Pretty Liar: The Captain's Obsession

Chapter 1

Zara POV

The last thing I packed was a photograph. The edges of the picture were bent from years of being moved from one bedroom to another, one city to another, one life to another. My dad's smile stared back at me from the faded paper while eight-year-old me sat on his shoulders, laughing like the world couldn't touch us.

Funny.

The world touched us anyway.

"Zara!" Simone's voice echoed from the apartment doorway. "Unless you plan on marrying that photo, get your ass downstairs."

I rolled my eyes and shoved the picture into my backpack.

"coming."

"That's what you said ten minutes ago girl."

I glanced around the tiny apartment one last time. The walls were bare now. The shelves were empty. Every trace of the life I'd spent three months building here had already disappeared.

I exhaled sharply and switched off the bedroom light.

The room disappeared into darkness. Just like every other place we'd ever called home.

Five minutes later, I slid into the passenger seat.

"No, Simone, this is insane."

"That's funny coming from the girl who dated a guy that dumped her through a teddy bear."

I clenched my jaw from the passenger seat and looked away before my aunt could see the sting on my face. Outside the car window, snow covered the dark roads of Whitegrave or WhiteDorchester .. whatever was chasing us into another city that would never become home.

Beside me, Five years old Poppy, my aunt's daughter snored softly under her pink hoodie, curled against the door with Mr. Buttons trapped under her tiny arms. She looked peaceful. Lucky her. She wouldn't have to worry about friends or nothing.

Simone sighed dramatically and pushed her sunglasses higher into her hair even though it was almost midnight. "Baby, I'm trying to lighten the mood."

I scoffed, cleaning the little drop of tears at the side of my eyes. "You packed us out overnight, again."

"And?"

"And I just lost my entire life again."

Simone's finger hardened around the steering wheel for half a second before she smoothed the expression away smoothly. "Zara .. "

"No, seriously," I snapped. "Do you know how embarrassing it is to keep starting over every three months? I don't even unpack anymore."

Fact! Every time Simone met a man, things were amazing until suddenly they weren't, and then we'd disappear in the middle of the night like some fugitives. Four f*****g new schools, new town and fake smiles in one whole year. Now, White Dorchester made five.

Who was I even kidding. I made almost twenty friends in a year and lost all of them, their contacts and every f*****g thing! Yeah, you guessed right, we cut off Sims too. Her words are against mine, I guess.

I rested my forehead against the cold window and swallowed hard when my phone lit up again.

BLOCKED CONTACT: *Hope you like the gift. Thought you should know before hearing rumors.

I snorted, trying to cover the ache I was feeling in my heart. Two months together and Marcus dumped me with sticky notes through the stuffed bear I gave him on our one month anniversary. Don't even try to throw me glances like that.

In my defense, I wanted to celebrate with someone I finally had an orgasm with before my aunt's problem came knocking again. So, see? Apparently, he'd been cheating too and at this point, I wasn't even heartbroken anymore. Just freakin 'tired.

My father died when I was eight, and the old hag vanished when I was five .. not dead or missing. She just woke up one day and decided we weren't worth staying for. Since then, it has been Simone. Beautiful, reckless, and of course chaotic Simone.

She was only twenty - eight but looked younger somehow. Men stared at her everywhere we went. Women too, honestly. She had soft brown skin, huge eyes, and the kind of hot body that made strangers walk right into the walls. And unfortunately, she had a terrible 'TERRIBLE' taste in men.

"WhiteDorchester is different," She said suddenly, which earned a snort from me because that wasn't the first.

"That's what you said in Rosehill."

"Well, Rosehill was disgusting."

"You said that in Sainthood too."

"You can't blame me, Sainthood smelled poor."

I bursted into a laugh. "Can never win with arguments, can l?" Simone grinned triumphantly. "There she is."

The giant white welcome sign appeared minutes later. "WELCOME TO WHITEDORCHESTER." Honestly, the town looked so unreal. Beautiful in an intimidating way with huge buildings glowing there and here over the winter night while students still crowded sidewalks in way too expensive coats and university colors. I suddenly wondered how Simone could afford this kind of university with a f*****g school transfer and not a scholarship.

Whitedorchester University banners hung almost every f*****g where I looked. Especially hockey ones. Even from inside the car, I could hear shouting somewhere in the distance. "Please tell me hockey isn't this estate's entire personality," I muttered.

Simone winced as if she hadn't made any inquiries. "Oh God. It is, isn't it?" "Maybe a little." I groaned and dropped deeper into my seat.

Twenty minutes later, we finally pulled up outside our apartment building near campus. It was nicer than anywhere we'd stayed before, I must agree. Which only made me more suspicious about why Simone was suddenly acting nervous and even opted to get my transfer card from Rose Hill.

The second we stepped out, freezing wind slapped across my face and Poppy who just jumped out of the car immediately complained.

"I can't feel my nose!"

"You'll survive," I muttered, dragging out another suitcase.

Snow crunched under my boots as I glanced around the quiet street lined with glowing apartment buildings and parked luxury cars. Everything about this place screamed absolute money.

Simone was halfway through unlocking the trunk when her phone buzzed, and I can swear that I saw color drained from her face instantly.

"Simone?"

She ignored me, staring at the screen, then she declined the call so quickly before I could even peek at the ID.

Before I could ask, Poppy gasped loudly. "MR. BUTTONS!" I turned too late, because her stuffed bunny had slipped from her arms and rolled into the street.

"Poppy, wait-"

She darted forward anyway, headlights flashed around the corner, then I heard a sudden screech. My heart stopped. A black Aston Martin swerved hard before slamming to a halt inches away from Poppy.

"Jesus Christ!" I ran into the street and grabbed her so fast she burst into tears against my chest.

The passenger door swung open first- a blondie girl stumbled out laughing breathlessly while fixing her skirt. "What the hell was that?"

Then the driver's side opened, and a scent of YSI Y Eau de parfum filled the air between us. My scent! For a second, my brain genuinely forgot how functioning worked.

Tall wasn't enough to describe his masculinity. Mr. Ysl looked like arrogance itself, with dark clothes stretched over his physique, snow catching in his tinted white and grey hair while tattoos disappeared under the sleeves of his expensive coat. His face was ... devastating with Blondie's red lipstick stained at the corner of his pale pink mouth. And something instantly occurred to me- They'd been hooking up in the f*****g car! Mr. Ysl and Blondie had been hook-ing up! Wonderful!

The blonde wrapped herself around his arm dramatically. "Ash, babe, my head hurts." Ash ..

His enticing gray thin tired eyes ignored her completely and landed on me instead. No ... not me. It landed on poppy shaking in my arms, then to the damaged front of his car, and then back to me. I could feel heat starting to trickle at the back of my hair.

"You almost hit her!" Simone snapped before I could speak.

I froze. But surprisingly, the guy's expression didn't change at all, if anything, something dangerously dark played behind his eyes because somehow, we all knew the truth. Poppy ran into the road.

I opened my mouth anyway. "Actually, she-"

Police lights flashed at the end of the street and Simone quickly grabbed my wrist so tightly that it hurt. "He was speeding," she said quickly, voice trembling just enough to sound believable. "And he's drunk."

The blonde girl immediately cursed under his breath, while Mr. Ysl stayed completely silent ... which somehow made him scarier because my heart was already beating crazily.

"Mr. Ashford, have you been drinking tonight?" One of the officers approached. Mr. Ashford? The policemen knew him?

Mr. Ysl stared at me while answering. "Yeah." His voice vibrated sexily in the air. Jeez. I should've corrected Simi! Should've told the truth. But Simi looked terrified beside me, and after years of surviving disaster after disaster with her, instinct won over guilt.

The officer sighed. "License and registration." Ashford handed them over without breaking eye contact with me once .... and somehow, it was worse than yelling.

Snow drifted slowly between us while the blonde whispered angrily beside him, but he wouldn't even bulge. Mr. Ysl leaned against the damaged Aston Martin lazily, one tattooed hand shoved into his pocket. Up close, he had the scent of whiskey and Ysl enough to make me suddenly aware of how close we were standing.

His face dropped to my gaze. "Pretty liar, aren't we?"