Deceitful (Rules of Deception 1)

He nodded, satisfied—Ana had probably said the same thing. He asked a few more questions about my relationships with Ana, some of the other students, Devon, and my parents but I could feel that there wasn’t the usual urgency behind them. Summers had said that Major wanted the police to believe the killer was an out-of-towner. She’d already begun turning their suspicion in that direction. If nothing else, it was now overwhelmingly clear that the local police wouldn’t be getting in the way of the FEA.

Alec kept his eyes firmly on the windshield, fingers tapping an erratic rhythm on the steering wheel. “Listen, I don’t like this charade any more than you do, but Major’s right. It’ll be less suspicious this way. Ana thinks we’ve gone on dates before, so it makes complete sense that we’d show up together.” He really had no clue how much I’d have liked being his date if it was the truth, and not one more lie in our elaborate game of deceit.

We pulled up in front of Francesca’s house. The driveway and most of the curb were already crowded with cars, so we had to park a block away. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing considering the sullen looks on our faces, which didn’t scream happy new couple. The house was bigger than the surrounding homes, with a huge porch illuminated by small lanterns. As soon as we were within sight of the other guests, Alec took my hand in his. It felt warm as always, but my anger over his behavior after our kiss stopped me from getting any fuzzy feelings.

Inside, the party was in full swing. A wave of smells flooded my nose as we entered: beer and smoke and something sweeter—pot? Apparently most guests weren’t adhering to the “smoke outside” rule, and Francesca wasn’t stopping them. To my surprise, she had invited us all to the party, though she’d still been giving me the evil eye every day in school.

In the corner of the living room, Francesca’s arms were wrapped around Devon and her head was flung back, laughing at something he was saying to a small crowd. I’d thought Devon couldn’t stand her but apparently at parties all bets were off. Her skin was flushed and her eyes looked glassy, like she’d already had one drink too many. I wished I could let loose like that.

The music was almost a physical thing. The bass vibrated in my body and made me want to grind and swing along with the other partygoers. The living room was huge, with several couches and armchairs and even some lawn chairs thrown into the mix. Most of the furniture was pushed up against the walls to make space for a dance floor.

Alec dragged me through the crowd of dancing bodies to where Ana sat on a couch with her date, Jason. I’d barely spoken to him before, but I knew he belonged to the same group of friends Devon always hung out with.

There was room for one more person on the couch. Alec let go of my hand and nodded toward the open spot.

“You can sit on his lap!” Ana suggested, the way she slurred the “s” making it clear that the beer in her hand wasn’t her first.

I looked at Alec and time began to stretch. Ana and Jason were staring up at us, not drunk enough to miss the strange tension in the air. Suddenly Alec grinned and in one fluid move scooped me up and settled me on his lap. Heat surged through my body at the feel of him so close. Our kiss from a few days ago flashed in my mind and all I wanted was to repeat it despite my anger. Maybe angry kissing wouldn’t be the worst thing anyway.

“When did this thing start? It looks like the party’s been going on for hours,” I said as I scanned the crowd for anyone paying too close attention to me, aka Madison.

Ana took another gulp from her cup. “Nah, not so long ago. Most people were already drunk when they got here.” She stood, surprisingly not yet swaying. “Bathroom” she mouthed before she disappeared from my view.

Alec and Jason began talking about the upcoming football game while I tried to focus on observing the other guests. But it was incredibly difficult with Alec’s legs pressed against my butt, his chest warm against my back.

Ryan sat in one of the lawn chairs with Chloe, shoving his tongue down her throat. He pulled away and looked at me as if he could feel my eyes on him. I returned his gaze steadily, trying to gauge his feelings. There was definitely jealousy on his face, though he was here with a date too.

A cup materialized in front of my face, startling me half to death. I rammed my elbow into Alec’s stomach. Of course, it hadn’t hurt him but I apologized anyway. I took the cup from Ana’s outstretched hand. A sniff revealed it as beer.