DECEIT (B723) by Hazel Grace (ebook reader for surface pro .TXT) 📕

Do you know what that means? It means no future. That she just craved the bad boy with fucking issues. I’d be better off with Camilla because at least I’d be aware of what I was getting myself into, and I won’t need to hide it from the world or my best friend.”

Kyson opens his mouth, but I beat him to it.

“I’m not getting back with Cam,” I sneer. “Fucking idiot, why the hell would I do that?”

“I wasn’t going to say that,” he stresses out. “I was going to say why would she tell anyone when you’re the way you are? If anything, she was smart as shit to keep her full hand close to her chest.”

My face contorts into what feels to be betrayal and unaltered anger. What the fuck am I supposed to do? Sing my feelings out? Write a poem? Graffiti a wall or buy a billboard?

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Nah—“ Kyson shakes his head. “—I’m not.”

My damn phone vibrates again, and using the excuse to stop having this conversation, I pull it from my jeans.

Emmy.

Immediately I answer it and stride away from Kyson. “Where the fuck are you?”

“Out,” she deadpans flatly before continuing with, “I found a lead. I need you to—“

“I need you to come back so that we’re all together and not pulling another rescue mission like you did with Marty.”

Silence responds back to me, and I can already see the look on her face. Her cheeks are flushed, those beautiful honey-browns are narrowed in on the nearest object, and she has a strong urge to strangle me.

She can—anytime—as long as it’s on my dick.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head over it,” she finally replies with malice dipped in her sweet tone. “It won’t be much more time now.”

“For what?”

“Your lead,” she repeats. “Willy Wonka, not the guy from the chocolate factory. He’s the only man that still works or worked with that Bubba asshole. You can find him in Brentwood.”

“I feel like I’m on repeat with you all the time, Em. I tell you to do one thing, and you do the opposite.”

“Uh, you told me to go home.”

“This isn’t a negotiation. This is my hunt, and I call the fucking shots.”

“Sounds like a personal problem, psycho.” I hear an unsteady exhale leave her lips, and her voice drops. “Look, I gotta run.”

“Emmy, fucking listen to me…I need—“ She hangs up, the loud and irritating silence filling in the rest of what I wanted to say.

I need you to be safe.

I need you here.

I need you.

Period.

I hovered over the send button on my phone for over five minutes before deciding to go out with Alexander. After a few more horrible and corny lines through numerous text messages, I let down my guard and even cracked a smile.

If anything, he kept my mind off Bishop and the mystery blonde over the last few days.

So when he swung by to pick me up in his white Aston Martin and told me we were going to the movies, I thought he was kidding.

“You were serious?” I marvel as he parks between a minivan and a little coupe with a gazillion bumper stickers on the back.

“Yeah,” he replies confidently, throwing his car into gear and turning it off. “You don’t like movies?”

Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I went to a movie.

“No, I do. I just…” My cheeks flush because my thoughts don’t fit him at all.

His rich demeanor made me place him in a box. One that didn’t involve sticky floors and chairs that hide their stains in the dark.

“You thought I was a wealthy dickhead,” he fills in for me, his lips curling into a smile. “Truthfully, I haven’t been to the movies since I was a kid. I felt this would be fun. You can back out if you want to. I think there’s still time for you to fake a stomach ache or explosive diarrhea.”

I chuckle. “No, it’ll be fun.”

We get inside, and Alexander stands back from the ticket booth, looking up at the listed movies.

“Trying to decide?”

He scratches his temple. “I’m attempting to pick one that doesn’t look so obvious. If I choose a scary movie, you might assume I’ll want you to cuddle up with me. An action flick that I’m a tool bag. Then if I select a drama, I might embarrass myself and cry…then there are rom-coms…” He glances down at me, brown eyes glimmering in exasperation. “You pick. That way, I can blame you.”

I smile. “You’re making this more difficult than it has to be.”

“Probably. Help a grown man make a simple decision. You should be used to that working with Wade Lockwood. Powerful men who still have issues with the elementary things.”

I hit him with an really look. “Alright, trust-fund kid.” I examine the board of movie times and names, looking for something that sounds familiar. I don’t have a lot of time these days keeping up with the up-and-coming. So I quickly fall right in line with Alexander. “Okay, I have no clue what the hell these movies are about.”

Alexander laughs. “Pick a number one through eight.”

“Seven.”

“And you just picked our movie.” He steps up, giving me a moment to appreciate him in black jeans and a white and black striped long sleeve. He’s slender but not rail-skinny, almost regal. He holds himself proudly with his spine straight, always a grin playing off his lips—happy, blessed, and optimistic.

He buys our tickets as the young girl behind the counter beams, batting her long eyelashes and smiling sweetly at him. I oblige her the moment that’ll probably be the only good one she has tonight and wait patiently for him to finish.

He looks over his shoulder in the middle of her sentence, finding me standing, then runs his dark gaze down my body.

Damn.

I may have underestimated him on the choice of date, but his flirting game has gone up a notch. He must be studying.

“Ready?” he asks me as he plucks the tickets from the girl’s hand.

I nod,