Page 7 of Pretty Lies (Watch Me Burn #1)

Caden smiled back, not moving his arm from around me. “Yeah, it was alright. It’s Friday, we’re only missing the last couple of hours. We’re having a movie night, so if you’re looking for us, we’ll be in the theater room.”

“Friday’s aren’t an excuse to slack off, Caden. Don’t drink too much, you know I don’t like it,” she answered, Max snorting as his eyes landed on me with irritation.

“You don’t drink at all. Understood?”

I smiled with fake sweetness, sarcasm in my tone. “Of course, Daddy. Only enough room for one alcoholic in this family, right?”

His jaw tightened, but Josie rolled her eyes, taking my side. “One or two beers won’t hurt her. She’s seventeen, after all.”

“ Exactly . She’s not twenty-one,” he grumbled, looking at me again with a scowl. “I’ll check on you when you go to bed.”

The guys were all watching our interaction, and my cheeks flushed with embarrassment and annoyance. I snuck beer all the time, and from the way Josie was so relaxed with the guys drinking, it told me they’d been allowed for a while too. They probably thought I was such a fucking baby.

I went to tell him to fuck off, but Josie chuckled lightly, my body relaxing. I wasn’t used to someone standing up for me against Max.

“Leave her be, sweetheart. Besides, they’ll all camp out in the theater room for the night. The boys normally spend the weekends at each other’s houses. It’s good to see them including Rory too.”

I was surprised she was so open to the idea of a girl sleeping in the same room as her son and his friends, but I didn’t mention it.

Max fumed silently as Caden smirked and moved behind me, wrapping his arms around my middle lightly to rest his chin on top of my head. I was caught between savoring his hold on me, and wanting to scrub it off in the shower until my skin was bright red.

“Don’t be silly, Mom. We love Rory being around. Did Max tell you Lukas used to be her best friend when they were kids?”

Josie beamed, giving Max a playful swat on the arm. “You didn’t tell me that! Oh, how wonderful!” She turned to us, giving us all a waggle of her finger. “Don’t be too loud tonight. I don’t want to be kept awake by you heathens.”

I could hear the smugness in Caden’s voice as he answered and started walking us towards the hallway, his arms still around me. “Trust me, we’ll try really hard to be quiet. C’mon, Rory.”

I expected Max to burst a blood vessel, but he silently scowled at me until we were out of view.

“He has a serious stick up his ass,” Caden chuckled in my ear, his breath tickling my neck. “Maybe I like you guys staying here. Things are entertaining right now.”

“I give him less than a month before he gets caught with his dick in a hooker. Don’t get too used to us being here,” I deadpanned, making him laugh.

He finally stepped back from his hold on me but continued to steer me downstairs with his hand on my back, navigating us past the den and the gym until we reached the theater room.

Lukas gave us a filthy look once the door was shut behind us, his body tense.

“What the fuck was that?”

I was about to tell him that it was none of his business, but Caden snickered and spoke first. “Nothing, man. It’s just funny stirring up her dad, that’s all.”

“It won’t be funny when he beats her bloody over it and she ends up in the hospital.

Again ,” Lukas sneered, shoving past us and angrily dropping down onto one of the couches, his jaw clenched tight as Jensen sat beside him.

I didn’t want them all knowing about the abuse.

I hated pity, and I hated people sticking their noses in my business even more.

Caden’s eyes slid towards me and he frowned, acting like Lukas just pissed in his cornflakes.

“Rory—”

“Leave it,” I replied bluntly, sitting down on one of the couches as far away from Lukas as possible. Caden didn’t seem to want to leave it, but he finally turned to grab the remote, not bringing it up again.

He sat beside me as the movie started playing, and he hesitated before putting an arm out for me to curl up against him. I hadn’t cuddled with anyone while watching a movie in a long time. Not since Lukas.

Caden dropped his arm along the back of the couch when I didn’t move, leaning closer to whisper in my ear. “I don’t bite, promise.”

“Well I do, so don’t get handsy,” I warned quietly, making him chuckle as he moved his arm around me to pull me as close as possible.

“Noted.”

Tyler made his way towards the fridge in the corner, grabbing the beers before handing them out to the guys and offering me one too. I gave him a smile of thanks as I accepted it, getting a devilish smirk in return before he sprawled out in one of the recliners.

Lukas glared at Caden throughout most of the first movie, and by the time we’d started the third one for the evening, I’d learned to ignore the dirty looks.

It scared me how relaxed I was with his arm around me, his fingers absently stroking my shoulder every so often.

For the first time in forever, I allowed myself to relax and soak in someone’s touch.

The moment Caden went upstairs to get some snacks, Lukas dropped down beside me with narrowed eyes. “What the hell is up with you and Holloway?”

“Nothing, why?” I asked tensely, not wanting to talk to him about anything. We weren’t friends anymore for a reason, so I wasn’t about to confide in him.

Not after he’d proven he didn’t have my back.

The other two chuckled from their seats, and Jensen gave me a smirk as he spread out on the couch, managing to make lazy look a little bit sexy.

I needed to calm down on the beer if I was thinking like that.

“Babe, Holloway doesn’t cuddle. Not even after a good fuck. So, tell us what’s going on? Be a team player and share the gossip.”

Tyler swigged on his beer, waggling his eyebrows at me. “Yeah, spill the tea.”

Lukas gave me a concerned look as he ignored his friends and continued the conversation as if they weren’t here.

“How can you sleep with him when you barely know him? Especially after what happened to you?”

Bile filled my throat as memories flashed through my mind, and I shook it off, taking a deep breath. My relaxing evening was turning into quite the opposite, and panic swirled inside of me at the thought of him spilling my secrets.

He had no right to bring up my personal business in front of his friends.

“Lukas, fuck off,” I snapped, shuffling back from him and bringing my knees to my chest. I wasn’t going to break down in front of them, I had to keep my shit together.

He didn’t take the hint though, continuing to speak and make me panic even more.

“You don’t even know him. How can you trust someone so blindly after what you went through?”

I was going to throw up.

“I trust Caden more than I’ll ever trust you. I’d trust almost anyone more than you,” I exclaimed defensively, his almond eyes dropping with shame as he sighed.

“I know I screwed up and wasn’t there for you, but you don’t understand what actually?—”

I wasn’t going to have this conversation with him. He’d hurt me enough.

“Drop it,” I warned, not that it did much.

“Rory, I’m sorry,” he said gently and reached for me, terror filling me at the thought of his skin on mine.

I scrambled off the couch and landed on my ass painfully, moving backwards until I hit the wall and I had nowhere else to go. I needed to put some distance between us so I could breathe properly.

“Stop it, Lukas! Leave me alone!” I croaked out, trying to sound tough but failing. My lungs burned, and my throat became tight as the panic consumed me, gasping for air but getting none.

“Dammit, Rory. I get that he fucked you up, but just listen to me for a second.” He went to stand, but he stilled as I started screaming at him hysterically, past the point of giving a shit if I looked like a psycho.

“You fucked me up! Don’t you get that? It’s what you did that fucked me up! I would’ve been okay if I’d had you!” I was sobbing now, hyperventilating on the floor like a little bitch as they all sat around watching.

Tyler finally took pity on me when he realized I wasn’t faking it, and he stood, moving to stand beside the couch and tapped Lukas’ shoulder.

“C’mon, man. Leave her alone.”

“She just needs to listen to me and—” I slammed my hands over my ears as the guys continued to argue, and it wasn’t until a hand touched my shoulder that I uncurled from myself and swung my fist up hard, focusing on my surroundings as it connected.

I glanced up, my breaths coming out hard and fast as I tried to get control of the panic that was consuming me. Caden was squatting in front of me, rubbing his chin where I’d punched him.

The small smile on his face didn’t quite reach his eyes, the concern obvious.

“That’ll teach me not to sneak up on you.

Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you okay?

” I peered over his shoulder to find that the others had vanished, and I relaxed slightly at knowing we were alone.

All I could do was nod, his comforting voice wrapping around me like a blanket. “Breathe with me. In, and out.”

I copied him until cool air filled my lungs and my fists unclenched, my cheeks heating with embarrassment.

“Sorry, I?—”

“Don’t be sorry. Jense said Luke was being a prick. Ty suggested you needed a minute or two alone, so they went upstairs. Luke’s heading home too.” He gently took my hands in his and winced slightly as he saw the blood on the palms of my hands from my fingernails.

I hadn’t realized they’d been cutting into me.

“C’mon,” he said softly, my eyes peering at him with confusion.

“Where are we going?” I asked as I went to stand on shaky legs, but he carefully put his arms around me and lifted me against his chest like I weighed nothing. I wanted to fight him on it, I didn’t need anyone for anything, but it felt good to be in his arms.

Like I was safe.