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

by Blake Blessing

  “I don’t think it’s a good situation. They wouldn’t air that shit in front of others anyway.” And I would know. So did Trinity, even with as much as I tried to shield her. “On the way over, when I mentioned I had a two bedroom, she asked about filling it. She wants away from her house bad.”

  The air kicked on, the low screeching filling the silence and dying off after a minute. By then the shock seemed to wear off and I motioned toward the table. We might as well take advantage of everyone being here.

  The wooden chair creaked when Rhys sat down. If we formed some kind of friendship like it felt we were, I’d need to get a stronger chair for his fat ass.

  “Okay.” I met everyone’s eyes. “What’s her situation at school. Does she have friends? Is she well liked? What’s the deal?”

  “She’s new this year. Doesn’t really talk to anyone, but that Ryan kid. She’s going to have a much harder time with those girls making her life hell because she doesn’t have a lot of people to stand up for her. I don’t even think anyone knew who she was before the rally.” The sneer he wore so well fell away, and real concern shone through.

  Rhys tapped agitated fingers on the table. “I know people didn’t know her. I had a front view of the crowd, and everyone was confused when her name was announced.”

  “Cunts like the girls you described last time don’t go away. They also get angry when anyone tries to interfere with their plans.” I knew that too.

  Rhys cleared his throat and his face scrunched up in a grimace. “I’ll keep working on Trey, since he’s my problem. He’s had a hate-on for her ever since she turned him down the first week of school.”

  “He hit on her?” Jonah’s head jerked back before he bent forward. “That doesn’t even surprise me. But I imagine he hits on a lot of girls that turn him down.” He finished as if Rhys’ reasoning didn’t quite jive.

  Everyone looked to Rhys to see if there was more to this story, but he shook his head.

  “True, but no one else turned him down quite like Astrid. He didn’t like her attitude. Like I said, I’ll deal with him.”

  A smirk threatened to burst free as I thought about sassy Astrid. Good for her. Not a lot of girls could stand up to school jerks like that.

  “What can we do? I mean, me and you, Thatch, we can’t hang out in the high school to protect her from either the cunts or Trey.” Beck worried his lip as his good time guy persona completely leaked out of him into a sad puddle on the floor, leaving behind the caring guy he tried to hide.

  “You can’t. I can. I set it up so I’m tutoring her for the scholarship competition.”

  “Which is next week. So you can protect her for a week.” Jonah raised his brows daring me to object. “I can hang out with her in my free time. Our schedules have us in the same parts of the school at the same time. She’s in the library any time I’m in there.” He was smug as he glanced at Beck. Instead of the reaction he thought he’d get, Beck only nodded. Looked like Beck was putting aside whatever he had against Jonah.

  I doubt he’d give it up for good.

  I also didn’t like that way Jonah brought up the date of the competition. Like I was temporary.

  “I’ll work it out. There’s the final competition later in the year if she wins. And she will.” I was sure of it. She had an eye that wasn’t often seen in high school. Mr. Music had referred to her as an old soul.

  “Why are you here anyway? Don’t you have drugs to run or something like that?” Beck taunted Jonah. And there it was. He made it all of two minutes.

  A deep crimson creeped up Jonah’s neck as he snarled at Beck. “You’d like to think that wouldn’t you. Afraid your mom’s on the client list?”

  Rhys and I exchanged oh shit looks as Beck jumped out of his seat. I shoved him back in his chair with a hand to his chest.

  “You don’t know shit.” Beck spat and tried to stand up again.

  “Beck, man. Stop. Jonah’s trying to help and like it or not, he can help Astrid. Probably more than you can.” It was the truth, but it would cut him.

  He looked up at me with wounded eyes but stayed down this time. What was his deal with Jonah? The guy had to be a few years younger than Beck. Not many ways they could have crossed paths. Especially not with Rockstar Beck and Bookworm Jonah. Nothing about Jonah said drugs of any kind. He was more like pocket protectors and Lord of the Rings.

  “I walked into school with her today. It was an attempt to make a statement, but it didn’t matter. They still came after her.” Rhys broke the tension by getting us back on track.

  “So what, between the three of us, we stay with her as much as we can to protect her?” We could try, but I couldn’t stop the guys today. Maybe now that I know what we were up against I could be more vigilant.

  “That’s great for you guys, but she’s my friend too. I know her better than any of you.” Beck glared at me, daring me to say anything to dispute his claim. I raised my hands. Just because he knew her better didn’t mean she hadn’t wanted me too. She did. Just as much as I wanted her. He witnessed it and hated it.

  “I can take her to school and bring her home.” Beck nodded like it was decided.

  Should I point out that her mom was not happy and she’d probably be grounded? I doubted her parents would be cool with her riding in his mustang, or on the back of his bike. Call me crazy, but I didn’t see it happening.

  “Let’s grab numbers and we can stay up to date on Astrid. That way everyone’s in the loop.” I brought my phone and waited for them to get theirs.

  Everyone complied, even Beck, grudgingly.

  “So that’s it. We stay with Astrid as much as we can?” Jonah asked as he stood.

  Shoving his phone in his back pocket, Rhys said, “There’s nothing else we can do yet. If we hang with her, people will see she has friends. Once we get a feel for how they plan to torment her, then we can talk strategy. But it’s going to take a few days. The twitch bitches never do their own dirty work.”

  I sighed. Revenge was messy work, and from the expressions on all three faces, that’s exactly where their minds had gone. Not that I blamed them, but I had a lot to lose, for me and Trinity. As much as I wanted to help, I might have to take a back seat on that.

  Everyone shuffled to the door, lost in their own thoughts. Beck slapped a hand over the door when Rhys tried to open it.

  “Wait.” Beck turned around and squared his shoulders. “We need to talk about what kind of friend we plan to be to Astrid.” His eyes darted to me before going back to the other two. “I know why I’m helping and what I want. What do you guys want?”

  I stayed silent. I already shared exactly what I wanted. Astrid wasn’t exactly my type, but I was drawn to her. When she looked at me, she had a way of making me feel like I was her hero. Outside of Trinity, I’d never had that and it was addicting. Beck hadn’t liked that answer.

  “What do you want?” Rhys hedged, looking uncomfortable in front of all of us.

  Again, Beck looked at me. “Astrid is a sweet, beautiful girl. A lot different from the ones who usually throw themselves at me. It’s refreshing. I like her. I’d like to see where that leads.”

  Rhys stared at him for a beat then shifting on his feet uncomfortably. “I like her. But I’m helping from a true friend perspective right now. My life is too crazy to want to seriously date anyone.” Regret rang clear in his words. Beck looked slightly relieved, until he continued. “I think you’d have a hard time with her family. Her dad’s a pastor and her mom seems just as stuck up as the women in my family’s circles. No offense, but you aren’t exactly the take home type.”

  The relief slipped, then Beck’s expression completely blanked as he looked at Jonah. He was including him in this discussion? If he was willing to include him, even as little not biting his head off, maybe there was still hope for them.

  Wait. What was I saying? It wasn’t like we were going to all gallop into the sunset, and live happily ever after with a girl that may or may not even li
ke us. I shook the thoughts from my head and focused back on Jonah. After all, I needed to know where my competition was.

  “I barely know her. I can’t answer that. But I can tell you that I can’t stand the group of kids that are targeting her. More than that, I hate to see someone bullied and tore down for no good reason.” He nailed Beck to the door with his gaze.

  No need to wonder who he referred to there.

  Jonah continued. “Astrid and I haven’t really been friends. Not until the rally anyway. And I’ll do everything I can to protect her. As long as it doesn’t jeopardize my future.”

  Beck nodded and so did I. I could sympathize with him. We weren’t like The Hulk over here with buckets of money to burn. We wanted to protect Astrid, but we couldn’t risk ourselves to do it.

  “That’s cool. I don’t think there will be much competition then. I’m the only one with nothing to lose by doing whatever it takes, to take down those cunts.” His smile was ugly. It said more self-deprecating than happy at having little perceived competition.

  As soon as the door shut, I pulled up all their contacts and created a group chat. What should I name it? Astrid’s boys? No that was lame. Astrid’s men? Still lame. Astrid’s protectors. Astrid’s heroes. There wasn’t a great choice. The options were all cheesy so I settled on Astrid’s heroes.

  Beck: cheesy dude

  Rhys: 100 agree

  Jonah: now I feel all special

  What, were they all sitting in their cars texting each other within seeing distance? That was cheesy.

  Oh, fuck. My car was at Astrid’s school. I darted through the door and down the steps but every one of those douche canoes were already gone.

  “Thatch?” Trinity appeared around the corner, a huge grin on her face. “Why do you look like you lost your car and aren’t sure how to get it back?”

  That was Trinity. Always amazingly adept, even when she had no idea how true her words were.

  “Because I did. Do you have time to run me to get it?”

  She rolled her eyes and grinned. “Where did you leave it? At some hookup’s house?” She laughed and I cringed.

  “Don’t speak those things. It makes me uncomfortable.” I shoved her away from me playfully, before throwing my arm around her shoulder. “My car’s at Silver Ranch High School.”

  “That’s random, what’s at Silver Ranch? Oh God, you’re picking up high school girls now? Gross.” She did a face palm, but I wasn’t laughing.

  If she only knew how close she was to the truth with her comment. I wasn’t about to admit it though.

  She unlocked her pride and joy, swiping a loving hand over the hood before she got in. She’d been working at the Bonnie Brae ice cream shop, saving up. One of the main reasons she thought I walked on water was because I helped her along by putting down two grand on this baby. It was straight out of my grants, but she needed a way to escape if she needed it.

  “One of my professors asked me to tutor a student that has a lot of potential.” I didn’t bother telling her about the scholarship. She was the furthest thing from artsy fartsy. Trinity excelled at science, and dreamed of being a nurse her whole life. Unlike me, the weird son who would probably end up using an art degree to work in a daycare or at some place where they painted and drank wine. Not really the winning career someone aspired to. But I loved what I loved, and painting was where my passion lay. Maybe she would return the favor and support me when she got a killer nursing job. One could hope.

  “Oh cool. How did you leave your car there though?”

  Shit, I had forgotten about that part. When in doubt, the truth was the best option. Add in a little hope that she wouldn’t read too much into it, and it would sound legit. “I was walking out with the girl I’m tutoring and some punk ass kids decided it would be a good idea to dump a cooler over her head with fish and dank river water. I drove her car here with some of her friends here so she could shower and escape the school for a bit. They guys just left and I forgot my car wasn’t here.” Why did I sound like I was explaining myself? I didn’t have to do that. Trinity sure didn’t expect it, but it still felt weird.

  Fire lit her eyes as she looked away. “I hate people like that. I’m sorry that happened to her.”

  “Me too. I gave her a pair of your sweats.” I reached up and grabbed the handle, rotating it back and forth.

  “Yeah, that’s cool. I would have offered if I’d been here.”

  Astrid didn’t have a lot of friends, but she’d like Trinity. I could connect them and give her another reason to be around. Another reason to not feel like the world was against her. That would make me happy, like I’d given her some hope that there were actually good people in the world.

  I pushed the seat back to give myself legroom. She must cart around middle schoolers. Justin Bieber blared through the speakers when she started the car, and I had to rethink my idea. Astrid wasn’t the Belieber type. Actually, that might be a good thing. She could help my sister find better listening options than boy bands.

  “How’s Dad? He been bothering you?”

  Trinity’s lips pressed tight and she hesitated. That was never a good sign. She only hesitated when it got bad.

  “You’re staying with me the next week. If he’s drinking and letting his buddies in the house then you have no business being there.”

  I’d never tell Trinity, but I purposely stayed close to take care of her. I could have gone out of state just as cheap—or not cheap—as DU was. And saved a hell of a lot more money. My apartment was shit but even shit in the city was expensive.

  “I planned on it.” Her hands gripped the steering wheel so tight and my heart clenched.

  Astrid wasn’t the only one with a bad home life. I got out, and nothing could drag me back. If it broke me, I’d make sure Trinity got out too.

  Damn, Astrid had issues. I liked her, she was different. But did I want to take on someone else’s problems too? Rhys might have the right idea, just help her until she gets free of the bullies. Then be distant friends. My sanity would thank me for it.

  Both Mother Dearest and Dad were home. This could be a really good thing, or it could be a really bad thing. In the past, my infractions were all imaginary, a product of my crazy mother’s imagination. Now my mother had a real reason to be angry, and I doubt she’d listen to the reason even though it was a good one.

  Dad was the wildcard. Ninety-five percent of the time, he never interfered in her punishments or tongue lashings. After the moment we shared a few weeks ago, he might wade in. At least long enough for me to share what happened.

  The curtain moved, so I took that as a cue to hurry the heck up. If she was waiting by the window, I didn’t need to hand her any more ammunition by taking my sweet time. I already drove as slow as I could without getting pulled over for breaking the speed limit backwards. Ryan called three times during my drive, but I didn’t have the right state of mind to assuage his totally founded fears of what happened, or indulge his gossip addiction.

  Sweat coated my palms and my traitorous heart beat an ugly staccato in my chest. It was time, and as much as I didn’t want to face them, I needed to get this confrontation over with.

  The door opened as my foot hit the chipper welcome mat, my mother practically vibrated with rage as I squeezed past her. I would have stayed on the porch until she stepped back, but knowing her, it would have infuriated her more that I was trying to air our business in the neighborhood.

  “So where were you that it took you so long to come home? The school’s a ten-minute car ride.” She followed me as I went to the kitchen. The dining room table had always been where we had our serious discussions, so not to prolong our time together, I headed directly to my seat.

  Dad wasn’t here. This was a mistake. I should have gone directly to his office to make him listen. With only Mother Dearest I wouldn’t get a word in between her spewing.

  I played the one golden card I could. She wasn’t as hot on them as dad had been, but it was worth t
rying. “I went to one of Rhys’ friends place to change, I—"

  “You skipped with boys?” She nearly shouted. “You had sex didn’t you? You had sex with those boys and you’re going to end up pregnant, like a whore.” Her upper lip curled in distaste as she drew out the word whore.

  I jumped up as she advanced. She was unpredictable right now and I couldn’t let her stand over me. “Mom, something happened at school. I—”

  Her hand cracked across my cheek and my head whipped to the side. I had the strange urge to spit. Would there be blood?

  She grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

  “I’ve asked one thing of you. Keep your reputation clean. Don’t ruin ours. This is a new town and you’re jeopardizing your father’s position in church by acting like a righteous slut.” Spit dotted my face as she punctuated each word.

  “Mom!” I screamed as loud as I could, hoping Dad would hear.

  Sadly, no footsteps made it my way.

  “Keep your voice down,” she rattled me again.

  A knock came at the front door. Holy hell, was that a beloved blessing or a veiled curse? Tears filled my eyes, but not from relief or emotional pain. The sting in my cheek was too close to my eye not to react. She’d want me to stay here. That way no one would get a look at her handy work.

  Another knock.

  Mother Dearest looked torn. Finally, she released me and walked calmly to the door, the picture of the perfect Mary Sue. A breeze slid through the room when she opened the door. I couldn’t see her from my spot and I knew better than to chance someone seeing me.

  “Mrs. Scott, hi. Is Mr. Scott home?” Rhys’ deep voice paralyzed me.

  What was he doing here? I told her I was with him! She was going to grill him and find out that I told the truth, or believe I lied if he tried to cover for me.

  “I’m afraid now isn’t a good time. I’ll let him know you stopped by.” The door shuffled over the floor as she tried to close it, but then the sound suddenly stopped.

  “I’m afraid that isn’t going to work. You both need to know what happened at school today.”