The Lies we Steal (The Hollow Boys Book 1)

Briar

It took till the week before Christmas for officers to finally identify the body that had been torched at the local party house. In that week, students and faculty had assembled together in the snow filled courtyard to create a memorial for Greg West. 

As I walked past the balloons, pictures, we miss you cards and all the other memorabilia, I couldn’t make myself feel sorry for him. The man who lived alone and helped sell girls into sex slavery. 

My fingers were wrapped tightly around two cups of coffee as I pushed the heavy door to the dining hall open with my shoulder, moving my way through the rows until I saw Lyra with her nose in a book, the seat in front of her empty for me. 

“Wild first semester, huh?” I say, as I drop down into the chair, sliding the extra cup towards her. 

“Passed my exams, witnessed murder, committed arson. I’d say it’s one for the books.” She looks up, thanking me for the coffee. 

I wasn’t sure what the term was for bonding over chaos, but Lyra and I had made our loner society a forever kind of thing. After all the messes we muddled through this last semester, I couldn’t imagine going through the rest of my college days without her by my side. 

“Did you see the cops on campus? I heard they were interviewing girls who were friends with Coraline. There have just been too many missing and dead bodies for them to not look into it.” She says, flipping the page in her book. 

“Yeah.” Dread filled my stomach, “It was bound to happen eventually.” 

Everything about how Alistair and I did things was completely backwards. But that didn’t mean I cared for him any less, it didn’t mean my worry for him going to jail lessened because we’d just gone on our first date a few weeks ago. 

I knew I had this deep, profound connection to him. Our souls linked through the different types of invisibility we experienced as children. But it was Thanksgiving that I knew I loved him. 

When he walked into Thomas’s apartment wearing slacks and a button down, carrying a pie that Thatcher’s grandmother forced him to bring. I saw him step out of his comfort zone for something that made me happy. 

All I wanted was for him to stop by, I didn’t expect everything else. 

We spent the day together and it felt like something a real, normal couple would do. Helping around the kitchen as Thomas told stories of his youth and we tried to relate. There had been thirty minutes of awkward tension, but it quickly melted once Alistair began warming up to the situation. 

I loved him because of what I knew he’d give up in order to protect me. In order to make me happy. And even though I may never hear those three little words from him, I know he feels them. 

Alistair Caldwell will never be the man who will shower me with pretty words and love poems. The man who says every emotion he feels or the one who says I love you. But he is the man who will walk through a blizzard just to get me pie from Tilly’s diner during finals. The man who will break the noses of men like Easton Sinclair for not leaving me alone. 

He is the man who is savage and security. The perfect balance to make me feel alive, yet safe. The only drug on the planet that’s good for you. Lyra had been right, to an extent in that diner. 

I wasn’t the girl who just wanted comfort. I needed the challenge. And that’s what he was. A challenge every single day. 

I didn’t know when it happened, when the hate and lust shifted to love, when my heart started drawing his name on the inside walls not with distaste, but with admiration. 

It would just severely blow if the guy I just started dating went to jail for murder, but being with him, was knowing I was taking that risk. 

“So…” I start, reaching into my side back and pulling out a neatly wrapped present. The rectangular box is decorated with black and purple wrapping paper.

“Briar! I thought we said no gifts!” She scolds. 

“I had to get you something. I saw it and it was too perfect. It practically jumped off the shelf.” 

Small white lie. I’d had this custom made, but she didn’t need to know that. 

“I thought I was going to get to surprise you.” She pouts as she pulls out a much larger box, sliding it across the table towards me. 

We share a laugh, realizing we are the type of people who couldn’t not give gifts to the ones we care about. 

Together we begin opening our respective gifts, inside mine is a soft red pullover. The vintage looking material makes my toes curl with the happiness and I run my fingers across the embroidering on the front that spells, Loner Society.

If I wasn’t already wearing what felt like ten layers of clothing I would’ve put it on, that’s how much I loved it. 

Lyra’s present was a silver charm bracelet, four charms already adorning the chain. A cute beetle, a cherry, a little knife for her obsession with Criminal Minds, and a raven for Edgar Allan Poe, her lover.

I walk to the opposite side of the table, wrapping my arms around her and hugging her tightly to my body. I was beyond thankful that my first friend was someone like Lyra. 

We sat catching up over coffee, planning an entire Christmas movie marathon, and enjoying the company of each other. 

It’s only when I get a notification on my phone that I have to leave. The text was a simple, 

Labyrinth in five.

I told Lyra bye, not like I wouldn’t see her tonight before we all left for Christmas break. 

Not being able to help the excitement bubbling in my stomach or the butterflies that fluttered in there, I speed walk out of the dining hall. Rushing across the school grounds towards the Bursley District. 

The snow came down hard, huge snowflakes stacking onto the already white ground. My shoe prints leaving a trail behind me as I started a light jog. My breath coming out in visible smoke clouds. 

I flew around the side of the building heading towards the entrance of the Labyrinth, the last time I’d been inside I’d been clawing to get out, now I was rushing through the semi-circles, ready to see who awaited me in the center. 

Pine trees carried the weight of the snow, their dark needles still poking through giving me the first winter of my life and making it beautiful in the process. I came skidding to a stop when I made my way around the last portion of the maze. 

Alistair stood with his hands shoved deep into his dark jeans, his hood pulled up over his head to shield his face from the harsh weather, a leather jacket over the black hoodie. 

He was a stark contrast from the white falling around him, sticking out like a sore thumb. 

Snow crunched beneath my feet, making him raise his gaze in my direction. I was almost taken back by how unfairly stunning he was standing there. Everything faded when he looked at me, when the little bit of sunlight hits his eyes they become this brilliant, almost clear black. Like perfectly worn sea glass or water in a stream running over stones. 

I take my time walking towards him and he sits perfectly still, eyes zoned in on every single step, and as soon as I’m within distance, he attacks. Wrapping a toned arm around my waist and pulling me snug against his body. 

As if it’s a greeting, he drops his head to my hair, inhaling my scent before saying, 

“Hello, Little Thief.” 

I love the way my skin warms when he talks, heating me up from the inside out. 

“Caldwell.” I throw back, pulling back so I can look up at him. I tuck my hands around his waist beneath his leather jacket, keeping my hands warm. This is what a safe place felt like. 

“See all the cops on campus?” I ask casually, even though it makes my stomach roll. 

“I did.” He says easily, looking down at me, “It was a risk we knew about before we did this. I won’t apologize for it if they find out what happened, but I doubt it.” 

I didn’t expect anything less from him. It was the one thing about Alistair that didn’t change from the moment I met him, he never apologized for who he was. You either took him as is or you hated him for it. 

“Still working on Frank?” 

He nods casually in answer. I didn’t need him to change, I didn’t need him to tell me he loved me or shower me with flowers. But I did ask for the truth, no matter how bloody it got, he promised he wouldn’t lie to me. 

And he’d kept that promise.

He told me everything. All the things they did before Greg, everything that happened to Rose and what they had planned to do with the mayor. Which wasn’t much at the moment because they were waiting on Silas to call the shots for the next move. 

All they did know was that he wasn’t getting away with it and his time was coming, soon. 

“I’m scared. I don’t like not knowing things.” I whisper, resting my chin on his chest, resting there. 

His fingers push my hair behind my ears, thumbs swiping across my cheek bones. 

“I’m not sure where we go from here, Briar, or what will happen, but I know no matter what, I’ll protect you. I’ll protect this.” He says, soothing the anguish that sits in my heart when I think about him being taken away or worse winding up dead. 

Hollow Heights had been nothing like I thought it would be. Everything I planned to happen wasn’t even close to what I got. Never in a million years did I think I’d be standing here. Never thought I would be the girl who protected murderers. 

I guess some people are just born to run with criminals. I guess that person is me. 

“It’s funny, I thought when I came here it would all make sense. What I wanted to do with my life, where I wanted to end up later in life.” I drift off, “I’d never had anything good like this happen to me before, so I never really thought anything good would be possible for me in the future. But I’m starting to like figuring it out as I go.” 

“Yeah? You don’t have any idea what the future looks like for you?” He asks, raising an eyebrow, a mischievous twinkling in his eyes like stars in the night sky. 

“I mean,” I sigh sarcastically, “The idea of you and I apartment hunting next year doesn’t sound too bad. Snagging an internship with the data science program might be nice, throwing surprise birthday parties for you…” 

“Briar.” He growls, interrupting me. 

“No birthday parties?” I ask with a smile. 

“No parties. I enjoyed the way I spent this one,” Leaning towards my face, moving his warm lips across my own, “Fucking you.” 

Heat surges between my legs, that dull ache that never leaves increases and I’m suddenly thinking about all the things we could do inside this maze. I bite at his bottom lip playfully. 

“What about you, Mr. Caldwell? Any ideas for your future?” 

“Continuing to tell my parents to shove their business ventures up their ass.” He grunts and I can’t help but laugh, “Making sure the boys don’t end up in jail and spend every moment I can trying to find new ways to scare you.”

I thought about the last time we had sex, in the parking lot of the school midday with students walking around campus. The tinted windows shielded us from eyes, but it set me on fire thinking they could maybe see me with my thighs wrapped around his waist as he thrust inside of me over and over again in the back seat of his car. 

He knew I liked to test limits and I trusted him enough to let him do that. 

My safe high. 

My adrenaline rush. 

“Still haven’t come around to your parents?” I ask, trying not to let the images of us distract me. 

“Dorian’s been in rehab for three weeks and they are already trying to replace him. I don’t want anything to do with their money or business. They made their bed. They can lie in it for all I fucking care.” 

According to the Caldwells their oldest suffered a traumatic injury that had left him addicted to painkillers and he was working hard in rehab to rid himself of the filthy habit. That’s what they told everyone anyway. 

The truth was the pressure of being Dorian Caldwell drove him to start taking drugs. Mixing and matching uppers and downers. Whatever he could get his hands on. He hadn’t been sober in years and his parents didn’t even care to notice as long as he fit the image. 

Now, they were scrambling to find an heir. 

It was a shame they saw their flesh and blood as assets, verses human beings, children.  

Anytime I asked him, Alistair said he didn’t think there was much hope in rekindling a relationship with Dorian. Not because he didn’t understand and not because he kidnapped me with plans of killing me, but because even before the drugs he’d done exactly what his parents did. Made him the outcast. It was a long road that he didn’t want to travel down. Not any time soon anyway. 

“I have your Christmas present.” I say, pulling us away from the depressing topic, grinning from ear to ear. 

“Are you wearing a bow underneath your clothes?” 

I snort, rolling my eyes, “No you perv. It’s in my back pocket. But you’ll have to grab it yourself.” 

He arches his eyebrows with the challenge, slipping his hands lower on my body. I shiver as his rubs up and down my back side, falling down to my butt and grabbing it roughly. 

I moan softly, his head dipping to the side of my neck, little kisses left on my collarbone make my head buzz. Carefully he sticks his fingers into my back pocket, retrieving the gift with two fingers. 

He pulls it between us, the golden chain dangling in front of me and I have flashes of it brushing my nose as he crawls on top of me, pressing his body into mine, rocking inside of me over and over again. 

“This your way of branding me, Little Thief?” 

The tiny B in the center of the necklace catches the light, making me grin. 

“Figured I’d return the favor, considering I have to walk around with your initials on my finger forever.” 

He chuckles, unclipping the hook and wrapping it around his neck. The chain hugs his neck in all the right ways, dangling a few inches below his Adam’s apple and I want to lick it. 

I loved the way my initial seemed to fit perfectly on his chest. My fingers reaching up and running along the golden chain. In my mind he was already mine, but now, I was marking him publicly. 

Alistair Caldwell was mine, mine, mine. 

“Speaking of that, my present requires a little bit of a drive, you up for it?” 

“You gonna let me drive?” I raise my eyebrow, knowing he hates my driving. It makes him nervous the way I take curves. 

“Tell ya what, make it through the maze without me catching you and the keys are all yours.” 

The challenge sparks my excitement. I take an eager step back from him, a Cheshire cat grin eating at my face. I could feel my heart start to pump a little faster, I slowly start backing away from him, 

“Deal.” I say quickly, before turning and taking off back through the maze. 

Knowing that even though I really wanted to drive, I’d always let him catch me.