Misguided Truths: Part Two (Misjudged #4)

by Sarah Elizabeth

  “What are you doing with that?” I lean over, resting my hands on the counter when I see Rach doing something weird with some wire thing.

  “Mixing it this way helps to make the sauce stay nice and light,” she answers, a smile creeping over her face before she raises her eyebrows up high. “Instead of the stodgy mess you were quite happy to serve up.” Ouch. Alright, I get it. I’m not the world’s greatest chef, but surely I should get some kinda credit for at least trying to cook for my woman.

  I walk through to the living room and outside, making sure that everything’s set out and ready for when she arrives. It’s almost seven o’clock already, and I had Zach go pick her up just over an hour ago. She could arrive at any time, so you could say that I’m feeling a little bit anxious about Rach still being here. They haven’t officially met yet, and I’m not so sure if it’s gonna be weird when I finally introduce the two of them to each other. Do you think I’m being ridiculous? Maybe. But, Rach is the older sister of my late girlfriend, and I dunno, I guess I don’t want either of them to feel uncomfortable. Rach has asked me a couple of times about meeting her, but I don’t think Alexis is ready yet. It’s gonna be weird for her, I know it is.

  I step out onto the decking, and stuff my hands in my pants pockets as I look out over the lake. It’s not in any way as nice as mine and Alexis’, but then I might just be thinking this because the one right outside the campus holds special memories for me. You know what I haven’t done yet? I still haven’t thanked Rach for insisting that I go to the ball that night. That night changed my whole life.

  “Okay, I’ve set the timer,” I turn around when I hear Rach speaking from behind me, and I see her leaning up against the doorway. “When the bells sounds out then it’s good to go. You don’t need to do anything else. I think that even you can manage to serve the food onto plates, right?” She asks, cocking her head to the side, a slight smile etching over her face. If I didn’t love this woman as much as I do, then I think that I’d have something to say to her for mocking me in this way. Of course I can serve food onto plates. What? She thinks that I’m that undomesticated?

  “Thanks, Rach,” I tell her, mirroring her smile before turning back around to look back out over the water. “You don’t know how much it means to me that you wanna protect Alexis from being poisoned from all of my efforts and hard work.” I snicker, and I hear her let out a laugh.

  “I’d better get going before she gets here.” She tells me, and I swing back around to face her as she walks toward me.

  I glance at my watch again and nod, “Yeah you’d better, she’ll be arriving any minute.”

  “I love you, Brandon,” she says, leaning in and kissing me on the cheek. I wrap my arms around her, and keep them there as she pulls back away a little. “Get your name cleared, and then everything can get back to how it should be.”

  “I love you, too,” I tell her back. “And, that’s been my number one intention all along.”

  I follow Rach back inside, and walk her out the front. Her cab is already outside waiting for her, and I watch as she climbs inside before blowing me a kiss through the open window. She’s awesome, and I don’t know if I would’ve gotten through all of this without her by my side. I head through to the kitchen to grab a bottle of wine from out of the refrigerator, and I see Alexis standing by the door through the window. The wine can wait, the lady cannot.

  Jogging over to open the door, I see the surprise in her eyes when she looks my way, “Hey,” I say with a smile, taking a look behind her. “Where’s Zach?”

  “He, um … he said he didn’t want to interrupt anything,” she answers, and as she slips out of her jacket, I grab a hold of her case and bring it inside. Yep, Zach’s a pretty awesome dude, too. He’s staying over with Rach while Alexis is here with me so we can have some alone time. You wanna know what I think? I think that even though I don’t have a mom and dad anymore, I still have the best family a guy could ask for. Rach and Zach are all the family I’ll ever want or need. “How has your day been?”

  I take her jacket, and go to hang it up on one of the hooks just down the hallway, letting out a deep contented sigh as I take a hold of her hand and lead her through to the main room, “Now that you’re here, it just got a million times better, let’s put it that way.”

  “Why did something happen?”

  “Apart from going out of my mind from missing you and wanting you here with me? No,” I answer her as a wide smile crosses over my mouth when my eyes rove over her. My girlfriend, ladies and gents. My girlfriend is the sexiest and most beautiful woman to ever walk on this earth. And, you’re gonna be surprised to hear me say this, I know you are, but the dress she’s wearing isn’t displaying any boobies at all. Nope. And, I still appreciate what I’m seeing. Impressed? Yeah, I thought you might be. “You look fucking amazing.”

  I step forward and place my hands lightly on her waist, noticing her cheeks starting to turn a slight shade of pink. She really needs to learn how to take a compliment.

  Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!

  “I’ll be right back!” I tell her when I hear the oven sounding out from the kitchen, and head straight through to grab the trays out. “You have got to be fucking kidding me.” I close my eyes and dump the tray on the counter. I’m sure as hell it’s not supposed to look like that. “Fuck. Fuck. Motherfucking fuck.” She told me to take the food out when the oven sounded, and I did. She gave me one set of instructions to follow, but somehow it’s still managed to look like it’s been thrown over a barbeque for at least a couple of hours. Alright, well, it could be worse. I mean, it’s not like it’s on fire or anything, and maybe I can get away with telling her that it’s supposed to look like that. Yeah. Yeah, it can be charcoaled chicken risotto with huge black pieces floating around in the sauce. Huh.

  “It smells delicious,” I hear Alexis say from behind me, and she’s right, it does. It just doesn’t look as nice as it smells. I glance over my shoulder, and see her heading toward me. I give her a smile, and think that I can definitely pull the whole charcoaled thing off. “I didn’t realize you were such a good cook!” She really has no fucking idea.

  “Beautiful, I intend to surprise you every day for the rest of my life.” I wink, and turn myself around, moving her hair behind her shoulder before leaning in to kiss her on the neck. I think that I might actually get away with the dinner thing.

  I go to pour the both of us some wine, and tell Alexis to go and take a seat while I serve everything up. While Rach was taking care of the food that I’ve managed to pretty much destroy, I set up the table outside. We have candles, wine, flowers. Everything ready to make tonight as perfect as it possibly can be.

  Alright, we’re good to go. I grab our plates and carry them through the table outside. Alexis smiles when I place her dish down in front of her, and I take a gulp of wine before I sit down to dig into the food. I try not to make it obvious that I’m watching her, but I really wanna see her face when she takes the first bite. Why? Well, if I don’t see her then it’s likely she’s gonna lie and tell me that it tastes good, when I know that it most probably doesn’t.

  She lifts the fork up to her lips, and I watch as she gently eases the food inside her mouth. She throws me a smile, and I see her go to take a hold of her wine glass, “Mmm … this is good,” she says, and I keep watching her as she chews the piece of chicken, her mouth starting to twist at the sides. “It’s … it’s really good!” She swallows, and takes another large gulp of the wine. Huh, maybe I was just imagining things. Of course it’s gonna be good, I did everything that Rach told me to do.

  I pull my seat closer toward the table, and grab a hold of my fork before stabbing at a piece of the chicken. Oh. Yeah, no. She lied. She just fucking lied to me. She thinks this tastes good? She’s crazy. Completely crazy. Tonight was supposed to be perfect, but she hasn’t been here for more than a half an hour and I’ve already managed to screw it up. We don’t say anything else for a little while, until I’ve had en
ough of watching her play around with the now cold food that’s sitting in front of her. I’ve been watching her, and I’ve tasted it for myself. She’s had two mouthfuls. Two!

  I toss my fork down on the table, and push my seat back out so I have enough room to stand, “Brandon, really, it’s fine.” No, no it’s not.

  Clearing our plates, I head back through to the kitchen and start emptying the food trays into the trash. Once I’m done, I slump myself down on one of the bar stools, feeling more than frustrated, “You need to eat, Alexis.” I tell her as soon as I realize that she’s followed me in here. I rest my chin in my hands, and watch as she walks over to grab a hold of the phone.

  “Let’s order a takeout!” Sure, rub in it why don’t you? And the best boyfriend of the year award goes to … anybody, but me. “Brandon, it wasn’t your fault that the oven miraculously decided to switch itself up to a higher setting.”

  “I followed every guideline set out,” I mumble under my breath. “Everything she told me to—” And, I think I’ve just said too much. I risk a glance over in her direction, and wince when I see her crossing her arms over her chest while cocking her head to the side. Yep, I think I’m in trouble now.

  “A-hem, what?” She raises her eyebrows and comes over to stand beside me.

  Oh, hell. Well, at least she can’t blame me for how it turned out now, “Shit!” I laugh when I see the look of amusement in her eyes, and shake my head. “Alright, I’m busted.” I admit, and stand, closing my eyes and hanging my head down low. She got me. I lied. I didn’t do any of this.

  “You didn’t cook all of this yourself?” She asks accusingly, though I think both she and I know that I didn’t. I shake my head again, offer her a smile, and I see a small smile of her own now starting to play over her lips.

  “I had some help, but my intentions were good, I promise!” And, they were. You know this, I know this. Now all she has to do is know that I tried. She starts laughing at me, and grabs a hold of a cloth from off of the side before throwing it right at me.

  “Who helped you?” Yep, it’s time to fess up.

  Is she gonna go weird when I tell her about Rach? Well, I guess I’m about to find out, “Rachael, Holly’s sister,” I answer, and though I expected her face to fall some, it doesn’t. “She left just before you arrived. I kinda don’t do the whole cooking thing.”

  “If it had have turned out, how would I say this … less burnt, would you have told me you’d gotten someone to come and cook the dinner for us?” Huh.

  “It’s, er, it’s highly unlikely that I would have. So, um … no.” Well, would you have? No, I didn’t think so.

  “I admire your honesty. Well, your eventual honesty anyway,” she smiles, and reaches over to grab her wine before taking a seat beside me.

  She admires my honestly. So, while we’re sharing here, maybe I should tell her exactly what it is that I admire about her, “And, I, Alexis, admire your … how would I put this …?” I snicker, and then let my eyes roam over her. Yep, this is an easy one. “Your boobies. Yep, I think I kinda fell in love with your boobies!” What? Well, what else did you expect me to say? She taps my arm playfully, and leans over to place a kiss on my cheek. I twist around, and grab her by the waist, pulling her over to me until she’s standing in-between my legs. “I’m so fucking happy that you’re here with me, Alexis.” I whisper, and she runs her fingers up through my hair, keeping her gaze aimed directly into mine. I could’ve lost her, but she’s here. You know what? I’m gonna marry this girl. Not yet, but one day. Yeah, I have no doubts on this. I’m never gonna let her go.

  “You are?” She asks, my hands wandering over her body and around to her back. Where is it? It’s gotta be around here somewher—oh, there it is. I need to show her how much she means to me. Words? Words aren’t merely enough. I slide the zipper in-between my fingers, and gently lower it down, her dress becoming looser from her body. “Time for dessert already?” She asks, but I think she already knows the answer to that question.

  “Most definitely time for dessert.” I stand up, turn her around, and lean in closer, smelling her hair. This woman right here? She’s perfection at its very finest. She lifts her arms, and I slide the dress over her head, swallowing hard when it slips through my fingers and down to the floor.

  “Brandon, shouldn’t we go somewhere a little more private?” I can hear her anxiety, but she really doesn’t have anything to worry about. Sure, back at the campus you need to make sure the doors are closed and the drapes are drawn closed, but out here is totally different to back there.

  “Beautiful, there’s no one around for miles, and to be honest, I don’t think I can wait any longer to be inside you.” I speak lightly into her ear, brushing my fingers around her waist, lowering them until I can feel her special place in my hands. Damn, I feel like I’ve been waiting a lifetime to have her this close to me again.

  I slide my fingers over her, and when she lets out a moan, I dip one of them inside her, only the one time. It’s not my fingers that belong in there. They’re not gonna be able to tell her exactly what and how I feel about her. Oh, she’s ready for me, and feeling how wet she is already, I let out a growl and pull her up hard against me. I’ve just felt how excited she is for me, I think it’s only fair to return the favor.

  I reach down and unfasten my pants, brushing my dick against her sweet ass as I take a hold of her waist, turning her around until she’s resting her hands on the counter in front of us. I trace my fingers lightly over her spine with one hand, and grip her shoulder with the other, sliding myself along her wetness a couple of times before pushing myself inside. Fuck.

  “Damn you feel so fucking good, beautiful,” I groan, pushing myself deeper inside, with one hand still gripping at her shoulder, while clutching her waist tightly with the other.

  When she stands a little straighter, I move my hand from her shoulder, wrapping it around her neck while plunging harder and deeper inside with each thrust, “Brandon.” I hear her moan, and run my other hand over her waist until I have her breast in my hand. She lets out another moan, and I thrust again, and again, over and over when I hear her screaming my name, her legs trembling as she finds her release. There’s no better sound than this. Hearing her come because of the pleasure I’ve caused her to feel.

  As she tightens around me, I grip my hands on her waist again, not once slowing down when I feel my dick swell, and then I explode inside her, “Fuck Alexis!” I growl, finally slowly my movements as I rest my body over hers.

  We’re both struggling to gain control over our breathing, and I trail soft kisses over her neck and shoulders, making the most of having her back in my arms. “Brandon!” She shouts, wriggling against me until she’s no longer beneath me. “Brandon there’s someone out there!”

  “What?” I lift my head, my eyebrows furrowing when I see the expression over her face. Her grin was wide just a second ago, but now she’s looking completely freaked out over something.

  “There’s someone out there!” She reaches for her dress, and then I hear her. I snap my head toward the window, and then grab my pants, fastening them back up as I head down the hallway and outside the front door. She wouldn’t have freaked out the way she just did if she wasn’t being serious.

  I’ve walked around the whole place, but I don’t see anybody out here. It’s dark, I know this, but I would’ve at least heard footsteps or something. But, nothing. I’ve been out here for about twenty minutes already, and I’ve checked the garage, all around the outside of the cabin, and I even walked to the end of the track.

  Alexis is standing on the top step of the porch, holding her cell phone in her hand, her arms wrapped firmly around herself. I shake my head, and notice her eyes dart around before I usher her back inside and toward the kitchen.

  “Here,” I say, offering her another glass of wine. “Alexis, I looked everywhere.” I say again, but even me telling her this hasn’t helped to calm her down any.

  “Brandon, I saw som
eone out there! When I turned around, I saw someone standing by the window and looking right in!” My eyebrows knit tightly together, and I try and think about this for a second. I take a hold of her drink when she almost spills it down herself. Yeah, that’s how bad her hands are still shaking, but she’s refusing to hand it back to me.

  “I just don’t understand why someone would be out there. I mean, yes, our sex is fucking hot, no one needs to tell me that, I experience it first hand, trust me, I know! But, they have this kinda thing on cable, or at a rental store. Why don’t they just go and buy a copy?”

  “Why can’t you take this more seriously?” Yeah, alright, she’s not appreciating the way I’m trying to make light of the situation so much, I get that from the scowl she’s just thrown my way, and from hearing the sound of her wine glass hitting the counter as she just slammed it down. “You do understand why we’re even here, don’t you?”

  “But nobody knows we’re here, Alexis!” I follow her out the room, and she stops abruptly before turning back around.

  “Where did you put my case?”

  “It’s in our room,” I tell her, and wrap my arm around her shoulder while directing her toward the bedroom we’ll be sleeping in. It’s the one at the back of the cabin. The view of the lake from there is amazing. I thought she might appreciate seeing it when she opens her eyes in the morning. “Alexis, come on, please?” I don’t want our night to be ruined just because she thinks she saw something. She stops by the door, and I hear her letting out a sigh.

  “I was scared, Brandon. What if it was the one who’s after you?” You see, and this is exactly why I wanted to change the conversation to something else about fifteen minutes ago. Do I think that it could be the people who are after me? I have no idea, but all I know is that whatever or whoever was out there, have completely fucked our night. One. Can we not have just one night when things just go, I dunno, right?

  I lean forward, and kiss her on the temple before placing her case down on the floor so I can push the door open, and then grab a hold of it again before carrying it over to the bed. Am I worried that they’re here, watching us? Yeah, all the time. But, there’s no way I wanna worry her, and they don’t know that I’m here, so the only times I’m concerned about this is when I go and visit her at campus. But, I’m always careful when I go there because the last thing I wanna do is put Alexis in any more danger.