see it, but I heard it. Definitely a luxury car. I could tell that even through the sound of squealing tires.”

  “What do you think happened? It’s after midnight.” I said like the time made a difference. But it didn’t. Anytime a car left like that it meant something not good had happened in that house.

  “The dad was caught cheating, or found the wife with drugs.” His voice was nonchalant, like that kind of thing happened all the time. “There’s no telling really.”

  “Let’s go find out.”

  “What?” Beck nearly shouted, spinning me around with a hand on my elbow. “You can’t be serious.”

  Oh, I was serious. I had this insane urge to see why Rhys never made it to the party.

  “I know the guy that lives there.” Not really. Or not well. And Trey didn’t count. “He was supposed to be at the party tonight and never showed up. I want to check on him.”

  “You can’t do that in the middle of the night. You can call tomorrow. What is that guy, your boyfriend or something?” He pressed his lips together.

  I wanted to believe there was a bit of jealousy there, but I was sure it was all in my head.

  “No, and I’m going now. With my camera. You can come or you can go home. Your choice.” I unplugged the camera form my laptop and slung the strap over my head. The cool plastic was already a familiar weight in my hands. I’d miss it when I had to turn it back in. Maybe by then I’d have a job with enough money to buy my own.

  Beck made a strangely sexy sound in the back of his throat that said both you’re insane and I’m a sultry stud muffin. A laugh bubbled up and he looked at me like he should take me to the mental ward instead of across the street.

  “All right,” he sighed. “I’ll go with you to make sure you don’t get the cops called on you.”

  Yes! I officially had a partner in crime.

  “Thanks, Beck!” I smiled brightly and patted him on the arm.

  He didn’t look as amused as I was, more like resigned to his dreaded fate of an eternal life in a High School Musical. That was okay, there were worse fates than spending an eternity with Zac Efron.

  “Yeah, yeah. But no going in. Only looking through windows.” He scratched his head.

  “Done. I wasn’t planning on going in anyway.” Adrenaline rushed through my body in anticipation of what we were about to do.

  This was forbidden, dangerous. And yes, it was more dangerous than anything I’d done because if we got caught, it would be trespassing. But that wasn’t enough for me to turn around. I needed to know what was going on over there. Rhys Bennet was a mystery I wanted to solve, especially considering how night and day he and his cousin were.

  Beck followed me as I ran down the stairs and out the back door. If we were going to be super sleuths, I had to make sure no one witnessed us leaving the house. This way we could travel through the shadows on the side of the yard. The way the streetlights were scattered over the neighborhood, there was a pocket of darkness we could slip right through. A light breeze rustling through the trees and the distant rumbling of cars on the highway were the only sounds.

  No, that wasn’t the only sound. Muffled thumping sounded like it was coming from Rhys’ house. I motioned to Beck to hurry up and broke into a light jog. Once we were on the edge of their property, a gate on the side of their house came into view. I slowed down, studying their place.

  It was completely dark in the front, except for little solar lights lining the walkway. If I hadn’t witnessed the getaway car, I would have thought everyone was asleep in their perfect house with their perfect dreams. Another crash jolted me from my musings, and I hustled to make it to the gate. Luckily, it was a standard gate that wasn’t locked. They probably didn’t expect to have creepers stalking their yard at night.

  The back yard lacked the solar lights of the front, and with hardly any moonlight it was hard to see two feet in front of my face. A huge window was close to the corner of the house, hopefully they didn’t have any curtains back here. I mean, they did have a six-foot brick wall surrounding their yard. No need for privacy. Well, unless they had crazy people walking around their house. Like me.

  Beck tapped me on the shoulder, and I jumped a foot in the air. Fuck, it was like he was the scary cucumber coming to get me.

  “Over there.” He whispered in my ear, pointing to a cottage looking thing in the corner.

  There
weren’t any lights on facing us, but the far wall glowed as if there might be lights on the other side of the cottage. That was it. That had to be where all the commotion was coming from. If it had been in the house, they had already gone to bed.

  I kept to the wall as I edged around the yard. Ten steps in, Beck placed his hand on my waist, as if he wanted to make sure I didn’t run away from him. With every step I took, his hand slid a little further down, until his fingers were flirting with the hem of my shirt at my hip. My breath caught and I almost stumbled. Almost. It was so innocent, but the touch was blaringly loud in the dark of night.

  Muted voices knocked me back to reality and I kept walking until I was between the house and wall. Bright light shone through a window on the far end. Shadows passed over it and the voices got louder as we moved closer. I ducked under the window to avoid being seen. The bottom of the window was about shoulder high, thank God. It was easier than trying to convince Beck to let me climb him like a tree.

  I let out a slow breath as I tried to control my nerves. My heart beat so loud, it throbbed in my ears. I glanced at Beck and he was staring at me, missing all the signs of skittish excitement I was throwing left and right. He winked and motioned for me to look in the window. I should have moved, but I kept ogling him. He rolled his eyes and pressed his face into my neck.

  “Astrid, look in the window and satisfy your curiosity. We need to go.” His hand on my hip squeezed once and he stepped back, leaving me a puddle of hormones at his feet. Okay, not really, but it was pretty close.

  I counted to three and stuck my head high enough to see inside, and gasped. It was some kind of living room and it was wrecked. A cabinet lay on its side, furniture was randomly scattered around the room, and it even looked like broken porcelain or some kind of dishes littered the floor. Rhys had his back to the window as he knelt, probably cleaning up the mess.

  “You got another bag ready yet?” Trey hollered right before he appeared in the doorway.

  “No.” Rhys’ answer was clipped and angry.

  Trey pinched the bridge of his nose and clenched his eyes. “This is your fault. You know that, right?”