That's a Lie

by Victoria Klahr

  “I don’t keep many secrets from you… but the ones I do are always because I love you.”

  “That makes no sense. You’re lucky I love you and trust you,” I threaten.

  “Yes I am,” he says seriously but with a sweet smile. I kiss it quickly, and pick up my purse to leave.

  “Don’t be long,” I say.

  “Why? You’ll miss me?” He’s got a smug smile on his lips.

  “No way. Just worried you might go through withdrawals, and I’d prefer you not to die just yet.” I turn around and walk away, but hear him call out to me.

  “You’ll miss me!” he hollers.

  “In your dreams, crazy man!” I holler back before going to my beat-up car and driving to my dad’s house.

  I walk into my house, smell garlic galore, and know that Dad went with his not-so-famous spaghetti. Daddy always cooked for us, but when he couldn’t on a very rare occasion, Dad always cooked spaghetti. And he loves garlic.

  “Hey, Dad,” I say, walking into the kitchen to find my tall, muscular, and bald headed father with oven mitts on his hands, trying to pull out some garlic bread.

  “Shit,” he mumbles, wrist hitting the edge of the hot cookie sheet when he tries to turn around and look at me. I try very hard to hold back a laugh, not wanting to upset him. He finally gets it out and throws it on top of the oven. He turns around and looks at me with a smile. “Hey, Josie Bean.”

  “Need help?”

  “Nope. Finished now… Where’s Seth?” I swear if I didn’t know that Seth was my best friend and boyfriend, I would think those two were best friends.

  “He said he had to pick something up. He’ll be here after he’s done.” I sit down at the table and Dad sits across from me.

  “Oh that’s right… okay.”

  “Wait, you know what he’s getting?”

  “Yep,” he says with a stupid smile. I narrow my eyes at him.

  “Are you two having an affair behind my back?” Dad laughs, a deep laugh that I don’t get to hear too often.

  “He wishes,” he teases. “So, you look like you’ve got something on your mind. Spit it out.” He’s right. I didn’t bug Seth too much about what he was doing because I wanted a few minutes to talk to Dad about what he said last week. I sigh and lean back in my chair.

  “Why did Daddy tell you to tell me that story? I don’t get how you can say that he had wanted Seth and me together, when he tried so hard to get Blake and me to work out.” I haven’t brought myself to read the e-mails yet, because I’m not sure how I’ll handle it. Dad leans back in his chair and I see a smile in his eyes even though he doesn’t actually smile.

  “Everything your Daddy told me to tell you is the truth. He wanted you to know that story so you could open up about whatever you’ve been hiding. He genuinely believed that being open and honest would help. If Blake loved you like he said he did, then he could forgive you or try to make things work. If not, then…” he lets the insinuation set in. We both know what Blake did when I opened up.

  “Look, he liked Blake when you two first started dating. But the boy broke your heart twice, baby,” he continues when I just sit there with a stunned look on my face.

  “He knew Blake would leave?” I ask softly, completely perplexed.

  “Daddy was a conniving man behind that sweet façade. He kills with kindness. He and Seth talked the whole time Seth was gone. Seth told us about how broken hearted he was that you didn’t want him, and that he didn’t think he could ever come back. He was only supposed to be gone a year, but he was hurting too much to come back. Will seemed to have gotten through to him though because Seth started making plans to return, but then Daddy died, so he came back a little sooner. I can’t explain everything that they talked about, but Seth knows he had Daddy’s approval.”

  “I don’t get it!” I exclaim, frustrated. “Daddy wanted me to have another broken heart? So he convinced me to tell Blake in case he ever came back into my life?”

  “Yeah. Kinda. He’d been trying to get you to open up for a while because he thought if you let go of the guilt, then maybe you could move on. And he wanted you to move on… just not with Blake. But he also knew that if Blake stayed and worked things out with you, then Blake must love you. And he would have been okay with that. I wouldn’t have, but your Daddy would have.

  “Daddy just wanted his baby back, Josie. He wanted the girl you used to be before Seth left and before Blake hurt you. He knew Seth would come back and that he wouldn’t give up until he got you back, so Daddy wanted you to let go of whatever happened between you and Blake. Otherwise, you wouldn’t open yourself up to being loved again.”

  I had that problem anyway because I opened up to Blake, but I guess I see what he’s saying.

  “Wow,” I let out in a breath. “Daddy was kinda evil.” Dad laughs again.

  “Yeah, sometimes he acted like a Queen Bitch in high school. He just hid it really well.” He reaches across the table and pats my hands. “We all saw the connection between you and Seth. But we also understood that it had to be scary to let yourselves venture into that whole new kind of relationship since you wouldn’t want to ruin your friendship.”

  “It was hard. That’s why it took me so long. I didn’t know that he loved me like that.”

  “Seth loves you more than any person could love another, Josie. I’ve never seen someone so captivated by a person, like Seth is by you. When he looks at you, you can feel the way he loves you. When he touches you, you can see an instant sense of completion in his eyes and body language. When he talks about you, his energy seems to be buzzing to be with you… I couldn’t ask for anyone better for you, baby.”

  I smile slightly, anxieties completely vanishing. That made me happy to hear.

  “Thanks Dad,” I say. I get up and hug him, holding onto him tightly. I feel awful that I haven’t been present like I should have been lately, and I want to make it up to him. “You should probably take the sauce off the stove, though.”

  He pulls back and mutters another curse under his breath before getting up and removing the sauce from the heat of the stove. This time I don’t hide my chuckle as I watch him scramble around the kitchen. I walk to the back sliding glass door and look out into the backyard. That conversation was interesting, to say the least. Not what I expected at all, but it definitely makes me feel better knowing that Daddy loved Seth for me, too. I look down, and see a familiar pair of boots. I cock my head to the side and try to think of the last time Seth and I were here together.

  “Hey, Dad?” I call behind me. “Why are Seth’s boots here?”

  I’m too distracted by the shoes that I didn’t hear anyone come up behind me. My favorite tattooed arms wrap around my waist and I feel a wet kiss on my cheek.

  “Don’t go asking questions you’re not sure you want the answer to, Pussy Cat.” I turn around in his embrace and slant my eyes.

  “Seriously. Tell me.”

  Dad walks up to us and shrugs. “Seth comes over here all the time. He left them here last week when he was in a rush.”

  “All the time?” I ask, shocked. Why am I always the last to know these things?

  “Since he came back, Josie Bean.”

  Seth doesn’t say anything. He just buries his head into my neck and breathes me in as if the hour apart was way too long.

  “I’ll be back down in a minute, Dad.” I pull away from Seth and pull on his hand so he follows me upstairs. I hear his sexy deep chuckle behind me, but he doesn’t protest.

  “Don’t be too long. Dinner’s done,” Dad calls to our backs. Yeah, not really in a hurry to eat that, Dad. I drag Seth into my room and close the door behind us. He leans against my dresser with a knowing smirk as he waits for me to say what I’m about to say.

  “You come here all the time?” He nods.

  “Since you came back?” Another nod. I walk a little closer to him.

  “Why?” I know why. He shrugs, trying to blow it off. “I didn’t think I could love you
any more than I already did, Seth,” I whisper, leaving an inch of space between us.

  “He was lonely, baby. It’s not that big of a deal.”

  “It’s a big deal to me. I never asked you to help take care of my dad while I wallowed in my own self-pity.”

  “I promised Will that I would take care of you, Jos. That includes your Dad when you couldn’t handle it. It’s nothing.”

  “I love you so much,” I whisper. This explains why Dad has been recovering so well since Daddy’s passing. It explains why he hasn’t been as depressed since Seth came back.

  I grab the back of his head and kiss him fervidly. I don’t use my teeth and tongue gently, and I devour him the way my body is craving. My hands run down his black shirt, and I play with the top button of his jeans. I undo it easily, and unzip it so I can take them off of him. I pull away from his mouth, and keeping my eyes on his, I lower myself to the floor, dragging his jeans and boxers down with me.

  Seth’s eyes look like they’re on fire with lust as he watches me, but he still grips my arm and pulls me back up.

  “Don’t, Jos…,” he says roughly, trying to kiss me again.

  “Don’t tell me no, Seth. I want to do this to you,” I plead. He groans and grimaces as if there’s an inner war raging in his head.

  “I can’t let you, Pussy Cat,” he eventually says painfully.

  “Stop it, Seth! Let me give this to you. You didn’t rape me that night. You saved my life. It happened, and you stopped it in time so I didn’t die. You saved my life then, Seth, and you saved my heart and soul since you’ve come back. This isn’t you taking advantage of me, this is me needing to suck your dick.”

  Chapter 20

  Seth

  She’s so goddamn sexy.

  There’s no denying that I want her, and there sure as hell is no way I want to keep stopping her from wrapping that pretty mouth around my cock. I groan again at her words, and let go of her arm because I promised her I would try to let go of my guilt and move on. I’ve never let her give me head before because I thought it was too demeaning for her. I just wanted to love her; I didn’t need her to do this.

  She keeps her dark green eyes on mine as she reaches between us, wraps her tiny hand around me, and starts to stroke my aching erection. Fuck. I’m hard as fucking hell, and my heart is pounding wildly in my chest. I don’t stop her this time when she gets on her knees in front of me. So fucking sexy. Her eyes never leave mine as she slips her tongue out and flicks the head of my cock.

  I make a growling noise like a caged and starving fucking animal, and she smirks. Fucking sexy ass, salacious smirk, like she’s proud of herself for making me need her. She places her hands on my legs and takes the flat part of her tongue to run across the side of my dick. The heat and wetness of her mouth makes me feel like I could come within seconds- nothing has ever felt so amazing.

  I grip the dresser and breathe unsteadily, trying to control myself so I don’t come before she even has me inside of her mouth. When she reaches the head again, she covers it with her lips.

  “Oh my fucking god…,” I moan, closing my eyes. She grips my thighs and she takes in as much of me as she can. She only makes it about halfway down my dick, but it feels fucking incredible. Her mouth is so hot. Wet. Oh fuck, she’s sucking me deeper. I open my eyes and watch her, her eyes still watching me and looking turned on. She’s fucking getting off on this, too. She hums, the vibration making me thump harder against her tongue.

  She grabs my hand from the dresser and places it on the back of her head. Fucking hell! I push on her head a little and she moans eagerly while she tries to take me further. She hollows her throat and tilts her head so my dick goes further in her mouth. I grip her hair and push into her throat some more. I hate that I love the gagging noise she makes, but I can’t help it. I love that my cock is too big for her tiny mouth, it’s sexy as hell.

  She moans again, evidently not turned off by the fact that I like gripping her hair and making myself go deeper. Her tongue strokes me as she goes up and down on my erection. I can’t fucking hold it anymore. My dick is pulsating so hard, blood roaring and ready for my release.

  “Fuck, Josie. I’m about to come, so get off if you don’t want me to come all over that mouth,” I say through gritted teeth, gripping onto her hair harder. She lets out another sexy moan, and looks back up to me eagerly.

  My girl. On her knees. With my cock in that pretty fucking mouth.

  Fuck. Yes.

  I tense and hold onto her head as my come spurts in the back of her throat. She looks fucking perfect licking me clean, a look of pure satisfaction written all over her face.

  “You tasted so good,” she says quietly, looking up at me when she’s finished licking me. She looks like she’s a little nonplused.

  “Did you think I’d taste bad?” I ask with a lazy smile, pulling her up.

  “No!” she says with a laugh. Her cheeks get a gorgeous tint of scarlet. “Never mind.”

  I pull up my jeans and button them, then grab her and wrap my arms around her. I kiss her mouth before she can pull away.

  “Tell me.”

  She rolls her eyes, in typical Josie fashion, and molds into my embrace. “Just never tasted so good before,” she says, looking away. Oh…

  “Well, fuck, Jos. No need to be embarrassed about that,” I tell her with a wry laugh. “Told you all along that I was better than him.” I lick her collar bone and nibble it lightly. Can’t get enough of this girl. “Thank you, Jos,” I say softly, compassion and love for her thrumming in every cell circulating body. “And I don’t just mean for giving me the best blow job I’ve ever had, but for what you said.”

  I don’t know how she did it, but she helped simmer some of the guilt that’s been burdening my conscious for so long. I’ll never be okay with what happened, but she makes me feel like I can be exactly what she needs, anyway.

  “You’re an amazing man, Seth. You shouldn’t feel guilty for saving my life.”

  “I don’t see it like that.”

  “I know you don’t. And now I see that your guilt is why you always held back from me before. I always thought you just didn’t find me as sexy as the other girls you were with.”

  “You want me to treat you like a slut like them?” I ask, quirking my lips. She smiles and wraps her arms around my neck. “You’re the sexiest girl I’ve ever seen, Pussy Cat. It was never that you weren’t sexy to me. I never wanted to be rough with you because I didn’t want you to think about what happened to you.”

  “I like it a little rough,” she whispers with a seductive smile.

  “I know you do.” I give her an impish grin and she kisses my cheek before she unwraps herself from me, and starts walking to the door. I grab her hand and pull her back. “Where you goin’?”

  “To eat dinner, dummy.”

  “No, no, no, no, no, no, no…” I mutter, pulling her toward the bed. I lean her back, and crawl up her body, her skin already covered in goose bumps. I kiss her neck, then move to her ear and pull it into my mouth. “You don’t get to do that and not get anything in return. Doesn’t work that way with me, Pussy Cat,” I tell her huskily right next to her ear, making her shiver.

  * * *

  “Okay, so I’ve been doing some research,” I say walking into my room, looking at my phone, and plopping onto the bed next to Josie.

  “For what?” she asks, sounding distracted. I look over at her, and she makes my heart skip a beat. She’s sitting cross legged and reading on her Kindle. She’s wearing her nerdy Harry Potter shirt and sweatpants, her hair is in a messy blob on the top of her head, and she has reading glasses on.

  I sit up, wrap my arm around her waist, and tackle her onto the bed. “Mmmm… that can wait. I didn’t realize how fucking sexy you looked.”

  She scoffs and rolls her eyes. She tries to push me away, but I straddle her so she can’t move. I take her e-reader out of her hand and put it on the side table. She gives me an evil glare, but that just
provokes me more. I reach over and grab my camera. She covers her face in her hands, but I snap some pictures anyway.

  “Move your hands, or I won’t give you an orgasm later,” I mutter, looking through my lens. She moves them, and sticks her tongue out at me. I snap the picture. Perfect.

  “Geesh you’re so moody when you’re on your period. You’re makin’ me reconsider asking you to move in with me.” She laughs, forgetting I still have a camera in my hands, and I snap a couple more pictures. Feeling satisfied, I put the camera back down and lean down to kiss her pretty lips.

  “Have I ever told you how much seeing you in this shirt and these glasses turns me on?” I ask against her mouth. She shakes her head. “Well it does. Ever since high school, I would get a hard on whenever I saw you like this.”

  I grind my hips into her so she knows exactly what I mean.

  “You’re crazy. I look ridiculous.” But the fact that she doesn’t care if she looks ridiculous in front of me makes me fall in love with her even more.

  “I love it.” I kiss her jaw and move to her neck. She’s missing a sexy mark on her skin, so I start to make one for her.

  “Seth! I swear to god, if you put one more hickey on me, I am banning you from kissing me ever again!” she exclaims, wriggling under me.

  “I’d kiss you anyway,” I murmur, biting her pulse on her neck.

  “I wouldn’t kiss you back,” she challenges. I brace my arms next to her and meet her challenging look with a sly grin of my own.

  “I don’t believe that. Let’s test this theory.”

  “What do I get if I win?” she asks.

  “You get my undying love.”

  “I have that anyway. Pick something else.”

  “You’re right. It was worth a try… okay, how about I won’t give you a hickey for a whole month if you win.”

  “A whole month?”

  “Yep,” I lie. Like I wouldn’t put that shit on her neck when she’s sleeping. I can see her mistrust in her eyes, but she doesn’t say anything.

  “Deal. And if you win, then I’ll just have to keep buying more concealer so my boss doesn’t think I’m a hooker on the side.”