Love Behind Lies

Chapter 14

I went straight to my room when I got inside my house and I didn’t even stop to try to see my mom, who was probably in her office. Hopefully she wouldn’t notice me or Margaret.
I looked at my cell phone when I got to my room. William had texted me.

How is your day going?

Going great! (:

I replied, lying. He was going to find out soon enough and I would never be able to see Brent again. I wonder when, if ever, I was going to see Brent again. My phone vibrated and I looked at the text, but didn’t recognize the number.

Where r u?

Why would someone reply to that? I wonder who it is. My phone vibrated again.

This is Sam btw (:

How did he get my number? I never gave it to him.

I’m not talking to u. Leave me alone. Wait til Brent finds out ur textin me.

I replied to him. I was angry because Brent was right. If Brent had never like me, I would not be in this situation right now. I didn’t wait to see what Sam said, because I turned off my phone and went to lie down on my bed. I needed to relax and think.
First thought through my mind. Brent. I had been home for almost thirty minutes and hadn’t heard anything from him, especially about those papers I gave to him. I was still confused with the situation. What was Loren going to do with me and Margaret? What was the purpose of today? I couldn’t comprehend anything that was flowing through my mind, so I went downstairs. I could feel a headache coming on.
When I got downstairs, Margaret was watching T.V.
“Hey, how are you doing,” I asked, sitting down next to her.
“I’m doing okay. I’m still shaken up a little though,” she replied.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s not your fault. I brought this all on you. If I didn’t bring you into this, we would both be fine.”
This was annoying. Margaret has no idea that I was kidnapped by the same guys that tried to make her do drugs. We were on totally different pages. She has no idea what’s been going on in my life since the end of last week and I can’t even tell her about it.
“Trust me. It’s not just you,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t tell you. If I could tell you, trust me, I would. I could only tell one person and it had to be William. Sorry.”
Margaret looked confused. She had the right to be confused though.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry about it. Seriously. I have it all under control. Trust me,” I ensured her.
“Okay, but promise me that if it gets out of control, that you will tell me?” Margaret was serious.
“Yeah, I promise.”
We sat there in silence. Hopefully mom won’t come downstairs before everyone gets home.
Margaret and I watched T.V. for a while when all of a sudden the screen went black.
“What the heck?” I turned around to find William looming over me, with angry eyes.
“Would you like to explain something to me,” he asked. I was too scared to look at him so I slowly turned around and looked at my hands.
“No, I don’t think so,” I replied, keeping my head down. Then suddenly I was yanked off the couch by my arm. I didn’t scream, because I knew it was coming.
“William! Stop!” Thomas yelled, trying to pull me away from Will.
“No, Thomas. Stop. You don’t know what’s going on.” William and Thomas stared at each other and eventually Thomas looked away first, letting William drag me up to my room.
When we got there he pushed me to my bed, so I sat down.
“Catherine! Explain to me why you were home before the others.” William’s face was in mine as he spat his words at me. I was sitting on my bed while he stood in front of me, demanding answers. I didn’t really know how to answer his questions. I could lie, but William would sniff that out right away. So I have to tell the truth, which will result in me never seeing Brent again. “Now!!” William yelled, making me shrink back away from him.
“I don’t know,” I whispered.
“I’m sorry, what did you say,” William asked snidely.
“I said, I don’t know,” I said a little louder.
“Stop lying to me Kate. Tell me the truth. Thomas and Oscar told me you weren’t there after school. Margaret too.” William relaxed, controlling his anger.
All I did was shake my head. I didn’t want to talk about what happened today. I wanted to see Brent. Save my dad. That’s all.
William sat next to me on my bed. He put his arm around me, but I shrugged it off.
“Sorry I yelled at you Katie. I was worried when Thomas told me neither you nor Margaret were in sight after school. What happened? What aren’t you telling me?”
God, he was so smart. I’m just screwed, I guess. I should probably just tell Brent to never talk to me again. I took a deep breath.
“You’re right,” I said, exhaling.
“About what,” William asked.
“Everything.”
“Ok Good. Now will you tell me what’s going on?”
“I will, but you need to promise me that you won’t get mad at Brent.” I held my breath and waited for William to explode again.
“I promise,” William said, very relaxed. He gave me a small smile. I was so surprised. “I know how much you mean to each other and how imperative it for you two to work together to save dad, so I’m not going to get mad at either of you. I know that you are safe and that is all that I care about. Now, please, tell me what happened from the exact moment that I left you this morning.”
I took one last deep breath and began to tell William about my day.

***
My room was silent when I finished my story. William had left my room about five minutes earlier and I was left alone. It was almost time for dinner so I didn’t even get my homework out. I turned my phone on instead.

Hey Cat! Sry again for what happened today. I promise that nothing will ever happen to u w/o me being there to keep u safe. We don’t need to have a meeting tonight. I will see u tmrw morn. I will meet u and Margaret at school in the morn before school. Talk to u then.

How was I supposed to respond to that?

Ok. Sounds good Brent. See u tmrw.

I hope that worked. I didn’t know what else to say. My phone vibrated again.

Ok.

I felt better know. After dinner, I would go to bed. My mind wouldn’t be going crazy, trying to figure things out. I would go to school like normal. Everything was going to be okay.
I was thinking about what William had said. He wasn’t too angry. I could tell that he wasn’t too happy, but I knew I was going to be able to see Brent again and hopefully save my dad. My phone vibrated again, confusing me. I wasn’t expecting to hear from Brent again.

Brent won’t find out that I’m texting u. if he does. U wont see him again.

I forgot that Sam has randomly texted me.

What makes u think I haven’t already told him?

I replied.
I kept thinking about Brent. The more I thought about him, the more I realized how quiet he’s been lately. Whenever I talked to him on the phone or even when I was with him, it seemed like he was trying hard to choose the right words, as if he was hiding something from me.
My phone vibrated.

I trust u.

Sam replied. I can’t believe him.

Well I don’t trust u. leave me alone.

I replied back. I was so fed up with Sam. I can’t figure out what he’s trying to accomplish. At first he seems sweet. Then now he seems devilish.
I shut my phone and put it on my desk next to my computer and go downstairs. Dinner had to be ready soon anyway.
When I got downstairs, the table was set, so I knew dinner would be in about five minutes. I went and sat down on the couch next to Thomas, who was playing video games.
“Hey. How’s it going,” Thomas asked.
“Fine,” I grumbled back.
“Where were you after school?”
“None of your business,” William said as he walked in the room. I looked at William and he smiled at me. Now I was certain he wasn’t angry with me. I smiled back.
“Okay,” Thomas said, sounding a little confused.
“Dinner is ready,” Mom’s voice yelled out over the T.V.
All of us go up and walked over to the table and sat down. The beginning of dinner was quiet and no one really talked much. Most of us were done eating with my mom finally spoke up.
“So, your dad called today with some bad news. He said that the people he was working with in Italy want him to stay for another month.”
“What,” William asked. He looked at me. My heart was racing. What if something has happened to him?
“Well you guys all know that for his last three trips, he’s been going to Italy. He works for a company there for two weeks and then comes back home. Apparently this company he’s been working for was doing bad until he started helping out. Now, since he’s been helping, they’ve been doing better, so that want your dad to stay and help out a little longer.”
The table was silent. No one know what to say.
“It’s going to be okay you guys. He’ll be sending us more money than usual and he will stay safer over there too.” My mom’s facial expression was telling us differently.
In the silence, I thought I head a window opening and then walking around upstairs, but I was probably just imagining things.
“Okay, well I guess that it’s a good thing then, right,” Margaret asked. Margaret was always the positive one.
“Yes, it will be very good. I’m sure the time will fly by fast. There is nothing to worry about,” Mom replied.
“Ok, well I’m going to go upstairs. Thanks for dinner Mom,” I said, and then got up, put my dishes away and then walked up the stairs.
When I got to my room, I hesitated at the door. I thought I heard voices, and then I remembered what I heard when we were eating dinner. All of a sudden I was scared to open my door. I was about to go back downstairs when a voice came from inside my room.
“Who’s there?” I recognized the voice as Sam’s but I wasn’t sure.
“It’s Catherine. Who’s in my room?” I was so scared, I was shaking.
“Oh! Catherine! Come in. Don’t be scared. It’s just me, Sam.” Oh yeah. There was nothing scary about Sam being in my room. I opened the door and looked inside. Sam was sitting on my bed like everything was completely normal. “Hi. How are you,” Sam asked, acting so innocent.
“What are you doing on my room,” I asked, quickly shutting the door behind me.
“I just wanted to see what you were up to.”
“Okay. Well I just finished dinner, so you can leave now.” I went over to my desk to grab my phone so that I could call Brent. “Where is my phone?” I turned around and Sam was smiling at me.
“Oh, you don’t need that,” Sam said, standing up.
“Actually I do. You broke into my house, Sam.”
“Do you really think that I care?”
“What is your problem? I want you out. Now!”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Sam said, with a smirk.
“And why is that,” I asked, putting a hand on my hip and raising an eyebrow.
“Well you see,” Sam paused and took a step towards the window. “When I was climbing through your window, my foot hit the ladder and it fell. I came here by myself, so I couldn’t have someone put the ladder back against your house.” Sam was smiling.
“What,” I asked in disbelief.
“The ladder fell,” Sam said flatly, his smile vanishing.
“And you expect me to believe the ladder fell by accident?”
“Yup!” Sam’s excitement came back to life.
I walked over to the window and looked down. Sure enough the ladder was lying on the ground. I turned around then then gasped. While I was looking out the window, Sam had come up behind me. Now that I was facing him, he was standing directly in front of me. I took a deep breath, preparing myself.
“Do you need something,” I asked. Even though I already knew what he wanted, I still felt like asking. I tried to take a step back, but the window was the only thing behind me.
“What is the point of asking if you already know the answer?” Sam was looking in my eyes, but I wasn’t looking at him. I was looking behind him. Sam’s eyes scare me. If I looked at them for too long, I couldn’t tear my eyes away.
I didn’t respond. He took my chin in his hand, forcing me to look at him. I struggled a little bit and Sam smiled.
“There’s no point in struggling against me. I’m always going to win.” That smile never left Sam’s face.
“Well, you’re not winning this one.” I basically spit the words at him.
He smiled again and put his other hand on my back, pulling me closer to him.
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” He kept smiling. “Where is Brent tonight?” I didn’t answer. “Hmm?”
I started to look away from him again and he jerked my head back so that I was facing him. I winced in pain.
“Oh, sorry. Did I hurt your neck?”
“Shut up.”
“Give me what I want!”
“No. Are you crazy? After everything you’ve done to me, my sister, and Brent?”
“If you put it that way, then I guess I am crazy.”
I couldn’t take it anymore. I punched him in the stomach. He let go of my and stepped aside. I didn’t waste any time and I ran to the door.
Sam must have recovered quicker than I thought as he grabbed my wrist and yanked me towards him. I was only inches away from the door knob. I thought that my arm had been ripped out of its socket. I yelled, but it was cut short as Sam’s hand covered my mouth.
“You speak or try to get away one more time and you will regret it,” Sam whispered, sending shivers down my back. I nodded. “Don’t make me pull I knife out. I really don’t want to.” I instantly shrunk back towards him, away from his hand. “Yes, come closer to me, my dear.” He paused. “Now, I want to be able to trust you. So, I am going to let go of you, shut your window, and come back. If you move…” Sam trailed off, slowly leaving me in the middle of my room.
He slowly walked over to the window, shut it and locked it. “Thank you for not moving. Now I want you to come to me Katie.”
I slowly walked toward him. I was shaking. I should have ran downstairs when I knew there was someone in my room.
When I was about a foot away from Sam, I stopped walking. He obviously wasn’t happy with that because he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me closer to him. We were only inches apart now.
“You don’t like to listen do you,” Sam asked me. I didn’t respond in any way. Once again he put one hand on my chin and the other on my back. I squirmed a little, but then he pulled me into a tight hug. I could barely breathe as he held me close. I tried not to enjoy it, but the butterflies in my stomach were telling me differently. I finally relaxed and put my arms around him. I had given up. I was too tired to fight anyway.
“You don’t listen, but you learn very well.” Sam was pleased with himself, even though he didn’t get exactly what he wanted—yet.
My brain was numb. Sam’s smelled had overwhelmed me and I couldn’t think straight. I almost forgot that Sam had broken into my house and snuck into my room. It was like Sam had put me under a spell. The first couple of times that I had talked to Sam, he seemed really nice and sweet. Since then, he has just bullied me and been mean to me. Right now, his sweet side was coming out, and I liked that sweet side.
I seemed that Sam’s hug was never going to end, but finally, he let me back away, but only as far as his arms could reach, because he was determined to keep his warm hands on my lower back.
Sam kept staring at me. “Can I have what I want now? What you promised me?”
Crap. I thought he had forgotten about the kiss. I should have known better. Maybe I can distract him more.
“Let’s make a deal,” Sam suggested. “I still have your phone, I’m still in your room, and I have a secret for you, but I can’t tell you what it is. Sorry.” Sam smiled at me before he went on. “If you kiss me, I will give you what you want. Except for the secret. You will figure that out soon enough.”
He pulled me closer to him again and he grabbed my chin, gently this time, sending shivers down my spine. He hand slid down around to my neck and he brought our heads together gradually. I pulled me up to him so that I was on my toes and our lips were inches apart. I was so tempted to kiss him. I was totally mesmerized
“Catherine,” he whispered and then he moved in, our lips touching.
He kissed me for what seemed like forever, but I knew it really wasn’t that long. His arms had snaked around me bringing me closer to him, as if that were possible, but I found myself clinging to him, never wanting to let go. His warmth, his touch, him, did amazing things to my soul. My body was filled with electricity that I wish I could experience forever. One of his hands moved up my back and rested on my neck, pulling me closer still. I wrapped my arms around his neck and then realized that was actually happening and tried to pull away.
Finally he stopped kissing me and pulled back, letting me breathe.
“Thank you,” He said, smiling again, his forehead leaning against mine.
“Can I have my phone now?” I asked, trying not to let Sam know the effect he had had on me.
“Is that all you really care about?” Sam paused, but when I didn’t answer, he went on. “Let me ask you a question. And don’t lie because I will know.”
“Fine,” I sighed, crossing my arms.
“Did you enjoy that?”
“That kiss?” I smiled, but hid it quickly, embarrassed. “I don’t know.”
“You did, don’t lie. Tell me the truth Katie.”
“A little. But don’t get any ideas. I…Brent…”
“Yes, I know. You love him. I just wanted to know if that kiss was really that bad. There could be more in your future if you want.”
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought, but I never want a kiss from you again. I want you to leave me alone. And I want my phone too.” Only the last part had been the truth, but I couldn’t tell Sam how much I wished he would hold me like that again. So carefully, so tenderly.
“I’m afraid that you will be seeing me a lot after tonight, but right now, I can’t tell you why. A kiss could come later too, maybe.” He spoke as he dug my phone out of his pocket and handed it to me, attempting to hug me again as he did it. I tried to back away, but he just laughed and hugged me harder.
“And now, you can go. Now,” I said, shooing him away from me.
“Yes, Catherine. I will see you tomorrow morning.”
“Wait what? Before school?”
“Yes.”
“What? Explain to me now.” I was so confused. I thought that it was just me, Brent, and Margaret.
“No, you told me to go.” Sam was smiling again.
“Sam, stay here and tell me why you will see me tomorrow.”
“So, you want me to stay now?”
“No, I don’t. I will figure it out tomorrow morning. You can go.”
“One more kiss?”
“No!”
“Fine. Goodbye Catherine! I had fun tonight.”
I didn’t respond. I watched him pull a string and the ladder was slowly pulled to the window. I hadn’t noticed the string before. I hated him even more now.
Sam climbed out and down the side of my house without saying anything else. I shut the window as soon as I could and locked it before going back downstairs.
I was in a bad mood now. My eye brows were all scrunched up and I didn’t want to talk to anyone. My siblings were going to know right away that I was crabby now. It’s too obvious. Sam had made me so mad, and the worst part is, is that I bought the whole story. I even halfway enjoyed the kiss and that’s just disgusting. He broke into my house, told me lies, stole my phone, made me kiss him, and then left my on the edge with so many questions. This is no fair.
When I got downstairs, there was nothing really going on. The boys were playing video games again and Margaret and Mom were in the kitchen cleaning up. How long had I been upstairs?
“There you are. I was wondering where…why are you angry,” William asked, standing up.
“I was in my room,” I replied flatly.
“Tell me what happened.”
“My room,” I asked, hoping we could talk privately.
“Yeah, sure,” William agreed.
We walked upstairs without another word. When we got to my room, I sat down on my bed, and William leaned against my desk.
“So, what the hell happened? I thought I heard you scream, but I thought I was imagining things.” William waited for my answer.
I told him the entire story, beginning with what I had heard during dinner. By the time I finished telling Will everything, I thought he was going to explode. I told him everything, even what I felt like after kissing Sam.
After thinking about the kiss, I realized I actually liked it better than Brent’s kiss, which worried me. Maybe that was why I was so nervous about seeing Brent and Sam tomorrow morning.
“Okay, that was not what I was expecting at all,” William said, still trying to comprehend what I had just told him.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do.”
“I think what you did was right. Maybe not in Brent’s mind, but I think that listening to Sam is better than him kidnapping you. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah, I guess. I still feel bad about it though.”
“I guess that’s what happens when you ‘cheat’ on your boyfriend, or whatever he is, whether it’s forced or not.”
“Yeah, I guess. Thanks.”
“For what?”
“Worrying about me and helping me get through this.”
“Oh, yeah. No problem, that’s what I am here for. I will stay with you until the last minutes tomorrow, okay?”
“Yeah, okay. Sounds good.”
“Okay, well I am going to go back downstairs. I’ll talk to you later then.”
“Sounds good.”
I leaned back on my bed as William left the room. I thought about what happened tonight. William was right. About everything. I should feel bad. All I want to do right now is talk to Brent. I guess I don’t have to feel bad. Brent would understand, right?
I went over to my desk and grabbed my phone. I had two messages.
The first one was from Brent.

Hey. Sry to bug u again. About meeting early in the morn, I think we should beet 30 min before school. Want to make sure we have tine. Ok?

I needed to tell Brent about what happened tonight first. That was going to take extra time.

I think that will work. I need to tell u something too.

I hope Brent doesn’t go insane. I moved down in my inbox to the next unread message.

Have u told Brent about tonight yet?

I didn’t have to look at the name to know it was from Sam.

Why do u care?

I replied. Sam was making me so angry!
I sat on my bed. There was so much going through my head that I just wanted to go to bed, but I wanted to stay up and see what Brent and Sam had to say to me.
My phone vibrated. I was expecting it to be from Brent, but Sam had responded first.

Don’t tell him anything.

Sam said.

Once again. What if I already did?

I replied. My phone buzzed again, flashing Brent’s name.

Ok. What do u have to tell me?

Brent seemed to be more relaxed that I thought he would be. What do I say now? According to Sam, I couldn’t tell Brent anything. I’ll wait to see what Sam says, I thought to myself as my phone vibrated.

If u did then u wont be happy tmrw. Plz tell me if u already told him.

Sam was hiding something from me. I already knew that he was going to be at school early tomorrow, but he knows something I don’t.

No. I haven’t told him…yet.

I replied. Sam must be right next to his phone, because my phone vibrated right away.
Plz don’t tell him. I want to be there, with u, when u tell him. Itll be great.

I was so angry by Sam’s reply I didn’t respond. How could Sam be so sweet one second and rude the next?

I cant tell u right now Brent. Tmrw morn I will.

That was my final response to Brent. Hopefully he won’t me too angry.

Ok. Sounds good. Trust u.

Brent replied quickly.

Thank u. see u tmrw. Goodnight.

I was hoping Brent would understand tomorrow morning. I’m sure he will.

Goodnight. Stay safe plz.

Alright. I was content now and definitely ready for bed.