HIDDEN CREEK KISS: a hidden creek high novel, page 7
“No,” Elijah said. “I have a different thing in mind. I just wanted you all to hear it. You can leave now.”
“Fuck that,” Wes said.
“We all can’t go up there,” Elijah said. “It’ll look obvious.”
“What are you doing?” I whispered to Elijah.
“Helping you, babe,” he said.
“Wait a second,” Kailey said. “This doctor did all of that? That’s illegal.”
“Ding, ding, ding,” Elijah said. “You win the big teddy bear prize.”
“Fuck you, Elijah,” Kailey spat.
“Stop it,” I yelled. “It’s the truth. What he did. What my father did. Now everyone knows the truth. I’m sure whatever happens, my father and Dr. Harold won’t get into trouble. I just want to let it all go.”
“Great idea, Elijah,” Wes said. “Now she’s upset.”
“She won’t be for long,” Elijah said. “This is our common ground. Understanding how important Nova is to all of us. And that we care about her and will protect her.”
“So when you leave…,” Emma started to say.
Elijah moved toward her.
Wes jumped in front of Emma.
Emma jammed the bat into Wes’s back to move him.
“Let him come near me,” Emma said. “I’ll rearrange his pretty boy face.”
“She said to move, Wes,” Elijah said.
“I’ll fucking bury you soon enough,” Wes said to me.
“I’ll bring the shovel,” Elijah replied.
Wes side stepped and Elijah faced off with Emma.
There wasn’t a word to describe how fast my heart was beating. For more than one reason.
“Can I borrow that?” Elijah asked Emma.
“What?” Emma asked, looking even more pissed off.
“I was going to use a golf club,” Elijah said. “But a bat would be better. I think. Maybe I’ll use both. See what works better.”
“What do you have planned?” Emma asked.
“Just trust me,” Elijah said.
“That I will never do,” Emma said. “But for Nova’s sake… fine.”
Emma handed over the baseball bat.
Elijah twirled it as he walked back to me.
He kept walking too.
I looked at everyone and shrugged my shoulders.
“I don’t fucking like this,” Wes said.
“Text us,” Kailey said.
I looked back.
Elijah was still walking away.
I quickly turned and ran after Elijah.
* * *
“Douchebag parks his car all the way back here,” Elijah said. “Probably worried someone might sneeze on it.”
The fancy convertible sat in its own spot.
In the far corner of the lot.
“You can be pissed at me, babe,” he said. “But they needed to know. I didn’t want them here for this.”
“Which is?”
Elijah handed me the baseball bat. “Fuck the car up.”
“What?”
“Destroy it. Smash it to pieces. Think about everything this asshole did.”
“Elijah…”
“Hey. We’re not going to attack Dr. Harold. But this… this will hurt. This will piss him off.”
“Then what?”
“Nothing,” I said. “He won’t do anything.”
“Elijah, this is crazy.”
“We do crazy, amazing things together, Nova.”
I stared into his eyes.
He was dead serious.
And he went through the trouble to contact Wes and have everyone come up here to meet. To try and find that common ground, which was me and my secrets.
“I’m not mad at you for having me tell them about Dr. Harold,” I said.
“Good. But you’re still mad at him.”
“I hate him,” I said.
“Then do something about it.”
I lifted the baseball bat. My eyes looked around the car, wondering where to start.
But the bat slowly fell to the ground.
“No,” I said. “This won’t do anything.”
“Yes, it will,” Elijah said.
He grabbed the bat off the ground and swung it.
The side mirror popped off and hit the ground and the glass shattered.
I gasped and jumped back.
Elijah grinned at me. “It’s really fun.”
“This isn’t the first time you’ve done this, is it?”
“This isn’t about me, babe,” he said. “Do it. Get it all out. Your soul is too precious to carry that dark shit anymore.”
I swallowed hard and nodded.
I lifted the bat over my head and sucked in a breath.
I slammed the bat to the windshield.
It cracked.
It felt good. Really good.
So I did it again.
And again.
And again.
Until the windshield was indented.
The I turned and looked at Elijah.
He was holding a golf club.
“Ready for this, Nova?” he asked.
Tears filled my eyes.
I slowly nodded.
“I’m fucking ready,” I whispered.
Elijah started to unload the hits to the car, smashing at the body.
I took out the headlights and then ran to the back of the car to smash the brake lights. I was smiling with tears running down my cheeks.
I paused for a second and looked at Elijah.
“No alarm?” I asked.
“I disabled it,” he said.
“You know how to do that?”
“Yeah,” he said so calm and casual. “I’m pretty good with cars and shit.”
Elijah slammed the golf club into the side of the car.
I climbed up on the trunk and looked at the beautiful leather interior.
When I swung the bat and hit the seat, the bat bounced back at me. I had to let it go and turn, the bat sailing through the air and hitting the ground.
I started to laugh.
I fell to my knees on the trunk and laughed.
“You want to ruin the interior too, babe?” Elijah asked.
I looked at him through blurry eyes. I shook my head. “No. This is plenty. This…”
I started to cry.
Like a real cry.
Shit.
I wanted to curl up into myself but Elijah wouldn’t allow that.
He dropped the golf club and ran to me.
With me being on the trunk of the car I was actually at his level for once.
He cupped my cheeks, tears and all, and he made me stare at him.
I couldn’t stop the tears.
It was just all the years of what Dr. Harold had done. The fact that he came to a house and saw what he saw. And that he was able to laugh it all off. That he was able to not give a damn about my mother. Or me. It made me wonder if Dr. Harold himself had done anything else… himself or others…
“I won’t say it’s going to be okay to you, babe,” Elijah said to me. “I’ll just be here. Cry. Scream. Punch me. Hit the car again. Whatever you need to do.”
I inched forward and kissed Elijah quickly.
“There is something you can do,” I whispered.
“What?”
“Get the baseball bat again,” I said with a grin.
I wiped my tears away and took the baseball bat from Elijah.
I gripped it tight and walked around the car.
“Forgot a mirror,” I announced.
I swung the bat and broke the other side mirror off.
That was the last of the glass stuff. Which was the most fun stuff to break.
I opened the passenger door and took a few swings at the old fashioned looking dashboard. Smashing things that were costly and maybe one of a kind. And, yeah, maybe taking this anger out on a car was wrong… but you know what?
I. Didn’t. Fucking. Care.
I finally stopped and looked at Elijah.
He was smoking a cigarette, smiling at me.
“I’m done,” I said.
“Okay. Now we leave the note.”
“The note?” I asked.
My heart started to pound.
“Yeah,” he said. “Trust me, babe. I bet this guy is crooked as shit. We need to make sure he knows it was you.”
“I thought the whole point of this was to get away with it.”
Elijah shook his head. “Do you trust me?”
“No,” I said.
“Okay. Either way, we’re leaving a note.”
I watched as Elijah took out a piece of paper and wrestled it under the broken windshield wiper.
He then offered his hand and I took it.
We jogged away together.
In his other hand was his cigarette.
In my other hand was Emma’s baseball bat.
We weren’t wearing fancy clothes as we picked up speed when we saw Elijah’s car. I looked to the country club dining hall and shook my head. If anything good could come from the reality of my life it was that I would never be like that. I would never wear clothes - or a dress - that I didn’t want to wear. I would never sip crappy drinks and force conversation, all the while wondering how I was going to fuck someone over.
But I was totally fine with jean shorts and an oversized hoodie. And I was totally fine with a baseball bat and a car that needed to be beat up to send a message. And I was totally okay with the way Elijah looked at me as we got into the car.
And I was totally okay with the way he grabbed me and kissed me before we made our daring escape.
Chapter 7
Elijah
I had never seen eyes like hers. Nothing ever came close. And believe me, I tried. Oh, I fucking tried hard to find blue eyes like Nova’s. I told myself that it had to be something with the ocean. The way the sun hit the water and the reflection hit her eyes and that somehow made her… eyes… bluer…
But that was all bullshit.
Her eyes were the prettiest blue I had ever seen.
The same shade of blue in the middle of the day, in the middle of the ocean, or in the middle of a very intense staring contest.
I studied every little feature of her eyes.
It didn’t matter that the inside of my car was kind of dark.
Our eyes were locked tight and all I could think about was kissing her.
But I didn’t want to lose the contest.
If I did, Nova would break my balls about it.
Even in goddamn silence she managed to have my head and heart locked into an endless battle.
“Do it,” she whispered. “Just blink, Elijah.”
“Never,” I whispered back.
“Oh, come on,” she purred. “I know you want to kiss me. Or touch me. But you have to blink first. Please. Come on. You know how hard it’s been for me. How badly I want you… I mean, to win this…”
This was the Nova I loved so much. This was my Surfer Girl.
Laid back, flirty, fun, and cool. Not a care in the world. Willing to burn through time by doing something so stupid like a staring contest.
I moved closer to her.
The tips of our noses touched. “You just lost, babe.”
“No, I didn’t,” she said. “I didn’t blink.”
“Neither did I,” I said. “But…”
I turned my head just a little and brought my lips to hers.
I didn’t kiss her though.
I just placed my lips to hers.
Her eyes went wider.
“Fuck,” she whispered.
“Fuck,” I whispered back.
“Together,” she said. “Count of three.”
“Okay.”
“One,” she said.
“Two,” I said.
“Three…”
Both of us didn’t blink.
“You lied to me,” she whispered.
“You lied to me too.”
“Only because I knew you were going to lie.”
“Now you’re lying on top of a lie,” I said.
Nova touched my leg. “I think I can find a way for you to forgive me, Elijah…”
“Don’t play that game.”
“Too late,” she purred again.
So I had to resort to my cheap and cheating move.
It was Nova’s hip.
There were places all over her body that were ticklish. Places I knew about and places that if anyone else ever found out about, I’d break their fucking hands.
But her hip… right at her bone… quite honestly probably the sexiest place on her body. It was also her weak spot.
The second my hand touched her hip, she jumped, laughing, blinking like crazy.
And just like that…
“I win,” I said.
Nova folded her arms and refused to look at me. “Not cool. You know too much about me. I need someone else.”
I laughed. “Oh yeah? Well… summer will be coming and going soon enough, right?”
She looked at me and curled her lip. “Is that a joke?”
“I don’t know. Is it?”
“Do I need to recite the letter you wrote me last summer?”
“You have it memorized?”
“Every heartbreaking word.”
“Shit,” I said. “Nova…”
She put a hand up. “I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
“Sore loser,” I said.
“You’re a cheater. All the way around.”
“All the way around?” I asked. “I never cheated on you, babe.”
“Fine. Whatever.”
“Whoa. This is because you lost a staring contest?”
Nova looked at me again. “Maybe.”
“Did you check in with your friends yet? I’m sure they’re nervous I probably killed you or something.”
“Stop.”
“Hey. I hate that you’re in the middle of it.”
“Says the guy who came to town looking for a fight with them.”
“I just needed to make sure things were okay.”
“And you couldn’t do that through talking?” Nova asked.
“People can easily lie, babe.”
“Oh? Can they?”
“Yeah,” I said. “But if you get them cornered…”
“You’re crazy, Elijah.”
“Just like you, Nova. And if I asked you to spend the rest of your life with me… the truth… what would you say?”
Nova laughed. “Yeah right. You want me to answer that? Never.”
I moved toward her and my thumbs found her hip.
Nova screamed and laughed even harder.
“Elijah!” she cried out.
“Tell me the truth,” I said. “Yes or no. There is no wrong answer.”
“Elijah… I’m going to pee myself…”
“That’s fine,” I said. “I’ve got a bag of clothes with me.”
She grabbed my wrists and wiggled.
She screamed with laughter.
She punched at me, laughing harder than I ever heard her laugh in my life.
So hard that I started laughing too.
She had me so fucking turned on too… it was almost embarrassing.
“Just give me an answer, babe,” I said.
“Yes,” Nova finally admitted. “Yes, yes, yes.”
I stopped tickling her. “Yes to what?”
“To your question.”
“What was my question?”
“Elijah…”
I wiggled my fingers at her.
She put up her middle fingers. “You know the question.”
“So you want to spend the rest of your life with me. Damn, babe…”
“You know what? Fuck this. Tell me if you really only love me and never loved anyone like me.”
“That’s easy to answer,” I said.
“Wait…”
Nova got to her knees and jumped at me.
She knew my one little weak spot.
Of all places… my damn neck.
And her fingers touched and dug.
I bounced around like a damn fool only to grab her sides and squeeze just enough to make everything freeze.
She was halfway across the front seat of the car.
All I had to do was slide my seat back and…
We were frozen.
“Nova,” I said. “Not even close. To you. I mean it. Nobody… not even fucking close. Not a breath. Not a whisper. Nothing.”
“You’re just saying that because I’m about two seconds away from humping you.”
“No,” I said. “I’d rather you pissed at me if you’re going to hump me. Makes it crazier…”
“Well, let’s find out,” she said.
As her lips closed in on mine I saw the headlight of a car.
“Shit,” I said.
“What now?” Nova asked.
“He’s here.”
* * *
I purposely chose some random house on some random street.
It was night so I chose the brightest part of the street to send a clear message.
Nova stood next to me.
My left hand and her right hand were interlocked tight, hidden behind my back.
“This is for you, babe,” I whispered. “You know what to do.”
She nodded.
The fancy convertible drove slowly down the street toward us.
“This guy must have every color collected, huh?” I asked her.
“That just means we have more work to do,” she said.
I laughed. “Don’t go getting too addicted to beating the shit out of cars. Can only be a once in a while thing.”
As the car got closer, it slowed even more.
“That him?” I whispered to Nova.
“That’s him,” she said.
Dr. Harold was driving a black convertible. And he had a passenger with him. A woman in a dress that somehow sparkled even in the dark.
Nova and I stood there like two street kids, looking for a fight and a meal.
Dr. Harold had a piece of paper in his hand.
Matching my note to the address on the mailbox where I had parked.
When his eyes looked at me, he looked pissed.
He looked ready to get out of the car and fight me.
Instead, he reached for his cell phone.
I turned my head and looked at Nova.
By the time I looked back to Dr. Harold, he realized who Nova was and his phone slowly moved from his ear back down to wherever he had grabbed it from.
