Love, Lies, and Deception Read online

  I left him standing there and practically ran down the steps so I could catch up to Kristian. When I looked back at Alec, he was watching me like a hawk would stalk its prey. It had been a long time since I felt like I’d been desired, and one thing was for sure … it was intoxicating.

  Kristian’s strides were clipped and fast as we walked to our first class. The dewy morning was a tad chilly, probably in the mid-fifties, but there were students out and about with shorts and short sleeve shirts on.

  When I first got here, I thought those people were crazy, but now I was used to doing the same thing. Actually, by the afternoon there would be girls lying out in their bikinis, soaking up the sun. Kristian always enjoyed that part of the day. Speaking of Kristian, I was trying desperately to keep up with him, but he was leaving me behind.

  “Kristian, slow down,” I snapped.

  “We’re late,” he grumbled, picking up his pace even more. Clenching my teeth, I sucked it up and pumped my legs faster so that I was dead even with him.

  “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t call you to tell you I was going to be late.”

  He scoffed. “Yeah, I bet. I’m sure you were too busy.”

  Fuming, I grabbed his arm and pulled him to a halt, but he wouldn’t look at me. “Enough!” I yelled, standing in his path. “Kristian, look at me.” Patiently, I waited for him to look at me and eventually he did. Pursing his lips, his cool gray eyes finally met mine and I sighed. “What’s going on with you? This isn’t like us, we never fight. Is it Alec, me, or your girlfriend maybe?”

  Kristian’s jaw clenched and his hands were in tight fists. Huffing, he threw them up in the air. “I don’t know, Marissa. All of it maybe? First, Natalie is being distant and last night when I was on the phone with her I heard a dude in the background. Needless to say, it pissed me off and we got in a fight. She said she needs time to think, and I basically called her a cheating whore. Second, I don’t like Alec at all. Something about him doesn’t settle well with me. Not to mention, you’ve only been around him for one night and you’re already sleeping with him!”

  “Hey,” I snapped. “First off, we didn’t sleep together. He could’ve taken advantage of me, but he didn’t. The only reason why he stayed was because something happened last night and I didn’t want to be alone. I was a little freaked out.”

  Kristian’s eyes instantly softened. “Mare, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, what happened last night?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know exactly. Alec and I were … talking, and all of a sudden I heard this loud banging from up above us. When we made it upstairs there was no one there, but it looked like someone had taken a baseball bat to the wall. I’m surprised you didn’t notice it.”

  Kristian sighed and put his arm protectively around me. “You should’ve called me. I would have come by right away. Why didn’t you call the police?”

  “I don’t know … it didn’t look like anyone was breaking in, so I didn’t think the police would be necessary. If I was alone, you know you would’ve been the first person I called, but since Alec was there I didn’t want to bother you.”

  “You will never be a bother to me, Mare,” Kristian replied. He squeezed my shoulder and guided me down the path, weaving in and out of the other students that were scrambling to get to their classes. The walk was comforting, but deep down I felt a little unsettled. Should I have called the police last night?

  Wrapping my arm around Kristian’s waist, I leaned into him as we walked. “Kristian, I’m really sorry about Natalie. I wish I could’ve been there for you last night. What are you going to do about her? Did you two break up for good?”

  “I don’t know.” He sighed. “I just don’t know. She won’t answer my calls and I refuse to be a stalker and fly up to New York to find her.”

  “Yeah, don’t do that,” I advised truthfully. “Although, it could be considered a grand gesture to do that, but it could also definitely backfire. Maybe you should give her a couple of days and see if she comes around.”

  “Yeah, maybe you’re right. Well, how about this. Let’s get our friends together and go out tonight. We can blow off study group and make up for it tomorrow. Dancing and having a few drinks is what I need to get my mind off of her. What do ya say?”

  My thoughts went straight to Alec and what I was supposed to be doing tonight instead of going to the bar. My insides were conflicted, but I knew my friend needed me more. Kristian had been by my side unconditionally and I needed to let him know I’d be there for him. Maybe I would ask Alec to join us.

  “Sounds great. I’ll tell Emily when I see her later,” I insisted. “I’m only going to drink a couple of drinks and that’s it. My head’s still pounding from last night’s festivities.”

  “Yeah, and about that. Next time, call me and I’ll come stay with you. You don’t need to be drunk and let guys you hardly know stay in your place,” he scolded. “There’s no telling what could’ve happened.”

  If only he knew.

  During lunch, Kristian had a meeting with his forensics professor about a referral letter, so I ended up eating my turkey sandwich alone. I waved at a few of my study group partners who were lounging in the grass, but I really wanted to be by myself so I could get a little extra research time in since I wasn’t going to be studying later that night. I can’t wait until I don’t have to study anymore.

  As soon as I opened my book, a picture message came through on my phone. I didn’t recognize the number, so I was curious to see what it was. One time I had this lady sending me pictures of her posing and showing me things I really didn’t want to see. I kindly texted her back and said she had the wrong number. It was very interesting.

  My phone took forever to load, but when it did I was staring at a picture of me, sitting under the tree eating my turkey sandwich. It was just taken.

  “What the …” I said, staring down at my phone, but Alec’s laugh quickly caught my attention.

  “That look on your face was priceless.”

  Smiling, I set down my phone and glanced up at him. He was dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans with specks of mud all over his boots and pants. Wow, even dirty he looks amazing.

  “You know, I would say you taking my picture like that was kind of creepy, but then I’m sure you knew that. You’re not stalking me, are you?” I asked teasingly. He could stalk me all he wants, I almost said, but of course I wasn’t going to.

  He laughed. “No, I’m not stalking you. I had to go to the hardware store for my aunt and I thought I’d walk through campus in the hopes of finding you here.” He paused and bit his lip, furrowing his brow. “Well, now that I think about it, that does kind of make me sound stalkerish.”

  Teasing, I nodded and said, “Just a little bit. How did you get my number anyway? I don’t remember ever giving it to you.”

  He grinned wickedly. “You didn’t, but I have my ways.”

  “Okay, yeah, you’ve been officially named a stalker. Emily might ban you from coming over if she finds out.”

  Alec knelt down in the grass and sat down beside me, chuckling. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to come to my place every night then. I can’t seem to get you out of my head.”

  I agreed wholeheartedly, and mumbled, “Trust me, I know the feeling.”

  Alec looked down at his watch and sighed. “Okay, I have to go. I’ll see you later though.” He leaned over and kissed me quickly on the lips before standing up. “Study hard, babe.”

  He smiled at me one last time before turning around and walking away. I couldn’t believe he went out of his way to see me. My stomach fluttered and my heart skipped around like crazy, but then I remembered that I couldn’t go to his place that night; I had to go to the bar and I hadn’t told him yet. Dammit, this sucks, I groaned. I’ll just have to come up with another plan.

  “You know what today is don’t you, Mare?” Kristian asked, whispering behind my ear. Yes, I do, I wanted to hiss back, but couldn’t. Our professor of Molecular Biology
, Ms. Tatum, quirked an eyebrow at our exchange and smirked. She knew what we were doing.

  She was the nicest professor I’d had over the past five years, and also the oldest; she was probably in her early seventies. Her vibrancy and lust for teaching made her seem younger, but she knew her stuff and I’d enjoyed her class immensely. She was a short and stout woman with straight, gray hair down to her shoulders. Today she was wearing an ASU T-shirt with a pair of khaki pants.

  In a way, she sort of reminded me of my grandmother, and I made a mental note to visit her when I decided to go home. We had one minute left before our period ended, and I was bouncing in my seat, ready to go.

  Once the time hit two o’clock we were free. As everyone gathered their belongings, Ms. Tatum announced, “All right everyone, I hope you copied down all the notes. There’ll be a test on Friday, and as you all know your lab will count for a percentage of the grade. Study hard, and have a good afternoon.”

  “What do you think our scores are?” Kristian asked, packing up his books. He sounded so excited, and it was a definite change of pace from his mood that morning.

  Ms. Tatum had her head down, smiling at the opened bright blue notebook on her desk. It was mine and Kristian’s. “I don’t know. It all depends on what we made on our thesis papers we turned in.”

  When all the students cleared out of the room, Kristian and I approached Ms. Tatum excitedly. Ever since he and I became friends, our competitive streaks in our classes probably hit an all new unhealthy level, but we enjoyed battling it out. If it wasn’t for him pushing me there was no way I’d be doing as good on my tests as I had.

  The professor peered up at us with her green, beady eyes. “Okay you two. Are you ready for your bi-weekly report?” she asked jubilantly.

  I nodded. “Yes, definitely, and please tell me I’m in the lead. I’m getting sick of hearing Kristian brag all the damn time. Plus, I don’t want to owe him two hundred dollars.”

  Kristian elbowed me in the side. “Hey, I can’t help it that I’m smarter. Also, if you recall correctly, I did come back with a counteroffer to the money.”

  Yeah, his counteroffer was running around the campus naked. That would’ve gotten me kicked out of school, or worse. When he requested that, I immediately agreed to the money. “Yeah, and that counteroffer would’ve landed me in jail,” I muttered nonsensically, rolling my eyes.

  Ms. Tatum gaped at us, and suddenly laughed. “You two are a breath of fresh air. Although, I am curious to know what your terms were, Mr. Mabe, but I think it would be wise if I didn’t know.” She paused to look down at the notebook. “Okay, let’s see …” she began, “… Kristian, your average as of right now is 97.68, and Marissa, yours is 97.42. Your thesis brought you up higher, Ms. Chase, and if you score better than Mr. Holden on the exam then you’re sure to win. Good job, by the way.”

  I squealed while Kristian crossed his arms over his chest, pretending to be angry. He was proud of me even though I was getting close to his score. “I’m almost there, Kris. Those two hundred dollars will make a nice deposit for my new apartment at the beach.”

  “Speaking of which,” Ms. Tatum cut in. “Your thesis was amazing, Marissa. I didn’t know you wanted to continue on to marine biology. Where exactly are you going to go?”

  I beamed. “Wilmington, Ms. Tatum. I’ll be attending the University of Wilmington in the fall. My friend Emily and I will be moving there this summer. I didn’t really decide to do this until a couple of months ago.”

  “I’m impressed,” Ms. Tatum murmured. “I know a lot of you young folk like to get out into the world and make money instead of going to school.”

  I shrugged. “I just want to explore all my options before I get too old to go back.”

  She chuckled. “Smart girl, Ms. Chase.” She turned to Kristian and asked, “So what are you going to do after you graduate, Kristian? I know you’re studying forensics, which by the way is an interesting field. You have to have a strong stomach to endure seeing the things you’ll be seeing, my dear.”

  Yes, you do, I thought to myself. There was no way in hell I could look at dead bodies or go to crime scenes to gather evidence. I loved watching television shows like Criminal Minds, but there wasn’t a single bone in my body that would want to do any of that type of research.

  Kristian snorted arrogantly and brushed off his shoulders. “Trust me,” he remarked, smiling wolfishly, “solving problems is my specialty.”

  Ms. Tatum grinned. “I have no doubt. Where will you look for jobs after you graduate?”

  Kristian snuck a sideways glance at me and smirked. “Oh, I don’t know. I might try my luck on the coast. This one here …” he said, putting his arm around my shoulder, “… would be lost without me.”

  Gasping, I squealed in his ear and glanced up at him. “Are you serious? You’re coming to Wilmington?”

  He squeezed my shoulder. “That’s right,” he muttered, beaming down at me.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  He grinned. “Because I wanted it to be a surprise. Justin is thinking about it, too.”

  I wanted to laugh, cry, and jump around at the same time. I was more than happy that Emily was moving in with me, but having Justin and Kristian there was going to be phenomenal. They were all like my family, and now I wouldn’t have to miss them because they’d be right there with me. Our fun didn’t have to come to an end.

  Ms. Tatum closed the notebook and set it aside. “Well, good luck you two. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. I haven’t had students with your optimism and spunk in a long time. It’s refreshing.”

  “Thank you, Ms. Tatum,” Kristian and I said in unison before strolling out of her class, which was the last one for the day.

  As soon as we were out the door, I smacked Kristian on the arm. “How could you not tell me you were thinking about moving to Wilmington? That’s so wrong in so many ways.”

  Rubbing his reddened arm, he chuckled. “I’ve been trying to find a job and I think I might have one. I go for an interview in a couple of weeks. I didn’t really want to say anything until I worked out all the kinks.”

  “What does your family say about it?” I asked, knowing very well they probably didn’t care. I’d never met them, but from the information I’d gathered from Kristian over the years, it seemed like they gave him money just to get him out of their hair. He was an only child, and I couldn’t imagine how lonely that must’ve been growing up. I usually never brought up his parents, but I was curious to know if he told them.

  “Did you really just ask that?” Kristian asked dryly. “Marissa, I haven’t talked to my parents in months. I get a check deposited in my account every month from them and that’s it.”

  “What about Natalie? If you two work things out, what do you think she’ll say?”

  “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “She once mentioned me moving to New York to be with her after graduation, but I can’t stand it up there. If things work out between us, I’m sure she’ll be pissed when I tell her.”

  “I’m sorry, Kris. I know it had to be a hard decision,” I said softly.

  “It was,” he admitted. “But I’m happy with it. You, Justin, and Emily have been my family for the past couple of years. I’m not ready to give that up just yet.”

  Linking my arm through his, we walked slowly, enjoying the cool spring air that blew across our skin. I would miss the cooler, dry weather of the mountains, but I also couldn’t wait for the heat.

  “My thoughts exactly,” I exclaimed.

  From the sound coming from the apartment complex, it appeared Emily was rocking out to our usual band. I could hear it before I even started up the three flights of steps. Kristian had separated from me to walk to his house, which was only a couple of blocks away.

  I always thought he was lucky to be able to afford his own house, but then I found out how he got his money; a monthly check from parents that didn’t give a shit. Even though my parents were gone, I was lucky
enough to have had ones that loved and cared for me.

  As I started up the stairs, I was half-tempted to knock on Alec’s door since I saw that his motorcycle was in its usual spot out in the parking lot. However, I decided against it so I could tell Emily of our evening plans to go to the bar.

  Alec must’ve gotten done at his aunt’s house early, because normally I would hear the roaring of his motorcycle pulling into the parking lot every day around five o’clock. Surely that wasn’t the only mode of transportation he had, but over the past two years that was all I’d ever seen him drive.

  Motorcycles were fascinating, but they scared me. Alec’s silver crotch rocket no doubt could fly, and I’d seen the way he handled it on the road when I saw him around, but I would probably shit myself if he rode like that with me on the back.

  I was perfectly happy being grounded in my bright green Jeep Wrangler. For years, I had always wanted one and my parent’s had forbidden it, but out of the blue one year they surprised me with it. Unfortunately, it was the same year they died.

  When I need time to myself, or when I just want to get away, I’d always ride on the parkway in my Jeep with the top off. My favorite time to cruise the parkway was in the fall when all the leaves would be changing colors.

  When I opened the door to the apartment, Emily was in the living room folding a load of laundry and singing the worst off beat tune I’d ever heard her sing. Emily was many things: beautiful, athletic, amazing at chess, a piano player, a wonderful dancer, but a singer … no.

  “How about you let the radio do the singing? My ears are starting to bleed,” I yelled out over the blare of the music.

  Emily huffed and threw a sock at me before going to her room and turning off the music. “I was just getting pumped up for tonight. It’s been forever since we’ve been out to the bar, and for your information, not all of us had singing lessons as a kid.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, and not all of us had piano lessons as a kid. How did you already find out where we were going?”