HIDDEN CREEK LOVE: a hidden creek high novel, page 13
He grabbed my wrists.
His grip was tight. Beautifully tight.
I inched my body closer to his.
I needed to feel him.
“Promise me again, Wes,” I said. “No more secrets.”
“I’m standing here in front of you, Aira. I’m as open as I can be.”
“Wes…”
“There’s nothing I can say about him. He does this. He comes and goes. The last time he left… I thought that was it. For good. But he always leaves. That’s the good. He always leaves.”
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“No,” Wes said. “I’m used to it.”
There was a moment where I felt like I saw another piece of Wes’s soul. The reason why he kept himself so strong and defended what he loved so much.
“I won’t leave you, Wes,” I said.
“I never said you would.”
I inched to my toes and I had never felt so desperate for a kiss than I did right then.
Our lips were an inch apart when I heard someone clear their throat.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Julia’s voice said.
I turned and saw her holding out her cell phone.
“Holy shit, what happened to you?” she asked Wes.
“I got mouthy with Aira,” Wes said. “Dirty talk.”
“No,” I said, throwing an elbow at Wes.
Julia sighed and shut her eyes. “Why did I even ask?”
“Good question,” I said. “What’s wrong?”
“I just got off the phone with someone,” Julia said. “With Jett.”
Wes stepped toward Julia. “What?”
“Well, actually, Jett was in the background. It was… your father.” Julia pointed to Wes.
“West called you?” he asked.
“From Jett’s phone. He’s drunk.”
I looked up at Wes.
It was a look of hurt, anger, and sadness that spread across his face.
I reached for his hand.
“Jett was saying a lot of things, Wes,” Julia said. “About me. About Kinney.”
“Your ex?” Wes asked.
“Yeah,” Julia said. “He’s in rough shape. Jett, I mean.”
“I’ll go get him,” Wes said. “I’m sorry about that, Julia.”
“I’m going with you,” I said to Wes.
“No you’re not,” Wes snapped.
“Yes I am,” I said. “You’re not going alone.”
“Not if West is there,” he said.
“Aira, you should listen to Wes,” Julia said.
“I said I’m fucking going,” I yelled.
That got them both to shut up for a second.
I refused to let Wes’s hand go.
He started to walk, taking me with him.
Julia cut in front of Wes at the last second. “Please let me know he’s okay.”
“I will,” Wes said.
Julia looked at me. “Please let me know you’re okay too.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said.
Wes was silent as we walked to his SUV.
Before I could even get settled into my seat, he took off, the engine roaring to life.
“Wes… say something…,” I said.
“You want more of the truth, Aira?”
“Please. Yes.”
He looked at me. “This is going to get worse.”
Chapter 15
Wes
I found Jett outside the shop, sitting against the garage.
“Jett, what did you do man?” I asked him.
He opened his eyes and looked up at me. “I told him everything, Wes. Told him everything.”
“Told who? West?” I asked.
“Told him,” Jett said. “He thought he could take me out. That’s what he wants here. Trying to convince Pop I got my hands in things. I got my hands in… in work. Right?”
I crouched down and put my hand out. “Jett, you have to sleep this off.”
“What happened to your face, Wes?” he asked.
“Settled up on something.”
“Shit,” Jett said. “This is what it is. It never ends here. It’s one fight after another. You should just take off. With Aira. Don’t do what I did. Don’t fuck it up, Wes.”
Jett grabbed my hand.
I stood and pulled him to his feet.
He stumbled and almost went right back down to the ground.
I got him balanced the best I could and started to shuffle us toward the SUV.
“Where’s West now?” I asked.
“Don’t know,” Jett said. “We started pushing at each other and he left.”
“Did you hit him?”
“I wish I did,” Jett said. “Right in the face. And then kick him over. And then…”
“Okay, Jett,” I said. “I get it. Hey, you called Julia?”
“I did. I called her. Yeah.”
I let out a sigh. “Why did you do that?”
“Couldn’t stand it anymore. I let her go, Wes. And she was gone. She was just gone.”
“She’s in town, Jett. She never left. I don’t think you want to talk about this right now though. You need to sleep it off.”
Aira got out of the SUV but I waved her to stay put.
I opened the back door and pushed Jett in.
He climbed up to the backset and didn’t move an inch. I had to bend his legs to shut the door.
As I walked by the passenger door, Aira reached out for me.
I turned and she jumped out of the window at me to kiss me.
I held her as she hung halfway out the window of the SUV.
She tasted perfect.
She gave me a purpose.
No matter what the ending was going to be.
* * *
Jett’s house looked like something a rock star would own. It was tucked away from the beach, hidden by trees and a long driveway. The end of the driveway came to the front steps of the house. Everything about the house was cool and fit Jett’s personality all the way. The house was white, but not a bright white. Through the gigantic front door there was a big staircase. At the top, to the left, that was Jett’s place.
That’s what he called it.
The entire upstairs on the left side was his.
Rooms, bathrooms, a game room with a pool table and pin ball machines, plus a room that was just a bar. Each room led to another, except for the master bedroom. That had a black door that almost looked medieval.
West hated Jett for this house.
And because Jett received more love from Pop than West would ever get. Also because when an opportunity came up to expand the land beyond the shop, Pop wanted Jett involved. So Jett learned all he could about real estate to make a few deals happen that resulted in him doing pretty damn good for himself. Not to mention the work Jett did for the custom rides, which kept him busy beyond the normal bullshit of the shop.
Everything Jett had he earned.
West thought it was handed to him.
I hated my father so much.
I put Jett on the second step and went back to Aira.
“Holy shit, Wes,” she whispered.
“It’s nice here,” I said. I pointed. “Go that way. There’s a huge kitchen. Follow it around to the back of the house and go to the pool. I’ll meet you there.”
“You sure?” she asked.
“I’m sure,” I said.
I stroked her cheek with my thumb.
Aira walked away and I helped Jett to his feet again.
It took damn forever to get Jett up the steps and down to his room.
“Couldn’t have gotten a smaller house, Jett?” I asked.
Jett started to laugh. “Sorry, kid. I owe you one for this.”
“No you don’t,” I said. “You’ve done a lot for me.”
I patted Jett’s chest as his head flopped around.
I finally got him to his room.
His bedroom was a mile long with a black bed against the back wall.
I basically just tossed Jett to the bed and he laughed again.
“I got it, Wes,” he said and waved a hand. “I’m used to this. Just on my own. Not at the shop like that. I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
I stood at the side of the bed and crossed my arms. “What did happen, Jett? What did he say to you?”
“What he always does,” Jett said. “I let him get to me this time. That’s my fault.”
“No, Jett, it’s not your fault. He’s just a bad person.”
“Someone’s going to die,” Jett whispered.
I pushed at his shoulder. “What?”
He didn’t respond.
I shook him again. “Jett. Come on. What are you talking about?”
Jett opened his eyes. “I wanted to be your father, Wes. And he always knew that. You always came to me instead of him. Not that he was around all that much. I was like a cool big brother to you, Wes. But, no, man, no. I wanted to be something else. I wanted to take care of you. Show you how to be in life.”
“Jett…”
I couldn’t say anything.
His eyes started to close again and this time they stayed shut.
He started to snore a few seconds later.
I watched him, wondering how long he had been thinking what he just said. And if he said that to West, of course West would use it against him. Push him toward the edge to do something stupid. Because that’s how West did things.
I touched Jett’s shoulder one more time.
That was it.
I had to get out of the bedroom.
He probably wouldn’t remember what he said, but I would.
I pulled the heavy door shut behind me and when I turned, I saw Aira standing there. She pushed off from the wall and came at me with force. She jumped into my arms and hugged me. I squeezed her as I felt my heart squeeze.
“I heard everything,” she whispered.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said.
“Then we won’t talk about it,” Aira said.
I put her on her feet. I grinned.
“What?” she asked.
“What’s your favorite color?”
“My favorite color? Why?”
“Just give me a color. Purple? You good with that, darling?”
“Sure,” Aira said. “Purple is the best.”
“You didn’t bring a change of clothes with you, did you?”
“No. Why?”
I slowly nodded. “My night just got that much better. “
* * *
The light in the swimming pool was purple.
The water gently rippled, making the rich purple color look as though it were dancing, enticing us to jump into the water.
“I don’t have a bathing suit, Wes,” Aira said.
I threw two large towels down to a chair.
“I have clothes for you here,” I said.
“You do?”
“Yeah. I sometimes crash here. I have my own room and everything. Plenty of clothes for you to change into.”
“Including a bra?” she asked.
I thought about it. “You know… I probably do…”
Aira ran toward me and tried to punch me. “Don’t say that. Don’t tell me this is where you take your one-night things to swim and then fool around.”
“I better go check the room then to be sure,” I said.
Aira curled her lip. “This is not making me want to get into the water with you.”
“Suit yourself then,” I said.
I walked to the edge of the pool. I grabbed the bottom of my shirt and took it off. Then I stripped my jeans right down to my ankles and stepped out of them along with my shoes and socks. I didn’t wear anything under the jeans so Aira had full view of my bare ass as I stood there.
I jumped forward and right into the heated pool.
It was the perfect temperature. No issues with the water being too cold and causing me to shrink up, not that I was worried about it. Even if it shrank a little, there was still plenty to see and enjoy.
When I popped up from the water, I turned and wiped my face.
“Let’s go, darling,” I said. “Little swim before we head to bed.”
“I’m sleeping here?” she asked.
“Do you want to sleep here?”
She looked around, smiling. “Of course I do.”
The pool area was like paradise. It was perfectly tucked away and hidden from the rest of the world. With plenty of fencing and plants in the ground to keep it private. If you were quiet enough you could hear the waves crashing down at the ocean.
I put my feet flat to the bottom of the pool and rose up so the water was just below my chest.
“Come on,” I said. “We can dry anything you need to put back on. But I have plenty of shirts for you to wear to bed.”
Aira just kept smiling.
She looked over her shoulder and then back at me, biting her lip.
She slowly unbuttoned her jeans, stepped out of her shoes and took her pants off. How ironic that her panties were the same color as the lights in the pool. I just stood there, my eyes devouring the sight before me. No, Aira wasn’t the first person I brought here. She wasn’t the first to get into the pool, clothed or not. She wasn’t the first to join me in my home away from home. That was just a fact and that was just life.
But Aira was the only one who had me worked up with so much anticipation that I was ready to scream.
She lifted her shirt over her head and turned away from me.
Which was fine.
The sight of her shoulders down to her back, the way her hips gently curved out, giving away her womanly figure. I was all in. Everything happening was worth it.
I walked toward the edge of the pool.
“I’m getting in like this,” she said.
I stuck my hand up.
She took it and slowly sat down on the edge of the pool.
She dipped her feet into the water.
“Wow,” she said. “It’s warm.”
“Heated pool,” I said. “Now get in here with me.”
Aira inched forward and fell into the water.
I slipped my arms around her and pulled her tight to me. I hurried to walk backwards and took her further into the water.
I dipped down until the water came past her shoulders.
She let out a soft groan. “This feels so good right now, Wes.”
Her body against mine… yeah, that feels really fucking good.
I had her in the center of the pool and I started to walk toward the deep end. When she could no longer touch she had to wrap her legs around mine so I could hold her. She was weightless in the water but my hands slid down her back and around to her ass, just to be safe. She had her arms around my neck and we were eye level, which rarely happened.
“You still want to know everything,” I said.
“Yeah,” she whispered.
“When I say things are a mess, that’s not good enough.”
“No,” she whispered.
“You’re going to have to just trust me, darling. Let me do what I have to do. So I can make sure you’re okay.”
“Wes…”
“No, Aira. You were taken from me. I didn’t like that. And look what happened. I wish I was there. When your house was on fire. I would have run through every flame to get to you.”
She leaned in and kissed me, putting her forehead to mine.
She gently bobbed up and down in the pool water.
“It brought me to you,” she said. “So maybe it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”
“Everyone will pay who hurt you, darling. You know that, right?”
Aira put me at arms length. “You don’t need to do that, Wes.”
“But I do,” I said.
“Hey, want to race?”
“What?”
“Swimming race. You against me.”
“Right here?”
“Right here,” she said. “We start at the shallow end, swim to the other end and back.”
“What does the winner get?” I asked.
“Whatever they want,” she whispered.
Her voice cut through me in a way nobody’s ever did.
“Okay, let’s go then.”
I walked back until she was able to touch the bottom.
Then we went to the steps at the shallow end and stood up out of the water. Seeing her there in nothing but her bra and panties was distraction enough. The water running down her body, that kept my full attention.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Always ready,” I said.
“Set… go.”
Aira jumped forward and so did I.
She went headfirst into the water and started to throw her arms like she was in the damn Olympics. I put my feet to the ground and started to run, forcing my body through the water until I could get some speed.
She was a damn good swimmer.
We were side by side going across the pool, our hands and arms smacking the water with force.
I touched the edge on one side of the diving board just as she did the same.
She kicked off the back of the pool and took a small lead from me.
My eyes wouldn’t move away from her though.
Watching those perfect legs of hers kicking in the water almost made me forget how to swim. And how to breathe.
When I was able to touch the bottom again, I stood up and started to run.
“Hey!” Aira called out.
I took the lead as she put her feet down and charged after me.
“Cheater,” she said.
I reached for the steps just as Aira jumped on my back.
Her wet and slippery chest against my back. Her arms around the front of my body. Her cheek almost pressing to my cheek.
I gritted my teeth and dipped down into the water and touched the steps.
“I win,” I said.
Aira clawed at my chest. “You cheated. You ran.”
“Who said that’s cheating?” I asked.
“It was a swimming contest,” she said. “Cheater.”
I turned my head and her lips were right there, an inch from mine. How the hell could I not take advantage of that?
Just one kiss and I was not interested in debating about who cheated in the swimming contest. She slithered around to the front of me as my hands grabbed her hips and held her where I wanted her. I stood up in the water and towered over her. I kept kissing her because she was the only sense of relief I had in life.
