Page 28 of Whisper Pretty Lies (Lust & Liars #1)

Cam

I don’t know what the fuck is going on. Damon said he’s going to get everyone in line, but the way he looks at Evan is like he’s already cornered her. If he has, he hasn’t shared with the rest of the class.

Hawk doesn’t say much as he helps Evan with the helmet, adjusting the strap.

She shivers beneath his touch. He makes sure her helmet’s Bluetooth is connected before he climbs on his bike. Evan takes a deep breath and then climbs onto his bike like she’s done it before.

“You ridden before, goody two-shoes?” I straddle my own bike.

“Hawk gave me a ride home last night. I had a flat tire and no spare.” Her voice is soft. “He stayed to walk me out after auditions.”

“Convenient.” Damon’s voice is loud. “We ready?”

There’s an edge to Damon’s voice. Hawk didn’t mention he took Evan home last night. Or that he got her on his bike. He said Chase drove her to school, and we saw her get in his truck at the end of the day, too.

But knowing Evan, she hasn’t told anyone about her new living arrangements. The question is, would she let Chase take her home? Because Chase has been to Damon’s house for business dinners with his father.

Apparently, she wasn’t ready to tell Chase about her new digs.

I glance over at Evan. She’s wrapped around Hawk tight. Her skirt hiked up enough I can almost see the edge of her panties on her thigh. Does she have her eyes squeezed shut too?

Hawk rubs his hand over hers that are clutched at his abs. “Easy, Annie. Just like last night. It’s a little farther to ride, but don’t lean with me. Keep your center above the bike. Okay? You with me?” His tone is softer than I’ve ever heard him with a girl before. It makes me straighten.

This is supposed to be revenge. A conquest. Something to bond over for our senior year. Maybe he’s just making sure she’s comfortable going with us.

“Yeah,” she says.

Damon gestures to follow him. He drives into the parking lot and then turns toward the back of the school. It’s a little out of our way, but Damon is nothing if not calculating in his movements.

We rumble by the school buses parked there while the football players load onto them for the away game. If Chase sees us, he won’t know it’s EvanAnn on the back of Hawk’s motorcycle. Her backpack is the only thing that might give her away.

It’s a dangerous game to play, because I don’t know what kind of guy Chase is. He cheats on his girlfriend, but he presents as this nice, popular guy. Why date at all if he wants to fuck around? How is Evan special to him? What does she give him those other girls can’t?

Damon revs his engine, and it echoes against the building. Fuck it. I pop a wheelie and land hard before gunning after him. We ride out of the parking lot and onto the road.

I slow down to fall back beside Hawk and Evan. With the face shield down, I can’t tell if she has her eyes open. But she’s stuck like Velcro to Hawk’s back. Gotta admit, I’m low-key jealous.

“How are you doing, Evan?” I ask.

“She probably won’t answer you,” Hawk says, glancing my way. “Riding a bike terrifies her.”

“It’s not as bad today.” Her voice is barely audible over the engines.

Hawk chuckles. “You’ll get used to having all this power between your thighs, baby girl.”

It sounds like she whimpers, but I can’t tell. Damon leads us through the streets. But we stick to the side streets instead of going down Main. People will be out and about at this time, and there’s a possibility someone could see us with her.

Most people won’t believe it’s Evan, but the speculation could get back to Olivia or the other girls who ask questions they’ve got no business asking. They’ll want to know who was on the back of Hawk’s bike. It’s a hassle we don’t want yet.

Evan wants to hide that she’s with us. She hasn’t told anyone at school she’s moving in with Damon.

That’s fine for now. It works to our advantage.

But at some point, I’m going to do exactly what her fucker of a boyfriend did with that girl—fuck Evan at a party where Chase can watch what he can’t have anymore.

My cock twitches at the thought of her riding it. Of everyone seeing her take me into her with her skirt covering us, but they’ll know. Her hands tangled in my hair. Our foreheads touching, our breath mingling as we fuck.

But first, we have to get through the revenge part. This is in Damon’s control because what happened with his dad and the accident were out of his control. He needs his revenge. He needs payback for losing this year.

I get it. If I had my future mapped out and it was taken from me because some asshole was getting road head, I’d want to fuck up his life too. Damon can do what he needs to do, because in the end it means I get to fuck my little goody two-shoes.

Damon is quiet on the way, which is typical. I can’t keep quiet. I hate the silence more than anything else. It’s why I don’t stay home most nights. Because if my father does talk to me, it’s about college.

The need to speak is almost overwhelming. If I talk, no one will respond. I’m used to it, but the quiet is too much for me most days. Hawk occasionally interacts with me, but something’s bothering him.

And I’m confident that something is EvanAnn. I would have offered to let her ride on my motorcycle, but I’m glad Hawk took her. With the way I ride, she probably wouldn’t have wanted to get on a bike ever again. I like the thrill. The danger.

“When’s the first play practice?” The words burst out of me. It’s a reasonable question Hawk might answer.

“The table read is Monday,” Evan answers but doesn’t lift her head from Hawk’s back.

“How did you decide on your cast?” I figure she might give me a quick answer. Besides, I like hearing her in my helmet.

“Auditions, but I’ve been watching most people for years. It’s kind of a nervous habit.”

“Watching people is a nervous habit?” I chuckle. “I do it because I find people fascinating.”

“Me too,” Evan says. “I’ve been in the same classes with these people for the past three years. I know how they perform and what they’re capable of.”

“You didn’t know about me.” Hawk’s voice is harsh.

“You surprised me.” Her voice sounds like she’s perplexed. “You could have easily been an ant.”

He chuckles. “I’ll always be a devil, baby girl.”

We pull up to Damon’s house and he opens the garage for his motorcycles.

We pull in and turn off our bikes. His damaged bike sits off to the side.

A silent reminder of how bad the accident could have been if he hadn’t been wearing his helmet, now broken and scratched on the floor beside the scraped up bike.

Damon could have died that night. If the two of us hadn’t been with him. If he’d been riding on his own. If someone else had hit him on the blind corner once he was down. A thousand what-ifs. I’m not ready to lose my best friend. Either of them.

When Hawk straightens and lifts his helmet off, Evan doesn’t move.

“Better this time, Annie?”

She nods, but doesn’t release him.

When Damon takes off his helmet, he shakes his head at them. “Come on. We have things to discuss.”

I leave my helmet on my motorcycle and walk over to Evan. I hold out my hand to her.

She looks at it and releases Hawk with her arm to take my hand. She seems unsure how to proceed to get off the bike.

“Just pick her up.” Hawk sighs. “I’m never going to be able to take you out in public, baby girl. Not until you figure out how to get off the bike properly.”

I reach for her waist and she turns to hold onto my shoulders. When I lift her off the bike and set her on her feet, her hands go to her skirt to tug it down into place. She still has the helmet on.

I meet Hawk’s eyes over her head, and he shakes his head. How does Damon think this girl is a huge slut? Maybe she’s just loyal. I’ve asked around, in the locker room and in class. No guy stepped up to say he’s fucked or even dated her. It sounds like Chase might be her first boyfriend.

That doesn’t mean she hasn’t been with guys outside of our school. She went to school somewhere in this town before high school.

I know what Damon saw in Chase’s car, but I’m beginning to wonder if he saw Evan or if it was some other girl? I can’t tell Damon that. He’s convinced, and I didn’t see the girl with Chase.

It doesn’t matter who the girl was though.

Even if Chase was cheating on Evan that night, taking Evan away from Chase is the only way Damon can punish him without fucking up Damon’s father’s business.

Because Chase is a little bitch who wouldn’t take the ass-whooping he deserves.

He’ll go crying to daddy if Damon makes a move against him directly.

I tip up Evan’s chin and undo the latch on the helmet before helping her take it off. She blinks up at me owlishly with those huge, silver-flecked blue eyes of hers. Her golden hair is a halo around her head. She’s pretty and has a nice body.

Someone has to have tapped that before. Granted the metric at our school for beauty is skewed because of the wealthy elites and actresses who attend, but Evan isn’t a girl you overlook. Most guys do, however.

Need shifts through me. The need to feel her lips against mine. My fingers dig into the helmet. My other hand fists at my side, as I resist the urge to slide it behind her neck and draw her into me.

She takes a step away and looks down at the concrete, breaking the spell. “Thank you for helping me. And for bringing me... home.”

“We were coming here anyway.” Hawk touches her hip and her head jerks up to look at him. “Come on. Let’s go inside.”

She sidesteps from his touch, but follows him inside. I take her backpack to carry for her. She gives me a little smile in thanks. Poor thing. She has no idea what she’s walking into.

A lamb to the slaughter.

When we step into the house, she turns and holds her hand out for her backpack. “I should go sort out my room. Thanks for the ride home and for carrying my bag.”