The Secrets We Hide: An Enemies to Lovers College Bully Romance (The Four Book 2)

by Becca Steele

  “Sorry.” I leaned down, brushing her hair away from her face and kissing her head softly. “I know it stings, but I’ve got to clean it.” Rage filled me again as I took in the redness all down the side of her face. What the fuck had Hyde been doing? I hope Z fucked him up so much, he’d never even think of hurting my girl again. Any girl, for that fucking matter.

  “Here.” Cassius returned to the room, my brother in tow, handing me a bag of ice wrapped in a soft tea towel. I placed it on Winter’s cheek, holding it in place, and she hissed, then let out a relieved sigh, her cries growing quieter as I stayed with her, holding the ice with one hand, running my other hand up and down her back and over her hair, soothing her.

  “What the fuck happened?” Weston’s eyes were full of worry, but as I told him what I’d seen, they darkened, a fury that I’d never seen before descending. “I’m going to end that fucker,” he hissed out through gritted teeth, breathing hard. Cass and I both stared at each other, taken aback. Maybe my brother was more like me than I realised. Maybe he was just better at keeping a lid on it.

  “Z’s taking care of it,” Cassius assured him.

  “Good.” He made a clear effort to calm himself, the anger finally dissipating, and he sat down on the bed, taking Winter’s hand and squeezing it lightly.

  Dimly, I heard shouts and cheers coming from outside the room.

  Cass glanced at his watch. “Midnight in five.”

  “Go. We’ll be alright on our own.” I glanced up at Cass and my brother, both looking torn. “Really. Go. You wanna see the fireworks?” And just to lighten the heavy as fuck atmosphere I winked at West and added, “I hear Lena’s looking for someone to kiss at midnight,” earning a glare from Cass and a smirk from my brother.

  They disappeared out of the room after assuring me they’d be back soon, and I stretched out on the bed next to Snowflake. She’d stopped crying, and she moved the ice pack off her face and rolled onto her back, staring at the ceiling, unseeing.

  “Why?” Her voice was choked, and just like that, tears filled her eyes again, and I could quite happily murder the bastard who made her cry. She was so fucking strong, and to see her fall apart like this killed me. I leaned over her and carefully kissed, licked, and wiped away the tracks of her tears, stroking through her hair, no fucking clue how to make it better but needing to try. Fuck. I’d do anything for this girl.

  “I won’t let him hurt you again,” I promised her. We needed to talk about what exactly went down between them in that cellar before I got there, but that could wait.

  The distant sounds of the New Year’s countdown drifted through the closed door, and Winter swallowed hard, her eyes finally meeting mine. “I don’t want to miss my first New Year’s kiss,” she said in a scratchy voice.

  Who was I to deny her? This was not the way I wanted to see in the new year, but at least I could salvage this one part of it for her.

  “Do you want to see the fireworks?”

  She shook her head, reaching out to touch the bruise on my face with her fingertips, then slid her arm around the back of my head. I let her pull me closer to her, hearing her softly murmured words against my mouth, right before I claimed her lips. “No. I just want to be with you.”

  A couple of hours later, the room was full. My brother, Cass, Z, and Kinslee—all hanging around and getting in the way of me being with my girl. I didn’t mind them being there, but I could see Winter was tired and fucking drained. She was still on the bed, propped up against the headboard, talking to Kins in a low voice, every now and then looking over at me like she wanted to make sure I was still there. Yeah, I wasn’t going anywhere.

  Z was on edge, restless, pacing the room, acting like he did after he’d done some shit that was fucked up—I never asked, but he had a lot going on. I’d done some fucked-up shit in my time, but Z? Some things were best left unasked and unsaid. I trusted him more than anyone, though. Even my brother.

  “You okay, though? Really?” Cass dropped his heavy weight on the bed, staring at my girl with concern and running a hand through his hair. I never said it, but his relationship with Winter…fuck…I knew they were close friends, and I knew neither of them would fuck with their relationship with me, but I couldn’t help feeling like if I wasn’t around, he’d be all over her. It was most likely my fault, or karma or some shit, for taunting Winter with those other girls before we were together, but that image of her grinding on Cassius, him kissing her like he was fucking starving for her… Jessa had been forgotten the second I saw them together, and all my mind had thought was that Winter was mine.

  Mine. No one else’s. I’d hated her but wanted her at the same time—couldn’t get her out of my fucking head. When I’d given in and had my dick inside her, feeling her coming around me, calling out my name, something shifted between us.

  We were inevitable. And no one was taking her away from me.

  “Cass.” The jealousy sparked from an ember into an inferno, blazing to life. Why was I like this? He was one of my best mates, and she’d made it clear she only wanted me.

  “Shit—uh, right. Boys, Kins. Let’s go,” he commanded, after doing a double take at my face. His expression would’ve been funny at any other time, but right now, I couldn’t see any humour. Blame tonight. Blame fucking Hyde. Blame me. Whatever it was, I needed to be with my girl, with no one else around.

  The room emptied out.

  Then it was just us.

  Winter was so exhausted that there was no way I’d add to all the shit she’d been through, but I climbed up on the bed, tugging her into my arms. She curled into me, her body small against mine.

  “Thanks,” came the soft voice from where her face was buried in my chest.

  “Anything for you.”

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  “This is for your birthday. You can open it now or save it for the day.” Arlo shuffled in his desk drawer for a minute, then handed me a small gift-wrapped package, and I stared at him, surprised and pleased.

  “Thank you.” I gave him a tentative smile. “I’ll save it for the day, I think. Especially since we just got our Christmas gifts. Thanks again for mine, by the way.”

  Arlo had given me, Caiden, and Weston the exact same gift—equal amounts of shares in some tech start-up he’d invested in, and I’d been honestly shocked. And touched, actually. I hadn’t been expecting to be treated the same as his own sons, and from the matching look of shock on my mother’s face, neither had she.

  He waved my thanks away, then indicated towards the door. “Just a token. Now, go and enjoy yourself.”

  With another smile I left his office, taking a detour to put the gift with the others in the bag waiting by the front door ready to take back home, then rejoined everyone else in the conservatory, or orangery, as my mother insisted on calling it. Whatever. It was glass and full of Arlo’s bloody plants that seemed to love tickling me wherever I walked. My mother was having a small gathering since she and Arlo had been away for New Year’s Eve, so consequently I and the rest of the Four were in attendance. Lena had managed to get out of it, but other than that, all the founding families were here, plus a select group of her and Arlo’s closest friends.

  “We must go shopping to find you some more appropriate clothing. Maybe I’ll see if we can go with Arlo on his next business trip to London, if it doesn’t interfere with your studies.” My mother raked her gaze over me with a frown, pursing her lips.

  I stared down at myself. What was wrong with what I was wearing? I knew how particular she was with clothing, so I’d worn a black, knee-length dress with an A-line skirt and heels. Demure, classy, and totally not an outfit I would have chosen for myself, but I was still working on the whole “keep her happy, don’t make her suspicious” thing.

  She must’ve noticed my confusion, because she added, “Your outfit is acceptable. I’m more concerned with your day-to-day attire. Jeans and hoodies are so uncouth.”

  Seriously? I rolled my eyes internally, and then a thought
struck me. How was this even featuring on her radar? Every time I was in her presence I tried to dress as smartly as I could, unlike Cade, who still gave zero fucks. She was never around me when I was dressed down in my normal clothes. So how and when would she have seen me?

  Making a mental note to mention this to Caiden, I just nodded, rather than replying. In return, she gave me a brittle smile that didn’t reach her eyes, then excused herself to speak to Cassius’ mother.

  Making my way over to Weston, I dropped into the chair next to him, accepting the glass of wine Allan handed to me. We both sat in silence for the most part, lost in our own thoughts. There was a weird, unsettled feeling in the air, which had been there ever since New Year’s Eve. It seemed like everyone was on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

  We were all wary of Joseph, unsure of his game plan—but he seemed to have stayed quiet for the most part. Weston was constantly tracking my mother’s and Arlo’s cars. Frustratingly, there was still nothing out of the ordinary, not that they’d been back long from their ski trip.

  What I couldn’t work out was how everything was connected. It couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? I couldn’t help feeling I was missing an essential piece of the puzzle.

  Sitting upright, unable to relax, I slowly sipped my wine, grimacing at the taste.

  Weston glanced over at me with a short laugh. “Not a fan of wine?”

  “Not really.” I swirled the liquid around in the crystal glass. “Not of this particular wine, anyway—it’s giving me a headache. I’ll drink it to be polite, but I’d rather have Prosecco or champagne, if anything.”

  He craned his neck to look over at the tray with the bottles Allan had poured my wine from. “Just an FYI—that wine’s something like five hundred quid a bottle.”

  “What?” I screeched, then instantly lowered my voice when several heads turned to look at me. “That’s insane! I could buy, I dunno, a laptop or something for that.”

  He just shook his head at me, laughing, as I stared at him with my mouth hanging open.

  “Something funny?” We both looked up, and Caiden was standing there, the corners of his mouth tipped up in amusement, his brows raised.

  “Nah, just shocking your girlfriend with the cost of the wine she’s drinking.” West smirked at him, and his amused smile turned into a full-on grin, teeth and everything.

  “My girlfriend,” he repeated slowly, his grin widening. “Think you’ve had enough shocks for one week, haven’t you, Snowflake?”

  “Um, yeah,” I mumbled, my mouth suddenly dry with the look he was now giving me.

  “Both of you, come with me.” His head cocked, he stared down at me, the grin still on his face, and without another thought I was on my feet, dragging Weston up with me, and we were following him out of the room.

  He led us down the corridor to the small study we’d normally end up in and turned to West. “Do me a favour, will ya, bro? Go and hang out somewhere the others won’t see you for a bit, so it looks like we’re all together.”

  Weston huffed. “Fine, if I must. How long do you need?”

  Caiden’s gaze raked over me, the heat in his eyes lighting the fire within me that burned only for him. “We’ll have to be quick. I’ll text you when we’re done.”

  “Alright. But you owe me, don’t forget that.”

  “Yeah, yeah. When you get a girlfriend of your own, I’ll repay the favour.” Cade waved him off.

  “Doubtful that I’ll be getting a girlfriend anytime soon, but you still owe me.” He slipped out of the room, and Cade locked the door behind him.

  “Now, where were we?” He grabbed my hand and tugged me over to the polished sideboard under the window. “Right…stay there.”

  I stared at him, confused, as he crossed to the sofa and sat back, all casual and sexy, his legs kicked out in front of him. “What are we doing?”

  His voice lowered to a rasp that went straight through me. “We’re doing our first kiss again. But this time, we’re going to continue doing what we should have done the first time, but I was too fucking blind to see what was right in front of me.” His tongue darted out to lick his lips, and his lashes lowered as he curled his finger, beckoning me towards him.

  Fuck me.

  “Um…pretty sure you weren’t the only blind one back then,” I stuttered, rooted in place.

  “Yeah, so this is our do-over. Now, come here, Snowflake.”

  “Are we doing it exactly the same way as before? Because I was really angry then. I can try and act angry—”

  “As long as it starts with your mouth on mine and ends with you riding my dick, I don’t give a fuck. Now get over here.”

  His words were the trigger I needed, and I practically leapt on him, fusing our mouths together, our kisses heady and biting, my arms wrapping around his neck as he gripped my hips, groaning into my mouth as I rolled my body against his.

  He pushed my skirt up so it was bunched around my waist, and I ground myself against him, my underwear soaked. His heart was racing just as fast as mine as we devoured each other, hungry and desperate. “I need you inside me, now,” I moaned, panting, tugging on his hair as he left bites down my neck, his hand moving between us to unzip his trousers, shifting me on him so his cock could spring free. Fumbling in his pocket, he grabbed a condom, rolling it on, then roughly shoved my underwear aside. I moaned as my pussy slid over his hardness, coating his cock in my arousal.

  “I’m fucking addicted to you,” he husked against my mouth, as he lifted my hips, then impaled me on him.

  “Cade,” I gasped as he filled me completely, working his fingers over my clit, thrusting up as I rode him towards an orgasm that left me shaking and breathless.

  “Fuck, I’m gonna come,” he groaned, his head falling back. His dick jerked inside me as he came, emptying himself into the condom, and I leaned forwards, placing a kiss on his jaw as he muttered “fuuuuuck” on a long exhale.

  He held me to him, both our breathing ragged as we recovered. He cupped my face in his hands, kissing me softly, before drawing back to look at me with a grin. “Better than the first time?”

  I couldn’t help smiling at the self-satisfied expression on his face. “I think you already know the answer to that question.”

  “I’m never gonna get enough of you, you know that, right? You’re my fucking addiction, baby.” He repeated his earlier words, all low and husky in my ear, and butterflies took off inside me.

  “Same,” I said, managing to get that one word out around the lump in my throat. Gripping the back of his head, I pulled him into a kiss, pouring everything I had into it, letting it show him how I felt, too scared to say the words aloud.

  “I reckon we can get out of here,” Cassius murmured to our small group in a low voice. I was standing in the corner of the orangery, constantly shuffling around since a particularly annoying tall plant kept tickling my ear, no matter where I stood. The rest of the Four were with me, minus Cade, who was talking to Arlo.

  “Yeah, me too. We’ve been here long enough,” Weston agreed, and Cass glanced over at Caiden and caught his eye. An unspoken communication passed between them, before Cade gave a tiny nod. He said something to his dad, and they shook hands, before he sauntered over to us.

  “Let’s go.”

  Finally. I swiped my tiny bag from the floor and slung it across my body. We started moving towards the door, before I paused, placing my hand on Cade’s arm. “Hang on, I’d better go and say goodbye to my mother. You know she’ll complain if I don’t.” He pulled a face, and I added, “You don’t have to come. I’ll meet you at the car.”

  He nodded, pretending to wipe his brow in relief, and I rolled my eyes. We split up in the hallway, the boys heading out of the front door while I made a beeline for the small sitting room where I was betting my mother was entertaining Cassius’ mother and her other friends.

  Entering the room, I looked around, but no sign of Christine. Estella was there, perched on the edge of a sma
ll chaise longue, gesturing in the air as she chatted to another woman. She noticed me hovering in the doorway and paused in her conversation to greet me.

  “Evening, Winter. Are you looking for your mother?”

  I nodded. “Yes. I’m just leaving, so I wanted to say goodbye on my way out.”

  She smiled, pointing to a row of glasses that stood on the low console table next to her chair. “I believe you’ll find her in the kitchen, on the hunt for olives. We’re having dirty martinis and we’ve run out.”

  “Oh no, that won’t do,” I found myself saying, internally shaking my head, and the corner of her lips tipped up in amusement as she clearly picked up on the unintended sarcasm in my voice. Oh fuck. This was awkward. “Thank you. I’ll try there.”

  With a small wave, I backed out of the room as quickly as I could, my cheeks burning, and headed down to the kitchen, passing a huge, ornate gilt-framed portrait of my mother and Arlo, painted in oils, that hung on the wall, dominating the space. That was new.

  I reached the kitchen.

  I stopped dead, pressing my body flat against the wall, my heart beating wildly.

  My mind tried to make sense of what I was hearing and seeing.

  I didn’t understand.

  What the fuck was going on?

  TWENTY-NINE

  The back of a head, a small bald patch in his greying hair, a phone pressed to his ear. Speaking in low, rapid-fire Russian (I think). One word flew out at me, as loud as if he’d shouted it.

  Ivanov.

  He turned, and I could see his profile, even though I knew who it was without a shadow of a doubt, the moment I saw his back, clad in the same classic black butler’s outfit he wore constantly.

  Allan.

  I remained rooted to the spot, in total shock.

  Allan finished up his call, then switched to speaking in English, his attention going to someone I couldn’t see.