Misguided Truths: Part Two (Misjudged #4) (6 page)

“Yeah, well I guess I knew this was never g
onna be easy.” I reach over, take the packet from his friend, and place it underneath my jacket before grabbing them the cash I owe them. What? You thought that they were helping me from the kindness of their hearts? No. In this world, everything comes at a price. I’m in no way complaining, though. It’ll be money well spent if it gets me any closer to finding out who did this to us.

They walk away after Brad tells me he’ll be in touch, and I head straight back to my dorm to see if there’s any
thing new inside the envelope.

***

“Nothing.” I sigh, pacing the length of my bedroom.

“Are you serious? But you
paid that guy more than a weeks’ worth of your earnings!” I move my cell phone to my other ear, and go to pick up my name tag from the desk.

“I know, but it’s not about the cash, Rach.” I run my hand over my face. “There were two statements
inside. Two of them. Yours and mine.”

That’s right. Inside the package Brad gave me held nothing new. No new leads. To say I’m feeling disappointed right now would be an understatement. But, I’m not giving up. I’ll never give up. That cop told me one time that one of the witness statements didn’t seem to add up. Now, I could’ve just put this down to her getting some kinda
kick out of raising my hopes, in fact, I was sure that’s what she was doing. But, seeing that there’s a few of them missing, well, maybe she was telling the truth after all.

I know Rach was counting on this. Christ. I was relying on this. She sounds upset
, so I think I’m gonna try and steer our conversation onto something else, “How’s your mom and dad?”

“They send their love
, and said to tell you that you’d better be taking good care of yourself. Mom said she wants you to come and visit soon.” Rach’s mom and dad? They’re good people with warm hearts, and hearing this makes me smile.

“One day soon, Rach. One day soon, I promise.”

Once I’ve ended the call with her, I grab a quick shower, and throw on my work clothes. I managed to pick up another shift down at the bar. Things seem to be going pretty well down there, and the extra cash will definitely be of some help. The small, brown package I got given earlier cost me five hundred dollars, and I know that that’s only a small price to pay if I wanna get any closer to finding out the truth. The more shifts I can pick now the better.

***

“Hey, what’s that?” I ask when I see Layla hanging some kinda poster up in the window.

“I’m looking to do theme nights
, and maybe have a few local bands play over the weekends,” she answers when she turns back around to face me. “What do you think?” I finish drying off one of the glasses with a bar cloth, and place it back down on the counter.

“Sounds good. Have you gotten anyone lined up yet?” I ask
, and grab another glass up from the sink. “Only, I’ve got a couple of buddies that started a band not so long back, and they’re trying to get into a few places. Do you mind if I give them a call?”

Layla narrows her eyes on me as she
starts wiping a few of the tables, “That all depends. Are they any good at what they do, or is it just noise?”

“Oh, they’re good. And, hey, y
ou could do some kinda quiz maybe on Wednesday nights. That should bring more people in during the week. Have you thought about … Wait, are you laughing at me?”

“No, it’s just that you sound
more excited about the whole thing than I am.” She chuckles as she carries over a few more empty dishes.

I shrug my shoulder
s and lean my elbows on the bar, “Just trying to help.” I see her eye me for a second before she heads toward the back.

“I’ll be back in a little while,” she throws over her shoulder, and when she walks away, I grab my cell from off of the back shelf and message Neil and Rye. I figure they’ll be pretty excited to hear about this.

Rye got straight back to me, and said that both he and Neil will stop by at some point tonight so they can speak with Layla and try to line something up.

After hauling what feels like a gazillion crates around in the basement, I hear a tapping
sound on the door by the steps, “Your friends have just arrived so I’m going to go and talk with them in my office before I head out,” Layla says when I look over. “Once you’re done in here can you take some beers through to the bar? We’ve almost run out.”

“Sure thing,” I tell her
, and wipe my brow with my forearm. “Just don’t mind Rye if he starts hitting on you. He has a thing for blondes.”

“I’ll tell him I’m gay.” She winks and laughs.
Yeah, like that’s gonna work.

“No, I wouldn’t. It’ll make him even more determined,” I laugh
out while grabbing a soda from the refrigerator. “It’s always been one of his fantasies.” When I see her eyes widen, and her shoulders tense, I laugh harder.

“You’re not selling your friends to me very well. I’ll let you know when I’ve decided.” She says before walking back down the hallway.

Once I’ve finished up in the basement, I grab some of the beer Layla asked me to fetch for her, and make my way back through to the bar. It’s not very busy in here tonight, but when I glance around, I feel my stomach twist. Yep. She’s here. Alexis that is. When I see Alyssa narrow her eyes on me, it becomes pretty clear that Alexis has obviously told her about what happened this morning.
Great. Just great.

“Can I borrow you for a few minutes?” I hear Layla ask when she taps me on the shoulder. I turn a
round and see her wide smile. “The good news is that your friend didn’t try anything. The bad news is they’re going to be playing here in a few weeks’ time.”

“That’s awesome,
” I tell her, mirroring her smile. They’re gonna be so stoked about this.

“Yes, but I do need to speak to you about something other than that. Can you come to my office for a
second?” Her eyes are bright, and I nod my answer while throwing the bar cloth down before following her out the back.

Rye and Neil are jus
t walking out of her office as I’m about to step inside, and they’re both grinning at me, “Hey. Good news, right?” I ask when Rye goes to high five me.

“Love you, man! I fucking love you!” My eyes widen when he grabs the sid
e of my face with both hands, before planting his lips on my forehead. Tell me he didn’t just do that? Taken aback, I stand and stare at him while he ruffles my hair before heading out through the door.

“He’s …” Layla tilts her head
, and she’s looking a little puzzled.

“A dead man if he ever does that again,” I shake my head and step inside. “So
, what did you wanna talk with me about?” The phone rings just as I take a seat by her desk, and I watch her grab the phone, smiling apologetically at me before she walks back out the room.

While I sit and wait for her to come back
, my mind drifts back to Alexis, and I wonder what exactly she’s said to Alyssa to make her look at me the way she did. Don’t get me wrong, whatever Alyssa thinks about me is irrelevant, but I would like to know whether Alexis has told her about everything, or just what happened earlier today. I’m hoping the latter. I could really do without things getting even more complicated for me while I’m here. It’s bad enough that I haven’t gotten anything new to work with, but having Blondie shoot me daggers every time she sees me is really something I could do without.

I need to talk with Alexis because we still have a few things we need to clear up. The last time I tried
, we got interrupted, so it really needs to be just the two of us, and no interruptions.

I
decide to write her a note, and lean forward to grab a pen and some paper from off of the desk. At least this way I’ll know if she’s actually willing to hear me out. Yeah. I think this is a better way. And, now I’m pissed. Why do I care what she thinks when I don’t care what Alyssa thinks about me? This is fucked up. Big time. I can’t explain it, but I need her to know that I’m not the asshole she seems to think I am, and I wanna make sure she keeps what that guy said about me to herself.

“Sorry about that,” I fold the paper
, and slide it into my shirt pocket when I hear Layla stepping back inside the room. “I need to be out of here in like five minutes, but I just wanted to run something by you.” She places the handset back down on her desk, and then grabs a pen and her notebook.

Sitting forward, I narrow my gaze on her as she takes a seat opposite to me, “This sounds interesting.”

“How would you feel about becoming my event manager?” Okay, now that I wasn’t expecting. I’ve worked here for like, what? Three and a half weeks?

“What? Me?” I point my index finger to my chest
, and see her nodding at me a few times as a smile spreads over her face.

“You seemed pretty excited when I mentioned about it earlier, and I’m not going to have a lot of time to do it myself anymore. That was my mom on the phone
, and she told me that she needs me to help manage one of her other bars on the other side of the city as well as this one for a while,” she taps the pen on the notebook a couple of times, and then leans forward, resting her hands on the desk. “I’ll double your pay.”

“Okay, well …” I start talking, but my
voice trails when I notice her pleading eyes. “I’d love—”

“Okay, well
, phew! And, now I really need to get going. I’ll see you when you’re next on shift.” And with that, she grabs her bag from the drawer underneath her desk, and runs right out of the room.

Right. Did that just happen? Of course I’ll say yes to the extra pay, and it’s not like it’s gonna be a hard thing to do. Yeah, this is exactly what I need. More pay
, and less time on my own so I won’t be able to think so much.

“Congrats, guys!” I say when I head back into the bar area and see the four of them heading out. This is likely
the best time to hand Alexis the note. I try not to concentrate on her being here, and focus all of my attention over on Neil and Rye instead.

“We owe you some beer the next time you have a night off,” Rye pats my shoulder. “We’re heading back to campus
, but we’ll see you in class first thing.”

“Oh, could you do me a favor?” I reach for my shirt pocket
, and take out the note I wrote for Alexis. Seeing as though she’s already walked out of the bar, it looks like I’m gonna have to try some other way of getting it to her.
Think
. “James, um … He asked me to pass this onto Alexis the next time I saw her. Something about class or rehearsal time or something.” Rye takes it from out of my hand, and luckily for me, he doesn’t seem too interested in what’s written on the inside. Alyssa narrows her eyes again, and I find myself to be clenching my jaw.
Now’s not the time, princess.
“Alright, I’ll see you guys later.” I say, and watch the three of them head out onto the sidewalk.

I asked
Alexis to meet with me tomorrow night at seven o’clock by the lake. Yeah, an ironic place, huh? Well, it’s the only quiet place I know of around here, and I need to make sure she’ll keep what she heard to herself.

“What can I get for ya?” The barista asks me once she’s finished serving the guy in the line ahead of me.

I’ve been browsing the menu for the past fifteen minutes, but nothing seems to be jumping out at me. Luckily for me, though, the guy ahead ordered the exact thing I need, or at least, I hope he did. It looked the same, anyways, “Can I get the same as what that guy just ordered?” I ask, and point over to the paper cup he’s carrying as he walks by me. “And, um … what’s it called?” Yeah, I know what she must be thinking. I don’t even know the name of the drink I wanna order. I’m not an overly huge fan of coffee, but then again, it’s not for me. I don’t need to consume any caffeine to help keep me awake at night because my memories and thoughts do that alone. I gave up trying to sleep a long time ago.

“
It’s a Caramel Macchiato,” she eyes me warily as she answers, and I grab my wallet from my back pocket before placing five bucks down on the counter.

It’s six forty five, and I’m meeting with Alexis r
eal soon. I saw her carrying that same kinda drink yesterday morning when I grabbed her on her way to class. I guess I wanna give her some kinda peace offering for leaving her with that asshole. Maybe this’ll also help with my efforts to smooth things over with her.

For the past couple of hours, I wasn’t sure if I was even gonna bother to show up myself. Not after what I witnessed outside the music building when my final class let out
for the day. I arranged to shoot some hoops with Rye for an hour, and I waited by the steps for him while he went and dropped his music folder back up to his dorm. Now, though, I wish I hadn’t.

Supposedly I’m the first guy who’s ever touched her. Her friend said it. Hell, she even admitted that that’s the case. I should’ve stuck around and asked James if he and Alexis have something going on, I know I should’ve. While I waited for Rye to come back, I saw the two of them sitting on the grass together. So
, what’s the problem with that you ask? I’ll tell you. They kissed. It wasn’t just a small kiss. It was full on, and she was the one who instigated the whole thing. She practically launched herself at him, gaining attention from everyone surrounding them.

My problem? I dunno. I really don’t. Maybe I don’t like being made a fool of or something. To say that I was a little pissed would be putting it mildly, and I didn’t even stick around long enough for Rye to come back down to join
me. Instead, I went back to my dorm, and talked myself into not meeting with her. But, how much more of an ass would I look if I stood her up?
Shit
. I don’t even know if she’s gonna bother to meet with me.

“Excuse me?” I blink a couple of ti
mes, and see the barista push the coffee toward me, her eyebrows now furrowed. I take it from her, nod once, and then head out onto the sidewalk.

It only takes me five minutes to reach the lake, and I fasten
the zipper on my jacket when it starts to rain. Resting my arms on the wall, and my chin on top, I look out over the water and decide that I’ll wait until seven thirty for her to show. If she doesn’t? Well, I don’t wanna think about that. Another thing that’s been frustrating me about this whole thing is that I feel like I have something to prove to her. It’s as though I need to make her see that I’m not the asshole she thinks I am. Why? Why do I even give a—?
She came.

The sound of footsteps behind me have
me turning my head to the side, and I close my eyes for a split second before fully turning around to see if it’s her.
Please let it be her. Please let it be Alexis because then I’ll know she’s not still with him.
It’s her.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d come,” I say when I look back
out over the water. Surely if she came here then she didn’t listen to a damn word that douchebag said about me. Or, maybe she just came to laugh at me some more.

“I wasn’t sure if I was going to either, until about thirty minutes ago,” she
answers, and I notice her take a couple more steps closer to me. I take a deep breath to steady my nerves, and look into the sky. The rain’s starting to get a little heavier.
Alright, here goes
.

“Well, I’m glad you’re here, Alexis,” I tell her
as I turn around to face her, and then see the expression over her face. How can someone who plays games like she does look so innocent and, I dunno, sweet? Her big brown eyes are staring directly into mine, and she seems nervous. “Here, I got you this.” I grab the paper cup from off of the wall, and offer it over to her. I see her eyes widen as I place it in her hand, and then notice her starting to narrow them on me, like she’s planning to throw the contents right over me or something.

“How did you know I like these?” Okay, maybe I was worrying over nothing in that respect. She looks more taken aback than anything
, so I’m happy to say that I don’t think she’s remotely interested in causing me any pain here.

“You had one in your hand yesterday when I asked to talk to y
ou. It’s a kinda peace offering.” I try and give her a small smile while placing my hands into the front of my pants’ pockets again. She looks confused, and I guess I need to explain in a little more detail. “For not being able to beat the shit outta that asshole for the things he said to you yesterday.”

“You were angry with Matt for the things he said about me?” Matt?
Name noted
. I watch her lift the drink to her lips, and when she’s taken a sip, I see a smile starting to form over her mouth.

I start grinning when she lets out a small moan of satisfaction, “Good?” I ask, and I feel my dick starting to twitch in my pants again from hearing that sound. It’s the same contented one that left her lips when she was—
oh shit.
No. This is not good. Not good at all.
Pinocchio, calm down. It’s not gonna happen.

“Why did you ask me to come?”

It takes me a second to grasp what she means by this because my thoughts were just a second ago consumed with images of her reaching her peak, and so obviously I was thinking about other ways I could’ve asked her to come. That’s not what she means, though. I know this. “I saw the look on your face before I walked away yesterday, and I didn’t want you to judge me on what other people are saying.”

“Why does it matter what I think anyway?”
I’ve been asking myself that very same thing
. “Do you ask all the girls you—?”

“This is different,” I say
, my lips tightening into a tight line. She really has no idea what she did to me on Friday night, does she? She doesn’t understand that she’s made things a whole lot more difficult for me. I’d never fully understood what people meant when they said about experiencing both pain and pleasure simultaneously before. But, I do now. She made me feel both. “You know, I almost didn’t come here, either.” I let out a sigh, and walk slowly away from her and over to sit by the small building just a few yards away. The rain’s starting to come down a little heavier now, and the wind’s beginning to pick up.

She follows me
over and takes a seat beside me. When I notice that she’s shivering, I shake my head and unzip my jacket. It was my idea to meet here after all, and the last thing I want is for her to get sick. I really don’t wanna have to feel guilty about that on top of everything else. Once I’ve shrugged out of my jacket, I reach over and wrap it around her shoulders.

“No, I’m fine,” she shakes her head
, and tries to hand it back to me, but I throw her a glare to show her that I’m not gonna listen to her on this. “Thanks.” She whispers. Good, at least we can agree on something. I nod and turn back away. There’s one thing that I wasn’t gonna mention, but I’ve gotta. I can’t not know or it’s gonna drive my fucking insane.

“Alexis, I saw you and James kissing earlier today … You looked really into it, and I …” No. This really isn’t any of my business. Why do I need to know if she’s with him? Why do I feel like I’m being punched in the gut every time I th
ink about her being with somebody else; with anybody else but me?
It’s just because she made you feel something again. It’s not her. She’s not Holly.

“What?”

I shake my head, and rake both of my hands through my hair, “Shit! This wasn’t supposed to fucking happen!” I can’t control it. It’s … I need to let this go. I know I do. I stand and start pacing the small pathway in front of the building. “You looked the same as you did when you and I—”

“We were practicing for our upcoming audition. It wasn’t like we were kissing for real or anyth
ing.” It wasn’t for real? But, I don’t understand. So, she’s not seeing him? She’s not with anybody?
Stop this. Stop now. Do you really wanna be showing her how much she’s already managed to get under your skin?

“Look, forget it … I shouldn’t have asked you to come.” I need to get outta here. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not now. Not ever. I make my way past her
, and head toward the opening by the fence.

“Brandon, it didn’t mean
anything.” She sounds genuine, but it’s too late. I can’t be here. I can’t do this with her. It’s not fair …
on any of us.

“And there are those words again …” I mutter under my breath. I thought the other night didn’t mean anything, but apparently, it did.

“What wasn’t supposed to happen?” I stop walking any further when I hear her ask this from just behind me. She’s not gonna give up. Not until I explain, but there’s no way in hell I’m telling her anything else.

“This!
” I uncontrollably snap out, waving my hand between the two of us. “I wanted us to be friends, but, I’m not sure if that’s such a good idea now.” How am I supposed to be friends with her when I know deep down that I’m gonna want more than that? I should’ve seen this coming. I know I should’ve.

She walks slowly
toward me, but she really needs to be keeping her distance. Her eyes are roving over me, and I know what she’s doing. She’s looking at me in the same way she did at the ball.

“Have you finished
checking me out yet?” I ask, because she’s in no way making it a secret. She’s looking at me in the same way she did on Friday. When she brings her eyes back to meet with mine, I see it again.
No. Don’t encourage this, beautiful. Don’t look at me like anything could ever happen between us again
. “I should go—”

“But I’m not done yet,” she says
, and steps forward a little more. When she’s standing right in front of me, she lifts her gaze back to mine. “How was this different?” Her eyes are now searching my face, and I don’t think I can look at her anymore without admitting everything I’m thinking and feeling. Yeah, I need to look away.

I close my eyes and count to ten, but all I see is me and her …
together.

Beyond frustrated now,
I reopen them to see that she’s still watching me, “I almost lost James as my partner today. He wanted to ditch me because I lacked passion.” There’s no way in hell she expects me to believe this does she? Alexis lacks passion? Not a fucking chance. I’ve experienced her kinda passion first hand, and she was definitely not lacking in that area.

“You looked as though you had plenty of passion when you kissed him,” I tell her, because she did. She seemed to enjoy every goddamn second
that she was in his arms. I think that I now understand what the feeling I felt was, when I saw them together. I’ve only ever felt it once before, and that was when I saw Holly speaking to some guy from her class one time before we got together. Yep.
Jealousy.
I was jealous that I wasn’t him.

She stands on her tiptoes
, leaning up to whisper in my ear, “That’s because I was thinking of you the whole time.”

She
really didn’t need to tell me this. That’s something I really didn’t wanna hear, “You … telling me this … it makes this entire situation a whole lot harder, Alexis.” I need her to understand that she’s gotta stay away. When she starts running her fingers along my jaw, I have to close my eyes. It’s too tempting. Sh
e’s too tempting.
“I wish that—”

“You felt it too, didn’t you?”
And there it is
. I clench my eyes shut, and lift my hands up to rest on my waist. If I was to leave them where they were then the likelihood of me grabbing a hold of her would’ve been inevitable. I can’t deny it anymore. She knows that I did, and I know that I loved every fucking second that I was with her. I nod slowly when I reopen my eyes, but I have to look away when I see her smiling again.

“Fine. I felt it. Is that what you wanted to hear?” I speak quietly, but because of the
se new feelings of guilt spreading through me and seeing Holly’s face seeping into my mind again, well, it's getting too much for me to possibly handle. Is she happy now? Has she not tormented me enough already? “Do you feel better now, Alexis? To know that I want you, but I can never fucking have you!” I notice her flinch away from my outburst, and all I wanna do is wrap my arms around her and apologize. I wanna say that I’m sorry for what I just said. I wanna apologize for walking over to her that night in the first place. Why did I have to bring her into any of this? My life is one fucked up mess, and she doesn’t belong in it.