Heartfelt Lies

by Alexandra Christopher

  She hums softly. “I kind of think I should be the one thanking you here.”

  “Not at all. It was my pleasure. With all the shitty decisions I've made… I don’t deserve you.”

  Ella reaches up and takes my face between her hands. “Don’t say that. We all make mistakes sometimes. What matters is you recognized your mistake and are truly remorseful. You’re a good guy, Kohl, you’ve more than made it up to me.”

  “Come on, let’s get you home." I sit up and begin to shift off the bed. "We have an early day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  “Wait,” she says, grabbing onto my arm. “Don’t you want me to—”

  “No. I mean, yes, I do. Just not tonight. I wanted tonight to be only for you.”

  “Are you sure? I feel bad. You’re so… hard,” she blushes.

  I smirk. “This isn’t a tit for tat kind of relationship, Ella. I wanted to make you feel good and I couldn’t be happier that you let me. You don’t owe me anything. I enjoyed myself just as much as you did, I promise. Now get your sexy ass up and I’ll help you get dressed. I need to get you home. We have an early day ahead of us tomorrow.”

  I’ve just picked Ella and Jessa up from her Gram’s house, now we’re pulling into Zach’s drive. I honk the horn and after a couple minutes he comes barreling out the door with a towel thrown over his shoulder and a cooler in his hands. After placing his cooler in the bed of my truck he hops in the back seat.

  “Looking good ladies,” he says in way of greeting.

  “Thanks,” they return in unison.

  “Dude, go to Lily’s. I was her ride to the falls today,” Zach commands.

  I watch Ella to gauge her reaction. I get nothing.

  “Really? Why didn’t you mention that last night?”

  “I didn’t think about it. Besides, why would I? She always rides with one of us. What’s the big deal?”

  “There’s no deal. Let’s go, Kohl,” Ella says, giving my hand a small squeeze.

  “Alright! Let’s get this party started,” Zach shouts, then immediately starts chatting up Jessa.

  I look over to Ella once again to be sure she’s ok with it. If it’s going to make her uncomfortable the deal is off. Zach can call someone else.

  “You sure?” I ask her quietly.

  “Absolutely. Maybe this will be a good opportunity for us to get to know each other,” she shrugs.

  I swear this girl is nothing but good inside. I pick up her hand and place a kiss to her palm. “Music to my ears, beautiful.”

  Ten minutes later we’re sitting outside Lily’s house, when I hear Jessa's, “Oh hell, no!” from the back seat. My attention turns to the house, and I see not one but two bodies making their way down the drive. Lily and Kennedy. What the hell are they up to? And when did they stop hating each other?

  “What the actual fuck, Zach?” I growl, turning around to glare at him.

  “Shit! I didn’t know. Lily never said anything about Kennedy when I texted her last night and told her we'd be riding with you.”

  “Get out! This shit's not happening,” I demand.

  “What? You can’t be serious!” he whines.

  “Hell, yes, I’m serious. You—”

  “Stop,” Ella says. “Let's not make a big deal out of it. Jessa, hop out and get up front. If Kennedy wants to ride with us, she's not sitting with me.”

  That must have been her plan, because Kennedy opens the passenger door just as she finishes. “Get your ass in the—” the stunned look on her face tells me she was expecting to see Zach sitting there instead of Ella.

  I laugh humorlessly. “Oh, I don’t think so. You guys are in the back with Zach,” I tell her, jerking my thumb toward the back seat.

  Kennedy glares at me with fire in her eyes before yanking the back door open. She may not be happy but Zach sure is.

  “Hell, yeah! Got a hottie on each side—I could get used to this," he boasts.

  “Shut up, you idiot,” Lily huffs, climbing into the seat behind mine.

  "What happened? I thought we were riding with you?" Kennedy asks Zach.

  "My truck broke down, so I asked Kohl to give us a lift," he explains.

  I quit listening to them at this point, flipping my console up, I pull Ella next to me with an arm around her waist. I place a couple reassuring kisses to her temple, letting her know I'm on her side and showing the other two where my head is at. After Jessa climbs in and the two are buckled, I start my truck and we're on our way.

  I send up a silent prayer that this day doesn’t turn to shit.

  11

  Ella

  "Well, that was fun," I tell Jessa as we walk to the back of Kohl's truck.

  We've just made it to the falls, and I couldn't get out of that torture chamber quick enough. I didn't even wait on Kohl. As soon as he shifted into park, Jessa and I bailed out the door like the seat was on fire.

  "Ugh! I swear if we were in that truck another ten minutes I would've turned around and choked that bitch with her own ponytail!" Jessa fumes.

  "I know. Talk about a ride from hell," I sigh, exasperated with the whole situation. "I swear, if I had to hear Kennedy say, 'Kohl, remember when we,' one more time I would've made a jump for it. I feel like I just relived their entire relationship."

  "I'm right there with you girl. Except I was plotting reasons to make a pit stop and leave her behind. I even contemplated duct taping her mouth shut. You would think with Kohl's family owning a construction company he would have a roll or two in his truck. I mean don't all guys love that shit?" Jessa asks as she throws her hands up in frustration.

  "Wait. Is that why you were digging in the glovebox and kept reaching under the seat?"

  "Heck, yeah it is. It was about to go down. I'm not kidding one bit."

  I'm full out laughing now. Laughing so hard I can't catch my breath as tears run down my face. I can just picture Jessa climbing over the back seat wielding her roll of duct tape.

  "God, I love you!" I giggle, pulling her in for a hug.

  "You two seem awful cozy. Should I be worried?" Kohl jokes.

  "Oh, hush you goof. My bestie just needed a little love after that train wreck," Jessa replies with a jerk of her head toward the cab of Kohl's truck.

  Kohl turns to me and takes my hand in his. "Are you alright? I knew as soon as I saw her walk out of that house, we were in for a rough ride."

  "I'm fine. She may have made the ride up miserable but now we can distance ourselves and have a good time."

  Kennedy's shriek has my head turning to the other side of the truck bed. Zach has her thrown over his shoulder; her tiny yellow bikini barely covering her perfectly toned cheeks. He lands a hard smack to her butt that has her squealing loudly once again as she lifts her head in our direction.

  I hear a low growl and glance over at Kohl. His jaw is clenched, his large hands fisted beside him as he watches the two of them. Huh, what's that about? He's sworn to me over the last few weeks that things are over between he and Kennedy, that he only sees her as a friend. But judging by the anger on his face and the way he's acting right now, he sure fits the part of a jealous boyfriend to a T.

  Jessa must notice it too because she grabs my hand and pulls me closer to her. "We're going to the shower house to use the restroom. We'll be back in a few," she tells Kohl with a ring of warning in her voice.

  She turns and pulls me behind her at a brisk pace, that has me tripping over my own two feet. I regain my balance quickly and trail along behind her, happy for the escape.

  She hits the door with such force it smacks the inside wall with a bang, the loud sound echoing throughout the cinder block building. I follow her over to the long bench just outside the shower stalls and sit down.

  She turns to me with pity in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Ella. I don't know what that scene was all about, but I just felt like I needed to get you out of there."

  "Yeah, I just… I don't even know what to think right now. Exactly how far is it back to Gale?" I joke.
r />   "Too far to walk or I'd say let's hit the road."

  "Do you think Kohl still has feelings for Kennedy? I mean, I was so sure he was over her. He's said over and over that she means nothing to him. The way he was just acting though…"

  "I don't know if he regrets losing her, but I don't think he's in love with her any more. They were together for years, so maybe it's just hard to see someone you used to love with one of your friends." She smiles sympathetically.

  "Yeah, maybe so," I mumble. "Why did they break up anyway?"

  "It was bad. He was so crazy about her. In it for the long hall, fully committed. Then one day she dumped him out of the blue. Kohl was really broken up over it, begged her to come back to him for weeks. He stayed home and to himself waiting on her to come back, until he saw her out with someone else one day. It wasn't long after that when the rumors of her activities started to surface, and he realized he had actually lost her. At that point he went a little wild himself, partying every weekend, sleeping with anyone he could get his hands on. I don't know if he was trying to hurt her like she had him or ease his own pain."

  I remain silent, staring down at my restless hands. I wish I would've just kept my mouth shut and let Kohl kick Zach out at Lily's house. I spoke up because I didn't want anyone getting mad at me, thinking I was going to cause problems between Kohl and his friends. I know I'm the outsider here, the new girl, but I want them to like me and welcome me into their group.

  I guess that's never going to happen with me hiding out in here though. I stand up, placing my hands on my hips. "Well, I think we've been in here long enough. It's time to pull my big girl panties up and go out there and have some fun. I refuse to torture myself by jumping to conclusions. Like you said, I'm sure it's hard to watch your ex with one of your best friends."

  "That's my girl! I really do need to pee while we're here though," Jessa says.

  "Same!" I say heading toward a stall.

  We quickly use the restroom and wash our hands before heading back outside. Pulling the door open, I'm greeted with the sight of Kohl leaning against the wall. He straightens and begins walking toward me as soon as I step outside.

  "I'll meet you at the truck," Jessa whispers.

  "Is everything ok?" Kohl asks.

  "Yep. All good," I quip, before starting down the sidewalk. "So how far is the hike to the cliffs anyway?"

  "Ella." Kohl reaches out and takes my wrist, pulling me to a stop. "About earlier—"

  "It's fine, Kohl. Really. Let's forget about it and just try to enjoy the rest of our day," I suggest.

  "We can do that. I just think maybe you got the wrong impression."

  "Let's not do this right now. Please? I just want to forget the past two hours and have a good time."

  "Anything you want, beautiful," Kohl says, taking my hand. "Let's grab your stuff from the truck. Almost everyone is here now. There's a few others coming but they'll make their way down as they arrive."

  Walking toward the truck, I notice the size of our group has tripled. We make quick work of gathering our totes and towels. Kohl throws my cooler strap over his shoulder and leads the way to the trail. I scan the crowd for Jessa, she's walking at the back of the line talking to a couple girls, Sophie and Amber, I think, but gives me a reassuring nod.

  "It's not a bad hike. About a mile, maybe a little more," Kohl tells me as we make our way toward the trail. "What sucks is it's pretty much all up hill." He cringes.

  Lily makes her way up next to us as we set off for the trail. She takes the opportunity to apologize for her part in the misunderstanding on her birthday and assures me she doesn’t want to cause any trouble between me and Kohl.

  Seeing us talk it out must make him happy, because he gives her a side hug before she falls back into line behind us, chattering away with her friends.

  Ten minutes later Kohl reaches over and gives my ponytail a slight tug. "How are you doing over there?" he asks.

  "I'm great. Not even breathing hard yet." I give him a cheeky smile. "I run about five miles a day, four or five days a week. I try to mix it up every now and then and add a little uphill climb, to give myself a challenge."

  "Yeah? Well, good. Maybe I can get a piggy back ride then." He winks.

  "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." The thought has me giggling. "I can see it now. Your feet would be dragging the ground as I carried you down the trail."

  Kohl lets out a loud laugh. "Yeah, that wouldn't work. Maybe I'll give you a piggy back ride instead."

  "Now that's something I could get on board with. Just maybe on the way back, it'll be all downhill. I wouldn't want you to strain one of these little muscles or anything," I tease, squeezing his hard bicep.

  "Oh, you've got jokes?" He teases, reaching out to grab my arm. "Get over here, I think I need to teach you a lesson."

  "No way!" I squeal, dodging his attempt to capture me. I take off running. He's quick to chase after me. I'm having so much fun, I can't stop the light-hearted screams that escape me.

  I'm running side-to-side along the beaten dirt path, trying to avoid his feeble attempts to catch me. He's just toying with me but I'm still having the time of my life. This! This is the kind of normal, innocent fun I've been missing out on. I have to admit, it's nice. I've never felt as free as I do in this moment. He's just about to catch me when I round the last corner, I push past the last leafy green limbs and come to a complete stop.

  I hear it before I see it. Lifting my head, I'm greeted by one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen. "It's gorgeous," I whisper.

  I take a few steps forward so everyone coming up the trail behind us can make their way past. I stand in an opening that leads to a pool of clear blue-green water. It's surrounded by tall green trees and cliffs of all sizes. A huge waterfall is at the center. The whooshing sound it makes as the rush of water pounds into the pool below has goosebumps rising to the surface of my skin.

  "Wow, that's huge! I've never seen a waterfall that big in person before. It's magnificent."

  "Yeah, it's big. About forty-five feet, I think. What do you think? Are you ready to jump off your first cliff?" Kohl asks.

  He takes my hand and leads me to a grassy area just before the water. I drop my things to the ground before stripping out of my shorts and tank.

  "After you," I say with a sweep of my arm. "Lead the way to the baby cliffs!"

  "You and your baby cliffs." He shakes his head. "Come on, beautiful." He scoops me up, carrying me into the cool water.

  We've been at the falls for a couple hours now. I started out small and worked my way up to the medium size cliffs just like I said I would.

  Kohl and the rest of the guys have been showing off, climbing up the rocky paths to make their way to the top of the tall cliffs, always trying to one up each other. The first time he did a back flip from the tallest cliff here I thought I was going to pass out. I held my breath the moment he jumped, all through his 'woohoo' and didn't let it out or breathe again until he popped out of the water laughing.

  All in all, it's been a good day. Excluding a few snide comments from Kennedy. She's gone out of her way to make me uncomfortable every chance she's had. Thankfully, that's only happened a handful of times.

  Kohl's been glued to my side most of the day. I think he's afraid someone will say or do something to offend me after our rocky ride this morning. I've reassured him over and over that I'm fine and can handle a few catty remarks.

  When he's been off climbing cliffs with the guys, Jessa's made sure to step up and bring me into the fold. Most of the other girls have been very friendly and welcoming. I've even agreed to join them for a girls' night out soon.

  I'm currently relaxing in the shallow water with Jessa and a few others. My legs are stretched out before me, my hands propped in the shallow water behind my back, supporting my weight as I lean my head back, watching the guys jump one by one.

  Kohl's grinning face breaks through the water. His eyes meet mine, holding me captive as he sw
ims my way. When the water becomes too shallow to swim, he stands, I watch beads of water slowly trail his body as he swaggers over, until he stands before me.

  Cool water drips from his dark hair onto his chest. I follow its path down between his firm pecks, across his washboard abs, and down into the dark trail of hair that dips just below the band of his trunks.

  I suck my bottom lip into my mouth as I appreciate the deep V on each side of his waist. I catch his sexy smirk when I reach his eyes and blush instantly, at getting caught. I swear sometimes he can read my mind and right now it's thinking some very dirty thoughts.

  Kohl sits down beside me, pulling me onto his lap. "If I didn't already know what a nice girl you are, I'd think you're downright naughty, judging by that lust in your eyes," he breathes into my ear.

  I shiver from head to toe, barely managing to swallow back a moan. I turn my face to his whispering, "even nice girls are a little naughty every now and then."

  Kohl isn't as successful at holding back the moan that escapes his mouth. It's deep and throaty and has my nipples hardening instantly.

  He stands up and reaches for my hand, pulling me up next to him. He points to the rocky edges that surround the pool of water. "We can follow the big rocks around and make our way behind the waterfall. It's pretty easy to get back there. What do you say?"

  "Sure, do I need to slip my shoes on first?"

  "Oh, no! Don’t worry about it, I never did," Kennedy interrupts. "And trust me, I've made my way around that path plenty of times," she brags, giving Kohl a seductive smile. "Kohl's always loved it back there. Well, he actually just loved the thought of being back there in front of so many people, yet nobody could really see us clearly through the water. You may want to take your towel though. The big rock is a little rough on your knees," she finishes with an evil smirk.

  "You bitch! That's it!" Jessa yells, lunging for Kennedy. Jax grabs her up in a bear hug and walks deeper into the water before she can make contact.

  I turn and walk toward my things, leaving them all behind without a backward glance. I hear the low growl of Kohl's voice in a heated argument with Kennedy. I bend down and lift my towel to my face. After drying off, I spread it out on the grass and pull my phone from my tote to check in with Gram.