Secrets, Lies, and Summer Skies

Chapter One

Maybe if I'd taken Grayson's advice more seriously when I'd left for university, I wouldn't have found myself on a long drive home after my third year with all my stuff crammed into the back seat and trunk.

This hadn't been the summer I'd planned.

College had been a blast right from the start. I'd loved my roommate. Anna was a total extrovert and there were always people coming into our room. It was kind of a pain in the ass when we needed to study, but we were invited to just about every party on campus. I met people from all over the world. I kissed a lot of guys. And Anna insisted I spend almost every vacation with her doing something wild. We even roomed off-campus and rented a place with our respective boyfriends.

Rather, we rented a place with my boyfriend, Trey, while Anna had a revolving door of guys who seemed to change out monthly.

Not that I had a problem with that.

I mean, I did when I found them eating my snacks in the morning, but a few passive-aggressive post-it notes on the shelves deterred most of them.

It was great to have my own space again. It was the thing I'd missed most about living away from home. Sometimes I just needed to shut a door so I could have five minutes of peace and quiet. After all, I wanted to pass my classes. Anna was just scraping by with her party lifestyle. I had to admire her, though. Most people who stayed up as late as she did wouldn't make it to their lectures first thing in the morning. I was certain that she had coffee in her veins instead of blood. It was the only way to explain her boundless energy.

As fun as it was, I didn't think we'd all live together forever. In fact, I figured once we were done with our degrees, I'd just go with Trey to wherever we found work. Anna could visit us, and we'd always be friends, but when you were an adult in a relationship, you just wanted to make a private home without someone else invading it all the time. Not that Anna was invading. I mean, it was her apartment too, but I was already thinking about my future with Trey, and I didn't want her to be the third wheel in that.

Until I found out that I was the third wheel.

I didn't even remember what happened in detail, it was all a blur. A class had been cancelled on the last day before our summer break and I'd returned to the apartment early to pack for my trip to stay with Trey's family. Nothing seemed weird when I walked into the apartment. We all lived together, a few bits of clothing on the sofa and shoes by the door didn't raise any alarms. Hell, even the sound of skin slapping against skin wasn't unusual. As I said, Anna had more boyfriends than I had socks. It was rare to walk into the apartment and not hear weird noises coming out of her room.

Only... they weren't coming from her room; they were coming from mine.

I'd packed immediately. Fortunately, our neighbor was a bodybuilder and more than happy to stand guard while I put my life back into boxes that I didn't think I'd see again until Trey proposed and bought us our dream home. I felt so stupid for ever imagining a future with him. Anna wailed and begged for me to listen to her, saying that it was an accident and all that crap. I didn't know how someone accidentally put their dick inside another person repeatedly, but that was the best she could come up with. I couldn't believe their claims that it had only happened once, either. They both knew my schedules just like I knew theirs. It made me sick to think just how many times I'd left them alone in the apartment. All the opportunities they'd had to betray me.

I was so done.

I spent the first night in a hotel. Dad always said it was a bad idea to drive angry, and I'd never been angrier in all my life. With my car tucked away safely in the underground parking garage where, hopefully, no one would steal all my crap, I curled up on the crisp hotel sheets and cried myself to sleep. It hadn't crossed my mind to call anyone about what'd happened. I still barely understood it myself.