Pretty Lies (Watch Me Burn Book 1)

by R. E. Bond

  I wrapped my legs around him, pulling him completely down on top of me, a feral growl coming from him as he thrust against me while pulling my hair slightly.

  Great, I was fucking wet again.

  “Thought you were just coming in to wake him up?” Caden chuckled as he walked in, earning an amused smirk from Tyler as he glanced over his shoulder at him.

  “Oh, trust me. I’m awake.”

  “So I can see,” he snorted, giving me an amused smile.

  I suddenly felt shy, and I went to push Tyler off of me, but Caden shook his head and softened his gaze, noticing my discomfort.

  “Stay in bed if you want. I’m heading back to Dad’s anyways.”

  Fuck.

  I frowned, anxiety bubbling up at the thought of being in that massive mansion by myself.

  “Why?”

  “Because, Max and Mom got back this morning, and I’m not meant to be there. Remember?” he stated before turning to leave, my heart thumping harder at his retreat.

  “Wait.”

  I fumbled as I managed to shove Tyler off me and climb out of bed, jumping into Caden’s arms and wrapping myself around him tightly.

  He chuckled and gave me a kiss, but it sounded fake which put me on edge.

  “I’ll see you on Monday at school anyways, but maybe if you ask the guys real nicely, they might wanna hang at the house to keep you company?”

  “I’ll miss you,” I mumbled into his neck nervously, and sure enough, his body went tense before suddenly relaxing again.

  “I’ll miss you too. I’d better go.”

  I nodded, letting him put my feet back on the ground before he gave me a goodbye kiss and left the room, Tyler sighing dramatically.

  “Guess that means we’d better get you home, huh party animal?”

  Jensen wandered in with a frown on his face as he stared at his phone, making me nervous all over again.

  What was wrong now?

  “You didn’t tell me you had a Facebook account?”

  “Who doesn’t?” I snorted, relaxing when I realized it wasn’t anything serious, but he rolled his eyes as if I’d sassed him.

  “Well, I added you and sent the profile link to the guys, so accept us or else. Oh, expect pictures to be plastered all over it all the time, okay? Some from last night are going up today, so I’ll tag you in them.”

  Dread rolled through me as I stared at him.

  Did I flash my tits or something equally stupid?

  “What do you mean? Pictures of what?”

  He pulled me against him and laughed.

  “All of us, silly!”

  My phone rang and I frowned as I looked around the room until I noticed my bag in the corner.

  I walked over to it and rummage inside, snatching the phone and answering it before it could ring out, ignoring how it hurt my head.

  “Yes?”

  “Where the fuck are you?” Max snapped instantly without a hello.

  I rolled my eyes at how pissed off he sounded.

  It had taken him a whole fucking week to call me, so I should have been the one who was angry.

  Shitty parenting, right fucking there.

  “Would you believe me if I said I was at the library studying?” I offered, a growl hitting my ears from him.

  “No, I fucking wouldn’t.”

  “Alright then. Well, I’m at Ty’s, but we’re about to head home,” I replied, ignoring the smirk on Tyler’s face as he toyed with the hem of my shirt.

  “What the fuck are you doing there at this hour?” Max bit out, the volume causing me to wince.

  “Oh, well it was Friday night. You know Josie mentioned the guys hang out regularly on Fridays for movie nights and shit.”

  “Who is we?”

  “Me, Ty, Jense and Luke,” I replied smoothly, not wanting to start an argument with the hangover from hell having a rave in my skull.

  I heard him grumble before he snapped, “Just get home,” then he hung up.

  I glanced at Jensen and sighed, running a hand through my hair.

  “Can you run me home?”

  “Sure thing. You coming for a drive, Ty?” he asked, watching as Tyler bounced to his feet as if he’d had more than three hours sleep, swatting my butt on his way past to get changed.

  We all got ready to leave, and once we were in the Camaro with the engine rumbling, I frowned.

  “Where’s Luke?”

  Tyler gave me an amused grin from the back seat as he bounced around.

  How the fuck did he manage to not make himself throw up?

  “You thought he was going to stick around after you humped him on the dance floor while you were high as fuck? He took off.”

  “Fair enough,” I muttered, cranking the stereo up as Bad Mother Fucker by Machine Gun Kelly started, putting my window down and lighting a cigarette.

  Jensen chuckled, glancing at me before pulling out of the driveway with a screech of tires, driving down the street and hitting the main road.

  Tyler bopped along to the music in the back, rapping the entire song perfectly, which kept me amused for the whole drive, despite my headache still thumping.

  Once Jensen had parked beside Josie’s car, I climbed out and waited for them both to follow, laughing as Tyler tossed me over his shoulder and headed into the kitchen, where we found Josie and Max waiting for us.

  I rolled my eyes as Tyler placed me back on the ground, cocking my head slightly at Max.

  “Why do I get an intervention every time I walk through the front door?”

  I stood between the guys and crossed my arms defensively, taking a step back when Josie reached for me.

  She knew better than to touch me.

  “Rory, we need a serious talk. Boys, can you come back later?” Josie asked carefully, but I snorted, stepping closer to Jensen who put an arm around my shoulders.

  “Whatever you wanna talk about, I’ll just tell them anyways. When can Caden come home?”

  She seemed surprised, despite speaking in a calm voice.

  “You want him to come home?”

  “Why wouldn’t I?”

  “He hurt you,” she frowned, her eyes taking in the small bruise that was around my neck that had nearly faded, her eyes darted to Jensen, a bitter laugh escaping me.

  “You seriously believe my dad over your own son? Caden would never hit me. Ever.”

  Relief crossed her face, but she spoke firmly.

  “You don’t need to cover up his behaviour, sweetheart.”

  “I’m not! Why the fuck would Caden hurt me like that? There’s no fucking reason!” I exploded, watching her cringe.

  “My son can be a handful but…”

  “He’d never hurt me. He was checking on me after Dad fucking hit me. He caught me kissing Caden.”

  Her eyes went wide, but Max scoffed, “Again with the lies, Aurora? When will you learn…”

  “You let me think that Luke walked away from me, but in reality, you threatened him into staying out of it. I will kill you. Not today, not tomorrow, but I will fucking do it. In a few months I’ll be eighteen and I’ll be free from you. Until then, stay the fuck away from me.”

  “You listen to me…,” Max started, but I cut him off, turning my attention back to Josie.

  “I want Caden home by tonight.”

  She looked worried but nodded her agreement.

  Max on the other hand, growled and stomped down the hallway, slamming the door like a child throwing a fucking tantrum.

  Josie met my gaze, appearing unsure as she spoke.

  “I’ll talk to your father, sweetheart. You guys kick back in the pool or the movie room, okay?”

  Fine by me.

  We all headed out to the pool, staying there until we heard Caden’s Challenger in the driveway at nightfall.

  I instantly scrambled out of the pool and jogged through the house in my bikini, throwing my arms around him as we met in the kitchen.

  He chuckled as I wrapped my legs around hi
m tightly, his hands clamping onto my ass to hold me up.

  “It’s only been a day, baby. You miss me?”

  “I did say I would,” I murmured, burying my face in his neck and clinging to him until the others called to us from outside.

  I thought he seemed tense, but I decided I’d imagined it as we headed outside and he kissed my cheek affectionately.

  Jensen

  After thinking about it all night and most of Sunday morning, I decided I really needed to tell the guys about Rory’s past.

  I’d been lying in bed for two hours, contemplating how to go about it.

  I couldn’t let them fuck her on Friday night, and I knew both of them were pissy at me for taking her away from them, but they didn’t know what she’d already gone through.

  She was fucked up on cocaine, as well as being drunk as fuck, so she’d probably pull the rape card on them.

  Not that I’d really blame her, because Tyler got her fucked up on purpose, hoping to get her into bed that way.

  I needed her to just fuck off to trailer park land or some shit where she belonged because this shit was going to get out of hand.

  I was looking forward to school in the morning for the simple fact I’d get to see her again.

  Pathetic, right?

  It was as if I had a girl sidekick who just happened to be fuckable.

  She was tough, I’d give her that, but that worried me too because that meant the guys would push harder to break her.

  Don’t even get me started on Skeeter’s interest in her.

  He played it cool, but I could almost hear his dick spring to life as he imagined all the fucked up shit he could do to her.

  Lucky for us, she wasn’t that type of girl.

  He’d scare her away, if anything.

  I heard the front door close quietly, perking me up slightly.

  My dad had decided not to come home for the second month in a fucking row, so Lukas usually showed up to hang out in the evenings.

  His head poked around my bedroom door, a big smile on his face as he pushed his black fringe out of his eyes.

  “Thought you’d be up here. You wanna order pizza tonight? I’m fucking starving.”

  I shrugged, moving over on the bed to make room for him.

  “Yeah, I guess. Can I ask you something?”

  He sprawled out beside me, kicking his shoes off and letting them drop to the floor.

  It had basically been his second home since we met a few years back, so he was pretty fucking comfortable at mine.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Should we try to talk Holloway out of this bullshit game with Rory? I mean, I don’t think he hates her as much as he says he does, but if he knew the truth about her, maybe he’d cut her some slack?” I suggested, watching him turn to watch me.

  He was silent for a while before sighing, his face falling as he spoke.

  “I think the whole thing’s fucking stupid and I don’t want any part in it. I can’t hurt her again, Jense. I finally got her back and now he wants me to fucking break her? I don’t like it, and I think he needs to just admit that he likes her. So what if we let a girl into our group? She’s tough, hot as fuck, and loyal. She’s a nice chick.”

  “You still love her, don’t you?” I asked quietly, his shoulders shrugging.

  “Of course I do. It was just me and her for a long fucking time. She was basically the other half of me until Max went and fucked it all up.”

  I had to find a way to make Caden see sense.

  We had to fucking tell him.

  “Luke, we need to tell them, you know that, right?” I finally answered, making him groan.

  “I don’t want to get involved. She’ll kill me if I tell her private shit to someone else.”

  “She told Caden that we could tell him and Ty, we’ll just get her to give us permission on the day, so no one gets in trouble. We can sort it all out tomorrow at school, but for now I want that pizza you were talking about.”

  Lukas was my best friend, hands down.

  I know I grew up with Caden and Tyler, but Lukas and I connected right from the start.

  I remembered his mom dropping him off on his first day of high school, waving her money around and acting like the fucking Queen, which meant I instantly felt like I understood him.

  He was fucking miserable, just like the rest of us rich assholes.

  It had been a shitty fucking week for all of us, actually.

  Caden and his dad had gotten in a fistfight because his dad had threatened his mom, Tyler’s parents decided to fire the housekeeper before taking off again, meaning he was alone completely, then there was me.

  My mom took off when I was younger, and she’d gotten in touch with me that week and wanted to see me.

  She never showed up, and all Dad said was he told me so.

  It seemed stupid, but Lukas and I just ended up relying on each other for comfort from then on.

  Like I said, he basically lived at mine most of the time, so we got really close.

  The thought of not having him in my life was painful, so I didn’t think about it.

  I knew he wasn’t going anywhere, mainly because he’d have to live with his mom all the time again, and that would be enough to push even the strongest person over the fucking edge.

  She was in his face all the time, trying to feel youthful by having all of us around.

  After two weeks of us tolerating it, we didn’t hang out there again.

  Lukas didn’t blame us.

  He loved her, but she was toxic for him.

  I hated her for that.

  Rory

  “Slut,” Claire scoffed as I walked into class Monday morning.

  I turned to smirk at her, sarcasm lacing my voice.

  “How’s your face, Claire? Wow, took a bit of makeup to cover it up, huh?”

  She seethed, stepping towards me with her fists clenched.

  “You’re nothing but a fucking trailer trash whore, you seem to forget that now you’re living in Caden’s mansion and driving around in Jensen’s flashy cars and shit. Do you make their dicks feel good?”

  Tyler waltzed in like king shit and plonked down at the desk I was about to sit at, yanking me onto his lap with a smirk.

  “You bet Rory makes my dick feel good. Morning, baby,” he added sweetly, kissing my cheek, which just seemed to piss Claire off.

  “Seriously? You’re actually fucking her too? You have no standards, Tyler Johnson.”

  He grinned, a nasty glint in his eye.

  “I know. Fucked you, didn’t I?”

  She growled and stalked away from us, finally allowing me to turn around and raise an eyebrow at Tyler.

  “This isn’t your class?”

  “Nah, I’m stealing you, but I know it makes you wet when I go caveman on you in front of other women,” he winked, laughing as I whacked his arm with fake anger.

  He stood, grabbing my books and putting an arm around my middle to lead me out of the room, but Claire’s voice came from the back.

  “Off for a quick fuck, are you?”

  Tyler went to answer, but I gave her a small smile and cocked my head.

  “Who said it was going to be quick? They like to take their time with me. You know, to make me feel really good. Climax comas are a real thing.”

  The class erupted in laughter and she scowled, sinking back into her seat as Tyler dragged me into the hallway with a big grin.

  Fuck that bitch.

  “Appears you’re winning the school over slowly.”

  I shrugged, falling into step beside him as we walked past busy classrooms.

  “I don’t give a shit about being the queen of the school, I just don’t want to cop shit when I’m here. Where are you taking me, anyways?”

  “For a not so quick fuck,” he joked, turning into an empty classroom where Caden, Lukas and Jensen were waiting for us.

  I slowed, giving them a confused look, but Caden rolled his eyes with a grin.


  “Come sit your ass on my dick for a minute?”

  Always the charmer.

  I snorted but walked over to him, lowering myself onto his lap to get comfortable.

  “So, what’s this about, guys? Secret power rangers meeting?”

  Lukas gave me an unsure glance, instantly making me nervous.

  “Caden said you gave us permission to tell him and Ty about the shit you haven’t told them. I wanted to make sure we all knew it was okay with you.”

  My blood ran cold, despite Caden placing a kiss on my neck in an attempt to soothe me.

  “You don’t need to be here when we talk about it, but if everyone hears you say it’s okay to talk about, then we all know we aren’t talking behind your back.”

  I slowly nodded, Lukas sighing in relief.

  “Thank you.”

  I was confused by his reaction but shrugged casually as if my whole body wasn’t in complete panic.

  “It’s okay. I might head back to class then.”

  I had to get the fuck out of there.

  Jensen stood with me. “Nah, come work out with me in the gym. I’ve got too much on my mind for class, and I already know what’s going on with you. Lukas can tell them.”

  Caden frowned, but I smiled appreciatively.

  “Okay, I’ll see you at lunch?” I asked Caden, who simply gave me a kiss and swatted my ass on my way out the door, but I could see the look Jensen was giving him as we left, turning my panic up a notch.

  I didn’t want them fighting over me.

  Once in the gym, we ran on the treadmills for ages, until Jensen suddenly slowed his down and glanced over at me, his voice laced with pain and regret.

  “This place ruins good people, Rory. I’m sorry you were dragged into it.”

  I slowed my machine and frowned, not understanding what he was even fucking talking about.

  “What do you mean? You’ve been acting weird all day, Jense. Talk to me.”

  “I didn’t want to touch you. I swear I didn’t want to hurt you, but I couldn’t help but get closer than I was supposed to, and it’s fucked a lot up and…”

  “Jensen, what the fuck is going on?” I asked warily, watching as he climbed off his machine and sighed, giving me a soft kiss before patting my sweaty cheek, peering into my confused blue eyes with his broken ones.