Web of Lies

by Elizabeth Knox

  I could feel her walls pulsating with her heart, urging me to get even deeper. I wasn’t going to last with her like this, but we only had minutes anyway.

  I kept one arm around her waist and pulled her hair with the other. Her head fell back as she screamed. I bit down on her exposed neck as her raspy voice pleaded for more. I pumped into her, feeling her tighten down on me, as her body trembled from the orgasm that was going to carry me with her.

  I let go of her hair and she pulled her head up to look at me. She reached out and gripped my hair as her thighs tightened and her face scrunched. I continued my onslaught as she finally met her ecstasy and she screamed so loud I had to cover her mouth with one hand as she covered mine with hers as well. Seeing her pleasure like that had me on the brink, but then she tightened down, and I exploded.

  There are no words that can describe what it's like to feel your entire body come alive as all your nerves tingle in delight. I couldn’t help the fact that even after I had finished I still pumped into her. I didn’t want this to end.

  I looked into her brown eyes and had to set her back down. I was falling for her, and from the look on her face it was too late for her as well.

  “What was this?” I asked and she shook her head. It was obvious we were both attracted to each other, but somewhere along the way when we built our friendship I broke my own rules and let her under my skin.

  “Dean,” her hoarse voice rasped out my name. I brushed her hair off her cheek and smiled when I saw all the rosy patches covering her skin. Her flesh was still excited as I leaned down and placed my lips on hers. A soft kiss on her warm swollen lips was all that was needed.

  “Dean,” she spoke my name again as I pulled back to discard the condom. “What are you singing tonight?”

  “That’s an odd question,” I admitted.

  “What do you mean?” she asked as her breaths were calming down as she used a shirt from my bag to clean up.

  “You attack me with your feminine wiles and then you ask me what I am going to sing,” I stated the obvious and she smirked.

  “I’ve heard you sing and I know you have this. It's over the second your voice hits the microphone. I just wanted to help pick the song if you hadn’t.”

  “Thank you,” I softly spoke as I kissed her cheek.

  “Two minutes,” Harris yelled as he banged on the door.

  “I believe in you,” she spoke the last words my mother ever said to me. It hit me the wrong way. The anger for my mother came out at Hallie when I didn’t mean to. As much as I would’ve loved to pretend that anything reminding me or resembling my mother didn’t piss me off, it did. It was a deep bitter emotion I held for the woman who gave me life, and then hid it from me when she knew she was dying.

  “I can do this because I have talent, not because you believe,” I snapped at her as we both quickly got dressed.

  “I’m sorry,” she backed away. I felt like complete shit, but when going to hell you never stop to ask for directions or slow down to make sure you are on the right highway.

  “Don’t be sorry, just don’t be anything,” I angrily responded without thought.

  “I don’t know what I did,” she rasped out as tears filled her eyes. She flung the door open and ran toward the door that leads inside the bar.

  “Hallie,” I called after her, but she slammed the door. “I’m such a dumbass,” I murmured.

  “That you are, and you are on in thirty seconds,” Harris surprised me.

  I fixed my mic and walked over to pick up my guitar. I sang best when I sang a song for someone. I was going to sing it for Hallie. I looked out of the curtain to see she was crossing the room to leave as she wiped the tears from her face. I couldn’t let her leave. Not like this. I walked out on stage too early and turned on my mic as someone else was closing a song.

  “Ladies and gentlemen,” I shouted into the mic. “Pardon my early interruption, I am Dean Thomas and I was supposed to sing for you tonight, but my muse— the girl running in the yellow dress is leaving and taking my sunshine with her.”

  As I continued my speech the women swooned over how I was confessing some desire for Hallie, even though I knew, and Hallie knew, it was just to make a scene, so I would have time to talk to her after. I did a little internal high five when I saw men blocking her path. I needed her to listen. I needed her to stay.

  The look she shot me when I had the audience in the palm of my hand reminded me of the opening image in horror movies right before someone gets murdered. She was definitely feeling something right now and I suspected it would be considered a crime of passion from that look on her face. Then I scanned the audience and saw Joe with his bald head mimicking her facial expressions as he looked between us both.

  “I’ve always known that when I sing for an audience I do it with passion, but when I sing for someone I care about it includes everything in me. So, this one is for Hallie,” I shouted as I walked over to the stool that was waiting for me.

  I sat down with my guitar and took a moment to catch my breath. Being in the spotlight, was what I wanted, but it was the one thing that could waiver my confidence. I found my target in the audience, the one thing to focus all my nervous energy on, my beautiful roommate in a yellow dress.

  I began to sing a song I wrote when my mom died. I had started writing it when she knew my father was leaving her for another woman, and I was able to finish it when she passed away. The lyrics talked about the things we wished we had done, the things we wanted more time to do, things we wished we could erase, but most importantly it was acceptance of what was in our hearts.

  I kept Hallie in my sights as everyone seemed to forget she was there. I had to helplessly watch as she made her way to the doorway. She stood there on her own listening to the words I was pouring my heart into, and then I saw her mouth the words ‘I’m sorry,” before she turned and walked out the door.

  I finished my set and walked off the stage with the crowd still cheering. I pulled out my phone and dialed her number. It went to voicemail, so I left a message.

  “I’m sorry Hallie. I was an asshole and have no excuse. Nothing is going to stop me from coming home to you right this second and making you believe I’m sorry. I love you.”

  “Dean,” Harris bellowed from across the room. “Your mic,” he pointed at me and held his hand up to his ear. I turned it off and pulled the mic off my jeans when a feminine voice caught my attention.

  “I hope she forgives you,” a woman with blond hair spoke as I turned to see her in a pair of tight black leather pants and a see-thru silver halter top over her black leather bra.

  “Me too,” I replied without my usual sarcasm. This woman was definitely someone who would have been able to make my cock leap to attention, but my lower brain reminded me it wasn’t her attention that he wanted. She wasn’t the one I was focused on in any way.

  “Then again, I don’t know gorgeous, with your eyes and your voice I hope she doesn’t. Then you could come and play with me,” she continued as she ran her finger along my guitar. “Tell me, do you want to go and apologize on your knees for forgiveness or would you rather stick around and hear what I have in store for you?”

  “I need to fix what I did.”

  “That’s a shame, we could have been friends,” she walked around and gave a wave to Harris. Then she blew a kiss to some guy with an electric guitar. “Tell me Dean Thomas, what is your greatest desire?”

  “First, tell me who the hell you are,” I asked because she seemed to know more than she let on about me and most of the male musicians that were backstage giving her the nod.

  “I’m the woman of your dreams.”

  Chapter Five

  Hallie

  I listened to Dean’s voicemail a hundred times while I waited for him. My dad was up making coffee, but I hadn’t left the couch all night. Dean had said he loved me and said he was on his way, but then he never came home. The horror movie that played in my head of where he could be wasn’t healthy
. It was damn near my breaking point.

  Was he dead? Was he hurt? Was he safe? Was he with someone? I was plagued with questions I couldn’t answer and when I tried to call it went straight to voicemail.

  “Hey slugger,” my dad softly spoke my name as he handed me a cup of coffee. “You want to talk about it?”

  “What’s there to say?”

  “Tell me what happened,” my dad offered as he pulled a gray hoodie on over his t-shirt. I had to tell him the truth. The whole truth. I wouldn’t be surprised if he left and never spoke to me again.

  “I slept with Dean,” I cringed waiting for some kind of backlash, but my dad just sat there with his own cup of coffee with his ankle resting over his knee. “You’re not yelling?”

  “Hallie, you are a grown woman and I raised you to make the best decisions for you. If Dean was the right decision, then who am I to tell you you’re wrong.”

  “Are you going for father of the year?” I asked, and he smiled. I heard a noise from the kitchen. It sounded like the back door we rarely used. I tried to look around the wall from the living room without getting up, but all I saw was an empty house beside my dad and me.

  “I set your dishwasher to run a cleaning cycle,” my dad explained, and I relaxed back into my seat. “Now start from the beginning.”

  I went through the entire story of how I first met Dean. The love and laughter we had shared the last seven weeks. I explained how it was too soon to love him, but I did. I told him just about everything.

  “I have to tell you something that is going to make you mad,” I put my head down and stared at my coffee cup. My dad reached over and put his hand on my knee, a sign of reassurance. “I don’t work on a Broadway stage. I didn’t get hired by a production company. Daddy.”

  “Where have you been working these last two months?” My dad inquired as I tried to force myself to look into his eyes, but I couldn’t. He would see me as a liar and a failure, but I couldn’t lie anymore.

  “I work in a strip club.”

  “A strip club,” a voice echoed from the kitchen and I closed my eyes. It wasn’t him, he wasn’t here. Then when I opened my eyes both my dad and Dean were giving me these disappointing looks that I couldn’t stand.

  “Hallie,” my dad sternly said my name and I shook my head. “You lied to me . . .”

  “I couldn’t tell you that I didn’t get any of the jobs I applied for. They all said I was under-qualified. Apparently, if you work for a theater outside of Phoenix for seven years it means you didn’t do anything at all. They want someone with real New York experience. I don’t have it.”

  “You could have told me,” my dad’s voice was soft, but I could feel the disappointment coming from him.

  “No, I made a choice to move here, I made the decision to stay, and I will do whatever it takes to pay for everything myself.”

  “I would have covered your rent,” Dean spoke calmly, as my dad stayed silent. They both looked hurt, but more Dean than my dad. Even his voice was laced with pain. I could see it in Dean’s eyes that this lie I had told was more than he was prepared for after our fight, but I had nothing to apologize for. At least, not to him. Not after waiting up all night and seeing him standing there in the same clothes he wore last night with his hair all disheveled.

  “Dean, you would have had to work more and that would mean you couldn’t go sing at the open mic nights. That wouldn’t be fair to you.” Then I turned to my dad. “I know you would have done the same that he would have, but you’re retired now and on a limited income. I wasn’t going to be anyone’s burden, and I wasn’t going to give up and go home.”

  “I— I need some more coffee,” my dad got up and left the room without looking at me. He hadn’t been this upset with me since I was sixteen and broke into his workshop. I was only trying to help clean up and destroyed his plans for a custom build.

  “You could have told me,” Dean’s obvious agitation seemed to grow. That judgment on his face was exactly why I didn’t want to tell him, and the disappointment my dad now had weighing him down is exactly why I regret opening my mouth.

  “Why would I have told you? You are just my roommate and the person I go to when my batteries run out,” I scoffed.

  “Really mature, Hallie,” he scolded. “You lie to me and then try to make it as if you did nothing wrong.”

  “You have no right to judge me. You can’t even be angry with me. We aren’t together. We just live under the same roof,” I attacked back in defense. “You didn’t even come home like you said.”

  “You’re right Hallie, we never discussed what was happening between us. Probably should have told me that you worked at a venereal disease center before I fucked you, but we all make mistakes, right?” Dean stepped further into the room and glared at me with his arms crossed. Silence filled the time as we waited for my dad to walk back in.

  “Hallie, I don’t want you working there anymore, but you are a grown woman and I can’t force you not to. I can offer you your old room back home for a while—,” my dad continued when Dean interrupted.

  “No. I’m sorry sir, but she isn’t going home. She is here with me and we will work this out. No matter what is happening in our lives these last few weeks have shown me that she is someone I don’t want to live without. We have always been able to talk it out. She can earn my trust back,” Dean seemed confident, but it only aggravated me more.

  “Dad,” I stood up and looked at him. “I’m sorry I let you down, but I will fix this,” Then I turned my head and looked over at Dean. “I can undo everything. All of this was just a mistake. Working there is a mistake, lying to you was a mistake, but being with Dean was my biggest mistake.”

  “That’s fucking great Hallie,” Dean scoffed as my dad put his hand over mine.

  “Tread carefully,” my dad quietly warned.

  “I don’t have to dad,” I shot the words out of my mouth like daggers. “Dean told me he loved me over the phone. Dean told me he was coming home and then he shows up the next morning looking like someone ravaged him in the night. He didn’t answer the phone. He’s so selfish and I was stupid to think that he might be more than my friend. I carelessly let myself imagine a life where I wasn’t just a fuck buddy. I was ignorant to believe he was anything to me. I think I cared about him. I even think I loved him, but it was a mistake. I’m sorry I allowed it to happen.”

  “Dean,” my dad tried to grab his attention, but it failed.

  “Thank you for making this so easy Hallie,” he scoffed as the vein in his neck protruded and he flexed his jaw like he did when he was really pissed. “You see last night I met a woman.”

  “I bet you did,” I sneered. “Tell me Dean is she your new daily dose of sunshine or was she just for last night?” I sarcastically demanded an answer to a question I really didn’t want to hear.

  “She was Sharon Patterson, the talent scout, and she offered me a contract, but I would have to move. I would have to be in California by the end of next week. The reason I didn’t come home last night was that after Harris and I discussed all the details with her I walked around the city wondering if leaving you was worth a record deal. I didn’t call because my phone was dead while I was out questioning if asking you to go with me would be fair to you when you want to be here, but since I am just a mistake I guess I can go with no regrets.”

  “Regrets are the things we didn’t do, like walking away,” I heard the words leave my mouth, but it was too late to call them back. I was way past an apology. I needed to stop making it worse, but I just kept dumping it on him.

  “I guess that means I regret staying here with you,” Dean snarked in response.

  “Dean,” my dad called after him as he stormed out of the room. “Dean, she’s just upset. Give it time,” my dad earnestly spoke, but Dean turned his back on me and walked away. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I had screwed up.

  “Take her back to Arizona, Joe, she needs to grow up a little more.”

  Cha
pter Six

  Dean

  The week had flown by. I didn’t know if it was the upcoming move date or just because of all the tension in the house but time seemed to fly. Harris and I spent two whole days in a studio in New York that Sharon claimed was dirty and in need of an overhaul.

  She had me make a demo to send ahead to her office for a promotional work up until I arrived. Just completing that had opened doors for me. I was asked to go on tour to open for some really big bands, but Sharon said she had other plans for me.

  “Hey Dean, you have a minute,” Joe asked as I packed up the remaining bit of clothes in my closet. We hadn’t really spoken since Hallie’s omissions were revealed. She claimed it to be a little white lie to keep people from thinking she wasn’t able to care for herself. I call it an omission, a betrayal.

  “For you I have ten of them,” I faked a smile for him. I felt bad. This entire week he had been stuck in the middle. His visit was supposed to be fun and relaxing, but instead he played mediator because I had nothing left to say to Hallie and she avoided me like I was a giant piece of okra chasing her.

  “I know you’re leaving tonight, and that things are complicated between you and Hallie right now, but I wanted to tell you that I love you like my own son. These past few months you have been honest, hardworking, trustworthy, and you have stepped up every time I needed you to without asking. I know my daughter hurt you, but you’re family. Just because you’re moving doesn’t mean you have to leave any of us behind.”

  “I appreciate that Joe,” my voice took on a serious tone I had rarely ever used before. “I never thought I would make it, but you made it happen. I can’t thank you enough for everything you have done. You gave me the opportunity of a lifetime.”

  “To become a star in Hollywood?” Joe chuckled.

  “To know what it’s like to be loved by your daughter,” I answered him honestly. “I wanted to be a star, but after meeting her, knowing her, and loving her I learned that I didn’t need to be a star because her rays of sunshine would just drown out my star’s light. She was everything I needed to strive for.”