by KT Strange
Hidden River Secrets
Book 2 in the Hidden River Academy Series
KT Strange
Copyright © 2019 by KT Strange
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover by CJ Strange.
Heartcandies Publishing
Heartcandies.com
To Katie Z., my sweet princess.
Contents
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Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Thank you.
Stay in touch!
About the Author
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One
Shawn’s fingers were wrapped around my shoulders. His mouth was warm and insistent on mine. My breath stopped in my chest for a moment.
Buck.
I jerked back, my face hot.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” I stared up at Shawn’s face, swallowed hard, and took a step away from him. His golden-red hair was pale in the breaking light of day, and his eyes were intense.
Behind us, the screen door opened.
“Mia?” Uncle Matt called my name, his footsteps thudding on the front porch. Shawn’s eyes flicked from me, to where my uncle stood. “Riordan? What are you doing here?” My uncle’s voice cracked, sharp in the dense, thick air.
I took another step away, then turned, fleeing to my uncle’s side. He gave me a confused, irritated look before crossing his arms over his chest.
“Riordan? Answer me,” he demanded. When I looked back, Shawn’s fingers were loose at his sides, although his shoulders were tense.
“Sir,” he said, clearing is throat. “I-—”“
“I don’t even want to think about what the hell you’re doing on my lawn, with my niece,” my uncle threw me a look that could’ve peeled my skin right from my bones, and I took a breath to steady my nerves. I hadn’t done anything wrong. Ididn’tdoanythingwrong. The world was slipping sideways, warping around me. The disgust in my uncle’s expression was cutting me down right where I stood.
The tense silence stretched out, with Shawn’s quiet so deafening that I wanted to scratch at him and scream for him to answer. My uncle couldn’t think badly of me. He was all that stood between me and the empty nothingness of living in support housing, waiting for my mother’s fate to be decided. That, and the idea that he’d look at me with disappointment filling his expression, made me feel like poison was dripping in my veins.
Had it really just been minutes ago that I’d been curled up in bed with Buck, his skin warm and the world perfect?
“What’s going on?” Buck’s voice was sleep-blurred and husky as he stepped onto the porch behind us. “Shawn?”
My uncle turned a second behind me, and relief flooded through my body. Buck would fix it.
“I forgot my book at your place, and I need itthem to finish a paper,” Shawn said, his tongue coming untied. “You never answer your damn texts, man.”
Buck’s face was blank as he stared at Shawn, then slid his gaze over to me.
“Certainly leaving things to the last minute, Riordan,” my uncle said, his voice so dry that we all knew he didn’t believe Shawn for a second.
“You’re always leaving your shit everywhere,” Buck snorted, “but next time, let me sleep in. Okay, asshole?”
My uncle cleared his throat.
“Back to bed, Mia, unless you want me to make some coffee?” He turned to me as Shawn crunched over the gravel, punching Buck in the upper arm as he reached him. The air was thick, slowing their movements down in my mind. As Buck flashed Shawn a wary grin, I wondered if Buck knew. Could he see the mark of Shawn’s lips on mine?
“I’m good,” I murmured, “no coffee, thanks.” Buck disappeared into the house, Shawn trailing behind him.
“Right.” My uncle stared, like he was looking right through me, like he could see the carousel of memories of Buck leaning over me in bed, and then Shawn’s glinting eyes as he leaned down to kiss me. “Well, I’m going to go finish my beauty sleep. You should probably get a few more hours. You look like you’re about to fall over on your feet.”
“Mmm,” I said, as Buck emerged, book in hand, followed by Shawn, who dogged his footsteps like a hapless puppy. I couldn’t meet Shawn’s eyes, the ghost of his touch shivered on my skin whenever I breathed the air out of my lungs.
“Right, well, whatever this was, never again,” my uncle said, giving Shawn a serious look as the boy tucked a history text under his arm.
“Yessir,” he said, glancing to the side, his weight shifting from foot to foot. My uncle frowned, then patted me on the shoulder.
“Go to bed,” he said, disappearing back inside the house. The screen door slammed behind him, leaving the three of us standing around like awkward turtles.
“Shiv,” I gasped, breaking the moment, as time shattered like glass around me. “You broke up with Shiv. What the fuck, Shawn?”
“Look, this isn’t really the time to talk-—” He squirmed, and I witnessed one of the tallest guys I knew try to fold himself up and appear as small as possible.
“Yeah, what the fuck, Shawn?” Buck repeated my words, glaring at his friend. “You wanna explain why you’re here?” He reached out, grabbing his textbook back from under Shawn’s arm a little more viciously than I expected.
I swallowed hard, glancing between the two guys. They were staring at each other, Shawn’s expression contrite, Buck’s bordering on furious.
“Shiv is… we’re done,” Shawn said, his mouth dry. “I needed to see a friend.”
“You could’ve texted,” Buck replied, one eyebrow rising.
“I’m going back to bed,” I muttered under my breath.
“Buck’s?” Shawn asked, his eyes piercing right through me. I inhaled sharply; Buck reared back. His fist shot out, catching Shawn across the cheek. Shawn staggered off the porch with a grunt. Buck followed him down, hauling back to hit his friend again.
“No, wait,” I said, skidding onto the gravel, the skin on my feet screaming., but I continued after them anyway, grabbing Buck around the waist. I didn’t have a chance in hell of stopping him. My heart pounding hard in my throat, I explained, “My uncle, he’ll hear-—”
Shawn wiped a hand across his cheek
, glaring hard at Buck. He stuck out his chin.
“Yeah, that’d be fucking unfortunate. Why don’t you throw another one, Buck? Bring down Coach. Let’s tell him why we’re fighting, huh?”
“Shawn!” I hissed his name, pushing myself in front of Buck to hold him back with my whole body if I had to. “Jesus, what’s wrong with you?”
“Why are we fighting?” Buck asked, his tone sullen. “You wanna explain that to me?”
“I don’t hafta explain nothing to you,” Shawn spat the words, his eyes flashing. For a moment, I held my breath, until Shawn’s shoulders slumped. “Fuck off, man, just… whatever. Fuck you.” His words had no heat in them. He sounded exhausted. He turned away from us. His car sat under the trees down at the end of the drive. Buck’s hand landed on my shoulder, heavy, guilt-inducing. My stomach turned over.
Shawn’s feet punished the gravel as he scuffed toward his car, slamming the door hard after throwing himself into the front seat.
Headlights flashed, blinding me for a moment, and I jerked my arm up in front of my eyes. Shawn’s car left our driveway a few seconds later, but I still felt like I couldn’t breathe properly.
“You wanna tell me why your face looks like a spanked monkey’s ass?” Buck asked when I turned around. My cheeks burned hotter, and frustration burst inside me, flaring inside my chest. The whole early morning interruption had been ridiculous bullshit. I just wanted to sleep and forget about the weird tangle of events that had unraveled in the pre-dawn light.
“You wanna tell me why your friend is such a fucking asshole? He dumped Shiv,” I said. “I haven’t even had a chance to call her. He just showed up here and-” My tongue stopped me before I could continue, self-preservation kicking in.
“And? Made up some half-assed excuse to coach? Yeah. I saw that part. I’m wondering what happened in between you leaving my bed and me getting up here.”
The words my bed did funny things to me. As much as I was put-off and frustrated, almost mad at Buck in that moment, I also wanted to kiss him.
Was this what love was? Wanting to yell at him and also pull him down and erase the feeling of Shawn’s lips on mine-
My cheeks were so hot they felt like they were on fire.
“I need to sleep,” I said, but Buck caught me in his arms, pulling me close.
“Did he touch you? Do I need to go over to his place and have words with him?”
I mumbled, “You already had words, and they confused all of us.” I gasped as he tugged me up to kiss me hard, his mouth searching mine like he was looking for secrets.
The passion between us was a struggle; I could feel what he was asking for in the way his fingers dug into my skin, pressing almost into the muscle, until I pulled away with a noise.
“You’re hurting me,” I said, shock filtering through me. I stared up at him, the day cracking open wide around us.
“Mia-”
I needed to go to my room. Right away. Right then. I pushed past him, shying away from him, even as he reached for me, and made fast tracks for the porch.
“Mia, I didn’t mean it-”
I paused at the top step, sinking my teeth into my bottom lip. His grip had been just a shade too much, too tight.
They never meant it. Men never did. They always hurt the ones they loved, some how, some way, without meaning to. Right? That’s how it’d always been for my mom. That’s how it’d been for me. That’s how it was.
Turning around, I wasn’t sure whether I was resigning myself to that reality, or trying to forge a new path, but falling into the same rut anyway.
I inspected my arms in the dim light of dawn, but couldn’t see a trace of his firm grip on me. Had it even really happened, then?
“Fuck, Mia, I’m sorry.” Buck hovered several feet away from me, like he wanted to come closer, but didn’t dare. I let out a rush of breath and glanced at him. We were almost the same height like this, with me mere feet off the ground.
“Don’t handle me,” I said, the words came out harsher than I meant. “I’m not here to be handled. Okay?” My stomach was trembling, my whole body on fire. The morning’s events were too much already, and the birds hadn’t even fully woken up.
“Hey, I was just…” Buck swallowed. “Did he touch you?”
“Yeah,” I said, my words wooden. “Seems like everyone’s jumping on the touch-Mia-without-asking train these days.” Buck’s eyes hardened.
“I’m gonna-”
“Go back to bed like a smart asshole, instead of making more of a big deal out of this,” I said. “I gotta call Shiv, and then I’m going to sleep.” I wanted to cry, the confusing mix of emotions hanging heavy in my heart. “It didn’t mean anything. He just broke up with her, and he’s stupid right now. Okay?”
Buck stepped up onto the porch, our heights uneven again. His hand lifted up, his thumb brushing across my lower lip.
“Did he kiss you?”
How did he know?
I couldn’t answer that, but Buck’s gaze went heavy, almost sad.
“I’m gonna knock his teeth out his asshole,” he threatened, but he didn’t mean it. I knew he didn’t.
“He’s just grieving. Grief makes you do stupid things,” I insisted, although why I was covering for Shawn, I had no idea. I just felt I had to.
“Call Shiv,” he said, words throaty. “I’m gonna go to bed.” He slipped inside the house with barely a creak of the screen door, and I pulled in a shaky breath.
It wasn’t fair. I just wanted a few moments to live in my happiness, and then Shawn showed up, and everything went wrong.
“Mia?” Shiv’s voice was shaky at the other end of the line a few minutes later—once I was curled up in my bed and able to talk to her without my own voice trembling.
“Honey, are you okay?” My heart melted instantly at the way she sounded completely undone.
“Oh my god, it hurts. It hurts,” she breathed, her words choking into tears. She cried, sobbing into the phone as I lay in the dark and tried not to think that after he’d kissed her for the last time, he’d come and kissed me.
I tried not to think that two floors away, Buck was lying in his bed, trying not to think about how his best friend had kissed his girlfriend, betraying a trust that had seemed so rock solid.
“It’s gonna be okay,” I lied to Shiv, not sure what else to say. Of course, in the bigger picture, things would be okay. There would be a time, some day, some month, away from this moment, when Shiv was smiling again, when things seemed right again.
“It was okay, it was, and then he wrecked everything,” she said, her voice breaking on every other word. Salt poured over the wounds of my guilt.
“Did... he say why?”
It was always you.
I closed my eyes.
Shawn was just mistaken. I wasn’t anything. It was never me, whatever that meant. It wasn’t me that he was supposed to pull into his arms, tucking his hands around my waist like they belonged, his tongue finding mine and making my heart stop for a second.
It couldn’t be me. I was with Buck. And he had Shiv. Or he’d… had Shiv.
Shiv, who was hiccuping through an excruciating retelling of Shawn’s breakup at the other end of the line, while I tried not to think about her now ex-boyfriend’s mouth.
Because I wasn’t a monster. Because I wasn’t a slut like that, right?
Two
I overslept, the sun creeping over me until I hid my face under the covers, only to overheat and emerge feeling exhausted, my mouth dry and uncomfortable.
Did last night really happen? If only it had ended with Buck’s warm body spooning mine, and not the swirling events that came later. Those—the fleeting memory of Shawn kissing me, Buck’s fury, the sting of his hands gripping me too tightly—threatened to pull me down.
Sitting up felt like drowning, when all I wanted was to stay in bed and not face the day. I reached for my phone. It was almost 3 P.M.
Groan.
Almost like he knew I wa
s awake by some cosmic force, Shawn’s number popped up on my screen with a message.
Can we talk?
I swallowed, cleared my throat, and left my phone on the bed. I needed to brush my teeth and wash the sleep from my eyes. I wasn’t talking to Shawn. Not after what he did to Shiv, or what he did to me. He’d dumped his garbage on me, and left me with a churning pit of confusion inside of me.
I walked down the stairs, the wood creaking under my bare feet, and stopped short when I saw my uncle sitting on the couch. He was leaning forward, elbows on his knees, looking weary.
“Mia, you’re awake,” he said.
“Uh, yeah,” I said, “have… have you been waiting for me?” The house was quiet. No noise from downstairs, none of Buck’s music. I glanced out the window. His Rover was gone, too. He was probably out, visiting one of the guys.
“I’m asking Buck to move out,” my uncle said, his expression sober. “He’s got a fine house to live in-”
“Wait, what?” Panic seized me, and my head swam. “Why? What’d he-”
“Mia, please sit down.” My uncle pointed to a seat opposite from him. My body went, out of habit, knees bending, my butt hitting the couch cushion. A numbness crept over me.
“I-”
“Please,” he said, holding up a hand to forestall anything I was about to say. “I should’ve never had him here while you were under my roof to begin with. It wasn’t appropriate, but I figured on the both of you being more mature than I should have.”
I swallowed, my throat painful and tight.
“I didn’t mean-” I fell quiet when he looked at me, his gaze heavy and earnest.
