HIDDEN CREEK FOREVER: a hidden creek high novel, page 16
“You didn’t do it,” I said.
“No. I didn’t do a thing.”
“And Dusty believed you?” Kailey asked. “Because you were there. Where was the gun? That puts you right at the scene… guilty… I mean… the evidence…”
“Are you a fucking lawyer now?” I snapped at Kailey.
“You’ve been watching too many cop shows at night,” Ryker said with a laugh.
“Maybe because my bed is so empty thanks to you,” Kailey said.
“I’ll fill up more than your bed,” Ryker threw back.
“Murder. Sex. What a night.” Flynn shrugged his shoulders.
“No mother jokes, bro?” Wes asked.
“Mother jokes?” I asked.
“Don’t get him started,” Leo said.
“Wait,” I said. “What happens now?”
“I don’t know,” Wes said. “I went with Dusty to let him ask me a million questions. I have nothing to hide. Except the knife I brought. I showed him that too.”
“A knife?” I asked. My stomach did a backflip.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” Wes said. “But I wanted to be ready. All I could picture was him getting close to you. His lips…”
“Have a drink, bro,” Walker said.
He passed Wes a flask and Wes threw it back without hesitation.
I touched Wes’s shirt with my right hand. I pulled him closer, if that were possible.
Wes smacked his lips together. “I told Dusty everything. I let him search my SUV. I let him look through my phone. Whatever he wanted. Because I knew my ass was on the line. Then they found a gun in the house. Ryland had been home with someone. Whoever shot him. They did it, dropped the gun, and left. Dusty even wondered if Ryland did it himself.”
“Ohgod,” Charlotte groaned.
She turned her head away.
“He did that to himself?” Flynn asked. “And then walked out of his house and rode away?”
“Someone wanted him dead,” Wes said.
My stomach did yet another backflip.
We all had wanted Ryland dead at some point in our lives.
Chapter 18
Aira
There was nothing quite like a funeral to remind you again of all the stuff you lost in a fire. My clothing collection had been whatever I felt like buying at the time or whatever I felt like stealing from Wes’s room. And as wild as Wes was, he did not have a black dress for me to wear to a funeral.
Even still, I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted to wear at all.
I had no way of processing this thing with Ryland.
What really happened and why.
The rumors were already stirring.
I did my best to avoid them, which was simply done by avoiding HCH.
I spent my time at the beach or with Wes.
Surfing with Nova.
Fooling around with Wes.
My mind never truly settling, even for a second.
I sat on the corner of the bed and looked at my mother’s stack of messy bags scattered across the floor. I loved how she tried to portray herself as this woman who has it all together. That she was rich. That she knew how to invest in wineries. That she had things moving along just fine. Which was all just an appearance.
“Aira, mind if I come in?” Julia’s voice asked through the door.
“It’s your house,” I called out like I always did.
Julia entered the bedroom and held up a hanger with a black dress on it.
“For the record, stop saying this is my house,” Julia said. “This hasn’t been my house since you showed up. And it’s definitely not my house with your mother here. I just wanted to say that. Now here’s a dress to wear.”
“Where…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Julia said. “I know you don’t have any fancy clothes. For a rich girl, you kind of suck at that.”
I laughed. “Excuse me. My house burned down!”
Julia waved a hand. “When are you going to let that go?”
I laughed again. “Around the same time you let Jett go.”
Julia puckered her lips. “Ohhh… that was low.”
“You started it.”
“I totally did,” she said. She hung the dress from the closet door and then crashed down on the bed next to me. She touched my hand. “I won’t ask but you have to tell me.”
“I’m fine,” I said.
“See? That would have worked if it was when you first showed up. Because now when I hear the words I’m fine all I think about is you… spending time with Weslee Jackson. Getting into fights at school. Smoking cigarettes. Do I need to keep going?”
“Oh, please,” I said. “Today is the best day for you to tell me everything I do wrong.”
“Nah,” Julia said. She nudged her shoulder to mine. “You’re fucking amazing, Aira. Don’t let anyone bring you down.”
“Thanks, Julia.”
“Hey. Are you okay with this funeral?”
“Not really,” I said. “I don’t have a choice though.”
“I guess you don’t,” Julia said. “I’m sorry this happened. And the way it happened. I’m kind of speechless on what to say here.”
“So is everyone. I mean… they all thought it was Wes.”
Julia slowly nodded. “Are you sure…”
“Positive,” I said. “I better get dressed. Wes is coming to get me soon.”
Julia put her arm around me and hugged me. She kissed the top of my head.
“I don’t know what we are, Aira. If I’m still your aunt or step aunt or whatever. But I want you to know that you always have a home here. I’m letting your mother stay because I fear what she’d do without being here. Just give her a little more time and see what happens.”
“I better get dressed,” I repeated, making it known in a calm way that I wasn’t going to talk about my mother.
“Right,” Julia said, taking the hint.
She was getting better at that.
Which allowed me to save my true bitch colors for those who really bothered me.
When Julia left the room, I locked the door and got dressed.
I looked at myself in the mirror and tried to reach the back zipper on the dress but couldn’t get it all the way up.
In some twisted way I thought about me in a dress and Wes looking nice. And I thought about he and I going to prom together. Or somewhere nice. Some kind of event where we could dress up nice. Like normal.
But that word wasn’t allowed to exist in Hidden.
Me getting dressed up and Wes getting dressed up only happened because of a funeral.
A fucking funeral.
For fucking Ryland.
I got away from the mirror because I didn’t need my reflection to tell me any truths I didn’t want to see or hear.
I opened the bedroom door and let out a yell when I saw Wes standing there.
He was in black jeans and a black t-shirt.
He looked like the devil… but that was just so sexy…
“I told your mother and Julia I wouldn’t come busting into the room,” he said. “That wasn’t easy to do. Knowing you were in there naked.”
“Stop it,” I said. I turned. “Zip me up.”
Wes pressed himself against me and walked me into the room.
He shut the door and grabbed my hair with his hand. Firm but not forceful. He moved my hair out of the way and my toes were already curled tight against the floor. Just the simplest touch from him set me off.
With his other hand, he tugged at the zipper, zipping it to the top of the dress.
But he wasn’t done yet.
Next came his lips.
For a split second it tickled.
I let out a ahhhh sound and then he kept kissing.
And when he kissed me like that, I melted.
I fell back into his arms and he held me. He stopped kissing me, let go of my hair, and just held me.
I shut my eyes.
In my head I heard some cheesy song playing. And it was just me and Wes, dressed nice, swaying back and forth together. Nothing else mattered but that.
“We have to go, darling,” he whispered.
“I know,” I said.
He then quickly spun me around.
Our eyes met.
There were words to say but we didn’t say them.
We just wasted a few more seconds together in silence.
Something like the calm before another storm.
* * *
I hated everything about it.
It was that simple.
I didn’t like death. I didn’t like funerals. The whole notion of watching all these people so sad, crying, standing in a cemetery where so many others were put to rest. It was just… creepy. There was no stopping my mind from tricking my body into thinking that a hand could reach up from the ground and grab me. Which was horrible to think as I stood a few feet away from Ryland’s casket.
Ryland is in there. He’s in that casket.
Each time I thought that, my stomach turned. I felt sick but I had to ride it out.
I saw Ryland’s parents on the other side of the casket.
Alexander in a very expensive looking suit.
Rosemary next to him, wearing large black sunglasses with a white tissue in her hand. A man stood next to her, holding an umbrella over her head.
They appeared stoic and saddened but I wondered how fake they were. If they were like Ryland. If Ryland learned all he did from them.
When Alexander’s eyes looked to mine, I turned my head.
I put my face to Wes’s arm.
All of Hidden Creek High was there.
From Principal Henders to Miss Carson. Every teacher. Every student.
I didn’t like standing so close to the casket, but that’s where Wes wanted to be.
My eyes couldn’t keep still. Switching from the casket to those around us. I wondered how many of us at one point wished Ryland would die. Or how many of us had a problem with him. It was like watching fate play out in front of your face but it made you sick. Because someone killed Ryland.
And it wasn’t Wes who did it.
Even though I was sure there were a lot of people who thought he did do it.
Once the casket had a mountain of flowers on it and the ceremony or whatever the hell it was called was done, Wes started to inch back.
The crowd dispersed.
Ryland’s parents didn’t move.
I couldn’t imagine what they felt. If they really felt anything at all.
Maybe they’d turn his name into a scholarship or something.
Why not, right?
There were secrets about Ryland that he would now rest with.
Flynn held Charlotte’s hand tight.
Ryker had his hand around Kailey’s waist.
Nova and Emma were shoulder to shoulder, head down as they walked.
Walker and Leo led the way through the cemetery to the paved road that went through the entire place.
When we got there, I felt a little better.
Not much though.
I kept looking back at the casket. Thinking that something would be different. Something would change. But that wasn’t going to happen. It was actually done and over. A result so final…
“Are you okay, darling?” Wes whispered.
I looked up at him. I forced a smile.
Wes lit a cigarette and turned to look at the casket.
“I don’t want to be here anymore,” Kailey said. “This place creeps me out.”
“I second that,” Nova said. “I don’t like any of this.”
Nova had been extra jumpy today. She said she hated the idea of death and dying. That we were too young to have to see it and face it and worry about it.
No. Freaking. Duh.
“The son of a bitch got what he wanted,” Leo said. “He went out with tragedy and will never be forgotten.”
“Shit, Leo,” Ryker said.
“What?” he asked.
“It’s the truth.”
“We need to get out of here,” Wes said. “Nothing else we can do. I can feel everyone looking at me, thinking I’m the one who did it.”
“Speaking of that,” Emma said. “The rumors…”
“It’s up to Dusty to figure out,” Wes said. “Ryland was tied into some bad shit. That’s all I know. Some really bad shit.”
“Please,” Charlotte said. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”
“Let’s go,” Wes said.
They all started to walk but I didn’t.
I caught myself unable to move for a few seconds.
Just staring at the casket again.
The flood of people slowly walking through the cemetery.
I felt someone grab my hand.
“Aira, come on,” Wes’s voice said.
I stepped back and turned, putting my head down.
Wes wrapped his arm around me and walked me to his SUV.
He opened the passenger door and I climbed inside.
My eyes looked for the casket one more time. It was like an addiction. I was trying to somehow accept that this was real. Because this was the exact moment where Ryland would show up. Where he would say something horrible or do something to pick a fight with Wes.
We sat there for a few seconds.
When I looked at Wes, he stared forward.
“I was going to do something bad, darling,” he said. “That was my plan.”
“I know.”
“And I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel about that. Because the end result was the same. I never got to see that motherfucker off.”
“Neither did I,” I whispered.
Wes looked at me. “It had been a war from the day he showed up. Okay? He wanted to be in the middle of everything and control everything. He thought he could step on me and then over me. At the same time, his parents started to push at Pop. And it never calmed down once. There were waves but they were never ending waves. We fought each other so many times. At first everyone thought we were just boys being boys. They thought we’d eventually find common ground and end up as best friends. But there was no chance of it. And when Azel… when he was gone… Ryland used that. He twisted words and stories. Then look what happened to Noelle. I still don’t know the entire story. The true story.”
I reached for Wes’s hand.
I put it to my face.
He had dealt with Ryland a lot longer than me. Years of it.
Now he was gone.
And it was something Wes wasn’t able to control.
I kissed the back of his hand. “He’s gone now. And whatever bad stuff he was involved with, they’ll find out and that’ll be that.”
“He was tied to stolen parts that West had,” Wes said. “That meant he and West were talking. Probably trying to find a way to take down the shop.”
Do you think West killed him?
I couldn’t bring myself to ask the question.
Because I’d never get the answer.
Some questions were just not meant to have an answer.
“Wes?” I whispered.
“Yeah?”
“Please fucking drive,” I said. “I can’t do this anymore.”
And I think I need to get drunk and forget.
* * *
The beach was packed.
Everyone had the same idea.
Get near the ocean and try to forget what had happened. That our precious town had just seen one of our own die.
And honestly, it was strange to not see Ryland wandering around, working through the crowd, flirting with anyone he wanted, trying to touch anyone who didn’t want to be touched.
I kept to my word, drinking until my head felt like the ocean waves were in there.
“Great surf out there,” Nova said to me.
“Cheers to that,” I said.
We hit our cups together and it was perfect timing that we both dropped our cups.
“Oh. Shit.”
Nova looked down like she had just dropped a million dollars into a volcano.
I snorted and started to laugh.
Nova grabbed for me. “We wasted the drinks, Aira.”
She looked at me and we both laughed harder.
We tried to step back and someone tripped over someone’s foot.
As we toppled to the sand, we let out a crying laugh.
“Ohmygod, we’re Charlotte,” I said. “She trips over air.”
“Because she can’t look down without seeing her boobs,” Nova said.
I kept laughing.
Laughing kept me numb.
I propped myself up on my elbows and gasped for a breath.
“These fucking people,” I said. “Half are just looking for a party. And half are trying not to feel guilty for hating Ryland.”
“Don’t even say his name anymore,” Nova said. “Just stop. It’ll never go away.”
“What won’t?” I asked as I glanced at Nova.
She was calm and serious. “Trust me.”
“Trust you for what?”
“That family…” Nova sighed. “Nothing.”
I jumped up to my knees.
The entire beach slowly spun once, twice… and then it steadied.
“Don’t say nothing to me,” I said. “Nothing is what did all of this. Everyone just keeps saying nothing, nothing, nothing. And then something happens.”
Nova looked at me with her eyes spinning. “You have sand on your cheek.”
I turned my head and smacked my butt. “This cheek?”
Nova snorted and started to laugh again. She had a light yet loud laugh that made it so hard to not laugh along with her.
She sat up and swiped her hand across my cheek. “This cheek.”
“Oh, look at this,” Walker said as he paused with a drink in his hand. “They’re going to kiss. They’re fooling around in the sand.”
