HIDDEN CREEK FOREVER: a hidden creek high novel, page 4
Then came Cherry.
“Aira!” she cried out. “Come here and give me a hug.”
I waited all of two seconds.
Cherry clapped her hands together.
“You better go,” Wes whispered.
I found it totally weird that Cherry seemed so casual and normal when there were three guys sitting on her porch covered in blood.
Then again… Welcome to Hidden… right?
I walked up the steps and side eyed a glare at Noelle.
Cherry wrapped her jiggly, yet strong arms around me and hugged me tight.
“Oh, I’m so happy to see you,” she said. “I should have called you. Or sent you a message.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Oh, Aira, it’s okay to talk about it,” she said. Cherry broke the hug and cupped my face. Her hands smelled like dish soap and cooking oil. “What your father did. Son of a bitch. I’d love to get a minute alone with him. Thinking about what he did… you know, he was never an honest man when he lived here. Nope. Not once. I felt for you and your mother.”
What the hell did that mean?
Cherry hugged me again.
She offered me dinner.
I declined.
“Let me send you home with a plate,” she said. “Don’t move.”
She hurried back into the house and I slowly turned.
Wes had lit up a cigarette. When the smoke and smell hit my nose, I curled my lip.
Fuck you for still looking sexy as you stand there and smoke with your face all banged up. I’d love to bang your face…
I growled in my heart.
I hated that I was so attracted to him. That I wanted him so badly.
“Six guys?” I asked.
“Roman, Sutton, Cullen, Levi, Bryant, and Cruz,” Wes said.
“Football players?” I asked.
“Some, yes,” Leo said. “Some, no. But they knew who they were looking for.”
“And why?” I asked.
“What I did,” Wes said.
“Still because of me,” I said. “You went up there because someone was messing with me. That’s why. So no matter what, it’s my fault.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Noelle said out of nowhere.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“Aira, calm down,” Charlotte said.
“It’s the way it’s always been,” Noelle said. “Different schools. Different towns. Different fights. It never ends. If it’s not BFH then it’s something happening at Tech. And if it’s not that then it’s Ryland and his friends.” I saw the pain on Noelle’s face at the mention of Ryland’s name. “And then if you want to keep going, you can go up to-”
“We get the point, Noe,” Wes said.
“I think you do,” Noelle said.
She walked back into the house, stuffing her earbuds into her ears.
“Weirdo,” Charlotte said.
“Hey,” Wes said. “Don’t say that.”
“Ah, how sweet,” I said. “Defending your sister.”
“Oh, damn,” Leo muttered. He pulled himself to his feet. “You two are like gas and a fire.” He pointed to Wes, then to me. “No offense, Aira.”
“None taken,” I said. “I’m used to fires. And those who are supposed to care about me setting them.”
Wes laughed. “You think you’re funny now, darling? Setting fires…”
“Wes, let’s grab a drink and figure this out,” Flynn said.
“I’m not leaving you,” Charlotte said. “I need to take care of you.”
“Like a slutty nurse?” Flynn asked.
“Did you just call me a slut?” Charlotte asked.
She pushed away from Flynn.
“No, wait,” Flynn said. “You could pretend to be a slut. But a nurse. So you’ll be like super smart. And a slut.”
“Fuck you,” Charlotte said. “Whoever hit you three must have knocked something loose. You’re all fucking idiots.”
“Agreed,” I called out.
“What did I do?” Leo asked.
“Guilt by association,” I said. “Look at your faces. You look-”
“Here we go,” Cherry’s voice said. “Take this home and warm it up.”
Cherry stuck a container into my hands.
It was warm to the touch.
She hugged me again.
“Don’t worry about them,” she whispered to me. “Boys will be boys. Defending what they love and what they’re afraid to lose.”
Cherry kissed my cheek and winked at me.
She was gone again and I walked down the steps.
“I’ll follow you home, Char,” I said.
“Good,” she said.
“Wait,” Flynn said. “Don’t leave me. I need you.”
“I’m going to go be a slutty nurse for Aira,” Charlotte said. “You can use your slutty right hand.”
“Look at my face,” Flynn said.
“I know,” Charlotte said. She looked at Wes. “Are you happy with this?”
“Ask your friend,” Wes said in a cold voice. “It’s her fault, remember?”
I felt my hand ready to throw the container of food at Wes. But I didn’t want to waste Cherry’s food.
“Nobody asked you to help, Wes,” I said.
“You did, darling.”
“Not with that.”
“Maybe you should have listened to me a long time ago,” Wes threw at me.
Now we were taking cheap shots.
Fine.
“Maybe I should have listened to someone else when I came back,” I said.
Wes’s eyes went wide.
He knew I was referring to Ryland.
Leo dove off the steps to get in Wes’s face to keep him from saying anything else. Or getting near me.
I wasn’t afraid of Wes.
I was angry though.
Really angry.
“Better get more ice on your face,” I said.
It pained me to be a bitch to Wes, but I couldn’t help it.
I turned away from him and walked away from Cherry’s house to my car.
I was parked right behind Charlotte.
“Where are we going now?” she asked.
“Nowhere,” I said.
“I thought we were leaving,” she said.
“We are.”
“Then let’s make it count. Torture these boys. Because I’m sort of scared right now.”
I nodded.
Then I smiled.
“I have an idea…”
* * *
I watched as Charlotte stumbled down the fancy steps of Jett’s house toward Flynn. It amazed me that she couldn’t walk without falling when she was sober, yet here she was a little out of it and was able to make the steps just fine.
She tiptoed and did a spin on her toes before falling into Flynn’s arms.
“Love you, dude,” she called out.
Flynn looked at me. “What did you give her?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Do you have a problem?”
“No,” Flynn said.
“Take me back to your place,” Charlotte said. Then she gasped. “No. Take me to the beach. Fuck me in the ocean.”
“Wow,” Flynn said. He looked at me again. “I need a bottle of whatever she had.”
I bit my bottom lip.
Don’t ask about Wes. Do not ask about Wes.
“Get her home safe,” I said. “I don’t need more guilt on my conscious right now.”
“She’s mine now,” Flynn said. “Glad to see things calmed a little.”
I walked down two steps. “Flynn…”
“Yeah?” he called out as he helped Charlotte into his car.
“Those guys that jumped you…”
He turned and looked at me. “Cullen and Levi.”
“This is my fault. Everything is my fault.”
“That’s not my place to say, Aira,” he said. “But what I know is that if you spend time worrying about that kind of thing then it’ll never end. For real. We’re in this now.”
“But Flynn…”
“Come on, dude, I’m hoooorrrnnnyyy,” Charlotte called out from the car.
“Sorry, Aira, I have to go,” Flynn said.
He ran around his car with a one track mind.
Fucking asshole.
I went back inside the giant house.
It was empty, quiet and clean.
It was a total rock star lair. Almost fake.
Jett wasn’t home.
Wes wasn’t home.
I had the mansion to myself.
Which made me feel so damn lonely.
Just like my old house.
I had wandered miles through the house over the years and never felt like I was home. Not once. My father always had it look a certain way. Everything about him was a certain way. And it was all for what? Lies? Something illegal? Dirty business deals?
Fuck.
I went back upstairs to Wes’s room.
By now Julia knew where I was and why. She knew there was nothing she could do or say to make me come back to her house. Not that she blamed me. My mother did nothing but wake up, drink coffee, switch to wine, talk on the phone about the drama surrounding my father, and wasted the day and night away. She actually started looking for reporters and publishers to write a story about it. This was all some kind of game or something to her.
I jumped on Wes’s giant, comfy bed and bounced a few times. I reached across to the nightstand for the bottle for one last drink. As I drank, I put my middle finger up into the air. To everyone. To everything.
Was I a little cold toward Wes? Yeah. I mean, he had gotten jumped. And it was really my fault. I didn’t want to lose him again or ever, but seeing him like that proved it wasn’t going to stop. At least for a little while.
So I drank to that and curled up under the covers.
I shut my eyes and felt them fill with tears.
I fought those motherfuckers off and eventually fell asleep.
And somewhere in there, a hand touched my shoulder.
A body pressed against mine.
I jumped, but before I could open my eyes, I smelled him.
I smelled Wes.
He smelled like smoke, the ocean, the iron metal smell of blood, and some kind of manly soap.
I forced myself to roll over so I could face him.
His face was still beat up. Duh.
“It’s okay, darling,” he whispered.
I touched his cheek, running my pointer finger down to one of the cuts on his lip. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to the cut. Then I kissed the bruise on his cheek. Then I kissed the red mark next to his eye.
I pulled away and he slipped his left hand into my hair at the back of my head.
He curled his fingers and dug them into my hair.
I let out a small gasp.
He pulled me toward him, his forehead to mine.
His right hand moved between us and he slid his hand down the front of my pants. I shut my eyes and sighed at the touch of him between my legs. His strong hand quickly commanding a sense of pleasure I had no idea existed until he showed me.
I touched the front of his jeans and felt he was hard.
It was my turn to show him what I could do.
I wrestled open his jeans and pulled him free to be all mine.
Both of my hands held him, loved him, all the while his fingers told their own story, exploring parts and depths that I could have only dreamt of.
At one point Wes pulled the covers over our heads so it was a hot mess of our smoke and booze stained breaths battling for each other’s ending…
When I felt that rushing peak, I closed my legs and bit my lip as the feeling was greater than riding that wave. And the crash was even worse but in a good way.
And as Wes’s hand behind my head gripped tighter, he grunted before showing me he was right there too, making a mess of my shirt and the sheets.
Only after we were done did he finally kiss me goodnight.
Chapter 4
Wes
Ryland stood in the middle of the hallway and he started to clap.
“Heard the rumor,” he said. “Bravo, Wes. Your face finally looks better.”
“How about I make your face match?” I offered.
Ryland showed his hands. He stepped back and almost fell down.
I raised an eyebrow.
Drunk? Hungover? High?
“Just wanted to see it for myself,” he said. “You going to let them get away with it? Sending their guys down here. That’s a bold statement, Wes.”
“How much did you have to do with it?” I asked.
A bell rang and the halls started to flood with people.
I stood my ground and walked toward Ryland.
He was grinning like he always did. That rich preppy asshole grin that deserved a broken jaw and maybe a two week coma as a little reminder of who was in charge in HCH.
As the crowds swirled around us, Ryland touched his jaw. “Look, there’s plenty I can do here, Wes. But talk to BFH? That’s not my thing. I’m sure whatever this is you did it to yourself. And good luck with it. Bringing more problems to this town and school. And to Aira. I still feel bad for her.”
“You mention her again and I will take you down,” I said.
“Bro, Hender Bender on the way,” Flynn whispered.
I turned my head for a second to look at Henders. In that time, Ryland slipped away, putting his arm around some girl, leaning down to whisper into her ear.
“You seen Aira today?” I asked Flynn.
“She was with Charlotte before class,” he said.
“Let’s go,” I said.
We turned and got the hell away from Henders. The last thing I needed was to hear his goddamn voice bellowing Weslee Jackson and then ordering me to his office or to leave the school for the day.
Then again, I was in the mood for a smoke.
It seemed all that bullshit Aira gave me about my face suddenly turned into her thinking it was sexy as fuck. If last night wasn’t enough in my bed, we decided to be good people and help the environment by showering together this morning. To be fair though, the amount of time we spent in the shower we probably used more water than if we took separate showers.
But fuck it, who really cared, right?
Flynn and I hit fists as he kept walking straight when I had to dart down another hallway to get to a bullshit math class. I was thrown into the class as a favor to get my ass a decent grade to get me out of HCH. It was half freshmen and half seniors.
Leo and I sat in the back of the room on the tables or shelves while Mr. Frohn preached about math problems. He was the kind of guy who talked with his hands and his eyes got wider as he got closer to the answer.
There was a silent agreement between us that as long as we didn’t do anything too crazy, he’d ignore us and we’d ignore him.
So I sat in the back corner with Leo and a few others that didn’t matter to me.
“What’s our move?” Leo asked.
“Haven’t thought about it,” I said.
“Why not?”
“You saw the fight.”
“I saw a car following me. And when I pulled over to deal with it I saw Bryant and Cruz come right at me. Throwing punches for blood. Not caring about a fair fight. I hit back, Wes. I hit back hard. But they got a few good ones on me. The second I went down to the ground, they backed off. Then they took off.”
“I know, bro,” I said. “Same thing happened to me. We had it coming from what we did up there to them. I went in hot. Blaming them for what happened to Aira and what was happening.”
“Punch for punch and we quit?” Leo asked.
“I didn’t say that.”
Leo grabbed my arm. “You’re fucking implying it.”
“Fuck off,” I snapped and shoved Leo away.
“Gentlemen!” Mr. Frohn called out. “Are you eagerly anticipating the answer?”
“No,” Leo said. “Waiting for my boy here to find his balls and use them.”
Leo jumped off the counter and walked toward the door.
“He’s got his period,” I said.
All the freshmen giggled.
“Weslee, out,” Mr. Frohn said.
“Damn,” I said. “And this was just getting good.”
Leo was out the door and I walked through the classroom feeling like a god. Judge me, whatever. But as I walked, everyone watched. The freshmen guys want to be me. The freshmen girls wanted to be with me. Anyone I made eye contact with their cheeks turned bright red. A couple girls made some kind of sighing sound.
When I got to the door I looked back at Mr. Frohn. “The answer is twenty-three.”
I winked and left the room.
I may have been bad, but I wasn’t stupid.
* * *
I walked with Aira in front of me, my right arm over her shoulder and across her body.
She was fucking mine.
That’s what the walk told everyone. Not that I was worried about anyone trying to slip in and steal her from me. Hell, I’d almost give anything to see it. Aira would take a baseball bat to them in a heartbeat.
I walked her toward the front door but made a quick right down another hall.
“Oh, where are we going?” Aira asked.
“You’ll see, darling,” I said.
She looked up at me. “How’s the face?”
“Still there,” I said.
“Can we talk about what happened?”
I really didn’t want to talk about what happened, but I stopped anyway.
I put Aira’s back against a set of lockers and put my hands flat to the lockers.
First things first, I stole a kiss.
She touched my face, tracing lines along the cuts.
“What the fuck, Wes?” she asked.
“Just bullshit.”
“This is more than bullshit.”
“I went up there and fucked with them. They came down here. It’s how it goes. This thing always kicks up and dies down.”
“Why?”
“Because there are always a handful of HCH girls that like BFH guys. So they think they can throw a party like they did, get laid, and spread the word that HCH is nothing but rich whores. And for us, we look at BFH as nothing but jock dick heads.”
“This is more than that,” Aira said.
“Don’t worry about it.”
