Practice to Deceive

by Olivia Evans

  I spun on my heel and strolled over to the elevators, opening my phone and pulling up her name on the screen as I came to a stop beside her. I started typing a text I obviously had no intention of sending.

  “Brennan?” I jerked my head in her direction.

  “Skylar,” I said, feigning surprise.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m here to have lunch with my dad. I was just about to text you to see if you wanted to hang out later since you took off so quickly this morning.” I waved my phone in front of her so she could see her name on the screen. “Are you sick or something?” I sounded concerned, even though I wasn’t since I knew she was here because of the man with her. However, I wasn’t going to let on I’d overhead that. Said man cleared his throat, causing both of us to snap our eyes to him.

  “Skylar, are you going to introduce me to your friend?” he asked with a smirk.

  She darted her gaze between us. It was at that moment I realized just how much of an asshole I’d become, because I was really enjoying watching her squirm.

  “Uh, yeah. Dad, this is Brennan. Brennan, this is my dad, Martin.” Her father. That made sense. I smiled and stuck out my hand to shake his.

  “Brennan Dixon. Nice to meet you, sir,” I said like the upstanding gentleman I wasn’t. Skylar whipped her head in my direction, her eyes wide. I furrowed my brow and mouthed “What?” She stared at me for a moment before turning her attention back to her father. I noticed him watching us with a hint of curiosity before introducing himself.

  “Agent Griffin, or Martin, depending on how much I like you.” His smile looked so much like Skylar’s, it was uncanny.

  “Ah, that explains it.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Skylar and her aim with a gun. I wondered where that came from, but it makes sense she would know how to shoot since her dad is in law enforcement.” I felt a little smug that I’d finally figured something out about this damn girl.

  “You got her shooting at you already?” He joked as the elevator doors slid open.

  Skylar rolled her eyes. “Well, this was great. C’mon, Dad. We’re going to be late.”

  It was then I noticed his walker. How the hell had I missed that? She turned to me with a small smile on her face. “Do you want me to call you when I’m done?”

  I shrugged and stepped onto the elevator, earning a sideways glance from her. “I told you I was here to have lunch with my dad.” I motioned toward the buttons on the wall. “What floor?”

  “Seven,” she answered warily.

  “What do you know? Me too.” I grinned and pressed the button for the seventh floor.

  “Your dad is in physical therapy?”

  “No, he’s working. I told him I’d meet him here.” I had no idea where he was, but looking for him on the seventh floor was as good a place as any.

  “Your dad’s a doctor?” Martin asked, sounding impressed. I noticed Skylar was staring at me as well. Guess I failed to mention that before.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “What about you? Do you plan on following in his footsteps?”

  I smirked. With what I’d just found out about him, I was interested to see her face when I answered. “No, sir. Criminal justice. Forensic science, to be exact.” I watched Martin nod in approval from the corner of my eye, but my attention was on Skylar, who was gaping at me like I’d just said I was going to become a priest or some shit. The elevator doors opened on the seventh floor, and we all filed out.

  “Skylar, why don’t you get lunch while I meet with the doctor?” Martin said, giving her a pointed stare.

  “What? No. I’m coming with you.”

  “I’m sure Brennan wouldn’t mind keeping you company. Would you, son?” He sounded so hopeful, it almost made me laugh. It was obvious he wanted to get rid of her while he met with the doctor. I could understand why after the way she rode his ass downstairs. Honestly, I really did mind. I was here to meet my dad and wasn’t interested in introducing them. That was all I needed. Of course, instead of voicing that, I smiled and shook my head, such a nice fucking guy.

  “Of course not. Come on, Skylar,” I goaded. “Give your dad a break. Plus, you did run out on me this morning.” She narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t happy about being pawned off by her own father, but she finally relented and looked at him.

  “You sure?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. I seem to keep interrupting your plans lately. First, showing up at your place early a couple weekends ago, and now this morning, apparently.” He grimaced, his expression apologetic. What did he mean by that? A couple weekends ago? Was that when—

  “Stop it. You did no such thing. Now, go see your doctor. I’ll be back before you’re done,” she said, cutting off my train of thought. Martin stuck out his hand and grasped mine firmly.

  “It was good to meet you, Brennan. You ever have any questions about fieldwork, have Skylar give you my number.”

  “Absolutely. It was good to meet you as well.”

  Skylar shook her head but had a smile on her face. “Well, let’s go. I need to be fed.” She tugged my sleeve, pulling me forward to the elevators. Once we were inside, she cocked her head and peeked up at me.

  “You sure you’re not stalking me?”

  “What’s with you and stalking?” I moved to face her. “I think you like that shit. You want me to stalk you, don’t you?” I stepped closer and pushed her against the elevator wall.

  “What’s with you and trapping me against walls?” she mimicked, raising her arms and resting them over my shoulders. “I think you like that shit. You want to trap me, don’t you?” She was grinning and so was I, but for completely different reasons.

  “You have no idea.” She really didn’t. I couldn’t wait to trap her, expose her, because when I did, it meant Matt would be devastated and I could be done with them both.

  My face began to twist with anger. I quickly dipped my head to her neck so I could school my features. I wasn’t going to get her to fuck me by sneering at her. I let my nose skim across her neck, imagining she was one of the girls I’d seen on campus earlier, someone who wasn’t cheating on her boyfriend. Just a random girl with Skylar’s hot body that I currently had pressed against the wall of an elevator, surrounded by mirrors. I cut my eyes to the side, watching as I pushed against her fully. She balled her hands into fists behind my head as I lowered my lips to her neck and brushed them against her skin.

  “Oh,” someone gasped behind me. We jerked apart, looking in the direction of the noise. The elevator doors were open, and an older woman stood outside the doors, gaping at us. I cleared my throat and hooked my pinkie around Skylar’s, pulling her behind me.

  “Sorry,” we mumbled at the same time, causing us to laugh.

  “So,” she coaxed, rolling her wrist. I looked down at her with a sly smile. I might have eye-fucked her a little bit too.

  “Yes?” I took two steps before my arm pulled back because my pinkie was still wrapped around hers and she had stopped walking. I turned to the side, our arms stretched out between us as she just stood there. What the fuck was she doing?

  “Hey.” I tightened my grip and tugged her forward. “What’s the matter with you?”

  She snapped her eyes to mine. She looked…startled?

  “Nothing,” she lied, falling into step with me. I knew the look on her face. She looked exactly like those girls eyeing me on campus earlier. Trap, trap, trap.

  “Your dad. I thought you were meeting your dad for lunch, but you didn’t even look for him.”

  “Shit. I forgot I was supposed to be looking for him.” I pulled out my phone and saw I had a text.

  Asked to assist in an emergency surgery. I’m sorry, son. Call you later. -Love, Dad

  I held my phone out to Skylar, who leaned over and read the text, smiling.

  “Lucky me,” she chuckled, her usual smart-mouth tone absent.

  “Lucky you.” I pushed open the door to the café and let her walk inside
in front of me, like a gentleman. I may not have been one, but I could fake it like a pro. She moved ahead, my arm outstretched because we still had our damn pinkies linked. We ordered our food and found a table in the back, away from the few people eating.

  “You know, I totally get you majoring in forensic science,” she said. I sat back in my chair, taking a sip of Coke.

  “Oh yeah? Why is that?”

  “Because you always seem to be analyzing everything. It’s kind of intense. I’m sure that’ll be helpful when you pick your next victim to stalk,” she joked.

  I leaned toward her, my forearms resting on the table as I lowered my voice. “I’m pretty content with my current prey,” I murmured. “I think you may have ruined me for any future victims.”

  She cracked a smile and licked her lips. “So, I’m sacrificing myself to save women from being stalked by you in the future?”

  I nodded.

  “I feel like I’m depriving them.”

  “Look at it more like you’re redirecting my skills to other areas. Instead, I can focus on catching killers, hired guns who shoot like snipers.” I gave her a pointed look, remembering how she lit my ass up in laser tag. Her face fell, and she leaned back from the table. What just happened?

  “What’s the matter?” I asked, actually giving a shit that she looked upset. I’d only ever seen her turned on or full of snark, but this was different.

  “Dad,” she whispered. I furrowed my brow, trying to figure out what he had to do with this, when she began speaking. “He was an agent involved a drug bust the DEA had been coordinating for months. Apparently, some big-time meth manufacturers got the bright idea that moving to a smaller town for their operation would help them fly under the radar. Dad was there for the raid and helped make the arrests. It got a lot of news coverage up here.” She took a sip of her drink and sat quietly for a second.

  I knew exactly what she was talking about. It happened a little over a year ago. The entire house had to be contained and demolished because it posed health risks to the surrounding neighbors. The guys arrested had over half a million dollars’ worth of meth and cash in the house. Their trial was… My heart sank as realization dawned on me.

  “One of the guys arrested went on trial this past April. He had a lot of associates who didn’t want to see him in prison. Dad was scheduled to testify on the third day. He didn’t even see it coming.” She sounded so far away, her eyes distant, like she was somewhere else entirely.

  “They shot him in the back, right on the steps of the courthouse. No one saw the shooter, the investigators said they were probably in one of the buildings across the street. When he woke in the hospital a couple days later, he was paralyzed from the waist down.” She drew in a ragged breath to continue, but all I wanted was for her to stop.

  I didn’t need to hear anymore. I’d seen the news reports. Local DEA agent gunned down before testimony against a drug lord. I didn’t want to know the details from a personal perspective. But it didn’t really matter what I wanted, because I would sound like the biggest asshole in the world if I told her to stop talking. This was about something she had no control over, something that happened to her father. Getting caught cheating on her boyfriend was avoidable; she was digging that hole all on her own.

  “The doctors had already repaired the damage to his spinal cord when they removed the bullet, but they were unsure if he would ever walk again. But Dad is so stubborn,” she chuckled. “He said there was no way he was pissing in a bag for the rest of his life.”

  I cracked a grin at that; he didn’t seem like the type to take shit lying down. Anyone could tell he had that spark, just like his daughter.

  “A quarter of an inch to the right and his spinal cord would have been completely severed. He told them it was a quarter-inch to the left and not right for a reason and to get his damn physical therapy sessions set up now.” She had lowered her voice and grumbled the last part, imitating his tone.

  “Anyway, as you can see, his stubbornness won out. I still had about two months of spring semester left in Austin, so my cousin Grace and her boyfriend Preston volunteered to come up until I was done with school. They ended up really liking it here and decided to stay. I came up as soon as I finished the semester, and as they say, the rest is history.”

  “Damn,” I exhaled. “That must have been hard having something like that happen to your dad. At least you’ve made friends here, though, right? People you’re close to?” I wanted to see her reaction; it was the closest I’d ever come to asking her outright if she had other people in her life here.

  She looked down at her hands, twisting her fingers. “Getting away from Austin was the only good part about any of this.” The way she said it made it seem like her father wasn’t the sole reason she left Austin.

  “I’ve met some people here, and they’ve been great. It’s just…”

  And there it was. Guilt. It was written all over her face as plain as day. Goddamn it.

  “Just what?” There was no mistaking the edge to my voice, and by the way her eyes snapped to mine, it didn’t go unnoticed.

  “Nothing,” she mumbled, looking at her watch. “Shit, Dad should be done now. I better go.” She looked at our untouched food and frowned. Fuck if I had an appetite now.

  “Yeah, I need to head out too.” I stood from the chair and grabbed my tray, tossing the food in the trash.

  “You still want to hang out later?” she asked, throwing away her food as well. After the conversation we’d just had, the last thing I wanted to do was hang out with her. I felt terrible about her dad; I didn’t need that messing with my head. Coupled with the memory of the expression on her face when I’d asked if she had anyone she was close to made me want to put some distance between us.

  “Of course I want to hang out later,” I lied, stepping closer to her and wrapping my arms around her waist. “You still owe me a date.”

  “I do owe you a date,” she agreed. I leaned down and kissed her cheek before stepping back.

  “Call me later?”

  “Yup.” She grinned then moved for the elevators. I stood watching her, a smile on my face until the door slid shut, cutting off my view of her. I reached into my pocket and yanked out my phone, dialing Jared’s number.

  “Sup?”

  “I need a drink. Meet me at Duchess in thirty?” I needed to blow off some steam before talking to Skylar later. I needed to stay on my game. I needed the last hour never to have happened.

  “Dude, it’s not even two.”

  “And?” I barked.

  “See you in thirty.”

  October 10, 2015

  My date with Skylar went exactly as planned. I took her to the EMP, dropped the innuendos, bit back all the smartass things I wanted to say, and made myself appear vulnerable. I told her things about my family, some true, others not so much. Not that it mattered, because it worked. She stopped being so goddamn defensive and relaxed. Because that was what I needed. For her to relax, for her to trust me.

  October 21, 2015

  Rachel was almost arrested for assault today. She came home and found Terri waiting outside our apartment. It would have been comical if the situation weren’t so fucked up. Terri wanted to talk. Wanted to apologize. Wanted to know who the redhead was she kept seeing me with. My first thought was to call Skylar, make a joke, tell her I wasn’t the only one stalking her. But then I’d have to explain, and there was no fucking way that was happening. Did Terri ever see Matt? Had she seen him and Skylar together as well? What would she do if she did? The last thing I needed was for Terri to fuck everything up.

  October 29, 2015

  Halloween weekend. Parties everywhere. Jared wanted to go out, which wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was that Skylar did too. She was still sketchy and MIA, but a lot less now. What did that mean? Why wouldn’t she be with Matt this weekend? Did they have a fight? Was he working, so she was forced to make other plans? Things had been different lately. I needed to find out w
hat was going on, but first, I needed to figure out how.

  A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right. ~Thomas Paine

  November 2015

  “What are you doing? Stop that!” Skylar shrieked, batting my hand away.

  “Are you scared?” I whispered against her ear. She scowled, her face pinched so tight she looked like a lemon. It was cute. Sort of. Of course, that could have been the five rum and Cokes talking.

  “I picked out the movie, remember?” she shot back, reaching for her glass and tipping it back.

  “And you have white-knuckled my leg for the past thirty minutes. I mean, if you wanted to cop a feel, you didn’t have to put on a scary movie as an excuse. You’re more than welcome to grope me.”

  She rolled her eyes before focusing on the movie again. I’d thought about her reasons for wanting to hang out on Halloween until I felt like my head was going to explode. In the end, I did what I had to do. I remembered my goal, why I was doing this, why I was with her. Blowing her off was the exact opposite of what I needed to do. It wasn’t an easy decision, though. Fighting the temptation of going out with Jared, hitting a bar off campus, one of the dozens hosting costume parties where there would be masks, anonymity…pussy, lots and lots of pussy, had been a real struggle. The truth was, between jacking off and Skylar giving me constant blue balls, I was ready to explode.

  Considering I was going to die from those blue balls, things worked out better than I’d expected. Drew ended up having to work, so Rachel decided to go to her friend’s parents’ house and hand out candy to the neighborhood kids. Which was how Skylar and I ended up drinking rum and watching The Ring.

  She shoved her body into my side, her breasts pressing against my arm, her hand tightening on my leg again. I didn’t even attempt to hold back my groan. She was going to kill me.

  “Seriously, Skylar, I can’t be held responsible for my actions if you don’t quit touching me.” I meant that shit too. She cut her gaze to me, and I swear to God, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she were possessed by Lucifer from the devilish look in her eyes.