Page 83 of A Lesson in Deceit
I heard him chuckle. “I didn’t, though. Listen, son, I really don’t quite understand why you are so damn upset with me. Aren’t you the one who told me they would be at the courtyard?”
I may have fucked Riley and felt something for her that needed to be thoroughly investigated, but my brother came first. As much of an asshole as River thought I was, his best interest was my priority. I’d gone back to my office after I’d overheard her phone call and gotten bombarded by my dad.
He started asking so many questions about my brother and kept prattling on about the less than joyous meeting he’d forcedRiver into. He was exhausting. I’d said that if he cared so much about his son then he should probably figure out what’s going on at the courtyard that night. I slightly regretted that now, but not enough to go to Riley and tell her the truth.
He scratched under his chin. “Besides, your brother wasn’t even there, so you can stop worrying about him.”
“I just didn’t want River connected with something that seemed off, that’s all. I thought you would peep in, see what they were doing. Not this!” I took my glasses off, pinching the bridge of my nose.
My dad rolled his eyes. “It’s a sleeping powder, Asher. Not a flesh-eating virus. I needed to get them out of there without issue. Who knows what kind of outbursts would happen if I had tried to remove them with tender care.” He waved his hand in my direction. “None of that matters anyway. Now that you are here, I have to ask you a question.”
“You really think I want to help you out with something?”
My dad paid my response no mind. “Did you know that girl was Thomas’s daughter?”
I readjusted my rolled-up sleeves. “Riley?”
His eyes sparkled with my recognition. “So, you know her?”
I stepped up to his desk. “She’s in my class. That’s all.”
My dad’s laugh was boisterous as he settled back in his chair. “Asher, we may not see eye to eye on many things, but I am still your father and I like to think I know when you’re lying.”
I scoffed. “You can check the roster; sheisin the class.”
“That’s not all though.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
He got up from his chair, some of his hair getting out of its perfectly done style. “Why would your brother be hanging around with her? Why would you act as if you are so confident that he would be there?”
“None of this is of any importance. I’m leaving.” I stalked across the room, prepared to open the door and slam it closed.
“River’s mysterious little girlfriend.”
I swallowed, my stomach dropping.
“That does complicate things, doesn’t it?”
I turned my head, noticing that my dad was talking more to himself than to me. I left the room, wondering what exactly he meant and whether or not I cared enough to dig more into it.
42
Riley
The assembly was packed when I walked in, flanked by River and Grayson. I’d been overly evasive with them, but just like my mom, they only wanted to know how they could help. I was so fucking tired of explaining myself and trying to figure out how to keep everyone in their own lane. I decided that right before the assembly I would open myself up, just a tiny bit. Just enough to satisfy.
“You transferred specificallyto find the truth about your dad?” Grayson asked, sitting on my bedin my dorm room.
“Mhmm.”
“And I was right about things being weird after the party, about you and Corrin being fucking sneaky,” River added, leaning against the wall next to the bathroom.
I nodded, standing in the middle of the room and moving from foot to foot.
“Are you sure this isn’t just grief talking? Like you want to think there is more to it but…” Grayson started but I shot him an irritated look.
“No! I’m not an idiot. If things made sense, I would let it go, but it doesn’t. A lot of people want to say that well, you never really know people, when shit like this happens, but this is not one of those cases. I knew my dad and this isn’t something he would have done.”
