Dirty Little Secrets (Book1) The Dirty Little Secrets Series

Chapter One- Asher

Hello, everyone!  Here is the first chapter simply because I wanted you to have more than a prologue to begin with.   Please let me know what you think of it in the comments and if you like it change the color of that star.  Thank you so much for reading.  -  XXXX Amanda

Warning: This chapter does mention someone who died due to suicide.  It also shows some of the grieving process.  

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-One Year Later

I stepped out of the bathroom with a towel draping my waist, glancing at the bed finding that the girl who had warmed it the night before was gone. I winced, it was during the time after the romp that guilt tried its best to curl through me because I had used her as something to make me forget...Forget Ellis...Forget Colby...Forget everything. I squinted trying to remember her name...It was something that started with an H...At least I thought it did. I ran my hand through my dark hair and shrugged, telling myself that it didn't matter. I wouldn't be seeing her again.

Moving to the closet, my eyes narrowed when I opened the door, finding that she had gone through my clothes and the shelves. I glanced down finding my cellphone and raised a brow. The woman from last night must have hidden in my closet and had gone through my cell though I wasn't sure what she hoped to accomplish. I picked it up finding the last thing she had opened were texts from a year before from Ellis. They were the cutesy, couple things I should have deleted after our breakup but didn't. Shrugging a shoulder, I rolled my eyes. If the woman was upset, it was her own fault. I had been straight forward about what last night had meant...Pleasure for both of us. It was no strings attached type of fun. I didn't lie to her. I never did lie to my one-night stands. Sighing, I shook my head pulling my ripped jeans out of the closet and moved to my dresser grabbing a black t-shirt and boxers before pulling them on.

Sauntering over to the window, I opened the blinds to my room. I didn't mean to be a peeping tom and technically I wasn't. I had never seen the beautiful woman next door naked, but I had seen her dancing every morning to music I couldn't hear as she moved around her room. I was sure it was a side no one else had seen because Lena Montgomery struck me as extremely shy. As fucking beautiful as she was, she usually drifted down the halls of our school, moving in the background. I often wondered why. It was a mystery...One I wasn't going to touch because she was too pure...Too sweet and she didn't need to be tainted by the likes of me.

I paused at my window, frowning as my thoughts shattered. This morning she wasn't dancing. She was sitting at her desk with her hands over her face. I was so stunned that I stood there studying her in plain sight where all she would have to do is lift her head and see me. I squinted as the light shined on her cheek revealing the blotchy redness of immense grief and many tears. My heart lurched in my chest and I tried to push away that need to comfort her that was forcing its way through my veins.

I moved away from the window grabbing my t-shirt from the bed where I had left it, sliding it on before putting on my shoes and socks. I went through combing my hair and brushing my teeth finally pushing thoughts of Lena and her tears away until I stepped outside. Just the sight of her house made me rush away from my neighborhood toward the college we both attended. I gritted my teeth. As long as I could avoid her today, she would go back to being just the girl I spied on to bring an amused smile to my face every morning and not someone who I wanted to make everything better for. As long as I could avoid her, I could go back to the unfeeling bastard I was trying to turn myself into so I didn't have to worry about getting my heart crushed all over again.

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As I pulled into the school, thoughts of Lena Montgomery had faded to near nothingness. I exited my baby, my car, a black 1977 El Camino Laguna and entered the school, slowing when I realized people were standing outside my economics class crying. My heart picked up speed as I realized this couldn't be a coincidence. First, Lena and now, most of the students in class.