HIDDEN CREEK KISS: a hidden creek high novel, page 3
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said.
I grabbed the surfboard and took one step and Elijah touched my arm.
“What?” I snapped at him.
“That was a shitty run too. You had no balance. No focus. You’re better than that, babe.”
My lip curled.
My lips started to move but I wasn’t going to give him the time.
I stomped out of the water to get away from him.
What an asshole. After everything I’ve been through…
I stood in the sand and took a deep breath.
I knew he was right behind me.
I shook my head.
“You know I’m right,” he said. “What was that?”
“Needed to get out of there,” I said.
“Where?”
“Cherry’s,” I said.
“Ah. Right. I’m sure the golden boy is there by now. I’m sure everyone knows your secret too. Probably pissed at you for not saying something. But playing it cool. Wanting to care for you but don’t know how.”
I slowly turned. I wanted to burst into tears. “At least they try, Elijah.”
“I don’t try?”
“You didn’t tell me why you were here.”
“Didn’t know that was part of the deal here.”
“The deal?”
“I’m going to find the answers I need, Nova. One way or another.”
“And then what? Leave? Hurt someone?”
“I’m not going anywhere, babe,” he said. “That’s something you and the rest of those fools back at Cherry’s need to realize. I’m not going anywhere.”
“That’s part of the problem then.”
“No, it’s not.”
Elijah closed in on me.
And I stood there like my feet were glued to the sand.
He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. I felt his dry shirt instantly begin to soak up the water on me.
I let out a long breath. A breath I felt like I had been holding since I found the note that fell out of his pocket.
“I can’t lose you forever, Elijah,” I confessed. “You leaving is one thing. At least I know you’re out there. But I am not going to go to your funeral. I can’t…”
“Babe, you don’t have to,” he said. “I will take care of this.”
I lifted my gaze and hated him about the same amount as I loved him. “Why? Why you? Whoever…”
“Just don’t think about it. It’s my problem.”
“But it’s not,” I said. “It’s my problem too.”
“Let me walk you back to Cherry’s,” he said. “I won’t go inside. I won’t cause any problems. I just need to know you’re safe. Cared for.”
He tried to take a step and I lifted my left foot and stomped down on his right foot.
“No,” I said.
“No?” he asked.
“I want to stay right here.”
“With me?” he asked with a sly grin.
I curled my lip. “With you, Elijah.”
He quickly lowered his lips down to mine.
Now I hated myself.
But I didn’t care.
He made me feel… so…
Elijah broke away and traded me for the surfboard.
“What are you doing?” I asked him.
“Going to catch a wave. Make up for that embarrassment you called surfing.”
“You just said it’s dangerous and stupid to surf in the dark,” I said.
“I did,” he said. “But that’s how I like it, babe… dangerous and stupid.”
Chapter 3
Elijah
It was ridiculously stupid as I stood there on the beach, well past midnight, watching the waves. Lost in thoughts that weren’t all that important anymore. Wanting to chase back time was a waste of current time. And what person didn’t want to do that? Everyone was guilty of being ignorant in the present moment. Only because somewhere deep in everyone’s heart they knew the moment was going to end. And then you’d spend the rest of your life wishing you could go back to that moment to make it last longer or just live in it again.
The one thing about the ocean was that it washed all the evidence away. All the footprints were long gone. In a way it had always been maybe romantic that the ocean did that for Nova and I. Because each summer we were given a clean slate to do it all over again. There was no stopping to look at the previous summer’s footprints. It was always about making new ones.
I looked down at the sand and it was too dark to see footprints. Not to mention the tide would take care of any that were there anyway.
I crouched down and spread my fingers wide and pressed my hand into the sand.
I quickly curled my fingers and stood up.
I dropped the wet sand and smacked my hand off my jeans.
No fucking way I was going to stand there all night, alone, missing Nova, wishing she were still there with me.
What mattered at that moment was that she was somewhere safe.
She wasn’t going to be hurt.
Even by me.
I touched my back pocket where I still kept the damn note.
The original plan had been to come to Hidden and track down who killed my brother to make sure my name wasn’t next. And if it was next, to do anything necessary to get my name off the list. Because whatever the hell Ryland had been doing…
I turned away from the ocean and started to walk.
My plan meant nothing now.
Yet my plan was bigger than ever.
Because it wasn’t just about me. Or about Ryland. Or about Hidden. Or about any of the secrets that were still waiting to be exposed.
My entire plan was about Nova.
How to make my Surfer Girl into my Everything Girl.
I worked my way back home - still alone - and snuck in through a side door of the gigantic house my father and his wife called home.
Nero had texted me earlier wanting to hang out.
He, Lars, Paxton, and Turner were doing something at some beach house that was tucked away enough that they could make as much noise as possible without getting attention. He had crews bringing cars, motorcycles, and of course, a lot of pretty girls.
Yet there I was wandering through a dark house that wasn’t mine to be in.
To get to the closest set of stairs, which would take me directly up to my room, I had to go through the kitchen.
I didn’t expect to see my father standing there.
The great Alexander standing at one of the large, white marble counters. A small, LED light shining onto some papers. Next to them a tablet was propped up, the screen glowing, the pointer finger of his right hand scrolling.
“So is this where I get it from?” I asked.
He didn’t move his eyes from the screen. “Get what from?”
“Working past midnight.”
“I think our definitions of work are different.”
“Yeah. That’s probably true. How much money did you make today, Dad?”
His eyes finally looked at me. “Not enough. Obviously.”
I grinned.
The lingering question was there.
Elijah, when the fuck are you leaving for good?
And while it would have been great to be there to just fuck with him, it was much deeper than that.
Well, Dad, your only living son has fallen in love… really hard too. The kind of love that makes you change everything you’re doing in life. Not sure if you’ve ever felt that way… I mean, considering you cheated on your wife, right?
“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I’m home for the night now. Going to get some sleep.”
Alexander looked back at the tablet screen.
The glow of the screen cast a very stern silhouette. The outline of his face. The intensity of his eyes. I wondered if he grieved at all. If he really cared that his other son was gone forever. Or he knew why.
Those were questions that I would never get answers to.
I had other things to worry about.
I walked toward the steps next to the kitchen.
“Elijah.”
His voice speaking my name was strange to hear.
It made me stop dead.
It made me swallow hard.
“Tim has always been a piece of shit,” my father said.
Once again, his eyes didn’t move from the screen as he spoke to me.
It was like I was an employee of his. Or maybe he had really convinced himself I was his nephew.
“Tim…?” I asked.
Then it hit me.
Tim.
Nova’s father.
That Tim.
“Oh,” I said. “Tim. Right.”
“Dealt with him a few times in the past. Never cared for him. Doesn’t surprise me what I heard. Doesn’t make it right though.”
“Didn’t bother you enough to do something about it though, huh?”
His eyes moved from the screen to me again. “You did the right thing, Elijah. If anything were to come of you being there… I would…”
Alexander’s voice trailed off.
A figure shuffled into the kitchen behind him.
It was the ever and always depressed looking Rosemary.
She touched Alexander’s shoulder and he quickly reached for her hand.
“Coming to bed soon?” she asked him as though I wasn’t even there.
“Of course I am,” he said to her.
He gently kissed her forehead and turned off both the tablet and the light above the counter.
It was pitch black as they left the kitchen together.
I stood on the second step and nodded.
My back pocket vibrated.
I didn’t do the wishing thing, but I was ready to run to a window and find a star so I could wish it was Nova texting me. Hell, even if something was wrong, as long as it gave me an excuse to see her again.
No such luck though.
It was just Nero.
He texted me a picture of two street rides.
Really nice, really bright colored, custom rides.
I replied to his text with a question mark.
What the hell did I care about two street rides?
Nero texted me back.
Better get here - now.
I wasn’t so easily swayed, so I replied with the letter Y.
That’s when Nero finally got to the point.
Ryland’s two best friends were at the party… looking for me.
* * *
As I drove through the dark and quiet streets of Hidden I realized I had lied to my father.
Oh. No.
I laughed as I smoked a cigarette with the windows down.
The whole beach town life wasn’t all that bad at that moment. The air was cool, breezy, and salty. The kind of place where you wouldn’t have a care in the world. And I didn’t have a care in the world for about a minute as my mind tried to slip away.
I parked my car as close as I could get to Nero’s little gathering, which wasn’t little at all.
As I approached the beach house, a familiar face spotted me.
The girl deemed crazy by Lars. The one he said I would regret not hooking up with.
She stood with a group of other girls and quickly passed off her cup and hurried toward me. I realized her entire wardrobe was made up of clothes that were too short to be clothing but too long to be lingerie. Which left your mind spinning.
“Look at this surprise,” she said. “Finally. Something worth getting excited about.”
She reached for my arm and I pulled back.
“Do me a favor,” I said.
“Anything for you,” she said.
I took one last drag of my cigarette and handed it to her.
“You want to see more tricks with my mouth?” she asked. “I don’t need a cigarette for that…”
I walked by her and looked back. “Smoke that, put it out, and drink until you don’t remember who I am.”
She looked back at her group of friends.
The shock on their faces told me she wasn’t used to rejection.
I hurried up the steps and someone stuck their hand out at me, offering me a drink.
I put my hand up to block the offer.
“Prick,” the guy said.
I dug my heels into the porch and turned.
I threw my hands to the guy’s chest and he went over the railing, drinks and all.
Two guys grabbed my shoulders and pulled at me.
I threw an elbow and managed to spin back around, ready to fight.
A couple girls screamed like damn fools, which only drew more attention to me.
Before I could get a punch thrown, Lars appeared and had one of the guys by the shirt.
“Lars,” the guy said. “He knocked Mikey off the porch.”
“You can’t make a calm entrance, can you?” Nero asked, stepping out from behind Lars.
“I don’t like drinks shoved in my face,” I said.
“You don’t touch him,” Lars said to the guy.
I winked at the guy. “Hear that? Don’t fucking touch me.”
Nero pushed at my shoulder. “Come on. Get off the damn porch. You’re not going to ruin my party.”
“Thought you said they were here looking for me,” I said.
“They are,” Nero said. “Around the side of the house. On the beach.”
I went with Nero.
Lars lumbered behind.
For a few seconds I felt set up.
It smelled of it too.
I carefully took in my surroundings just in case they tried to jump me.
When we got to the beach and I realized things were cool, I lit up a cigarette to calm my nerves.
Two guys were standing there.
Familiar faces.
Nick. Dean.
I laughed when I saw them.
“Wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again,” Nick said.
He offered his hand.
I didn’t shake it.
“Hey, we didn’t do anything to Ryland,” Dean said. “We were always on his side.”
My eyes moved to Dean.
I nodded.
“They showed up and demanded I call you,” Nero said. “Is this okay? I can get some guys here if we need to handle things.”
“We’re good,” I said.
“We’re not here to start shit,” Nick said. “That’s the last thing we want.”
“There’s too much shit as it is,” Dean said.
“Maybe you should sit on a toilet then,” I said.
Nero and Lars laughed behind me.
Nick and Dean were nothing but leeches. Fucking brainless leeches who latched onto Ryland only because Ryland needed someone to do his dirty work sometimes. There was no doubt in my mind Nick and Dean had nothing to do with Ryland’s death. No way they got close to that fire at all.
“Haven’t seen you around Tech,” I said.
“We bounced,” Nick said. “Got out of town.”
“We’re not coming back,” Dean said.
“Why not?” I asked. “You’re going to miss all the fun, bro.”
“There is no fun, Elijah,” Nick said. “It was hard enough watching him fight with Weslee Jackson all the time. Dragging us into that war. So many fights.”
“Can’t take a punch?” I asked.
“Can’t take a bullet?” Dean asked.
I stepped toward Dean. He stepped back and showed his hands.
“He didn’t mean it like that,” Nick said. “Look, man, we don’t know what your relationship was to Ryland.”
“Brothers,” I said. “You know how that works? His father fucked a woman and got her pregnant. Then that same guy fucked a different woman and got her pregnant. Crazy, right?”
“That’s not what I meant,” Nick said.
“Of course not,” I said. “What do you mean? What do you want?”
“We know why you’re here,” Dean said.
“I’m here because Nero told me to be here,” I said.
“Shit,” Nick said. “You’re trying to find out who did it. Who killed Ryland. We get that. We didn’t know you were that close to him.”
“Well, the whole father cheating and having a bastard son like me tends to fuck a lot of things up,” I said. “But… yeah… even when I wasn’t around after summer, Ryland and I did stay in contact.”
“He talked about you a few times,” Dean said. “I think he sort of wished you could be here all the time. You two together as brothers… against Wes…”
“Are you wasting my time with this shit?” I asked.
“No,” Nick said. “We just wanted to clear our names.”
“Clear your names?”
“We’re done with this town and everything in it,” Nick said. “That has to be known. We had nothing to do with what Ryland was doing on the side. The thing that probably got him killed.”
“Which was what?” I asked.
Nick nodded to Dean.
“I think he had some scheme to set up Wes’s family,” Dean said. “Stuff with stolen motorcycle parts. He got Wes’s old man involved in it too.”
“So the prince comes from a broken family, huh?” I asked with a grin.
“They’re all a fucking mess,” Nero threw in. “We can talk about that some other time.”
“The point is,” Nick said, “we had nothing to do with what led up to what happened to your brother. It was too much. Too real.”
“So you ran,” I said.
“We left,” Dean said. “Enough of the fights. The stupid wars. The made up shit with BFH.”
“So you don’t think they had anything to do with what happened to Ryland?” I asked.
“I didn’t say that,” Nick said.
I stepped closer to both of them. “I’m always in the mood to throw a punch or ten. Even right now. It’s late. I’m tired. I was home. Now I’m here. So let me make this simple. You mentioned he talked about me. Did he say anything I should know?”
“No,” Dean said. “Anytime he mentioned you it was always in the sense of being brothers. The story of what happened. He laughed about it. Something about his life being such a mess. Like yours.”
“Okay then,” I said. “So you came all this way to tell me you had nothing to do with Ryland’s death. And you took off from HCH and Tech. You look guilty as anything right now too. I think this plan might have backfired a little.”
