“Hold on Lily, let me bring my stuff up and I’ll talk to her.” Hunter hands me my bag and I run up the stairs. For a split second I stop, trying to figure out if I should tell Hunter goodbye now. I decide to wait until I get back down. That gives me a few more minutes to think about what I am actually going to say to him.
When I am in my room and see the charging cable next to my bag, I remember that my phone is still at Hunter’s place. Shit. I take my sweater and my shoes off before heading back down the stairs. I’m about to ask Hunter about my phone when I realize he is gone. Seriously? I didn’t expect a heartfelt goodbye but leaving without saying anything is a little messed up. Lily is not in the hallway either, so I go looking for her. I follow the muffled voices coming from the living room.
I’m mentally preparing myself for a heated argument with Miss Carissa when I come to a sudden halt in the doorway. Hunter is sitting on the floor with a pile of pink and purple plastic pieces in front of him. Lily is sitting next to him beaming with excitement. “Your boyfriend is going to put my toy together! He is the best!”
For a moment I stand in the doorway frozen, my feet cemented into the floor. I can’t believe I doubted him just a moment ago. With my emotions swirling around inside of me like a tornado, I step in the room and sit next to Hunter on the floor.
I lean my head against his shoulder and wrap my arms around his back, letting his warmth seep into me. Yes, this feels right. I won’t ever doubt him again.
10
Hunter
When I told the little girl sitting next to me that I was going to put her toy together, she went from someone-died-sad to I-won-a-million-dollars-happy in zero point two seconds. Once I sat down and looked at this thing, I realize why no one would put it together for her. It’s a used toy, looks to be about fifty pieces, without the instructions on how to put it together.
I look up at Jenna, who is still standing frozen in the doorway. I’m not sure what exactly she is so shocked about. The fact that I stayed and put this thing together or the way Lily just called me her boyfriend. She seemed fine when I called her my girlfriend yesterday, but of course that was before she thought I might be a rapist. Just thinking about it makes my chest hurt. I was just confused and a little bit mad when Jaxon told me what Lacey was accusing us of. The sharp pain in my chest didn’t happen until I saw the look on Jen’s face when I told her. She didn’t know what to believe and seeing that look of uncertainty in her eyes hurt more than I like to admit. I guess it’s my own fault for not always following the law. I have been keeping Jen at arms-length from my business to protect her but that doesn’t change the fact that I am hiding things from her and she knows that. It still hurts like hell knowing that Jenna doesn’t have any faith in me. I thought she knew me better than that. I thought she trusted me.
I am not going to lie, I almost left when Jen walked up the stairs. The only thing that kept me here was seeing Lily so sad. It reminded me of how alone these kids are, how alone I used to feel and how alone Jen must still feel. For some reason she can’t fully accept me, Jaxon, and Eliza as her new family. With her past, it is no wonder that she doesn’t trust anyone. If I leave now, I would just confirm I’m the person that she thinks I am, and I will lose her forever. I need to show her that she can count on me and that I won’t just leave her when things get tough.
Jen finally takes a seat next to us and watches me trying to put this thing together. It’s some kind of Barbie play set. I think a stable for horses’ maybe. Half way through this, I am certain that some parts of this are missing. I do my best and improvise, making this thing at least somewhat playable for her. “Sorry kid, this is the best I can do. It’s missing some parts,” I tell her when I am done.
She jumps up and retrieves a plastic play horse from a toy box in the corner of the room. She puts it in the make shift stables and smiles up at me. “Horsie likes it.”
To see her so happy about this old broken toy crushes my heart. To make matters worse, she comes up to me and wraps her tiny arms around me for a hug. “Thank you.”
I can’t even bring myself to say you’re welcome, I don’t feel like I have done anything to be worthy of a thank you. I pat her back and she sits down again with her new toy. I watch her play for a few more minutes, trying to drag out the time before I have to leave. Lily never stops smiling.
I glance over at Jen who is still sitting beside me silently. “It’s late, I should go,” I tell her, hoping she disagrees. Right now, I want her to ask me to stay more than anything. When she nods another piece of my heart breaks into pieces. I get up and head to the door. Jenna catches up with me in the hallway.
“Wait, I…” she starts to say but I suddenly turn around and she runs into me. I grab her arms to steady her. “Ah, thanks. I was going to tell you that my phone is still at your place.”
I let go of her arm, disappointed that this is just about her phone. I didn’t mean to sound so harsh when I tell her, “I’ll get it to you, don’t worry.” I don’t know what else to say so I do the only thing I need to do before I go. I close the distance between us and wrap my arms around her. I hold her to my chest until her arms come around and rest on my back. I kiss the top of her head, release her and walk out the door without looking back. If I look at her, I won’t be able to leave. It’s hard enough as it is.
As soon as I’m inside my car I call Jaxon. It doesn’t take long for him to pick up.
“Hey Jax, any news?”
“Not much. Fredrick is still trying to figure everything out. I tried to call Lacey to figure out why she would say this stuff. Of course, I couldn’t reach her anywhere and I wasn’t going to stick around until the cops picked me up. I took Eliza and we left town.”
“How did she take the whole thing?”
“She is scared that I would have to leave her, but besides that she is fine.” Of course, Eliza doesn’t doubt Jaxon. She would trust his word even if a hundred people told her he did it.
“How is Jen?” I don’t know what to tell him, so I let the silence speak for itself. I hear Jaxon sigh at the other end of the line.
“Hunter, you okay?”
“Yeah.” Jaxon has been my best friend for a long time but talking about girls like that has never been a thing we do.
“Just give her some time,” he suggests. “Stay low until I call you back.”
“Got it.” I hang up and look up at Jen’s window one more time before I drive off. I find the closest mall and search for a place that sells prepaid cell phones. I buy the nicest one they have and preload it with two hundred dollars. I can’t leave Jen without a phone and I can’t put her on my phone plan right now because that would alert the cops to my location if they would even look into me that much. I’d rather not find out the hard way and just play it safe.
I’m almost out of the mall when something from a window display catches my eye. I make a final stop at the small toy store before leaving. Back in the car I take the phone out and set it up, I save in my new number, as well as Jaxon’s. Then I unwrap the toy I got for Lily and put it together quickly, which turns out to be much easier when all the parts are there and you know what the thing is supposed to look like from the box.
I drive back to Jen’s place and ring the doorbell. Carissa open the door, surprised to see me. I hand her the small bag with the phone. “This is for Jenna, give it to her right away.”
Next, I give her the new Barbie stable, horse and carriage. “This is for Lily.”
“Don’t you want to come in and give it to them yourself?” She opens the door a little further making room for me to step past her, but I make no move to do so.
I shake my head and turn. “No, I got to go,” I say already half way back to my car. I got to get away from here before I lose control and drag Jen in the car to take her with me caveman style.
11
Jenna
I have never been so confused about anything in my life. My brain feels like a bowl of alphabet soup. I just can’t
seem to think. Somehow everything I know about Hunter doesn’t fit together. With me he has never been anything but sweet, and I can’t imagine him and Jaxon hurting a girl like that. I also know that they both do some less than legal stuff to make money. If they are okay with doing illegal stuff for money, who says that they draw the line at rape.
There are a lot of things I don’t know about Hunter, but the way he was with Lily earlier made me see the Hunter I know or at least I think I know. She even hugged him. Lily doesn’t like to touch people. The hug was a big deal for her and he didn’t even know it.
I put my new clothes away in my closet when someone knocks on my door. “Come in.”
Carissa pops her head in. “Hey, I’m supposed to give this to you,” she says and hands me a small bag. I take it from her and look inside. I am about to ask who this is from but she is already out the door again. It’s not like I can’t guess who got me this anyway. I take out the new iPhone and unlock it. I smile at the unicorn background, similar to the ones on my pajamas. I look at the contacts and like I hoped, there are two numbers saved in there, Hunter and Jaxon. I’m thinking about calling Hunter just to hear his voice when the door swings open and Lily storms in. “Jenna! Jenna! Come and look at my new toy!” She is so ecstatic, I’m not even mad that she just came in my room without knocking.
She takes my hand and pulls me all the way down the stairs and into the living room. On the floor sits a brand-new play set with all the bells and whistles a little girl could ask for. Lily is jumping up and down, her grin as wide as I ever seen it. “You see it? Look it has a carriage! And a new Horsie!”
“I see, it’s so pretty.” The old broken play set is shoved next to the wall and looks even more pitiful now that I can compare it to the new one.
“That was really nice of your boyfriend,” Carissa says when she comes into the room. I don’t correct her, since I am pretty sure it’s still true. Hunter is my boyfriend, even though we have this distrust and hurt between us right now, we never actually broke things off and I don’t think I want to either. I don’t want to give up on him and I need to make sure I know all the facts before making any decisions. I just hope that it isn’t too late by then.
“I know it’s hard for you to trust people. Don’t let that get in the way of your relationship with Hunter. He is good guy.” I laugh a humorless laugh. How in the world would Carissa know that Hunter is a good guy? I am not fully sure of what he is myself. “My grandma used to say, “never trust someone if a child doesn’t trust that person”. She told me that kids have a sixth sense about people. Adults take one look at a person and judge them by their looks or what they think they know about that person, but children will look past all of that. Children are more perceptive than most people give them credit for, especially a child like Lily.” Carissa put her hand on my shoulder and gives it a gentle squeeze. “Trust me, Hunter is a good guy and he really likes you, I can tell.”
I watch Lily play for a little bit longer, remembering how she hugged Hunter. She did warm up to him quicker than I have ever seen her do for anyone. When someone new comes to the house to work here, Lily usually takes a few days to be comfortable around them. She liked Hunter right away. I already miss him. I leave Lily to play and go back to my room to get my school stuff ready for in the morning. That’s when I realize that I have a test to take tomorrow. Great. I sit on my bed, take out my book and start reading the chapters that I need to study.
I wake up with Carissa hovering over me and her hand squeezing my shoulder. “Hey girl, you are going to be late for school.”
“What?” I look down and realize my book is lying next to me and I am still in my clothes from yesterday. I must have fallen asleep. I rush around and get ready in record time. When I get to the bathroom, I realize that I am starting my period. Great. Could this day get any worse? I take a hand full of tampons and throw them in my bag. I brush my teeth, change into different clothes, and grab some breakfast on my way out all in under fifteen minutes. While I walk to school, I check my new phone. There is one new message from Jaxon’s phone that was sent last night.
JAXON: ARE YOU OKAY? LOVE YOU, Eliza
I text her back while I walk.
ME: YES, SORRY, I FELL ASLEEP LAST NIGHT. LATE FOR SCHOOL. TALK LATER. LOVE YOU TOO, JEN
“I thought kids like you don’t get to have nice phones?” I look up to find a guy from my class riding his bike next to me and looking at my phone. I want to push him off his bike for that stupid comment but decide on being satisfied by giving him the finger. He just laughs and picks up speed. Asshole.
I rush into the classroom just when the tardy bell rings. Of course, we take the test first thing in the morning. My brain doesn’t work fully yet and I only read half a chapter before falling asleep last night so the test is going as expected. Horribly.
Next period, I am supposed to go to PE. There is no way I am able to make my body perform any kind of physical activity this morning. I just want to curl up in some corner and do nothing. I walk through the empty hallway, trying to figure out where to go. I turn the corner and look down to the end of the hallway. At the very end is the main entrance with a large glass door. At the other side of that door I see him.
My heart stops, I can’t breathe and my legs stop working. It’s Colt. I stand in the hallway like a scared deer caught in the headlight. I can’t move. He looks up and sees me. With a wicked grin on his face he starts coming toward me. No!
I am not sure at what point my limbs start working again. Before I have time to think, I am running down the hall. I briefly think about going into a classroom, but I am not sure if Colt would follow me and hurt other students. I decide to stay away from everybody as much as I can. I take three turns, continuously looking behind me. I don’t see him anymore by the time I get to the library. I run inside and find a place to hide. I crouch down in a corner and pull a book cart in front of me. I take out my phone and dial the first number from my contact list. It feels like there is an hour between each ring.
“Jenna?” Hunter’s voice already sounds concerned.
“He is here. Colt is here. At my school.” The words come out so hastily and shaky I wonder if Hunter even knows what I am saying.
“Jen, where are you. Tell me exactly where you are,” he orders.
“I’m hiding in the library.”
“Good, stay there. I’m coming,” he says and hangs up. What the hell? Am I supposed to wait here for three hours until he gets here? I am about to call nine-one-one, wondering why that wasn’t the first number I called, when I hear someone calling my name.
“Jenna, I know you are in here,” Colt calls for me. Just hearing his voice gives me chills. “Come out. I just want to talk to you.” Yeah right. “No one needs to get hurt. Just come out so we can talk.”
I try to make myself even smaller behind the cart, wishing I could turn invisible. I try to breathe silently, but fear is constricting my airway making me wheeze. I hear footsteps coming closer, my heart is beating so fast I think I am about to have a heart attack.
“Jenna,” Colt coaxes. He is so close now. He is going to find me, maybe he already knows where I am and he is just playing games with me. I think I am about to puke. The book cart hiding me moves a few inches away from me. This is it. He found me. I am going to die.
“Colt!” Hunter’s voice echoes through the library. I hear Colt curse, followed by footsteps moving away from me. I relax a tiny bit, knowing that he didn’t find me. That doesn’t mean this is over yet. Hunter is here. He came for me and now he is here, with Colt.
12
Hunter
I walk into the library, glad that it is empty. Colt casually walks around the corner looking like he is here to check out a book and nothing else. “Hey Hunter, fancy meeting you here,” he says nonchalantly.
“What the hell Colt?” I can’t believe he is really here. “What are you doing here?”
“I notice that you and Jenna have become rather close. I was ju
st going to ask her to talk some sense into you and Jaxon. You know, to turn yourself in.”
“You and me both know those charges are bullshit.” I want to punch him in the face just for being such a phony prick right now.
“Of course, we do, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go to jail for a bit. Rot in a cell, all alone, just like you let me.” His words are thick with hate and resentment. His eyes match the tone of his words. I want to tell him that it was his own damn fault that he ended up in a cell, but I decide to hold my tongue.
“So now what?”
“Turn yourself in,” Colt says coolly.
“You think I am that stupid? I know what kind of guy Coleman is, he is not going to be satisfied with us being behind bars. He wants me, and Jaxon gone so he can get to Eliza. After he is done using you as his lap dog, he will probably throw you back in jail with us.” Even Colt must know that.
“That’s not the deal I made with him. He promised to get me out of jail, so I can help him get some well-deserved revenge against you two. That’s it.”
“Come on Colt, you really believe that? You really think he is going through all this trouble just to see Jaxon and me behind bars? You know he wants more than that out of it.”
He looks at me a little unsure of everything and says, “It doesn’t matter to me. I made the deal and I am good for my word.”
“Screw that and screw Coleman,” I snort. “You don’t owe him anything. You are out of jail, just go and be happy somewhere.”
“And where am I supposed to go Hunter?” Colt yells at me, throwing the words at me like punches. I am so surprised by his outburst that I automatically take a step back. I’m not shocked because he yelled at me in anger, I am surprised by how hurt he sounds. Where is he supposed to go? Jaxon and I were his only close friends and he doesn’t have any family left.
The Things We Hide: A Friends to Lovers Young Adult Romance (Pushed Aside Book 2) Page 5
