Buried in Lies

By T.L. Smith

His lips told me he knew me.
His hands touched like we were old lovers.
His eyes held secrets of a past I'd never known.
I was lost, you see.
Lost as the flowers that grew in the meadow.
The devil told me he knew me.
But lies had a way of unraveling, even if we didn't want them to.
The devil had a trick, for his love was full of acid. Acid that burned at every touch, every linger, and I let it scorch me to my core.
A devil made you sin. And my devil was the worst.
But now that devil wanted my last kiss, and it wasn't one I was willing to give.
He could take the acid and leave the burn behind.
I was keeping my heart even if I died trying.

• Language: English
• Publisher: T.L Smith
• Release date: Jan 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386256151

T.L. Smith

T.L. Smith is a USA Today bestselling author who loves to write about characters with flaws so beautiful and dark they’re hard to turn away from. Her books have been translated into several languages. She can be found in her home state of Queensland, Australia, or off traveling the world—sitting on a beach in Bali or exploring Alcatraz in San Francisco or walking the streets of New York.

Book preview

Other books by TL Smith

Sasha's Dilemma (Dilemma #1) FREE

Adam’s Heaven (Dilemma #1.5)

Sasha’s Demons (Dilemma #2)

Krinos (Take Over #1)

Kalon (Take Over #2)

Kratos (Take Over #3)

Pure Punishment (Standalone)

Antagonize Me (Standalone)

Degrade (Flawed #1)

Twisted (Flawed #2)

Black (Black #1)

Red (Black #2)

White (Black #3)

Distrust (Smirnov Bratva #1) FREE

Disbelief (Smirnov Bratva #2)

Defiance (Smirnov Bratva #3)

Dismissed (Smirnov Bratva #4)

Lovesick (Standalone)

Lotus (Standalone)

Savage Collision (A Savage Love Duet book 1)

Savage Reckoning (A Savage Love Duet book 2)

Cocky Fiancé

Connect with T.L Smith by tlsmithauthor.com

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Blurb

His lips told me he knew me.

His hands touched like we were old lovers.

His eyes held secrets of a past I’d never known.

I was lost, you see.

Lost as the flowers that grew in the meadow.

The devil told me he knew me.

But lies had a way of unraveling, even if we didn’t want them to.

The devil had a trick, for his love was full of acid. Acid that burned at every touch, every linger, and I let it scorch me to my core.

A devil made you sin. And my devil was the worst.

But now that devil wanted my last kiss, and it wasn't one I was willing to give.

He could take the acid and leave the burn behind.

I was keeping my heart even if I died trying.

Prologue

Afterlife

When you know you’re going to die and you’re on the edge of death, what do you see?

A white light?

No. They tell lies to try to appease you.

The ones with black on their soul, the ones that don’t deserve the light, see something different. I was one of them.

Did you know that?

I wasn’t good.

I tried to be. Oh, how I tried.

But the darkness sang to me like a mother sings her child a lullaby.

The darkness was my bitch, and I was happy about it. More than happy.

I reveled in it. I tried to be normal, but the act of doing something despicable crooned to me so sweetly. And I could never say no.

Not to him.

Not to her.

Not to myself.

Maybe this was how I died.

Maybe this was why I saw myself as a ladybug in my next life. Surrounded by other ladybugs with wings of orange and black all around me, hundreds of them. They wanted to sing to me, to pull me into whatever hell they thought they could lure me into.

But my devil was stronger.

For him, I couldn’t forgive.

For him, I was going to punish.

Because one thing he should know about me.

I don’t die easily.

I push the ladybugs away, they fly all around me, the orange and black obscuring my surroundings making it impossible for me to see.

Then I remember why I’m here.

Then I wake up.

My name is Jaya Elmor, and I will not die today.

Part 1

Chapter 1

Hypnotize Me Baby

Three Years Ago

Have you ever stood in the middle of a storm?

Felt its power?

The high you got from it?

That was how I met Syler Hunter. He was unforeseen, and he crept up on me in the most unexpected way. He had no idea he was my storm, but I think she knew he was my storm.

Toska Hunter, his sister with the fiery red hair. I worked with her, spent countless hours listening to her talk, and not all of it was good. She was unlike anyone I’d ever met, and meeting her changed my life. We both worked at the local cinema, going absolutely nowhere. Sometimes we shared the same shift, and when we did, we snuck into whatever horror movie was playing and watched.

She told me how she wanted to try it all and I would nod and listen as if I understood everything she said. As if it was normal. I didn’t know her well enough to tell her the kinds of things she was clearly comfortable telling me. She was so open with me, yet she shut out everyone else like a bad smell. I didn’t quite understand her, and sometimes she scared me, but most of all she intrigued me.

Toska spoke a lot of her brother—no one else, just him. Then she would tell me things, vivid details about her foster home experiences. I didn’t understand them all, or why she wanted to share them with me. I didn’t share things like that with people I liked, let alone those I’d just met. Still, she felt comfortable enough around me to discuss how she was molested by her first foster father at the age of ten, and then how her brother, at the age of twelve, stabbed him in her defense.

She smiled as she talked about that part.

I didn’t.

Different was something I’d always been. I knew I wasn’t like the other kids—I didn’t mesh well with them. When I’d tried to be normal in high school, it was tiring. I hated them all, even the ones I pretended to like.

Toska eventually invited me out places, but I usually declined.

Then I met him.

Syler.

Her brother.

Syler’s a man who silently screamed fuck me but stay the fuck away. He was unlike anyone I’d ever met, his presence alone was demanding, yet scary, and I got a kick out of it. I’d never met someone so intimidating in all my life, yet I longed to get to know him better. Those sea-green eyes he had stared at me and saw through me. He was a conundrum. My very own puzzle that I wanted to crack and win, and now my interest had spiked. I didn’t feel the dead weight I’d felt all year, it was lifted the moment he stepped into the cinema to collect his sister, Toska. Her eyes followed my line of sight, her hand offered a wave and she smiled, then she turned to me.

I couldn’t take my eyes off of him—he hadn’t even looked my way. I needed him more than I needed my next breath.

He was hypnotizing.

He was my storm.

It was in that moment I became her new plaything.

So, tomorrow? Toska asked, sliding her bag onto her shoulder and popping her gum which broke my stare. As Syler turned to look at me I glanced away. I didn’t want to see his disapproval of me. He was used to people who looked like his sister—slim, big boobs—and I was everything she was not. I liked food- fuck, I loved food- and I was not going to apologize for that fact, not even when my stomach rolled over my jeans.

Yeah, tomorrow, I replied nodding, with no idea what I’d agreed to.

Okay, bring a spare pair of clothes, we’re not going in our uniforms.

I nodded, then Toska turned, walking toward her brother.

Syler was dressed in all black, his shirt had white writing on it, but I couldn’t make out what it said as my eyes skimmed him. They landed on his face, his full lips, his nose had perfect symmetry, his eyes, those eyes that were staring at me, and they didn’t seem happy. No. In fact, they appeared fucking furious.

HE HAUNTED MY DREAMS, the man with the sea-green eyes. I didn’t quite understand it, but he was there, and it wasn’t all pleasant. He scared me, excited me and he hadn’t even said a word. I’d only seen him from a distance, enough to notice his features but not enough to touch him. Today was going to be different. Today I was following Toska to wherever she wanted to go, in the hopes of seeing her brother one more time. It was weird. But I didn’t care because I was weird.

Are you going to get changed? Toska asked as I closed the till after the final counting. She looked me up and down, and I noticed she was already changed. She was wearing a skirt that was very short, with a shirt knotted to the side.

I’m not dressing like that, I said, waving my hand around at her outfit, and she shook her head.

Hurry up. She leaned in close to me. Oh, and there will be drugs, lots and lots of drugs. Her eyes twinkled with excitement as she pulled back, assessing me. She passed my backpack over, and I walked past her to the staff room and quickly changed into my three-quarter jeans and tight-fitting shirt. I slipped on a pair of ballet flats and went back to her. She was on her cell, turned to check me out, then nodded toward the door. I noticed she didn’t offer to drive. Instead, she walked to my car and waited at the passenger door for me to unlock it. I climbed in the driver’s side.

We drove over to the party, to a house hidden in the woods, which was down a turn I would have missed if Toska hadn’t pointed it out. The house was concealed behind trees, and there was a pond area out front. A few people were walking around the gravel driveway.

I stopped, and she didn’t wait for me as she slid out, still talking on her cell. I shut my car door and locked it, and watched as she pocketed her cell phone and stopped walking.

Syler was standing in front of her, shaking his head—his posture rigid, hers relaxed. She pushed some of her hair behind her ear and looked back to me. His eyes followed her and landed on me. My heart beat fast, and I waited for either of them to say something, but they both just watched me—his eyes hard, hers curious. They were always curious, it was why I’d never said yes to joining her, until today.

Jaya, she called my name after what felt like an eternity, and I took my first steps toward them. Syler’s hands slid into his jean pockets, and his eyes were fixed on me as I stepped closer. I stopped in front of them, avoiding his burning stare by looking down at the ground.

Syler and I still hadn’t uttered a word to each other. I was pretty sure that was the first time he’d even heard my name. I only knew his name because Toska had told me. Yet, I felt as if he was the man that would bring me to my knees, leaving me smiling up at him like a lost little puppy, and that scared me. A man who I didn’t even know could have control over me, though I’d never willingly given to anyone. I’d always been the dominant one. All my past conquest —yes, they were my conquests because that was all they were, men I fucked—were controlled by me, not the other way around.

This is Syler, Toska said after a moment of silence that brought my eyes back to him. My heart beat hard. So fucking hard.

Stop it.

I lifted my hand to offer it, and it hung in the space between us. His eyes met mine, appearing indifferent, then skimmed down to my hand. His hands were still in his pockets.

Toska spoke up, Oh, no Jaya, Syler doesn’t like contact of any kind.

I shook my head, intertwining my hands quickly. Sorry, I muttered, but it wasn’t a real sorry, and his eyebrow perked up at me because it came out as more of a smartass sorry.

Oh God... you two are going to be a blast. Then she walked off, leaving us both in a standoff wondering who would crack first.

I knew it wouldn’t be me.

My father was a CSI agent, and my mother was no longer there. I’d sat in cars for hours while my father investigated crime scenes, so standoffs were something I was definitely good at. You had to be when all you got growing up was a measly hello, unless you stood in front of your father long enough for him to look up from his computer to notice you.

Syler’s hands stayed tucked in his pockets, his dark eyebrows pinched together, and his steely sea-green eyes pinned me in place. His lips formed a straight thin line, and he held a touch of stubble around his mouth. I wondered what he was thinking, not how long we could last in a silent standoff.

Oh, for fuck’s sake, Syler... stop scaring everyone.

My eyes broke contact, and I turned right to see a man taller than me, a body covered in ink and his face half covered with intricate tattoos. He stood strong, and his smile was warm. He winked at me as he stepped up next to Syler, careful not to touch him.

I’m sorry... he trailed off.

Jaya, I said, finishing his sentence.

Yes, Jaya. You see, Syler here doesn’t like people. Don’t take offense. How about I get you a drink?

My eyes were still drawn to Syler. He was watching me, and he hadn’t moved or even shifted his eyes. Syler was devilishly handsome, his cheekbones were high, his jaw impeccable. I glanced back to the man, who was smiling warmly at me and nodded my head. He offered his hand, and I placed mine in his, and he pulled me inside. I glanced backward as we entered the front door. Syler rubbed his jaw and looked up at me, his head dropping to the side as if he was studying me, then he walked off taking my confusion with him.

Chapter 2

Fall For Me

Two weeks had passed since that party where Toska left me not knowing a soul. The guy who walked in with me went back to his friends, so I ended up leaving at three in the morning after sitting alone all night. When I walked to the car, I saw him one more time sitting by himself with something in his hand. I didn’t care what he held, only that he’d looked up and smirked at me. It was the first time I’d seen anything other than a straight-lined facial expression on him. That smirk scared me.

The next day was even more confusing. The house where I sat alone all night was all over the television, and my father was out there investigating a crime. Someone killed four people who lived there at four in the morning, which was not long after I’d left. I rang Toska repeatedly until she answered me. She sounded hungover, so I hung up. It was a relief to know she hadn’t been killed. But my thoughts stayed on her brother, and I wondered if he was alive. Though I barely knew him, a part of me knew he wouldn’t be taken down so easily. I assumed there was a reason why people were scared of him, therefore I realized he could handle himself if the situation arose.

MY FATHER WAS GONE when I got up, which was normal. He never asked me what I was doing. I knew I was of age, I got it, but he stopped caring about me a long time ago.

I think that all started the day my mom died. She was a stay-at-home mother, and I was their only child—five years old. My memory of that day is now a fuzzy blur. Certain aspects stood out, though—the blood being the main one.

I brushed my teeth and slid on a dress and walked out to the porch. My mother’s rocking chair was still in the same position it had been when she passed—everything was. My father never moved on, time escaped him and stopped just like the house did. Everything was trapped in its own time capsule. He could never watch me for long. I looked too much like her, I knew I did. The photos told me so, even if he never did.

I needed to leave. This place wasn’t good for my soul anymore, but I just couldn’t seem to do it. I still held onto the hope that one day he wouldn’t go to work and he’d tell me he loved me. I hadn’t heard those words uttered to me since I was five. We had no other family, all I had was my father and we’d both turned cold.

Love? What was that?

As far as I was concerned, love was just a word.

Jaya, Jaya, our neighbor, Betty, called my name and waved in my direction. For someone so old, she sure as shit had tons of energy. Her gray hair was up in a floral head wrap, and too much jewelry adorned her wrists.

Yes, Miss Betty?

She waved me over, and I stepped off the porch through our perfectly manicured lawn, thanks to the gardener. I put on a fake smile as I reached her.

"Don’t Miss Betty me, Jaya. Something’s changing, can you feel it? Her eyes looked down then up at me. You’re changing, and it’s all to do with someone new in your life. Her voice dropped to a whisper as her eyes darkened. Be careful, Jaya. Those who play in the dark carry handfuls of acid ready to eat away at your heart."

Her words never made sense to me and I tried not to pay too much attention to her theories. She was old and losing her mind. My father always told me to stay away from her. Betty had told him not to go to work that day twenty years ago, but he never listened.

I’m always careful, Miss Betty. Haven’t you met my father? I joked with her. She stood up tall, her eyes taking on sunshine and not seeming so dark,