Pretty Lies & Ugly Truths (Ugly Truths #1)

19. Archer

19

Archer

F uck… It’s so good.

Being inside Maggie feels so fucking good, like finally coming home after a lifetime spent at sea. For so long I have felt lost, untethered. Floating through life with no real sense of direction. Just going through the motions. Alive, but not actually living.

Here in this room, it feels like I have finally found my anchor.

My purpose.

Maggie gazes up at me, her tear-filled eyes shining with so much emotion, it makes my chest ache.

I lean down to kiss away the tears that have spilled out onto her freckled cheeks, lapping them up with my tongue.

“Shh…I know, baby. I know,” I whisper against her skin.

She is so tight, her pussy squeezing me like a fist. It feels like heaven, but if I don’t get my shit together, this is going to be over a lot sooner than either of us wants.

“Breathe…I need you to relax for me,” I tell her.

After a few moments, I feel her body start to soften, and I begin to move, slowly at first, giving her a moment to adjust to my size before picking up my pace.

She feels so damn good, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to last like this. Needing her to come again, I pull out, flipping her around before entering her from behind. I pull her up on to her knees, bringing our bodies flush together.

She hesitates at first, as if unsure what to do in this position, but I guide her hips helping her find her rhythm, until she is riding me shamelessly, chasing her own pleasure.

“That’s it, baby. Just like that. You’re doing so good,” I praise, reaching around to stroke her clit until she comes with my name on her lips, her pussy clenching and pulsing around me, sending me closer to the edge.

Gripping her hips, I increase my pace.

“So. Fucking. Good,” I say, punctuating each word with an upward thrust of my hips.

My teeth clamp down on the soft flesh at the juncture between her neck and shoulder as my orgasm erupts from me. Burying myself deep inside her, I spill into the condom, suddenly wishing there was no barrier between us.

An image of Maggie’s belly swollen with my child pops in my head, and my heart squeezes. I’ve never allowed myself to dream of things like kids or a family. I’ve never felt like I deserved them. But being with Maggie has made me see the possibility of a different future for myself, one I thought I would never have.

Reluctantly, I slip from her body, moving to the bathroom to dispose of the condom before joining her back on the bed. I wrap my arms around her, pulling her in close to me.

“Do we have to go?” she asks, head resting on my chest.

I consider just saying to hell with the damn benefit, but I can’t do that to my brother. I’ve already slacked off enough as it is.

“I wish I didn’t, but I’ve gotta go help Jayce. I can’t leave him to do it all by himself.”

“I understand,” she sighs, placing a kiss along the underside of my jaw. “You’re a good brother.”

My arms tighten around her reflexively, a heavy weight settling on my chest, and I can’t shake the sense of foreboding that soon, this will all be snatched away from me.

We arrive to the lounge almost two hours late, only to be greeted at the door by the one person I was hoping to avoid.

Carolina Graham-Vance, the mayor’s wife, stands by the entrance, her breasts spilling out of a skintight red dress.

“Archer Wilder,” she croons, her blood red lips curving up into what I imagine is supposed to be a seductive smile but has my balls retreating back into my body instead. She moves in as if to hug me, but I politely decline, taking a step back as I introduce her to my date instead.

“Carolina, this is Maggie McKennan. My girlfriend.”

A flash of shock colors Maggie’s face, and her questioning eyes dart up to meet mine. To be honest, I’m not sure where that came from. We’ve never really discussed it, but her standing here beside me, cheeks flushed from our earlier tryst, her wavy hair loose around her shoulders to hide the bite mark I put there… It just feels right.

Whatever she sees written on my face must answer some unasked question, because she smiles softly before leaning up to press her lips to mine. My arm slips around her waist, drawing her in to deepen the kiss. A throat clearing cuts through the haze, and Maggie jumps back, her cheeks coloring.

“Well…it was good meeting you,” Carolina says through pursed lips, her saccharine voice dripping with barely concealed disdain before stalking away.

“She was…nice?” Maggie says, face screwing up like she tasted something bitter.

“Yeah—I guess that’s one way to put it,” I mutter.

“Did you two ever…?” She trails off.

“No. Never,” I reassure her, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, exposing the mark on her neck, reveling at the dark blotch that mars the milky expanse of her throat. Something about seeing it there speaks to some primal part of me and gives me a twisted sense of satisfaction. My hand cups her nape, and she shivers when my thumb brushes over it lightly, her body melting under my touch.

“Let’s go find Jayce so we can hurry up and get out of here.”

“Deal.”

She looks up at me, her hooded green eyes mirroring the same desire I’m sure she sees reflected in mine.

We wind our way through the crowd, but Jayce is nowhere to be found.

Maggie stops me when we finally reach the back of the bar, saying she needs to use the restroom. I walk her to the hall, waiting until she is safely inside my office before I turn to scan the room for my brother.

Finally, I spot him through the crowd, coming from the kitchen, hot on the tail of a curvy, dark-haired woman in a caterer’s uniform. She stops, spinning on her heels with a scowl plastered on her face. She says something to him I can’t hear from this distance, before she saunters off, leaving a very pissed off Jayce in her wake.

Okay….what the hell was that all about?

I glance back towards my office, but Maggie still hasn’t come out yet. So, I make my way over to where my brother now stands by the bar slugging back a whisky.

“Everything alright?” I ask.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Jayce bites out.

My head snaps back at the blatant anger in his voice. I rarely ever see my brother truly angry. He may fuck around with me from time to time, but it takes a lot to get him pissed off.

“Look—I’m sorry,” I say, holding my hands out in front of me, “I went to pick up Maggie and got…distracted.”

He runs a hand over his face, heaving out a sigh, and it’s then I realize just how exhausted he looks. Dark circles have formed under eyes that lack their usual luster, and his unshaven jaw gives him a more rugged, weary appearance.

“No. I’m sorry. I’ve just been under a lot of stress lately. We had another bartender quit this week, so I’ve been stuck picking up shifts every night on top of everything else I do around here.”

Guilt lays heavy on my shoulders. I didn’t realize he was having such a hard time.

“Why didn’t you say anything? You know I would have?—"

“You would have what?” he cuts me off. “You would have left your girl’s bed to come play with me instead?” he teases, tossing an arm over my shoulders.

“Nah, I’m fine. Seriously. I don’t blame you. If I had a girl as pretty as yours to keep my bed warm, I would tell me to fuck right off too.”

I shrug off his arm, turning to face him, making sure he sees the truth in my words when I say, “You know it’s not like that. If you need me, I will always be there for you.”

“Awe… Are you going soft on me, Archie?” he teases, using my childhood nickname he knows I hate .

“Fuck off!” I growl, and the asshole just laughs.

“Speaking of—where is your girl?” he asks, looking around.

My heart rate picks up when I realize how long she has been gone.

She really should be back by now.

“She was using the bathroom in my office. I better go check on her.”

“Yeah—go,” he says, waving me off.

My stomach sinks with every step closer I get to my office.

A bead of sweat rolls down my spine as that feeling of dread returns. I’m unsure of what I’m about to find, but whatever it is, I know it’s not good.

Slowly, I push my office door open, and fear freezes me in place, panic gripping my lungs when I take in the sight before me.

Maggie stands unblinking in the middle of my office, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. Though she’s staring directly at me, it’s as if she doesn’t see me, and I know something is terribly wrong.

“Baby, what’s wrong? What happened?”

My eyes roam her body, checking for the source of her distress, and in her fist I see a familiar black mask.

FUCK! How did she…?

A recent conversation with Jayce pops into my mind. I must have forgot to put it back up.

Unsure what is currently going on in her head, I try to think of with a way to fix this. I have no idea what all she remembers from that night, but with the way she is reacting right now, it’s clear she remembers something.

“Please…just let me explain,” I beg, shutting the door.

She flinches when I flip the lock, her eyes zeroing in on mine, wild and full of fear. I take a tentative step towards her, and it feels like someone takes a knife to my chest when she jumps away from me, stumbling as the back of her legs hit the low table behind her.

I pause, my hands raised in front of me.

“Maggie, you know I’m not going to hurt you. I will never hurt you. Ever. You hear me? I just want a chance to explain. Talk to me. Please,” I say, voice low and calm as if I’m speaking to a frightened animal.

She doesn’t speak for a whole two minutes just stands there, clutching that mask in her tiny fists, fingers stroking over it absently.

“You were there. That night, that man… It was all real? ” Her hands come up to cover her mouth, the mask now forgotten as it falls to the floor at her feet.

She looks at me with such hurt and devastation in her eyes, it almost brings me to my knees “Oh God—h-he tried to….”

She cuts off on a sob, and my heart breaks to see her like this.

No longer able to hold myself back, I go to her, wrapping her up in my arms. I hold her tight as she sobs into my chest.

Eventually, she stiffens, her arms falling to hang loose by her sides .

“I killed someone,” she says numbly, her voice coming out as a whisper.

Next thing I know, she is shoving me away as she runs to the bathroom, barely reaching the toilet before she begins heaving violently. I follow behind her, kneeling on the cold floor as I gather the loose strands of her hair in my fist, holding it back away from her face.

“I’m so, so sorry, baby. I’d hoped you didn’t remember, that you’d never remember. Killing someone, even someone who deserves it… It changes you in ways you could never imagine. Trust me. I didn’t want that for you.”

She looks up at me, brows furrowed. “But…why would you even care? You didn’t know me.”

I shrug. “I didn’t have to. Just one look at you, and I could tell you were good. I knew it would hurt you to have to carry around that burden, that knowledge of what you did.”

“How? How do you know that?”

We both stand, and she takes several steps back, putting distance between us. It’s only a few feet, but with the way she’s looking at me right now, it may as well be miles.

Narrowing her eyes, her voice comes out cold and hard as she asks, “You said it yourself, that you’re not a good man, that you have done bad things. Right? So, tell me. How many people have you killed Archer?”

My shoulders sag and my chest feels as if it’s been hollowed out, because I know it doesn’t matter what answer I give.

It’s too late.

I’ve already lost her.