Page 14 of A Lesson in Deceit (Mystic Riegan Duet #1)

Riley

I ’d ignored River’s text, my thoughts a frantic mess of get out of here and head to your dad’s office building you idiot and did you really get talked down to by your boyfriend’s brother ?

Corrin had flown past me on the way to her next class and I’d kept my head down when I’d walked by Asher’s desk on my way out.

I stood in front of the building that housed my father’s office, staring up at it.

I tried to picture him coming here, happy and prepared to be the best advocate for students as he could.

Those images blurred together into what it looked like minutes before his fall happened.

I could never piece it together perfectly because none of it made sense.

I didn’t go inside but decided to circle around to the window that he’d supposedly fallen out of.

Students paid me no attention as they went inside and others walked past like they had more important things to do.

I looked up, squinting to see the window on the fifth floor.

It had already been patched up with new glass as if nothing ever happened.

I backed up a bit, looking around, wondering if this was where he landed.

My mom spared me all of the minute details when it came to his death, but at this point I would rather have every single piece of nauseatingly heartbreaking information than miss out on anything.

I looked around, only seeing a few students sitting on some benches a few feet away and moved my backpack so I could pull out the folded-up police report. I kept it close to my face, roaming my eyes over the information.

He was found on his back, dead at the scene.

The time he was found was— eight o’clock at night?

I racked my brain trying to remember the night before the police showed up.

I remembered him leaving, telling me he had some work to do at the school in the afternoon.

I thought it had been annoying since the university had just ended its spring term, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around something that would keep him that long.

I frowned but looked back over the police report.

The officer had reported that my dad smelled like alcohol and that they’d found open bottles of vodka and scotch in his office.

He didn’t even like fucking scotch. There were no fingerprints or signs of a struggle, so of course they took the easy way out and claimed he was the culprit of his own death.

Pressing my lips together, I looked further down the page when a flash of reflecting light hit my eyes.

I blinked, putting my hand up to block it.

I shoved the paper back in my bag, walking over to the grass that surrounded the building.

I glanced up at the sun and back down to the ground.

I turned slightly so my shadow wasn’t in the way and that speckle of light shined again.

I zeroed in on its location, reaching down and running my hand through the grass.

A tiny sting struck my fingertip, as if I’d been cut and pulled back a small fraction.

I pressed my lips together repeating my motions but snatching up the object that had broken skin.

I examined the small piece of glass that sat perfectly in the middle of my palm. Dark red lightly splattered part of it, which I assumed was dried blood, but I noticed a dusting of dark blue at one of the edges.

Opening up the front part of my backpack, I dropped it inside.

“What the hell are you doing?” A deep voice that I thought I could avoid for the next day and a half sounded behind me.

I stood up, turning around a little too quickly. Asher’s eyebrows were raised as he kept a hand on the strap of his messenger bag.

“Nothing.”

He ran his tongue along his front teeth. “It looks like something, or are we going to start off the semester by lying?”

“I—I’m not…I’m not lying. What are you doing here?”

He pointed to the building. “I work at this school and my office is in this building. I have some things to get done before my class that isn’t filled with a bunch of underclassmen who think the class is an easy A.”

I tilted my head to the side. “I’ll have you know I don’t think the class will be a breeze, especially with you leading the charge.”

A short, annoyed laugh left his throat. “I’ll take that as a compliment.

” He tilted his chin towards the space behind me.

The small movement gave me a view of his lean neck and the space right under his chin where I noticed a few tiny nicks, like he’d cut himself shaving.

“Do you need help figuring out how to get into the building, or do you just enjoy loitering for the hell of it?”

I reared my head back. “It’s not a crime to stand around on a college campus.”

He placed his hands in his pants pockets, getting closer to me. “You’re right, it’s not. If that’s all you were doing, then I would consider letting it go.”

“I wasn’t…”

He waved his hand, halting my words. “Actually, you can save whatever story you concoct for my brother. I’m sure he would be thrilled to hear what you have to say, as simple and mundane as it may be.”

“If the fact that I’m dating your brother makes you uncomfortable, then I’ll transfer to a different class, but I don’t think that’s it nor do I think you’d even admit that, so just let me get through this semester in some form of peace for both our sakes.

” I spat at him, straightening my spine.

“Whatever reason you don’t approve of me gets pushed to the back of your mind, kind of like empathy for your students. ”

He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll leave that to the empaths; they’re the experts on all that.” He leaned in, his face inches from mine. “I don’t care who my brother takes to bed,” he scanned my body. “Or who he dates.”

I threw my braids over my shoulder, the sun starting to shine a little brighter and work in harmony with the breeze that was still present. “Who’s the liar now?”

Our faces were closer than I would have liked, but my shoulders jumped when I felt my phone buzz in the back pocket of my jeans. I ripped my eyes away from Asher to look down to see that River was calling.

Asher cast his gaze down, seeing his brother’s picture across my screen. “This interaction has been stimulating to say the least, but oh no , looks like you have somewhere to be.” A sly smile formed on his face.

I put on my best fake smile. “I’ll see you in class, sir .” I said the last word with more effort than I normally would, making sure since he was so adamant about it that he got what he wanted.

He cleared his throat, his jaw ticking. I walked around him, sliding my finger across the screen to answer my phone.

“I’m so sorry, I’m late.” The words rushed out of my mouth as I ran up to River and Grayson. Leif’s was a quick walk from where I’d had my altercation with Asher, so I’d only had a matter of minutes to fix my face and attitude.

River patted the place next to him, scooting over. “We ordered for you.”

“Did you now?”

Grayson nodded. “Turkey club, no tomatoes, provolone cheese, and extra pickles.”

I squinted over at him.

He rolled his eyes, realizing he had forgotten something. “Oh right, we also got you a strawberry milkshake. Apologies if you thought we merely forgot, trouble .”

River placed his arm behind my neck, letting his fingers roam over my shoulder. “Riley is probably the least problematic human in existence.”

“Ah, thanks babe. I appreciate the sentiment.” I kissed his cheek.

Grayson stretched, raising his arms above his head. “Never said she was the bad kind of trouble. She’s probably the best kind.” He winked at me and I shot a glance over at River who smirked and rolled his eyes.

“Is this give Riley flirty compliments day? I’m not complaining, but I don’t know how much more of this love fest I can take.

” I asked, smiling up at the waitress when she handed me my milkshake.

She lingered a little longer than I would have liked, eyeing River like I wasn’t here before she turned to leave.

He paid her no mind as he usually did whenever he caught the eye of an interested individual.

I had lost count of how many people had openly propositioned him when I was two feet away.

“What made you late anyway?” River’s question had me pulling my eyes away from the waitress and back to him.

“Uh…I ran into your brother.” I shifted so my legs were thrown over his and my upper body was so close to him that I could smell his body wash.

Grayson choked on his water. “Excuse me?”

“My brother?” River’s eyes widened. “How did that happen?”

I let out a humorless laugh. “Let me preface by saying, he’s teaching my psychology class.”

River ran a finger over his bottom lip. “That makes sense, since he was bitching about teaching an undergrad course last night. I’m pretty sure I’ll never hear the end of this.

” He balled his hand into a fist, laying his cheek against it.

“Oh, man, how was your first class with mean Professor St. James?”

I pulled my milkshake closer to me, taking a long pull from the straw. “He was just the sweetest and a real teddy bear.” The sarcasm rolled off my tongue.

“And you ran into him later?” Grayson questioned.

I bit my bottom lip. “Yeah, I was minding my own business and he just assumed I was doing something wrong.” It wasn’t a lie.

I hadn’t been doing anything against school policy.

I couldn’t exactly tell them the specifics, not that even I knew what that was or what I was looking for, but that wasn’t the point.

“Did he say something to upset you?” River had turned my face so that I was looking directly at him. His fingers held my chin tight and his deep green eyes told me that his next action depended heavily on what I said next.

“Nothing I couldn’t handle. He’s just a trip, that’s all.”

He leaned in, tilting my chin up a little higher so he could brush his lips against mine.

His next words were said right at my lips.

“Would you like me to help you forget all about that tonight?” His other hand traveled up my leg and cupped my ass.

“That little interaction will be a very distant memory when I’m buried inside of you. ”

He pecked my lips, moving his kisses to my cheek and then down my neck. It took everything in me to stifle my moan. I looked over to see Grayson with his elbows on the table, fingers interlocked, and his head placed right on top, watching us with this look of appreciation on his face.

River moved his hand to my thigh, walking his fingers to the place between my legs.

There was an odd war going on inside of me that was going to tell him to stop, but then there was another part of me—if I was being honest, it was the much bigger part—that wanted to see how long Grayson would sit there and watch.

I couldn’t wrap my mind around why I wished there wasn’t a table between us, so that he could get closer.

The sound of a plate hitting the table had me practically jumping out of River’s embrace. The waitress was back with a less than pleasant look on her face. “Anything else?” Her voice was tight as if she was counting the seconds until she could be away from our public display of affection.

We shook our heads, and she was gone before I could even blink. I inhaled the smell of my sandwich, my stomach making a mean rumbling sound.

“Regardless of his sexy offer, you’re hanging out tonight,” Grayson said, swiping one of his fries through some ketchup and popping it into his mouth.

“Am I now?” I responded, playfully.

River took a sip of his drink. “Yes, Riley. We are going to relax after the first day of classes and watch movies, eat those tiny pretzels you like, and then I’m taking you to my room and fucking you until you can’t think straight and coming on my cock like a good girl.”