Lie to Me (Sexual Misconduct Volume III) Read online

Avery

  Matthew opened the door in a pair of black briefs, his brows furrowed and his hair astray. He looked like home. He was the only person left in my life who was genuine. He took one look at my face, reached out, and pulled me into a hug. The moment his arms wrapped around me, I crumpled against him.

  I’d spent the day driving aimlessly and somehow ended up here at nightfall. I kept it together until this point, but I knew I could let my shield down here because Matthew would protect me.

  “What happened, sweetie?” He pushed the door shut and led me into his living room.

  “Everyone’s a fucking liar.” I wiped unshed tears from my eyes with my fingers. Matthew pushed my hair behind my ears, then rubbed along my jawline.

  “Xander… Ellie… liars.” I dropped onto the couch, and he sat down facing me, his arm slung over the back of the couch.

  “Okay… you’re talking in code. It’s like scattered pieces of a puzzle. What happened?”

  “Xander killed my parents.” His hand dropped away from my face and confusion clouded his features.

  “He what?”

  “It wasn’t some drunken woman who slammed her car into my parents. It was her drunken husband, and the whole thing was covered up by the mayor—his dad.”

  Matt’s eyes widened and he covered his mouth with a hand. “Oh my God.” His words were a bit muffled by his fingers. “He told you this?”

  “No, Ian did. Apparently, he overheard Xander and Susan talking about it all.”

  “This is unbelievable. What are the odds?” His eyes darted away from me, a faraway look crossing them as he thought about it.

  “The odds have never been on my side. It’s the universe’s sick joke on me. I finally open up my heart and give it to the man who’d caused the complete shutdown to begin with.”

  Matt opened his mouth, then shut it. Now he was utterly speechless—and in the eight years I’d known him, this was the first time I’d seen that happen.

  I leaned my head back against the couch and groaned. “Fuck my life.”

  Matt rose from his seat, left the room, and came back with a tumbler filled with golden fluid. The kind of liquid that wiped your memory for a few hours and made you feel like shit in the morning.

  “Drink it or you’ll never sleep tonight.” He shoved the glass into my hand.

  I hesitantly took the cup and sipped on it. The burn was fierce. I grimaced as it went down my throat.

  “What does Ellie have to do with any of this?”

  “Hmm…” I snickered at how ridiculously worse this situation got. “She slept with Xander.”

  I tipped the glass and took two huge gulps, hoping to wash away the bitter taste those words left in my mouth. I coughed as it went down.

  “She what? No—no, Avery… She’d never do that to you.”

  “Of course she wouldn’t. It happened before I met him, and they decided I didn’t need to know.”

  “Oh…” He twisted his lips and furrowed his brows.

  “Conspiring manipulative fucks,” I mumbled as I downed the rest of my drink. The room spun, the cold pit that had begun forming in my gut turned warm, and my eyelids grew heavy.

  Mat filled up my cup a couple times, and watched as I became too dazed to think anymore, and then he said, “Let’s get you to bed.”

  “Umm-hmm.” I swayed as I took the familiar path to Matt’s bedroom. I pulled my shirt over my head and stripped off my skirt, tossing them along the hallway. I stumbled as I kicked off my shoes, and Matt was there to catch me. Matt was always there to catch me. I flopped down face first on his bed and passed out instantly.

  *~*~*

  I woke with a start, wheezing for air and drowning in panic. The dream of the last time I saw my parents—the hallucinatory flashes of them burning as the flames disintegrated their car —had stopped years ago. I gasped, covering my face with my hands.

  “Take a deep breath. You’re fine. I’m here for you.” Matthew’s words calmed me down. I breathed in deeply and let it out slowly. The way I remembered from when I was younger and had panic attacks. It felt like the life was being pulled out of me, and I had to force myself to relax.

  After ten minutes, I was able to get my heartbeat to decelerate, and my lungs didn’t feel so constricted. Matthew gave me a glass of water, which I sipped before setting it down on the nightstand. I dropped back onto the pillow and sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

  “You okay?” Matthews’s voice interrupted my daydream.

  I nodded, then turned my head toward him. He smiled at me, but all I saw was the pity all over his face. I really fucking hated that look. I reached out and pushed a stray blond lock from his eye. He’d grown his hair back, and he looked exactly like he did when we were together. I folded my hands together on the pillow and rested my head on them, facing Matt.

  “Is this weird?” I asked as we faced each other.

  He shook his head. “Oddly familiar.”

  “Yeah.” This was safe. This was the reason I’d started dating Matt. There wasn’t that all-consuming feeling that blinded me from reality. Matt wouldn’t betray me, and on the off chance he did, it wouldn’t devastate me the way Xander’s lies had.

  I scooted forward. I was an emotional wreck, a bit hazy from the alcohol, and anxious from the panic attack. I was completely unhinged, and that probably explained why one minute I was feeling dejected and the next I was sticking my tongue into Matt’s mouth.

  Matt’s kisses were everything I remembered. Soft, sweet, and enjoyable. He moaned, then shifted to lie on top of me, and I spread my legs to accommodate him. I caught myself several times missing the sparks and the desperate ache that came when I was with Xander, but I brushed it aside. This was safer. This was what I needed right now.

  “Why are you stopping?” I demanded as Matt slowly pulled back and gave me a look of apology.

  He sat back on his haunches, ran a hand over his face, and said, “We can’t do this.”

  I grabbed him by the edge of his briefs and tried to pull him back down, but he didn’t budge. “Yes, we can,” I insisted. I sat up and unsnapped my bra and threw it across the room. “We used to do this all the time, and we were pretty good at it.”

  I ran my fingers into his hair and kissed him. He grabbed hold of both my hands and yanked them away and broke the kiss.

  “Please, Matt… You want to… I know you do.”

  His hold loosened, and I freed my hands from his grasp. I took his palm and placed it on my breast, leaned in, and he allowed me to kiss him again. I cupped his erection with one hand and began to pull down his briefs with the other. Before I got them fully down, he grabbed my hands again and pushed me down on the bed, pinning me there.

  He wanted me. I felt his erection pressed between my legs, and the look on his face told me he was fighting off his urge to let go and just fuck me.

  “Why can’t you just make me forget?” I whined.

  “Because we both know this will never make you forget.” He sighed.

  “You’re the person I should be with, Matt. I trust you. I can always come to you, and you don’t manipulate every. Fucking. Thing.”

  “If love were simple, we’d be married, have a couple kids, and run our office together. But, baby, we both know we’re not meant to be. We’re best friends, and we make each other comfortable.”

  “Exactly.” I tried to break free, but his hold was solid.

  “But it’s not that fiery, all-consuming feeling we crave. When we’re together, the world doesn’t melt away, Avery. I won’t let you use me to betray your heart, because you may never forgive yourself… or me.”

  “Ugh! That’s what I get for trying to rebound with a psychiatrist. You think too much.” I pouted and he laughed at me.

  “It’s what makes our friendship so great. I think for you when your brain suddenly shuts down. And you do the same for me.” He leaned over and left a soft, lingering kiss on my lips before jumping off the bed.

  “Get dressed a
nd go home,” he said as he grabbed a fresh towel and walked toward the bathroom. “I’ll be torturing myself with a frigid shower.”

  “Sorry, Matty,” I yelled after him.

  “If I didn’t love you so much, I’d be fucking the shit out of you right now,” he said before shutting the door.

  “So you only fuck women you don’t love? Twisted fuck,” I mumbled under my breath.

  “I heard that!” Matt yelled from the bathroom.

  “You were meant to.” I went in search of my clothes and slowly got dressed. It was early morning, and I hoped I’d find my house empty by the time I got there.

  Matt was still in the shower when I was ready to leave, so I poked my head into the bathroom. “See you later, Matt.”

  “Uh-huh,” he half growled, half groaned.

  “Wait… are you… are you beating one out?” I stifled a giggle with the back of my hand.

  “Shut the fuck up! I’m almost there.”

  I laughed at his gritty tone.

  He pulled the corner of the curtain and poked his head out. “Does our friendship have no boundaries?”

  “Not when you’re best friends with your ex.” I chuckled as I walked down the hallway, grabbed my keys, and left his apartment.

  We’re Done

  Avery

  As soon as I stepped out of Matt’s building, my good mood evaporated. Along with the gray skies awaiting me came Xander. He leaned against his car, staring at me like a man who’d spent the night out here on the street. We stared at each other for a couple muted seconds. It was as if everything around us stood still, and that stupid fucking energy between us was all that existed. I snapped out of the daze first. I tried to cut right, but he cut me off, blocking me with his body.

  “What the fuck did you do?” he whispered, his tone heavily laced with accusation. I ignored his question and avoided looking into his crazed eyes by moving to his left. Again, he blocked my path. I crossed my arms and stared off into the morning traffic and pretended to not see him.

  “I swear if he touched you…” He grabbed my face between his palms, forcing me to look at him as he studied me. I pictured the image he beheld—hair bedraggled, eyes puffy—I looked like hell. His frown deepened. “If you let him touch you, I’m going to hurt him.”

  I shoved him off me, and he stumbled back from the unexpected push. “You don’t get to tell me who I can sleep with. You slept with my Ellie… my Ellie. She’s my only family in this world, and you fucked her.”

  He released me, throwing up his hands. “It was before you. Shit… if I hadn’t, I probably would’ve never met you.”

  “Oh… so it’s fine, then. When we have kids and they ask how we met, we’ll tell them it was fate.” I stretched out my arms and looked up into the sky. “It was divine intervention. Your daddy fucked Auntie Ellie, and she slid him my card so he could screw me over too.”

  He pressed his palms against his eyes and rubbed them. “What do you want me to do? I can’t undo it,” he said when he looked back at me.

  “But you could’ve been honest! Both of you could’ve copped to what happened the night she walked in on us. But no… you two conspired to lie to me. You lied about everything.”

  He pushed both hands through his hair, yanking the strands in frustration. “If we’d been honest, you would have left me.”

  “At least at that point it wouldn’t have hurt so much.”

  “But at that point nothing would’ve made you give me another chance.”

  “There’s nothing now.” I looked down at our feet.

  He flinched. “You said you loved me.”

  I smiled as I looked up and shook my head at him. “I loved a liar. Doesn’t that make our love a lie?”

  He shook his head rapidly. “No, I showed you the real me and you loved me. Gabriella was a minor detail in my past. It doesn’t change anything that happened between us.”

  “What about my parents? Were they minor details too? You’ve been hurting me for years without me even knowing it. Seems like it’s what you live to do. Your past keeps coming back to hurt me, Xander.”

  He took a step back and looked at me like I’d slapped him with my comment. He dug both hands in his pockets and looked down at the pavement. He looked almost vulnerable because of my dig, but I couldn’t be concerned with his feelings at that point. Not when he tore out my heart twice and I was still trying to get it to function.

  The door behind us swung open and Matt stepped out. He paused, looking back and forth between Xander and me. He came up behind me, put a hand on my waist, and whispered into my ear, “Everything okay?”

  Xander glared at him, his injured expression quickly morphing into one of stormy rage. Matt eyed him.

  “If you touched her—”

  “You’ll what?” Matt challenged, his hold on my waist tightening.

  Xander stepped forward, and I blocked him. “Go home, Xander.”

  “Come back when you’re man enough to be honest with her,” Matt threw in.

  Fuck, this wasn’t like Matt at all. He was the logical one, and this was a revenge tactic I didn’t want to use. I just wanted Xander to go away and let me process everything without him smothering me, or Matt’s alcohol blurring the edges.

  Xander removed his hands from his pockets. His fists were clenched, gaze narrowed in on Matt. I knew if I weren’t between them, there would be a full-on street brawl.

  “Xander.” His gaze shifted to me, but his stance remained in attack mode. “Don’t make this worse.”

  He looked at Matt one last time before he took a deep breath and walked off. We stood there watching him until he pulled his car onto the road and cut the corner furiously.

  “That guy is miserable,” Matt said.

  I elbowed him in the gut. He grunted.

  “Who cares? You’re on my side, right?”

  He chuckled. “Sure, but how long before you take him back?”

  “Never.”

  “Uh-huh… sure.” He hooked an arm around my neck and walked me to my car. “I give you a week.”

  “Asshole.” I glanced over at him.

  “Why? Because I know your heart?”

  “Fuck you, Matt.”

  “Don’t blame me because love got its dark hold on your heart.” he said as we stopped in front of my car.

  Yeah… and it came with a gray cloud hanging over my head. And like the divine intervention I spoke of earlier, thunder cracked and the sky opened up and cried its tears on me.

  *~*~*

  Later that day, I walked into my office to find Ellie waiting on me.

  It’s the day that keeps giving.

  I stilled at the doorway, and she stood. I’d been relieved to find the house empty when I stopped at home. I wasn’t ready to talk to Ellie. Her collusion with Xander devastated me.

  “Do you have a minute?” she asked warily.

  “No, I don’t.” I continued to my desk, dropping my briefcase on top and opening it.

  “Avery, I just want to explain.” She followed, standing on the opposite side of my desk.

  “I need to work and listen to other people’s problems.” I sat down and Ellie did the same.

  “And ignore your own?”

  “I’m not ignoring them. I’ve decided the best course of action is to not think about it at all. You lied to me for God knows how long about stripping, and then you let me carry on with a man you’d already been with.”

  I stood and tried to make my way to the door to let her out, but she grabbed my arm and stopped my progress as I tried to walk past her. I glanced at her hand on my arm, and she let go promptly.

  She stood up and faced me. “I’m sorry, okay? You seemed to really like him and I wanted you to be happy.”

  “Do you know how fucked up that sounds? You were willing to let me be with a man you… fucked because you thought it made me happy.” Just saying the words made me feel ill.

  “You loved him.”

  “You know what? Fu
ck him. How about you tell me why you’ve become a stripper?”

  She sighed and sat back down in the chair. “I was tired of being a burden to you. I promise you all I ever did was strip there. Xander was a mistake. He was rich and handsome, and I wanted him. But I realized he was cold, arrogant, and had issues, so I sent him to you.”

  “I don’t want to hear this.” I couldn’t listen to her, because the flashes of them together began to emanate in my mind’s eye.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t send you into the lion’s den. I sent him to you. But even the lion has a heart, and I think he loves you, Avery.”

  Un-fucking-believable. Was everybody on Xander’s side?

  “You think I should be grateful because Xander loves me? Well, he was never in my plans. He’s an obsessive deceiver, and his insomnia is so severe I don’t think his brain functions correctly anymore. But I can’t stop thinking about him and wanting him. So yeah, you inserted Xander into my life. And he’s rich and successful and can fuck like a maniac, but he’s not what I wanted. Now I need him. I was going down a straight road, and now I’ve veered off to the left. I’m headed for disaster, and I can’t even stop myself. So what exactly have I won? His love?”

  “I’m really sorry, Avery. I know you’re angry—”

  “I’m not angry. I’m disappointed and hurt. When I turned eighteen and left you in that home, I came back every weekend for five years and made sure you were okay. I worked my ass off to finish school early so I’d be able to make a home for you when you turned eighteen. I’ve carried you on my back for so many years, Ellie, that I feel empty without you. You’re more than a friend to me. You’re my sister, you’re like a daughter to me, and I’d do anything for you.”

  She looked away, tears rolling down her face as she quietly sobbed. Tears weren’t a luxury I afforded myself, and I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry for her. Not now. Not after what she’d done. “Are we done here?”

  She looked up at me and stood. “I don’t want to lose you.”

  I grabbed her chin and our gazes locked. “You’re the only family I’ve got, so despite what you did, we’ll always be family. I just can’t stand to look at you right now. So were done here.” I dropped my hand and turned away. “Don’t call me. I’ll call you… when I’m ready.” I settled behind my desk as she quietly made her way to the door and shut it behind her.