Twisted Lies (Twisted Pine Academy #1)

Chapter 1

“I’m not leaving.” I cling to Axl, pressing my head against his chest.

“You have to.” He kisses my head. “If you don’t, you’ll end up in foster care.”

“Not if I hide.” I look up at him. “I’ll stay with Jacob. I’ll hide out there until I’m eighteen.”

“My brother’s place is barely big enough for him. And what about school? You’re not dropping out.”

“It’d only be for a year. I could go back.” I tighten my arms around him. “I’ll do anything to keep us together.”

“Rumor.” Axl gently pulls away and cups my face, his eyes on mine. “I love you. That’s not gonna change, no matter how far apart we are.”

“You say that now but what about a month from now? What if you get tired of never seeing me and find someone else?”

“Who could I find better than you?” He gives me that half-smile of his that made me fall for him on our first date. He never does a full smile. Just a partial one with a slight upturn of his lips. It’s sexy, mysterious, and totally Axl.

“Maybe I should be worrying about you,” he says, still smirking. “Maybe you’ll fall for one of those California surfer guys and ditch me.”

“You know I’d never do that. Don’t even joke about it.”

He chuckles. “I can’t even imagine you with one of those guys with their blond hair and tan, leathery skin.”

“I can’t imagine myself with any of those people. I’m a New Yorker. I don’t belong in California. I belong here.”

“But you can’t stay here.” He runs his hand along my cheek, his smile now gone. “You can do this, Rumor. It’s only for a year.”

“A year is too long.” I look down, biting my lip and trying not to cry. “I hate this. I hate this so much. This was never supposed to happen.”

He lifts my chin up, and our eyes meet. “But it did, and now you just need to get through it.”

I search his face, trying to memorize each detail so I don’t forget.

His messy dark hair that’s always falling in his eyes.

His thick black eyebrows. His silver nose ring.

The piercing on his lip. He doesn’t have tattoos, but he’s saving up for one.

He’s getting a snake tat along the side of his neck. He already drew out the design.

I was supposed to go with him when he got it, but now I can’t. That — and all our other plans — were destroyed the day my mom died. The day I found out I’d be going to live with my uncle.

In the past two weeks, my entire life has changed.

“Hey, fucker, watch where you’re going!” Axl yells.

Looking over, I see a man in a suit glance back at Axl. He shakes his head and continues walking.

“Fucker about knocked me over,” Axl says, running his hand through his hair. “Rich fuckin’ bastard.”

Axl hates rich people. He lives with his mom, who works two jobs and still struggles to keep food on the table.

They share a small one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx.

Axl’s mom gets the bedroom, so he sleeps on the couch.

Or sometimes he’d stay with my mom and me.

We had a better couch and a better apartment.

My mom and I had a place in Manhattan. By New York standards, our apartment was huge, with two decent-sized bedrooms and the smaller room she called her office. My mom was an artist, so I’m not sure why she needed an office. She had a desk and computer in there, but rarely used them.

Our apartment had a doorman, Frankie, who was like a grandpa to me. My own grandparents died before I was born but I imagine them being like Frankie.

I’ll miss Frankie. And our apartment. The city. It’s all I know. It’s where I grew up.

Why did my mom have to die? We had such a good life. It wasn’t perfect, but it was good.

“You two need to move along,” I hear a deep voice say. I turn and see a cop standing there.

“I’m saying goodbye to my girlfriend,” Axl says in an angry tone that shouldn’t be used with a cop. I like that Axl’s a rebel, but not when we’re dealing with cops.

The cop stands beside Axl, his hands on his hips. “Either go inside the airport or keep moving. You can’t block the sidewalk.”

“We’re not blocking it,” Axl says, raising his voice. “There’s plenty of fucking room for people to walk around.”

“Axl, let’s go.” I grab his hand, trying to pull him toward the door.

“We’ll go when I’m ready,” he says, glaring at the cop.

“If you’re not going to move,” the cop says, “you’ll be charged with—”

“We’re moving,” I say, yanking hard on Axl’s hand. He’s skinny and not that strong, so my hard pull makes him stumble toward me.

“Rumor, what the fuck?” He tries to yank his hand away, but I keep hold of it.

“Hurry up or I’ll miss my plane,” I say, smiling at the officer as I continue to pull Axl toward the door.

The officer keeps his eyes on us a moment, then continues down the walkway.

I let go of Axl as I hurry inside the airport.

“What the hell was that?” I hear him ask from behind me.

I whip around. “You really want to start a fight with a cop? So when I come back here, I have to visit you in jail?”

“He wasn’t going to arrest me.” Axl shoves the hair out of his eyes. “It’s not a fucking crime to stand on the sidewalk.”

“Can we just forget about that and go back to saying goodbye?” I grab hold of his black t-shirt and reach up to kiss him.

He holds my face in his hands and presses his lips to mine.

“This isn’t goodbye,” he whispers, resting his forehead on mine.

“It feels like it is,” I whisper back.

People rush past us as announcements blare from the overhead speakers.

Ignoring all that, I focus on Axl, burying my head in his chest, breathing in his earthy scent.

Blocking out all the noises around me, I listen to the steady murmur of his heart.

The heart I fell in love with two years ago, when I was only fifteen.

Back then, I wasn’t even sure what love was until I met Axl.

He was my first — first date, first boyfriend, first kiss, first time. My first everything.

He’s my first love, and hopefully my last.

That was the plan. For us to be together forever.

But now we’re being torn apart.

“I love you, Axl.” I squeeze my eyes shut to stop the tears, but some have already fallen, dampening his shirt.

“I love you too.” He wraps his long, thin arms around me and holds me against his chest.

“I don’t think I can do this,” I say, sniffling.

“You can. You’ve been through worse.”

He means the day my mom died. She was my whole world. And then she was gone. In an instant, she was gone.

Axl lets go of me and takes a step back, with that slight smile of his on his face. “See ya later.”

A lump forms in my throat as I look at him. He’s my everything. How will I go a whole year without seeing him?

“I’m not ready,” I say, my voice cracking.

“The sooner you go, the sooner you can come back.” He nods toward the check-in line. “Get your ass over there. Go do this shit, then come back and we’ll start our lives.”

I give him a weak smile. “You promise?”

He pulls me toward him and presses his lips to mine. “Bye, babe. I love you.”

He lets me go and walks off, straight out the door to the sidewalk. I’m so shocked by his abrupt exit that I stand there a moment, thinking he’ll come back, but he doesn’t. I race out the door, getting bumped on both sides as people race past me to the taxi line.

“Axl!” I yell, but he’s gone.

He was trying to make this easier on me. A quick goodbye instead of dragging it out. Maybe that’s better, but it doesn’t feel like it. I wanted more time. I wasn’t ready to tell him goodbye.

It’s not really goodbye. We’ll see each other again. This is just some time apart. This isn’t the end.

Axl and I promised each other we’d be together forever.

That promise is the only thing keeping me going.

The string of hope that’ll carry me through the hell that awaits.