I reach for the faucet on the stone wall, flipping it on. I push my underwear down my hips, then kick them over to my join my dress and shoes before I step underneath the large, rectangular showerhead. I close my eyes, letting the hot water fall onto me for long seconds, allowing myself to enjoy it for just a minute. After my minute is up, I make quick work of scrubbing my body with some men’s body wash I find on the built-in shelf and wash my hair with some fancy shampoo and conditioner that I can’t even pronounce the name of, trying in vain not to notice how much it smells like Thayer.
I pluck a clean towel folded on the rack, then wrap the plush material around me and knot it at my chest, relishing in how much softer it is than my towels. It’s the little, insignificant things like this that you don’t realize you miss until you have them again. Padding over toward the vanity, I pluck my clothes off the counter, taking stock of what Thayer gave me. A plain white t-shirt and a tiny pair of black shorts. I frown, holding the shorts in my palm. Are these…mine?
Throwing open the door, I storm across the hall and back into Thayer’s room. He’s standing there, head bent, doing something on his phone. Bored eyes lift to mine, but I don’t miss the flash of hunger in them before he conceals it. I throw the shorts at him and they hit his face before he snatches them.
“Why did you keep those?” I demand. Beads of water roll off my hair and down my legs, leaving a puddle at my feet. I look and feel like a crazy person, but I’m past caring.
“Don’t flatter yourself. They’ve been here since you left them.”
Left them? My cheeks burn when I realize what night he’s referring to. I pad across the floor, closing the distance between us. “For a year?” I ask skeptically.
He shrugs. “I’ve always loved your ass in spandex.”
“God, Thayer, why are you so confusing?” My eyes search his for answers I know I won’t find. “You tell me to leave you alone, and then you seek me out.” My voice lowers to a whisper. “You touch me and then you leave me…”
“Does it make you mad?” he asks, his voice sounding like gravel. “That your brain wants to hate me, but your body…your body fucking loves me.” He rubs a thumb across my cheek, capturing a bead of water. “But you let me touch you anyway because you can’t resist me, can you? And you can’t fucking stand that about yourself.”
His smug tone infuriates me. Even more so because there’s a grain of truth to it. But I straighten my shoulders, deciding to gain the upper hand.
“I could say the same about you,” I start, toying with the knot in my towel with my fingers. His eyes follow the movement as he scrapes his teeth over his bottom lip, the two piercings glinting with the motion. “You can’t seem to stay away from me, and you hate yourself for it, don’t you?” His eyes tighten at the corners, and I know I’m getting to him.
“You’re playing with fire, Shayne,” he warns, taking a step back, but I continue anyway.
“The only difference is I’m the one having my needs met without having to give anything in return.” Summoning confidence I don’t feel, I drop my towel, letting it fall to the floor with a whoosh.
Thayer’s throat bobs when he swallows, and he loses the fight to keep his gaze from falling to my chest. The cold air has my nipples tightening almost painfully as I watch his hungry eyes roam my body.
I hear the door slam downstairs, and I know I have less than a minute to wrap this up before they come barging in.
“It seems to me that you’re the one getting the short end of the stick in this scenario.” I try to snatch the shorts from his grip, but he holds them out of reach, high above his head. I lunge for them and his free arm bands around my waist, spinning me around before he tackles me to the bed. He settles in between my legs, his chest against mine.
“First of all,” he starts, pushing his groin into me. “Who’s to say my needs aren’t being met by someone else?”
I practically growl, shoving him away, but he pins my arms above my head. “Second, you’re going to pay for that later.”
My chest heaves as he holds my gaze, his mouth lowering to place a gentle kiss on the tip of my nipple. I shiver, feeling wetness pool between my legs, but two sets of footsteps on the stairs hit me like a bucket of cold water. Thayer smirks knowingly before he pushes off me, then he’s throwing my clothes at me. I catch them as they land on my chest and scowl up at him.
“Get dressed and meet us in the poolroom.”
Just as his doorknob turns, he blocks their entrance and steps out, shutting the door behind him.
I groan, swiping the clothes from my chest. How the hell does he always win?
Thayer
I adjust my jeans, trying to conceal my dick that’s trying to burst through my zipper. Fuck. I’m losing control. The lines are starting to blur, and I’m getting sloppy. I don’t know what the fuck I was thinking bringing her up to my room in front of everyone, fueling the rumors that have surrounded Shayne since she moved in with us, but it’s getting harder to stay away from her. It’s like a compulsion. Getting under her skin, igniting that temper, feeling her hot little breaths on my skin when I make her come. It’s an addiction. A sick, toxic addiction.
I tell myself that there’s no harm in touching her, as long as I don’t let it go any further than that, but even I know I’m playing a dangerous game. Being with Shayne is a slippery slope, and it’s impossible to not want more.
She’s changed, too. She’s always been a good girl at her core, but the side of her she keeps locked up tight, the little spitfire that only I was able to catch glimpses of before, is clawing its way to the surface. And that stunt she just pulled? I didn’t see that coming. When she walked in, dripping wet, face free of makeup, I wanted to push up her towel, bend her over, and slide into her from behind. And when she dropped her towel, her long, blonde hair curving around her perky tits, the tiny metal bars through her nipples, I almost did just that. It took the restraint of a thousand saints not to fuck her right then and there.
“What’s all this about?” Holden asks from his place on the couch. Christian sits on the loveseat, while I stand in front of the TV that stretches across the wall of the billiard room, arms crossed over my chest.
“I want answers, and so does she. But before she gets down here… Someone’s fucking with Shayne. Was it either one of you?” They both shake their heads.
“I told you, man. It wasn’t me. My money’s on Taylor. She’s always had it out for Shayne, even when they were friends,” he says, using air quotes. It’s true. Taylor doesn’t play nice with others, but she didn’t really have a choice before. Being with us offered a certain amount of protection. It made Shayne untouchable. Off limits. Taylor seems to think fucking with Shayne is fair game now that our parents split, and I’m betting that school of thought isn’t limited to Taylor.
“It’s just mean girl shit. I put her in check tonight, so she won’t be a problem,” Holden says dismissively.
I rake a hand through my hair, nodding. It makes sense, but something tells me that there’s more to it.
“What’s up with you two? You suddenly give a shit again?” This comes from Christian. I can’t say I blame him for not understanding when I can’t make sense of it myself.
Before I can answer, Shayne clears her throat, standing in the doorway. Her wet hair falls over one shoulder, my t-shirt hanging almost down to her knees, giving her the illusion of being naked underneath.
“Hey.” She gives an awkward wave.
Holden pats the cushion next to him. “Come sit, baby sister.”
She cuts him a look, but doesn’t comment as she pads across the room, arms folded over her chest, still distrustful. I can tell that being here again makes her uncomfortable by her body language alone. She takes a seat on the opposite side of the couch, leaving a healthy distance between her and Holden, taking up as little space as possible.
“Why am I here?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Christian says.
&nb
sp; “Bro, what the fuck,” Holden chimes in.
“No, it’s fine. He’s the only one who’s making any sense to me,” Shayne says.
“You want answers. So do we.”
“So let’s get this shit out on the table then,” Holden suggests, slouching back against the couch and kicking his feet up onto the table in front of him.
“Okay,” Shayne drawls, skepticism lacing her tone as she looks at me. “Why did you tell Holden to get close to me?”
I glare at Holden and his big ass mouth.
“First of all, I never faked it with you,” he says, tossing her a wink, and Shayne blinks, unamused before she stands like she’s going to leave.
“All right, hold up,” he says, blowing out a breath, looking at me. I nod, giving him silent permission to be real with her. It’s been a year, and we still don’t have answers. Our way isn’t working. Might as well try a different tactic.
“A few months ago, we started looking into the day that Danny…” he trails off, still not able to say the words, and clears his throat before he looks up at the ceiling, his head leaning on the back of the couch, knees bouncing. “Something didn’t feel right. We’ve fucked around in these woods and up at the falls our whole lives. There’s no way he fell. And he sure as fuck didn’t kill himself.”
“Even if he wanted to take his life, he wouldn’t do it there,” I point out. “How many times have we all jumped off that cliff? It’s not a deadly fall.” It can be, but it’s far from a sure thing. We’ve jumped off that same cliff since we were twelve. If I were going to take myself out, it would be foolproof.
Shayne nods, her eyes shining with empathy that almost fucking hurts to look at.
“So we start digging into it, right?” Holden says, lifting his head to look at her. “Tried to find the nine-one-one-call. The police report…something. But we don’t get anywhere. Shit’s locked up tighter than Fort Knox.”
Her lips tug into a frown, her eyebrows pinching together. “I thought emergency calls were public record.”
“They’re supposed to be,” I say, impressed that she knew that, but not altogether surprised. “Someone’s going out of their way to make sure it’s sealed.”
“That’s…”
“Suspicious as fuck?” Holden offers.
“Yeah.” She nods her head slowly, seeming slightly dazed by the information. “Is this related to the cops who were looking for you?” she asks, looking over at Holden.
He nods. “We aren’t allowed to get a copy of the police report because it’s supposedly ongoing, but the detective hasn’t done shit. I bashed the fuck out of his car with a baseball bat. Not my finest moment.”
Fucking dumbass.
“Wait, you didn’t have a bat when I picked you up.”
“Dropped it in the woods.”
“Are you kidding? You left a bat behind, probably with your blood on it, after you fled a crime scene. You might as well have left your name and number, Holden. What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking I’m very drunk and I miss my fucking brother and want answers. Next time I’ll call a professional,” he says pointedly. “We don’t all have extensive knowledge about serial killers and how to not get caught.”
Shayne rolls her eyes, but her face softens at his words. “But that still doesn’t answer my question. What do I have to do with any of this? Why don’t you trust me?”
Holden hesitates, not knowing how to go about this one, and Christian remains quiet.
“Because we think we know who did it. Danny had an argument with someone the day before,” I say, leaning back onto the entertainment center that spans the length of the wall and cross my arms, watching her closely for her reaction.
“Okay, and?”
“It was Grey.”
Shayne
“It was Grey.”
“What?” I breathe out the word. Needing to sit down, I drop back onto the couch, trying to make sense of everything I’ve learned in the past few minutes. He never mentioned an argument. “No.” I shake my head. “You don’t understand. Grey was wrecked after Danny… He’s still wrecked.” I lock eyes with Thayer, willing him to believe me. “You have no idea how much it messed him up. He barely speaks to me. He won’t even come home.”
The three of them exchange looks, and I can almost hear their unspoken thoughts. They think Grey’s behavior is coming from a place of guilt.
“I know my brother,” I say defensively. “And even if they did argue, so what? They were best friends. Brothers,” I grind out. “Just because we’re not blood…”
“Relax.” Thayer holds up his palms, approaching me as if I’m a wounded animal.
“We don’t have the facts. This is why we’re trying to fill in the blanks here,” Holden adds. “We need to know what else happened.”
“So you thought I was covering for Grey,” I say, still trying to piece things together. That’s why they turned on me. On all of us.
“Would it be that crazy to assume you’d be loyal to your family?” Thayer asks, coming to a stop in front of me.
“You are my family!” I blurt out, frustrated, before realizing my mistake. “Or…were. Back then.”
“We’re still family,” Holden says, looking over at me with those puppy dog eyes.
A bitter laugh leaves my mouth. “You both treated me like shit.” Christian wasn’t ever particularly vocal about how he felt about me. I got the feeling that he stayed out of it, and as long as he wasn’t going out of his way to make me miserable, that was good enough for me, regardless of how he felt about me. Thayer and Holden, on the other hand…they hurt me. Because I cared for both of them in a way I didn’t care about many other people in my life.
“Families fight.” He shrugs.
Thayer doesn’t echo Holden’s sentiments, but he comes to sit between us on the oversized sofa. I lean my back against the armrest to face them both, wrapping my arms around my bent knees.
“I do have another question,” I say, changing the subject. I have a lot of other questions, but most of them are for Thayer, and I’m sure he made this little family meeting on purpose, knowing I wouldn’t ask him anything about us. “Why did our parents call off the engagement?” One day, things were fine—or as fine as things could be, all things considered. The next, I was told to pack my things.
Holden and Thayer exchange a knowing look.
“What?” I ask, looking between the two of them, feeling slightly on edge. “Tell me.”
“Word on the street is that your mom was having an affair,” Holden says.
I laugh, actually laugh out loud. “Word on the street?” That’s ridiculous. “Which jealous housewife started that rumor?”
“My dad,” Thayer says.
“What?” I frown, not believing that for a second. But then I remember the night I saw her with another man. Was that him? But why wouldn’t she say anything? If she was having a year-long affair, you’d think I’d have been introduced to the guy—or at the very least, aware of his existence. Is this what she’s been hiding?
“Don’t hurt yourself thinking so hard,” Holden quips.
“I’m gonna go pass out,” Christian announces with a yawn, standing. He’s been so silent that I almost forgot he was here.
“What, no sleepover with your boyfriend, Baker?” Holden taunts.
Christian gives him a mocking laugh and moves his wrist, miming jerking off, and then he’s heading upstairs, leaving Holden and Thayer chuckling behind him.
“I should get home.” I stretch my arms above my head, suddenly feeling exhausted. My earlier buzz is long gone, and there’s nothing I want more than to fall into my bed.
“I’ll take you in the morning,” Thayer says. “You can crash here.”
“Uh, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t live here anymore, because it’s weird, because our parents would probably lose their shit…” I tick off the reasons. “Take your
pick.”
“Who cares, no, it’s not, and they won’t find out,” Holden argues each point. “Come on, we’ll put on a movie and have a sleepover in here like old times.”
I narrow my eyes. “We never once did that.”
“Then it’s about time we start.” He jumps up, grabbing some blankets from the back of the sofa and tossing them at me, grabs the remote, then he sprawls out on the blanket that Christian was occupying a minute ago.
I look over at Thayer, trying to read his thoughts. Unsurprisingly, he gives nothing away. “You’ll take me home first thing in the morning?” It’s not like I can’t walk home if it came down to it. I could technically walk home now, if I was up for a twenty-minute, late-night stroll through the woods. Alone.
Thayer gives me a nod, and I sigh loudly. I don’t even know what time it is. When Thayer left me upstairs to get dressed, I collected my shoes and wet clothes from the bathroom floor, rinsed my dress in the sink, then folded and stacked them in the corner of the bathroom, making sure to stash my underwear inside of my dress. After I called Valen to make sure she got home safe and promised to fill her in tomorrow, I tossed my phone on top of my clothes, then walked my half-embarrassed, half-still-turned-on ass in here.
Too tired to argue, I slump back against the cushions, pulling the cream-colored cashmere throw blanket over me, with my knees tucked into my chest.
“Atta girl,” Holden praises, and I detect a hint of excitement in his voice. Like he’s genuinely happy to have me here.
“I can’t promise I’ll stay awake,” I warn.
“Then you won’t mind if I put this on?”
Porn categories fill the screen, and Holden uses his phone to scroll through the options. He’s literally streaming porn from his phone to the TV. I didn’t know that was possible. He clicks on one titled Stepsister Fucked by Horny Brother While Parents are Away.
Tell Me Pretty Lies Page 13