Page 8 of Pretty Lies (Watch Me Burn #1)

He silently carried me upstairs to his bedroom, gently kicking open his bathroom door with his foot, and placed my ass on the counter so he could rummage in the cupboard for what he needed.

I watched him cautiously as he washed the blood from my skin, putting ointment and Band-Aids on my palms once they were clean and dried.

He gave me a cheeky wink once he was satisfied that he’d sorted it out.

“All better. Do I need to kick Luke’s ass?”

Did I blush a little? This was becoming ridiculous.

“No, it’s okay.”

“You sure?”

“Positive. Can we watch another movie now? I’m fine, I swear.” My voice was shaky, but I didn’t care. I just needed to forget about my embarrassing meltdown and hoped the others did too.

“Of course. I’ve got you,” he smiled, helping me down from the sink with the intention of carrying me back downstairs, but I swatted at his hands and made him put me on my feet.

Now that I was calmer, I was more than capable of walking.

Tyler’s eyes landed on me the moment we wandered into the kitchen, and Jensen silently assessed me too as Tyler spoke up.

“You all good?”

I nodded, giving him a tiny smile. “Yeah. I’m sorry if me being here is ruining guys’ night.”

“Don’t be stupid. Luke was the one who couldn’t keep his mouth shut,” he stated, surprising me that he was taking my side over his friend’s.

I figured the guys lived by a tight bro code, but maybe not.

We headed back into the theater room, where Jensen and Tyler were waiting, and Caden made sure I was curled up beside him.

I stayed for the rest of the night, actually enjoying myself despite being tense.

I couldn’t let them get too close though, not until I knew I could trust them.

“Rory. Wake up.”

I jolted upright in a panic, my eyes frantically searching around the room in the dim light until I noticed Caden beside me on the couch, giving me the space I needed to calm down from my nightmare.

When I realized who it was, I let out a breath of relief and absently reached for him, trying to calm my breathing as he tucked me against his chest and ran his fingers through my hair in a soothing motion.

Had we fallen asleep together? We must have since there was a blanket over us.

“I wasn’t sure whether to wake you or not. You were thrashing about and screaming in your sleep,” he murmured, my eyes closing as shame washed through me. It was embarrassing to know he’d witnessed one of my night terrors.

He must have felt my body go rigid because his calm voice reached my ears again as I tried to get my shit together. “I know you don’t want to talk about it, but you need to. It’s eating away at you more than you realize.”

“I can’t,” I choked out, his hand continuing to stroke my hair.

“Can’t, or won’t? It doesn’t make you weak for admitting it’s too much to handle alone. Think about it, okay?”

I nodded, finally feeling like I was able to breathe properly, and I eventually went back to sleep, snuggled against his chest.

It didn’t seem like much later that I was woken by low voices close by.

“Seriously, I don’t get it. Maybe they dated?” Tyler mumbled, making Jensen snort.

“I doubt it. She’s not just upset at him for breaking up with her. She was way too freaked out by the shit he was saying last night.”

“Maybe Caden’s right and we should keep them away from each other? What if Luke did something to her?”

“He wouldn’t fucking hurt her,” Jensen growled, irritation in his tone. “You know him better than that.”

I wished that Lukas had just broken my heart because I could’ve gotten over that kind of pain. Betrayal was a fickle thing.

Caden’s voice rumbled in my ear as he spoke up without moving from his hold on me. “You know we’re awake, right? Stop gossiping like a bunch of old ladies.”

They were quiet for a moment before Tyler cleared his throat. “Sorry.”

I went to sit up, but Caden tugged me on top of him, my muscles tensing as my chest pressed against his. I stared down at him, a small smirk hitting his face as he spoke quietly.

“Kiss me.”

One of the others snorted with amusement, but I ignored them and stared into Caden’s green eyes with confusion.

“What? No.”

“I can hear Max stomping our way. Live a little,” he murmured, making sure to move slowly as he ran his fingers through the back of my messy, black hair and pulled my lips down to his.

My arms held me back at the unfamiliar closeness, but when he kept the kiss slow, I relaxed against him a little. One of my palms pressed against his warm, bare chest as his hands moved to my waist to hold me, and it surprisingly felt nice.

I didn’t even realize I’d dropped my legs by his sides to straddle him until he smiled against my lips just as the door opened and Max shouted from close by.

“Aurora Donovan!”

I tried to sit up but Caden held me in place as he answered without looking away from me, his thumbs rubbing small, soothing circles on my hips where my shirt had ridden up. “No need to yell, Max. She can hear you. Her mouth might be busy, but her ears aren’t.”

“You listen to me you little shit?—”

“Fuck off, dude. You’re not my dad,” Caden chuckled, and my thighs tensed when I felt his cock harden under me.

Why had I kissed him? Now he probably thought I was going to fuck him.

“Aurora, get your ass up to your room. Now ,” Max demanded, giving me a filthy look. We probably shouldn’t have taunted him this much.

I was going to get a serious smack to the face for this.

When I didn’t move, Max stalked over and grabbed my arm tightly, yanking me off Caden more roughly than necessary. I gritted my teeth as pain shot through my arm, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d hurt me.

Caden got to his feet and started to stalk towards us, but Tyler and Jensen grabbed him to hold him back, not wanting him to start throwing punches.

From the look on Caden’s face, he wasn’t far from it.

Max yanked me out of the room and up the two levels to the top floor, dragging me into my room and slamming the door behind us. He flicked the lock before shoving me to the floor by his feet with a snarl.

“Do you think you’re funny for fucking your stepbrother? I didn’t raise you to be such a dirty little whore. You can stay in here all day, and I don’t want to see you until breakfast tomorrow. Understand?”

It wasn’t the first time he’d locked me in my room for days, and I’d always preferred the peace.

I scowled, trying to get to my feet but stumbling as he backhanded me, and I blocked out the sting as I glared at him. “Fuck you.”

His fist connected with my eye and sent me sprawling across the ground, and this time I rubbed it with a wince, not able to hide the pain. A snort of annoyance left him as he loomed over me, trying to intimidate me in his fancy suit.

It hurt when he beat me, but he’d never successfully intimidated me into submission, no matter how scared I’d been some days.

“Enough of the attitude, I mean it,” he warned sharply before turning and leaving the room, slamming the door behind him.

I sighed and climbed to my feet, wandering across the room to my bathroom to stare at myself in the mirror and inspect the damage.

My eye was already swelling, and Max’s ring had left a small cut on my cheek.

I’d stopped trying to cover his marks a long time ago.

If anyone asked me what had happened, I told them to mind their own business.

I quickly had a shower and had just climbed into bed to watch a movie, when there was a soft knock at the door. It opened and Caden poked his head in, his gaze instantly zoning in on my face.

“Go away,” I mumbled, but he ignored me and walked in, closing the door quietly behind him. He moved towards me and sat on the edge of my bed, slowly reaching out to cup my chin so he could turn my face towards him and look at the darkening skin.

Fury filled his eyes as I pulled away, and I could hear the rage burning in his voice. “He fucking hit you?”

“Back off,” I growled and went to get out of bed, but his fingers gently wrapped around my bicep to stop me. The anger dissolved from him as his fingertips traced my jawline.

“No. Let me look,” he said softly.

I wanted to argue, but I stilled and allowed him to inspect it more clearly. He trailed his fingers over my tender skin as he looked for more welts and bruises, but he wouldn’t find any.

He finally sighed, leaning back without taking his hand from my face. “Let me talk to Mom about it. Maybe?—”

I yanked back from his grip with a scowl, not wanting anyone else to be involved.

My issues with Max had nothing to do with anyone else.

I didn’t particularly want to end up in the foster system, I’d seen how kids like that ended up in the Heights, but I didn’t want to lie about Max’s treatment of me either.

“Leave it. Seriously.”

His face hardened as he took one of my hands in his, giving it a supportive squeeze.

“Rory, let me help you. I’m sorry, this was my fault.”

The door opened and Max walked in with Josie, immediately putting on an applause-worthy display of fake parental concern. He looked distraught, acting as if he had no idea what had happened to my face.

I knew it was fake and so did Caden, but that didn’t stop Max from having his fake meltdown to make it seem like he gave a shit about me in front of Josie.

“What the hell did you do to her?”

That wasn’t what I was expecting, my eyes widening a fraction at his new tactic.

Was he seriously going to try and blame Caden? Josie would never fall for that.

Caden glared at him as he shuffled closer to me and squeezed my hand again, his voice lethal. “The hell are you talking about? I didn’t do shit to her, you fucking asshole.”

Josie gasped, horrified by her son’s attitude towards my father.

“Caden!”

“Look at what he did to her face!” Caden shouted suddenly, my hand tightening in his as the anxiety started racing inside me. I was frozen, which made me feel weak. I wasn’t used to an audience. Usually, Max would hit me then storm off, but Caden looked ready to throw hands for me.

I didn’t know what to think about that.

Caden dropped an arm around my shoulders to comfort me, but Max threw his hands in our direction with anger.

“I find you in here, trying to apologize for hurting her, and you blame me ? I’d never hit my own child!”

This was worthy of an Oscar, not just a round of applause.

“You lying piece of shit!” Caden roared, causing me to jump at the volume. Josie watched as her son wrapped his other arm around me, despite how tense I was, but when I winced as he kissed the top of my head, she sighed.

“Caden Holloway, kitchen now.”

“But Mom?—”

“Kitchen. Now ,” she repeated sternly, waiting for him to scowl and get to his feet. He walked towards the door with her, glancing over his shoulder at me.

“I’ll be back soon.”

I nodded, wrapping my arms around myself as he followed his mother without further argument, my heart hammering as I was left alone with Max. I was relieved when he smirked and followed them without a word, but I knew this would only be the beginning of trouble.

Caden didn’t come back, and for once, I craved to be held. I had no idea if he’d been locked in his room or ordered to stay away from me, but I wished he’d somehow been able to sneak back in to see me.

The Challenger rumbled to life outside a few hours later, and I climbed out of bed to watch him leave. I hoped Josie didn’t believe my father’s lies about her own son and sent him away.

Max could manipulate any situation, and I didn’t want Caden being punished for trying to keep me safe.

Caden

I parked my car out the front of Dad’s house and slammed the door as I climbed out. I was pissed at Max, but I was livid that Mom believed that I’d fucking hit Rory, let alone send me here to Dad’s in Kingslake.

I’d seen it in her eyes, she’d been scared of me. She knew I got in fights, but I’d never hit a girl. Max had gotten into her head and somehow convinced her that I was a danger to Rory, and she’d taken his side over mine.

I stormed up the steps and unlocked the door, moving through the house until I found Dad in his office. He didn’t look up from his computer, but his voice was full of annoyance.

“The fuck are you doing here?”

“Mom kicked me out. I won’t be here for long, don’t stress,” I snorted, intending on walking away, but he finally looked up with a grin.

“What did you do? Must have been bad for that bitch to send you packing. She hates you spending time with me.”

“I hate it too,” I deadpanned, crossing my arms. “Max has her convinced that I hit Aurora.”

“You should’ve. That girl’s nothing but trouble. I warned you about her,” he grunted, leaning back in his chair to observe me. “I’m hearing that you’re friends with her.”

“Get your ears checked. We’re not friends.”

“You’re protecting her at school. People talk, you know? She’s damaged goods, you don’t want to get caught up in her drama.”

“I can handle her just fine. She’s just a girl.”

“She’s a cunt, that’s what she is. Max needs to discipline her better.

She was about to get kicked out of Hawthorne Heights High.

Do you know how hard that is? All the kids are delinquents there.

Stay away from her, Caden. I mean it. She’s only going to use you for your money and make you believe lies just so she’s not lonely. There’s a reason Max gave up on her.”

“I’m going to my room. Do me a favor and stay out,” I muttered, his eyes returning to his computer as he chuckled.

“Gladly. Don’t stay too long, or I might think you want to get to know your old man.”

“You don’t mean shit to me and you know it.”

“Feeling’s mutual! Your mother turned you into a fucking pussy!” he called as I walked off, and I hoped Mom came to her senses soon before I did something stupid like murder my father in his sleep.