Pretty Lies: A contemporary YA Romance (Astrid Scott Series Book 1)

by Blake Blessing

  “Yes.” Because I was the same. I was stuck and I knew the only way out was to create my own path. No one else cared to help me, so I had to help myself.

  “Then you understand why you can’t keep that picture.” Jonah dipped his head and pulled my hand so I stepped closer to him.

  My heart went out to Jonah. He was going places, and he was going to be something. But he wasn’t there yet. He was still fighting to get out of his nightmare, and I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his path. I’d still take my pictures. But I’d do it another way.

  “I—”

  “Astrid! Is that you?” I jumped and we both spun around to see who had called out to me.

  At first, I didn’t recognize the guy. He had on tight jeans with holes at the knees and a delicate silver chain dangling from his jeans. A black T-Shirt with LOVE ME written in white block letters molded to his muscles as he reached us.

  Oh my gawd. This guy was sexy in a you’d have no regrets over the dirty things I could do to you way.

  “Do I know you?” I wanted to know him.

  “I’m wounded. After all I’ve done for you.” He smirked and pressed both hands to his heart. “You really don’t remember me, jail bait?”

  “Beck!” I gasped. I greedily perused his body as I stepped away from Jonah. He grunted but released me. My guess, he was not pleased to be interrupted. “And I’m eighteen, so I can’t be jail bait.”

  Was that me flirting? I didn’t recognize my own voice, but I kind of liked this side of me.

  Beck smirked and shoved his hands in the pockets of his washed-out jeans. “Everything okay over here? It looked intense.” He eyed Jonah with a hint of distrust.

  “Fine.” I piped up. “What are you doing here at this jail bait party? It doesn’t seem like a place you’d hang out.” I smiled.

  “I was just picking up Andy, my drummer. We have a gig tonight over at the Iron Horse.” He glanced over his shoulder and I followed his line of sight. A similarly dressed guy was standing by a sweet vintage mustang. When he turned around he shot Jonah an indecipherable look. “Why don’t you come with? You can watch me play.” There was no question in any of his words.

  “I don’t know.” I cringed.

  I wanted to go. I wanted to go almost as bad as I wanted to move out. Almost.

  This was a dream experience I was sorely lacking. Go to a concert with a hot guy in the band? I was a live wire trying to justify leaving Ryan here.

  “I’d make sure you get home safe. Scout’s honor.” He held up a hand with his two middle fingers separated. That was a vulgar gesture wasn’t it?

  “Fuck, I’m not going to hurt her. Who do you think I am?” Jonah snapped and pressed against my back.

  Beck held up his hands and smirked. “I didn’t say you’d hurt her. I know her. I also know these parties. Are you saying that you’re going to watch her the entire time and make sure she gets home safe?”

  Jonah wasn’t responsible for me and I didn’t expect him to be, but I wanted to see his reaction.

  He looked like he was in pain, and didn’t know what the right answer was here. That was probably a blow to his ego. He seemed like the kind of uptight guy who had all the answers, and had a strategy ten steps ahead of everyone else.

  “I can’t stay here. I have somewhere to be.” Jonah finally answered and he looked at me in apology. For what, I wasn’t sure.

  “Perfect. Then you can come with me.” Beck beamed triumphantly.

  You know what, I would text Ryan. He wouldn’t care as long as I was safe. Maybe I could get him to bring Pat to the show.

  “I’d love to.” I turned on my camera and deleted the last picture. I held it up so Jonah could see it was gone. While he studied the screen, my eyes lingered on his collarbone and shoulder, where the tattoo was. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about his ink. Would it be some kind of mathematic art to symbolize his love of academia, or something masculine and meaningful to remind himself he wouldn’t always be in his current life?

  “Thank you.” He whispered and reached out to catch my hand for a quick squeeze. As soon as it happened, the brief touch of fingers was over and he was walking back the way he came.

  Jonah had a lot more layers than I thought he had. He was still the chess champ, the perfect guy I knew he was. But he was a little bit more than that, and I was going to find out exactly who he was.

  Beck stepped closer and nodded toward Andy. “Ready?”

  “Yeah, hold on just a second.” I pulled out my phone and typed a quick text to Ryan. The message said delivered but as I waited, he didn’t open it. If I took Beck over to their spot on the patio there was a chance he would talk me out of going. And right now, I wanted nothing more than to go and forget who I was for a little while. My parents were gone tonight and wouldn’t be home until lunchtime tomorrow, so I didn’t want to waste my time as Ryan’s third wheel.

  Shoving the phone back in my pocket, I look at Beck with a grin. “Let’s go.”

  The silence as we walked over to the mustang was a little uncomfortable, but I hadn’t known how to fill it. That’s why my friendship with Ryan worked so well. He filled it for me, and I was only the listening participant eighty percent of the time.

  “Astrid, this is my drummer, Andrew. Andrew, this is Astrid. She’s new around here.” Beck placed a gentle hand on my shoulder.

  Andrew smiled, showing off a dimple and held out his hand. I had to shuffle my camera around to take it because it was still out. “Nice to meet you. You go to SRHS?”

  “I do. Senior this year.” Beck motioned to the car and we took the hint, climbing in before continuing our conversation.

  Andrew got in the back without asking so I could have the front seat. “That’s cool. Me too. I go to the community college part time so I’m only there for two classes in the morning. And one’s a teacher’s aide, so I don’t think that counts.”

  This guy was adorable. He kind of reminded me of a puppy with his friendliness and open expression. He wasn’t closed off or guarded like Rhys or Jonah. Or even like Beck.

  “So what kind of music do you play?” I snapped my seatbelt as Beck pulled away from the curve.

  “Alternative. I guess you could say we also have a touch of emo. We mainly play love songs. The chicks eat it up.” Beck winked at me.

  Andrew snorted. “Yeah, Beck loves to write the sappy stuff.”

  My ears perked up at that. He wrote their music? Now I was even more pumped to not only know the band, but listen to their own original music.

  “That’s really cool.” I nodded to both of them, twisting in my seat a little so I didn’t have to keep craning my neck to talk to Andrew.

  There was that damned silence again. Only this time we had Radiohead playing softly in the background. A few minutes passed before Beck spoke up.

  “So how do you know Jonah?” There was a strange tone in his voice, but I couldn’t quite decide what it meant.

  “School. We bumped into each other—literally—on the first day.” Vague was the way to go. While I might have opened up a little more to Beck, or maybe not, I definitely wasn’t going to spill my secrets with Andrew.

  “It’s not any of my business, but you might want to steer clear of him. And those parties.” He glanced at me with a stern expression.

  Hold up. First, it wasn’t any of his business. And second, he did an amazingly nice thing for me, regardless of why. Although, it still chafed to think that he felt sorry for me. But he was barely even an acquaintance with absolutely zero clout to tout his opinions.

  “You’re right. It’s my business.” I crossed my arms and turned back to stare out the front windshield. It felt like a lecture was coming on and I was in no mood to hear it.

  He sighed. “Okay, I know that came off wrong, and I swear I’m not an ass. You just seem like a nice girl and I want to look out for you.”

  I sneered. “You’re not helping.” So he basically saw me as a little kid.

&nbs
p; “Fuck, all right. I’ll just lay this out, and you can do with it what you will. I won’t mention it again. Deal?” He scrubbed a hand down his face.

  I glanced over my shoulder to get a look at Andrew’s expression, but he was wide-eyed and straight faced. Clearly uncomfortable. He probably hadn’t thought the conversation would turn so quickly when we’d just met.

  “Fine.” I twirled my hand in the air for him to continue.

  “First, those parties. Remy has only started having parties recently, but they’ve been getting wild. Part of the reason why I came to collect Andrew tonight,” his voice dropped in pitch as he stared at the drummer via the rearview mirror.

  Andrew coughed but otherwise stayed quiet.

  “I was at the party. It was harmless. No one bothered me.” Until I snapped that picture, but Beck didn’t need to know that.

  “It’s early. Barely nine-thirty. After ten or so, drugs come out and it gets wild. Fights, hookups, any number of things happen. Go if you want, but at least you know what to expect.” He took a deep breath. “And Jonah. Did you know he was in another school district until a few years ago?”

  I nodded and then realized he couldn’t hear that. “Yes, I knew that.”

  “I went to that school. It was a rough lot. There were a few nice kids, but… you know the term wrong side of the tracks? That was the majority of the families in that district. There’s a lot of motorcycle gangs and druggies. A lot of the kids try to get out, but most never do. And Jonah, he’s from one of the worst families. They’re mixed up in bad stuff. And I don’t want to see you get pulled down with them.”

  He paused, and I soaked it up. Wow. That was so much information, and while a small part of me could appreciate his concern, I felt a lot of it was unfounded. You couldn’t judge someone from what you thought you knew about their family. Look at mine. I was the perfect example of how opposite someone could be from their parents.

  “Thank you for telling me and trying to look out for me,” I said softly. “But, you’re wrong about Jonah. I’ve seen him at school and he’s going to make it out. If anyone does, it will be him.”

  And I believed that. With my whole, beating heart. Only a small part of me was bitter that it was so clearly going to happen for someone else.

  He sighed. “That was my soapbox. Are you ready to have some fun tonight? I did promise you a good time. I’ll give you the full Beck treatment.” A mischievous glint entered his eyes.

  Andrew cackled in the backseat, and the tense vibe evaporated as if it had never existed in our small, enclosed space.

  I checked my phone and there was a text from Ryan saying to enjoy myself and text him when I got home. Now he could have a fun night without trying to babysit me.

  Relaxing into the soft leather seat, I made a promise to myself. Tonight, I would put aside my big ideas of getting out for a normal night as a teenager. I deserved it.

  “I can’t wait.” I laughed.

  About ten minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of the Iron Horse and Beck parked in the back. Honestly, it was scarily dark and ominous back here. It was not someplace I would park without these guys.

  “What’s your band’s name?” I unsnapped my seatbelt and climbed out of the skateboard he called a car.

  “Midnight Marionette.” Andrew said as he climbed out of the back. Good thing he was about my size or else he wouldn’t have fit back there.

  I thought about the name. “So, midnight puppets. Because you perform at night?” That didn’t really make any sense.

  “Maybe someday I’ll tell you,” Beck winked, and butterflies erupted in my stomach.

  I rolled my eyes and stopped at the trunk as he got his guitar out. “Need help with anything?”

  “Nah, the rest of the guys have everything else. I just don’t trust anyone with my baby.” He hugged his guitar to his chest.

  My camera bag was still strapped over my shoulder and an idea hit me. “Do you mind if I snap some pictures when you guys are on stage? I’m trying to work on my photography skills.” I lifted the bag at my side.

  A beautiful smile broke over his face. “Go ahead. You can say you were the first to ever capture our magic while performing.”

  Beck had a magnetism about him and I leaned closer as if I was a lonely planet in his orbit. I stopped myself and wiped the goofy grin off my face. He already thought I was helpless and naïve. No reason to add lovesick puppy to that too.

  “If any turn out decent, I’ll make sure to print them for you.” I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. What was I doing? Was I… gasp… flirting?

  He dipped his head and I could feel the warm fan of his breath over my lips. The minty smell of his gum washed over me. This guy was potent and if I didn’t control myself, my eyes were going to roll back in my head.

  “Thanks, pretty girl.” He whispered.

  “Let’s go guys. We’re going to be late.” Andrew called from the back door.

  I jumped, but Beck just chuckled.

  “Come on, jail bait.” He placed a hand on my lower back as he walked me to the back entrance of the Iron Horse.

  “I like pretty girl much better than jail bait.” I grumbled to myself.

  Beside me, Beck smirked but didn’t turn back my way. I knew because I was watching him out of the corner of my eye like a love-starved lunatic.

  Andrew tugged the door open, and the yellow light falling through did little to hide the grunge caked on the door. This place was dirty and smoky, but it held a special kind of charm.

  We walked down a long hallway, passing stagehands in T-Shirts and giggling girls dressed in miniskirts and band tanks. Beck got more than a few sultry hellos, and he smiled and nodded back.

  Another band must have been performing as their music was loud but faded backstage.

  A thrill of anticipation shot down my spine as I followed Andrew. Already this was an experience like no other, and I hadn’t even done anything except walk inside the building. Soon, we entered a room where there were two more guys standing with beers in their hands, and a chick on each arm.

  My first instinct was to sneer at the cliché scene, but I choked it down. I was the damn cliché tonight with Beck. Oh, that burned to think about, but not nearly enough for me to regret coming here.

  I was going to live it up, damn it.

  “Hey guys,” Andrew chirped as he went to the corner, and started rummaging through a few boxes.

  “Rhett, Will, I have a friend along tonight.” Beck gave me an extra push so I was within reaching distance of these new guys.

  I smiled as they turned my way. Both were dressed a little more rock band than either Beck or Andrew, with spiked hair and leather collars. Both were a few inches taller than me and seemed friendly enough.

  “She your date for the night?” The one closest to me smirked and suddenly I didn’t think they were so friendly anymore.

  “Nah, man. She’s a friend. I promised her a good show and then I’d get her home safe.” Beck threw an arm around my shoulders.

  That stung. I mean, it was true. But I felt like the hot band guy friend zoned me.

  “Your fans aren’t going to like seeing her here. They’ll think you’re off the market.” The same guy laughed.

  Great, Beck was a heartthrob. I kind of knew that already after seeing him tonight. He gave off that bad boy I want to take home to mom and dad vibe. Hopefully, I wouldn’t have to fight off hordes of horny women tonight.

  “Nice to meet you. Will.” The other guy said and held out a hand, dislodging a groupie.

  I shook once. “Astrid.”

  “Rhett,” the first guy and followed suit.

  Again, I took his hand to be polite. “Nice to meet you.”

  Beck laid his guitar case down by a ratty old couch that looked like it had seen a threesome or ten, and came back to me, catching my hand and linking our fingers.

  “I’m going to get Astrid settled. I’ll be right back.”

  “Have f
un, Astrid,” Andrew waved at me as Beck pulled me out of the storage room? Band holding room? It hadn’t been anything special, not like I would have thought a club would have supplied for the band.

  “Is this a real club, like over eighteen, or is this just a coffee shop or something?” I asked to fill the space as we walked down another dank corridor.

  “That’s right, you’re not from here. This is technically a real club and has bouncers at the door. The lines are a little blurred for us since we’re performing. You know, Andrew won’t be eighteen for two more months. The rest of us are legal.” Beck stopped us at a door. The music was so intense, I could practically feel the vibrations through our joined hands as he pushed it open.

  “Like I said at the party, I’m eighteen and I have my ID with me. You won’t have to worry. And I won’t drink. Scout’s honor.” I yelled as we entered the area between the stage.

  Crowds of women gathered by the fence roping off the stage, screaming, dancing, and shaking around sloshing, red cups. They were pressed so tight to the chain-linked fence, it looked like it might fall over at any minute.

  Beck put pressure on the small of my back when I stopped moving forward.

  “What’s wrong?” He dipped his head next to mine.

  “This is really intense, Beck. I don’t think I can be in that crowd by myself.” I shook my head and tried to take a step back, but he caught me with hands to my hips. My breath momentarily sped up, and my skin tingled where his fingers molded to my body.

  “Good thing you aren’t going in that crowd, now isn’t it?” With that, I had the courage to move forward and see where he led me.

  Women started to recognize him, screaming “Beck! Beck!” over and over again, until he acknowledged the crowd with a lifted hand and a fuck me dirty smirk.

  My head spun from soaking in this new reality. The mechanic, the guy with the druggie mom and a kind heart, was a small celebrity here in the club. Or heartthrob based on the amount of horny women throwing themselves at the fence, trying to touch any part of his delectable body.