Page 123 of Tell Me Lies

A laugh bursts from between my lips. Confusion crosses Matthias’s handsome face before he smiles. I want to kiss him and slap him at the same time. Instead, I settle on lashing out with my words.

“You once told me I wouldn’t be safe with you. I should have listened.” His smile falls away. “It was true then and it’s still true now.”

“Kaelie,” he starts but I cut him off with a raised hand.

“Just stick to the arrangement and we will both get what we want.”

Gently pulling my arms from his grip, I turn and walk away. My heart hurts and tears are brimming in my eyes.

Matthias Delgado is the man I love.

The man I hate.

And the one person who can never, ever find out my secret.

By the time I finally make it to the bus stop, I’m late. The bus is no longer there, the little red lights floating off into the distance. Thankfully, I still have some cash and can afford to call another Uber. I will just have to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Chapter Eight

Matthias Delgado

Three months. It’s been three whole fucking months that Kaelie has been tutoring me. This week is the worst. With finals looming around the corner, I get to have her in my space every single day.

It’s always the same. She shows up, works through the materials for two hours, and then leaves. We don’t talk about anything outside of classwork, and every time I try she shuts me down.

When we’re done with our session, she walks three blocks over to the West Street bus stop, grabs three other buses until she gets close to the college, and then walks another four blocks to the dorm. I followed her. Sue me.

I’m losing my damn mind. Before she became my tutor, I thought of her every day, alone in my shower, where no one else could know about my obsession. Now, it’s so much worse. I watch her constantly on campus, going so far as to seek her out. It’s driving me insane. I hate her and still, she is the only woman I want.

“What are you staring at?” Amber asks with her hands on her hips.

We’re standing in the parking lot beside my car while I wait for Ashe to finish his last class of the day. I’m staring at Kaelie like a psycho. She is talking to the running back for the college team and the moment he touches her it feels like my head might explode.

“Isn’t that Calum Scott talking to the little mouse?” a blonde girl, one of Amber’s little bitches asks sparing me from having to answer.

Amber whips her head around to glare at the pair talking beneath an old tree. Grabbing my hand, she tows me behind her until we reach them. I don’t know why I’m allowing her to drag me into this, but I can say I’m honestly curious to see what is going to happen.

“Amber,” Calum says nervously when he finally sees us approach.

Curious. I wonder what that’s about. But Amber doesn’t give me a moment to wonder, instead turning her venomous gaze on Kaelie.

“Little Mouse,” she says, venom dripping from every word. “Why are you still here?”

I want to stop her because I know Amber is poisonous, vindictive, and certifiably insane, and this isn’t going to go well for Kaelie. Even though I have called her Little Mouse as well, I hate that Amber uses the words to hurt her. But her words play on repeat in my mind. No one can know about our arrangement.

“Amber.” Kaelie doesn’t even glance in my direction. “How can I help you today?”

“You can fall off the face of the planet?”

“Do we have to go through this every single time you see me? What is it today? Are you going to push me down again? Put more gum in my hair?”

I stare at Amber when she laughs maliciously. The scrapes on Kaelie’s palms, the new, shorter haircut, it all makes sense now. Is Amber the reason she doesn’t want anyone to know about her tutoring me?

“Things are going to get so much worse for you, Keke.”

“Don’t fucking call me that.” Kaelie’s gaze turns hard. “We aren’t those people anymore.”

“I know. I figured that you were worthless trailer trash before you could infect my life. You should go back to the trailer park where you belong and whore yourself out just like your junkie mother.”

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