Page 21 of A Lesson in Deceit
Riley
I’d ignored River’s text, my thoughts a frantic mess ofget out of here and head to your dad’s office building you idiotanddid you really get talked down to by your boyfriend’s brother? Corrin had flown past me on the way to her next class and I’d kept my head down when I’d walked by Asher’s desk on my way out.
I stood in front of the building that housed my father’s office, staring up at it. I tried to picture him coming here, happy and prepared to be the best advocate for students as he could. Those images blurred together into what it looked like minutes before his fall happened. I could never piece it together perfectly because none of it made sense.
I didn’t go inside but decided to circle around to the window that he’d supposedly fallen out of. Students paid me no attention as they went inside and others walked past like they had more important things to do. I looked up, squinting to see the window on the fifth floor. It had already been patched up with new glass as if nothing ever happened. I backed up a bit, looking around, wondering if this was where he landed. My mom spared me all of the minute details when it came to his death, but atthis point I would rather have every single piece of nauseatingly heartbreaking information than miss out on anything.
I looked around, only seeing a few students sitting on some benches a few feet away and moved my backpack so I could pull out the folded-up police report. I kept it close to my face, roaming my eyes over the information.
He was found on his back, dead at the scene. The time he was found was— eight o’clock at night? I racked my brain trying to remember the night before the police showed up. I remembered him leaving, telling me he had some work to do at the school in the afternoon. I thought it had been annoying since the university had just ended its spring term, but I couldn’t wrap my mind around something that would keep himthatlong.
I frowned but looked back over the police report. The officer had reported that my dad smelled like alcohol and that they’d found open bottles of vodka and scotch in his office. He didn’t even like fucking scotch. There were no fingerprints or signs of a struggle, so of course they took the easy way out and claimed he was the culprit of his own death. Pressing my lips together, I looked further down the page when a flash of reflecting light hit my eyes.
I blinked, putting my hand up to block it. I shoved the paper back in my bag, walking over to the grass that surrounded the building. I glanced up at the sun and back down to the ground. I turned slightly so my shadow wasn’t in the way and that speckle of light shined again. I zeroed in on its location, reaching down and running my hand through the grass. A tiny sting struck my fingertip, as if I’d been cut and pulled back a small fraction. I pressed my lips together repeating my motions but snatching up the object that had broken skin.
I examined the small piece of glass that sat perfectly in the middle of my palm. Dark red lightly splattered part of it, which Iassumed was dried blood, but I noticed a dusting of dark blue at one of the edges.
Opening up the front part of my backpack, I dropped it inside.
“What the hell are you doing?” A deep voice that I thought I could avoid for the next day and a half sounded behind me.
I stood up, turning around a little too quickly. Asher’s eyebrows were raised as he kept a hand on the strap of his messenger bag.
“Nothing.”
He ran his tongue along his front teeth. “It looks like something, or are we going to start off the semester by lying?”
“I—I’m not…I’m not lying. What areyoudoing here?”
He pointed to the building. “I work at this school and my office is in this building. I have some things to get done before my class that isn’t filled with a bunch of underclassmen who think the class is an easy A.”
I tilted my head to the side. “I’ll have you know I don’t think the class will be a breeze, especially with you leading the charge.”
A short, annoyed laugh left his throat. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” He tilted his chin towards the space behind me. The small movement gave me a view of his lean neck and the space right under his chin where I noticed a few tiny nicks, like he’d cut himself shaving. “Do you need help figuring out how to get into the building, or do you just enjoy loitering for the hell of it?”
I reared my head back. “It’s not a crime to stand around on a college campus.”
He placed his hands in his pants pockets, getting closer to me. “You’re right, it’s not. If that’sallyou were doing, then I would consider letting it go.”
“I wasn’t…”
He waved his hand, halting my words. “Actually, you can save whatever story you concoct for my brother. I’m sure he would be thrilled to hear what you have to say, as simple and mundane as it may be.”
“If the fact that I’m dating your brother makes you uncomfortable, then I’ll transfer to a different class, but I don’t think that’s it nor do I think you’d even admit that, so just let me get through this semester in some form of peace for both our sakes.” I spat at him, straightening my spine. “Whatever reason you don’t approve of me gets pushed to the back of your mind, kind of like empathy for your students.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll leave that to the empaths; they’re the experts on all that.” He leaned in, his face inches from mine. “I don’t care who my brother takes to bed,” he scanned my body. “Or who he dates.”
I threw my braids over my shoulder, the sun starting to shine a little brighter and work in harmony with the breeze that was still present. “Who’s the liar now?”
Our faces were closer than I would have liked, but my shoulders jumped when I felt my phone buzz in the back pocket of my jeans. I ripped my eyes away from Asher to look down to see that River was calling.
Asher cast his gaze down, seeing his brother’s picture across my screen. “This interaction has been stimulating to say the least, butoh no, looks like you have somewhere to be.” A sly smile formed on his face.
I put on my best fake smile. “I’ll see you in class,sir.” I said the last word with more effort than I normally would, making sure since he was so adamant about it that he got what he wanted.
He cleared his throat, his jaw ticking. I walked around him, sliding my finger across the screen to answer my phone.
“I’m so sorry,I’m late.” The words rushed out of my mouth as I ran up to River and Grayson. Leif’s was a quick walk from where I’d had my altercation with Asher, so I’d only had a matter of minutes to fix my face and attitude.
