Page 25 of Veil of Lies

She was angry. I could tell from the tension in her shoulders and the way she was practically spitting at me. I was an asshole for prying into her private business, but the more time I spent with Stella, the more I wanted to know her.

Aside from the boys, she was the only person I’d talked to about my father. I still wasn’t sure why I’d opened up to her, but there was something between us. Something I couldn’t ignore. Something I didn’t want to ignore.

Stella slammed her notebook down on the table and grumbled as she opened up some notes she’d made on the laptop. When the laptop was a bit slow to load the file, she swore under her breath.

“It’s best not to get angry with inanimate objects,” I pointed out as my MacBook booted. “Computers don’t respond well to cussing.”

She looked up and scowled at me. “Well it makes me feel better to swear at it. I hate the damn things, and I’m pretty sure they hate me too.”

“Nah, I’m sure nothing and nobody hates you,” I teased.

A shadow crossed her face, and the room suddenly felt a few degrees colder.

“You’d be surprised,” she said in a low voice while staring at the notes on her screen.

Stella had secrets, that much was obvious, but I had a feeling there was something huge she wasn’t telling us. I frowned but then decided it was none of my business. If she wanted to share her past, she’d do it in her own time. I was willing to wait.

Chapter 22

Stella

After spending time with Brax on our stupid presentation, I soon realized that the brash, asshole persona he projected to the rest of the world was not who he really was. Underneath the crass comments, arrogance, and generally dickishness, Brax Walker was a guy in pain.

He used his sexual charisma as a shield to keep people away. Once he’d worked out I wasn’t going to fall for all the bullshit flirting, he had backed off a lot. There was still flirting - a lot of flirting - but it was light-hearted rather than full-on. And when he wasn’t flirting with me, I could see the hurt festering below the surface.

Brax hadn’t spoken of his father’s death again, not since the night we talked via email, but it was obvious he was still processing what had happened. I didn’t know anything about the circumstances, other than that the poor man had taken his own life, but I could empathize enough to understand how much pain Brax was in.

Losing anyone you loved, let alone a parent, was hard. To know the person chose to leave you behind, despite how much pain and anguish that would cause, had to be an impossible load to bear. I’d lost my mom, but I’d never known her, so her absence was something I’d accepted long ago. It had shaped but not broken me. Brax had grown up with a father, presumably one he loved and who loved him. Losing his dad after 20+ years had clearly wounded him deeply.

I found my thoughts wandering as he put together the last few slides for our presentation. This module bored me senseless, but Brax had pulled his weight as promised, so for once it wasn’t all down to me to secure a pass grade. I was grateful we were nearly done, as I had other work to do, and a new romance novel to read.

“What plans do you have for the rest of the evening?” Brax asked as he fiddled with the last slide.

“Not much,” I admitted. “I usually read my Kindle in the evening.”

He looked up curiously. “What books do you like?”

“Shifter romances.”

“OK, so you need to explain what those are,” he laughed, raking his hand through his dark hair.

“Shifter romances are where the characters change from animal to human. Like wolves, bears, and mythical creatures such as dragons.” He seemed interested, so I decided to wind him up a little. “They’re super-hot and full of explicit sex.” I swooned like a Victorian maiden and fanned my face dramatically while trying not to laugh at the shocked expression on his face.

“Seriously? You like reading that shit?”

“Of course, all girls do.” I smiled innocently. “Dragon shifters are the best. Dragon dick…well, it’s a lot to take. Literally.”

Brax nearly choked on his coffee, and I couldn’t help it, I burst out laughing.

“You’re fucking with me?”

“Ha, no, actually I’m not. Check the Kindle store and search for ‘dragon shifter romance’. It’s crazy popular.”

“Hmm.” He didn’t look convinced, but it amused me to think he might download a smutty book later to see if I really was fucking with him. Maybe we could discuss book reviews. We could set up our very own book club. It would be fun to read a book together. Then I considered how that might work, and realized that no, reading a hot and spicy sex scene with a hot guy was probably a terrible idea.

Just the thought of sharing my best smutty romances with Brax made me squirm in my chair, which of course he noticed.

“Are you OK, Stella? You seem a bit fidgety.” He smirked at me, and I had the distinct impression he’d read my mind.

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