Lie to Me (Sexual Misconduct Volume III) (3 page)

Avery

I pulled into the driveway just as Ellie walked up the steps and opened the door. She stood in the doorway, waiting for me, but I wasn’t interested in small talk. I needed to find Xander, look him in the eye, and see if he’d lie to my face.

Ellie frowned as I strolled past
her with purpose. I heard her shut the door but didn’t look back. Xander was in my kitchen. He looked up, surprised to see me back so soon.

“
We need to talk. Now!” I tilted my head toward the bedroom and continued down the hall. What a fucked-up mess. I didn’t really even know where to begin. I paced my room and wondered why the hell he wasn’t at my heels.

Does
he not understand
now
?

I stalked
back into the kitchen and found Xander whispering aggressively with Ellie. They stood unusually close for two people who rarely spoke to each other, and Ellie kept shaking her head as Xander appeared to accuse her of something. Finally, Ellie spoke loud enough for me to hear.

“
I didn’t tell her.”

“
Didn’t tell me what?” I snapped.

They jumped apart
and stared at me, wide-eyed and baffled.

Guilty
looks?

“
Ellie?”

Utter silence
emanated from them both. No one ever wanted to speak up. I was always the one who had to pry things out. My profession seeped into every aspect of my life.

“
Okay, I already know I can’t trust him. But you too?”

X
ander flinched, a hurt look crossing his face.

Ellie
gave me a glassy-eyed look. “I’m sorry, Avery.”

“
What’s going on?”

Ellie was cho
ked up. Xander took one look at her, sighed, then confessed. “I knew Ellie before we met.”

I looked
at him suspiciously, then back at Ellie. “How?”

“
I never wanted you to find out.” Ellie sniffled. “I didn’t want you to be disappointed in me.”

“
What, Ellie? Just tell me.” Someone needed to come clean because the atmosphere was littered with lies, and I could almost smell the deceit in the air.

“
I’ve been stripping at a club downtown.” She glanced down at her hands.

What
is happening?
It was the day from hell.

And w
hy was I so fucking emotional? I didn’t like to feel out of control. I couldn’t even describe all the feeling that raged inside of me, and it just kept adding up.

“
Stripping? Why would you be doing that?” Everything was falling apart. I woke up this morning happy, jubilant even, and now…

Now this.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to make it on my own.” She wiped her eyes as she continued to hang her head.

“
You don’t need to do that! You know I’d do anything for you. Give you anything.” My voice shook with my warring sentiments—betrayal, anger, and hurt.

“
I know, I know. I’m sorry.”

Xander put
a hand on Ellie’s shoulder to comfort her and she shrugged it off.

“
And you?” I pointed at Xander. “You knew. You saw her there.”

He nodded, his lips forming a tight
, straight line.

“
And you said nothing,” I deadpanned.

“It was before we met. Before I knew she was
your
Ellie,” he explained.

“
There’s more,” Ellie whispered.

X
ander glanced at her like he wanted her to shut the fuck up, but I wasn’t going to have any more secrets.

“
Talk, Ellie.” I kept my eye trained on Xander to make sure he wasn’t trying to intimidate her.

“
I went home with one of the men at the club. It was stupid, but I thought he was different.” Ellie looked at Xander, and he had this devastated look on his face. Plus, he refused to look at me again.

I watched the
looks that passed between them and prayed I was wrong. I hunched over, holding my stomach as a sick wave threatened my breakfast.

“
You slept with her,” I whispered. Not a question. The truth was written all over their faces.

“
I’m sorry, Avery. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how,
”
Ellie said remorsefully.

“
Listen,” Xander said as he approached me. He reached out to touch me, and I shoved him away. “It was before we met. Actually, she gave me your card, but I had no idea about the connection between you.”

I shook my
head vigorously because I couldn’t stomach any more. “Get out.”

“
Avery, please. Let’s talk about this.”

“
No! Get the fuck out!” I stormed into the room, grabbed the clothes he’d placed in one of my drawers, and tossed them at him as he entered the room.

“
Baby, I swear I never meant to hurt you.”

“
You’re a liar!” He took a step back when he realized how dangerously upset I was. I took a calming breath. Tears threatened, but I defeated them, and looked into his eyes.

“
I talked to Ian today.” My voice was calmer than I thought possible, considering the anger raging through me.

He took another step back, furrowing
his brows.

“
You didn’t just… fuck Ellie. You killed my parents.”

He froze, the color draining from his face as his mouth flapped open and shut. Speechless.

“Lie to me again, Xander.” I closed the distance between us, stomping over all his things. “Look me in the eye and lie to me. Tell me you weren’t driving the car that crashed into my parents’.”

He squeezed his
eyes shut, then covered his face with his hands.

“
Go.” It came out as a whispered sob. Before I completely broke down in front of him, I rushed out of the room, grabbed my keys, and left the house of liars behind.

Avery

Matthew opened the door in a pair of black briefs, his brows furrowed and his hair astray. He looked like home. He was the only person left in my life who was genuine. He took one look at my face, reached out, and pulled me into a hug. The moment his arms wrapped around me, I crumpled against him.

I
’d spent the day driving aimlessly and somehow ended up here at nightfall. I kept it together until this point, but I knew I could let my shield down here because Matthew would protect me.

“
What happened, sweetie?” He pushed the door shut and led me into his living room.

“
Everyone’s a fucking liar.” I wiped unshed tears from my eyes with my fingers. Matthew pushed my hair behind my ears, then rubbed along my jawline.

“
Xander… Ellie… liars.
”
I dropped onto the couch, and he sat down facing me, his arm slung over the back of the couch.

“
Okay… you’re talking in code. It’s like scattered pieces of a puzzle. What happened?”

“
Xander killed my parents.” His hand dropped away from my face and confusion clouded his features.

“
He what?”

“
It wasn’t some drunken woman who slammed her car into my parents. It was her drunken husband, and the whole thing was covered up by the mayor—
his
dad
.”

Matt’s
eyes widened and he covered his mouth with a hand. “Oh my God.” His words were a bit muffled by his fingers. “He told you this?”

“
No, Ian did. Apparently, he overheard Xander and Susan talking about it all.”

“
This is unbelievable. What are the odds?” His eyes darted away from me, a faraway look crossing them as he thought about it.

“
The odds have never been on my side. It’s the universe’s sick joke on me. I finally open up my heart and give it to the man who’d caused the complete shutdown to begin with.”

Matt opened his mouth
, then shut it. Now he was utterly speechless—and in the eight years I’d known him, this was the first time I’d seen that happen.

I leaned my head back against the couch and groaned.
“Fuck my life.”

Matt
rose from his seat, left the room, and came back with a tumbler filled with golden fluid. The kind of liquid that wiped your memory for a few hours and made you feel like shit in the morning.

“
Drink it or you’ll never sleep tonight.” He shoved the glass into my hand.

I hesitantly took the cup
and sipped on it. The burn was fierce. I grimaced as it went down my throat.

“
What does Ellie have to do with any of this?”

“
Hmm…” I snickered at how ridiculously worse this situation got. “She slept with Xander.”

I tipped
the glass and took two huge gulps, hoping to wash away the bitter taste those words left in my mouth. I coughed as it went down.

“
She what? No—no, Avery… She’d never do that to you.”

“
Of course she wouldn’t. It happened before I met him, and they decided I didn’t need to know.”

“
Oh…” He twisted his lips and furrowed his brows.

“
Conspiring manipulative fucks,” I mumbled as I downed the rest of my drink. The room spun, the cold pit that had begun forming in my gut turned warm, and my eyelids grew heavy.

Mat filled up my cup a couple times
, and watched as I became too dazed to think anymore, and then he said, “Let’s get you to bed.”

“
Umm-hmm.” I swayed as I took the familiar path to Matt’s bedroom. I pulled my shirt over my head and stripped off my skirt, tossing them along the hallway. I stumbled as I kicked off my shoes, and Matt was there to catch me. Matt was always there to catch me. I flopped down face first on his bed and passed out instantly.

*~*~*

I woke with a start, wheezing for air and drowning in panic. The dream of the last time I saw my parents—the hallucinatory flashes of them burning as the flames disintegrated their car —had stopped years ago. I gasped, covering my face with my hands.

“
Take a deep breath. You’re fine. I’m here for you.” Matthew’s words calmed me down. I breathed in deeply and let it out slowly. The way I remembered from when I was younger and had panic attacks. It felt like the life was being pulled out of me, and I had to force myself to relax.

After ten minutes
, I was able to get my heartbeat to decelerate, and my lungs didn’t feel so constricted. Matthew gave me a glass of water, which I sipped before setting it down on the nightstand. I dropped back onto the pillow and sighed, staring up at the ceiling.

“
You okay?” Matthews’s voice interrupted my daydream.

I nodded
, then turned my head toward him. He smiled at me, but all I saw was the pity all over his face. I really fucking hated that look. I reached out and pushed a stray blond lock from his eye. He’d grown his hair back, and he looked exactly like he did when we were together. I folded my hands together on the pillow and rested my head on them, facing Matt.

“
Is this weird?” I asked as we faced each other.

He shook his head.
“Oddly familiar.”

“
Yeah.” This was safe. This was the reason I’d started dating Matt. There wasn’t that all-consuming feeling that blinded me from reality. Matt wouldn’t betray me, and on the off chance he did, it wouldn’t devastate me the way Xander’s lies had.

I scooted forward.
I was an emotional wreck, a bit hazy from the alcohol, and anxious from the panic attack. I was completely unhinged, and that probably explained why one minute I was feeling dejected and the next I was sticking my tongue into Matt’s mouth.

Matt
’s kisses were everything I remembered. Soft, sweet, and enjoyable. He moaned, then shifted to lie on top of me, and I spread my legs to accommodate him. I caught myself several times missing the sparks and the desperate ache that came when I was with Xander, but I brushed it aside. This was safer. This was what I needed right now.

“
Why are you stopping?” I demanded as Matt slowly pulled back and gave me a look of apology.

He
sat back on his haunches, ran a hand over his face, and said, “We can’t do this.”

I grabbed
him by the edge of his briefs and tried to pull him back down, but he didn’t budge. “Yes, we can,” I insisted. I sat up and unsnapped my bra and threw it across the room. “We used to do this all the time, and we were pretty good at it.”

I ran my fingers
into his hair and kissed him. He grabbed hold of both my hands and yanked them away and broke the kiss.

“
Please, Matt… You want to… I know you do.”

His hold loosened, and I freed my hands from his grasp. I took his
palm and placed it on my breast, leaned in, and he allowed me to kiss him again. I cupped his erection with one hand and began to pull down his briefs with the other. Before I got them fully down, he grabbed my hands again and pushed me down on the bed, pinning me there.

He
wanted me. I felt his erection pressed between my legs, and the look on his face told me he was fighting off his urge to let go and just fuck me.

“
Why can’t you just make me forget?” I whined.

“
Because we both know
this
will never make you forget.” He sighed.

“
You’re the person I should be with, Matt. I trust you. I can always come to you, and you don’t manipulate every. Fucking. Thing.”

“
If love were simple, we’d be married, have a couple kids, and run our office together. But, baby, we both know we’re not meant to be. We’re best friends, and we make each other comfortable.”

“
Exactly.” I tried to break free, but his hold was solid.

“
But it’s not that fiery, all-consuming feeling we crave. When we’re together, the world doesn’t melt away, Avery. I won’t let you use me to betray your heart, because you may never forgive yourself… or me.”

“
Ugh! That’s what I get for trying to rebound with a psychiatrist. You think too much.” I pouted and he laughed at me.

“
It’s what makes our friendship so great. I think for you when your brain suddenly shuts down. And you do the same for me.” He leaned over and left a soft, lingering kiss on my lips before jumping off the bed.

“
Get dressed and go home,” he said as he grabbed a fresh towel and walked toward the bathroom. “I’ll be torturing myself with a frigid shower.”

“
Sorry, Matty,” I yelled after him.

“
If I didn’t love you so much, I’d be fucking the shit out of you right now,” he said before shutting the door.

“
So you only fuck women you
don’t
love? Twisted fuck,” I mumbled under my breath.

“
I heard that!” Matt yelled from the bathroom.

“
You were meant to.” I went in search of my clothes and slowly got dressed. It was early morning, and I hoped I’d find my house empty by the time I got there.

Matt was still in the shower when I was ready to leave
, so I poked my head into the bathroom. “See you later, Matt.”

“
Uh-huh,” he half growled, half groaned.

“
Wait… are you… are you beating one out?” I stifled a giggle with the back of my hand.

“
Shut the fuck up! I’m almost there.”

I laughed at his gritty tone
.

H
e pulled the corner of the curtain and poked his head out. “Does our friendship have no boundaries?”

“
Not when you’re best friends with your ex.” I chuckled as I walked down the hallway, grabbed my keys, and left his apartment.