Ugly Truths: A Contemporary YA Romance (Astrid Scott Series Book 2) Read online

  The next morning, my alarm was my worst enemy. I spent way too much time thinking about the project and not enough time sleeping. I really needed to snap out of it.

  The cheery beep of my phone signaled a message.

  BECK: Hey pretty girl. Meet you outside in 30?

  ME: Yes, please. :)

  Something I’d realized about myself. I wasn’t a particularly cheery person. I didn’t smile easily or chatter incessantly. Then there was the me of text messages. I loved emojis and smiley faces. It was who I wanted to be if I weren’t so awkward.

  I could do thirty. Hell, I could do ten and leave the house in my pajamas, happily.

  Listening to my new favorite, Running with the Wolves by Aurora, I zoomed through my routine. In no time, I was dressed, brushed, and armed with both my lovely camera and trusty laptop. With those two tools, the world was my oyster. Or land of Milk and Honey if I wanted to bring my religion into it.

  Outside, Beck waited in his usual spot, which was far enough up the road to hide him from the parentals’ view if they should look outside. They never asked to meet who I rode with and that was okay with me. They probably thought it was Rhys all this time.

  “Hey, pretty girl,” Beck swept me up into his arms, squeezing me tight to his chest. I loved spending time with Beck. He was a musician, and most likely a player, but I never saw that side of him. To me, he was steady and supportive, even if it meant supporting me in a life drenched in crime. Or trespassing.

  “Good morning. Ready to go?” I beamed at him, and hoisted my backpack on my shoulders.

  “Absolutely. Here.” He handed me the shiny, black helmet and I strapped it under my chin. I knew the drill by now. He was my morning ride. Every morning. In the afternoons too, if he could swing it. He told me that it wasn't fair I got to see everyone else more than him, so this was his claimed time.

  When I climbed on, he grabbed my hands and pressed them against his chest like he always did. This time though, he flattened his palms over mine and with excruciating slowness, he pushed my hands down his torso. I now knew every intimate dip of his abs. My core clenched and I slammed my eyelids shut, letting him lead.

  What the hell was he doing? Please don't stop.

  Right before my fingers would have touched his belt, he moved my hands across his stomach so I completely embraced him. We sat in silence as I listened to his rushed breathing, and I tried to find my own. I was pretty sure I had a mini out of body experience during that whole thing.

  “What was that?” I whispered.

  Beck didn't answer right away. His fingers threaded through mine as he pulled me into him as tight as I could go.

  “I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time.” He rasped in that smoky, midnight voice.

  The absurdity of his words sunk in and I busted up laughing, taking Beck with me as we both lost it. He could give me all his good ideas anytime he wanted. I would always be a willing taker.

  “Was it worth it?” I rested my chin on his shoulder.

  “Oh, yeah. I was definitely on the best end of that deal, so yeah. Totally worth it.”

  “I'm pretty sure I made out better. You didn't get to feel my chest and abs with intimate accuracy.” I chuckled, then cut myself off. Images of his hands on my breasts and stomach entered my mind. Nope. Stop that right now, Astrid. That was no way to start the morning.

  Beck must have had the same thoughts as he jerked upright and adjusted my hands over his chest.

  “Time to go.” His voice was muffled as he strapped his own helmet on and took off down the sleepy road.

  We pulled up at school in record time. When Beck started taking me to school, for the first few days we were the hot item to gawk at. Now that it’d been a couple of weeks, we were old news and the ever-moving gossip mill found other, more juicy things to talk about. Not that I still didn’t see girls linger by the doors, trying to catch Beck’s attention. I did.

  Sorry ladies. Too little too late, not to mention too much make-up.

  They definitely attempted to channel their inner buxom groupie, but Beck didn’t go for that. He was looking for something more settled. Someone less likely to leave him for a brighter star in the sky. Sometimes I thought that was me. Sometimes, I hoped. But then a rush of ridiculous guilt would settle over me. I couldn’t deny I had teensy tiny harmless crushes on the guys that had so gloriously ingrained themselves in my life.

  Harmless because, other than Beck, none of them had even tossed a fun, flirty wink my way. I couldn’t count Rhys’ hand touches last night. In the light of day, it seemed like it was ridiculously juvenile for me to see anything other than friendliness in the action. We were buds. Of course he wouldn’t be repelled by my touch.

  Beck idled the motorcycle and held his hand up for me to grab onto. I handed over his spare helmet once I was off. He took it from my hands and set it in his lap, crossing his arms over it like he was in a motorcycle photo shoot. I melted when he smirked. The bastard was too good looking for his own good.

  “I can’t pick you up today. Either Rhys or Jonah will be able to take you home.” He reached out and snagged my hand, pulling me closer to him. I shuffled forward.

  “That’s cool.” I smiled shyly. I swore, he did things like this in public because he knew such public displays embarrassed me. Was it weird that lately, these small acts thrilled me too?

  “Awesome.” He murmured. “I’ll text you later to see how your day went.” He squeezed my hand and I stepped back, breaking the contact. Then he was gone and I was left standing on the dirty school sidewalk, staring dopily after him.

  “Hey,” Jonah stopped by me. “I tried to get here before he left, but the man was too fast.” He was slightly out of breath and I looked up at him.

  The skin around his eyes was strained and he had dark circles under his eyes. Otherwise, he was the picture-perfect image of the school geek. He even had a pen clipped to his pocket.

  “Good morning to you, too. What’s up?” I shoved my fingers under the embroidered straps of my bag and faced him. There was barely any closeness with us. He was as prickly as ever, no matter how hard I tried to break through his thick shell. Jonah seemed happy to forever stay on the peripheral of our circle, never talking about anything below the surface.

  “Rhys has to be the one to take you home today. I have something to do after school.” When he looked down at me, his gaze was disturbingly cold and almost absent, like he wasn’t really seeing me at all.

  “No problem. Is everything okay? You don’t look so well.” I moved closer and lowered my voice. “It’s not something at home is it?” We hadn’t talked about his home life hardly at all. Every time I broached the subject, he would guide us back to my life. The most he said on the subject was at the party where I first saw his tattoo. I flicked my gaze briefly down to his collarbone, then back up to his face.

  “Yeah, everything’s good. It’s just a stressful time, I have four AP classes I’m trying to juggle on top of everything else.” Shrill shrieks sounded behind me and it was the perfect opportunity for Jonah to look over my head and away from me. Or should I say, the perfect excuse?

  “Are we still good for the library at lunch?” That was our thing. We met in the library every day, taking up our resident dusty corner to sit and study, or in my casework in Photoshop and catalogue the pictures of the day.

  He bit his lip and slowly bought his gaze back to mine, as if he were forcing himself to move his head. When did I become someone he had a hard time conversing with? I mean, we weren’t gossiping Bettys like Ryan and I were, but we were comfortable in our silence.

  “Probably not today. Tomorrow though.” He touched my shoulder and disappeared into the crowd of pubescent teens, fitting right in with his emo attitude this morning.

  We were friends. Not great friends, but we had a bond. The five of us. And I’d be damned if I let him shut me out when he looked like he desperately needed a friend right now. Or maybe a good dose of NyQuil, but eit
her way, I was the girl for the job.

  I know you have secrets, nerd man. And I’m going to figure them out.

  “Well, this is unexpected.”

  I snapped my head up from my phone and skidded to a halt, mere lousy seconds away from crashing into Trey. Rhys’ cousin was a complete douche. Not only did he look the exact opposite of Rhys with curling, orange red hair, and a noticeable gap between his front teeth, he tried too hard to be like Rhys’ dad. He was the last person I wanted to see right now. I’d probably never forget how he tried to turn the twitch bitches against me. It hadn’t worked; I took care of that little problem all on my own. All because I’d turned him down in the hallway within one of the first few days at school.

  Looking around, I was a few very unlucky steps away from being inside the boy’s bathroom. Ugh, that smoke pit was probably three times as nasty as the girls, and I had zero desire to find out the truth.

  “Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going.” I inserted enough ice into my voice to freeze the baby hairs on the tip of his nose. I know that sounded weird, but he actually had little hairs on his nose. Too bad he wouldn’t appreciate me snapping a quick picture of the strange phenomenon with my phone. To my knowledge, only old men had such hairs.

  He caught my arm in an unforgiving grip as I backed up. I froze. For the last month, he’d been mercifully absent from my life. I’d see him across the crowded hallway or in the busy parking lot, and that was the extent of it. He never even appeared to be looking at me. Maybe this wasn’t him gearing up to act on his old grudge. Could I call it old? The beginning of school was hardly the past.

  “Let go of me.” Fear trickled down the back of my neck, bringing all of my senses on high alert. If he didn’t let go, I was going to wrench myself away, while doing my best to knee him between the legs. But I wanted to give him the opportunity to do the right thing first.

  He moved his thumb in a seemingly gentle caress. “Astrid, why are you always so hostile? I would have thought since you have your own little harem of boys, my cousin included, you would be more relaxed. Hell, orgasms would do that for anyone.” He chuckled low under his breath as he stepped closer. “They must not be doing it right. You know, I’m more than happy to lend a hand.” He used his other hand to tug on a strand of hair.

  I jerked away from him, but he refused to let go, instead twisting me and yanking me back into his chest so he could close his arms around me. The world darkened and the small sliver of fear morphed into a tsunami, crashing over me. The bright, cheery sunlight cascading through the windows to highlight the bright blue lockers seemed so out of place. This darkness should have covered the sun in solidarity with my mood.

  I stomped on his toes, willing someone to appear in the hallway. My phone. That was how I would get someone to appear. If no one would come, I’d bring them to me. I bucked and tried to head butt him while I unlocked my phone. Beck was the last text in my phone but Rhys was right underneath him.

  “Uh uh uh. There’s no reason to try and call anybody. We’re only having a friendly chat.” He knocked the phone out of my hand and it went sailing across the floor. Then he walked me into the boys’ bathroom.

  No. whatever he was going to do, just no.

  “Stop!” I bit down on his forearm and screamed as loud as I could. “Help!”

  “Shut up, you little bitch.” He shoved me in stall and pulled it closed. “Shit, that hurt. Mother fucker.”

  I scrambled up on top of the toilet, the rough concrete digging into my back as I made it my mission to become one with the wall.

  “What are you doing? This doesn’t accomplish anything, you twat. Help!” I screamed again. I probably shouldn’t have called him a twat, but my anger was rising just as fast as my fear.

  The door trembled, shaking all of the crude pictures and poorly written insults. He punched the door again and the boom reverberated around the small bathroom. Concrete was apparently a good material to amplify the sound. Not that I should ever have needed to know that.

  “That was really unnecessary.” Where moments ago, his voice raged from the pain of the bite, now he was freakily calm. That was it. He was bipolar or had multiple personality disorder. No way did a person make this kind of jump.

  “Help!” I screamed again.

  “Am I hurting you? No. All I wanted was to chat. You’re acting crazy.” I could imagine him shaking his head.

  I smooshed my fingers into the dents of the wall. It provided a weird sense of security.

  “Help!” I wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long. My voice was already starting to crack.

  Footsteps echoed down the hallway. This was my chance.

  “Somebody! Help! I’m in the boy’s bathroom!” I rasped out the last word. I needed some water and maybe a hot tea, but hopefully whoever was out there rushed to my rescue.

  They did.

  Trey pushed the door open so hard, it banged against the stall. “Whatever, you’re overreacting.”

  I barely had a moment to see him before he was tackled sideways. Oh god. That was…

  Trey’s head cracked against the floor from a vicious punch. “I told you to stay away from her!” It was Rhys on top of Trey.

  I jumped down and hugged Rhys from behind. He needed to stop. If he got caught, it could seriously jeopardize his season. I think. Right?

  He played hockey for a club, but I imagined they worked with the school.

  Rhys reared his arm back and I grabbed it with both hands, letting my weight prevent him from landing another hit. “Rhys, I’m fine. He’s not going to do anything. You don’t need to do this.”

  He was calming down. Then Trey started laughing uncontrollably and it set Rhys off all over again. He tensed and removed his arm from my grip so easily, it was pretty pathetic on my part.

  Trey’s head twisted sideways with one more punch right as a teacher ran into the bathroom. And not just any teacher. Mr. Music.

  “Hey. Hey! Break it up.” He used a much deeper voice than I’d ever heard in class. It kind of scared me a little bit.

  Rhys was so taut it was like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to hit Trey one more time or listen to Mr. Music. He didn’t get a choice because Mr. Music grabbed a handful of his shirt and lifted him off the floor.

  Either Mr. Music was incredibly strong, or Rhys allowed himself to be picked up, because Mr. Music was a slender man in his thirties that weighed about a hundred- and fifty-pounds soaking wet. Rhys was easily over two hundred.

  “Astrid? What’s going on?” Mr. Music’s face scrunched up in confusion as he glanced from me to Trey, then to Rhys where he still had a grip on his shirt even though Rhys towered over him. If my heart wasn’t trying to explode from the stress, I’d be doing my best to capture the moment of hilarity.

  Should I answer him truthfully? Lie?

  Fuck, I had no idea what the best solution was. Before he burst in, I absolutely wanted someone to break up the fight. But now that a teacher was here—my art teacher—I wasn’t sure. Rhys counted on his scholarship to catapult him out from under his smothering dad. I couldn’t mess that up for him. Even if he did forgive me, I didn’t think I could forgive myself.

  “Nothing, sir.” I pointedly avoided looking at Trey on the ground.

  “That’s not true.” Rhys easily, but carefully pulled out of Mr. Music’s hold. “I heard her yelling for help and came in to find him blocking her in the stall. He was trying to attack her.”

  What the heck? Why would he do that? The school had a strict no violence policy. There was zero tolerance on this type of offense. It didn’t matter if Trey was the wrong doer, Rhys would be unjustly punished for trying to save me.

  “Shut the fuck up, cousin.” Trey growled but it wasn’t nearly as intimidating as the massive hate-on Rhys was sporting right now.

  “He needs to be punished. He won’t leave her alone unless there are consequences.” Rhys straightened up his shirt, adjusting the loose collar and walked up to me. “I’m g
oing to take her home, but I’ll be back to talk to the principal. I’m sure there’ll be a punishment for me as well.” He adopted the cultured tone I heard the first night we met.

  It wasn’t like he spoke differently when it was only us. No, it was more like he put on airs for the adults, for everyone that didn’t know the real him. The ones that expected him to be this rich, well to do member of society.

  Mr. Music studied me again, then reached down to give Trey a hand up. Why was he still on the floor? He looked completely ridiculous laying at our feet with a blood smeared smile. It also made him seem a little unhinged.

  “Astrid, I don’t think it’s wise for you to go home yet. Why don’t you go to the office and talk to the nurse before you leave. I’m sure after that, you’ll be able to go home. Are you all right?” He stepped in front of Trey as if to hide him from my view. Maybe he thought I’d answer more honestly if I couldn’t see my attacker?

  “I’m fine.” The adrenaline coursing through my body started to slow and left my voice shaky. “Can Rhys stay with me? He was my ride home today anyway.”

  Mr. Music nodded and Rhys didn’t waste any time escorting me from the bathroom. I picked up my phone on our way, and stuffed it in my back pocket. He didn’t take me to the office as we had promised but ushered me into an empty classroom at the end of the hall.

  He let go of my arm as he shut the door, leaning his head against the grainy, paint covered wood. With his back to me, I studied him. Rhys wasn’t a wholly selfless person, so his honesty back there surprised me.

  I also had no idea what to say or what to do to make this better. I was the one attacked, but he was the one that was going to suffer for it, and the feeling wrapping around me as a result, was entirely foreign. Part needless guilt, part sweet gratitude. Like I had this fragile heart that was perilously close to its first crack. I’d never had someone put me before their own agenda, and I cherished the feeling, even if he was an idiot for doing it. His back haggardly rose and fell. The bell rang and students started passing by, their warped and dancing shadows darkening the frosted glass.