Country Secrets

by Caz May

  I hang up and gulp down the rest of the beer.

  It pays having a police officer for a brother.

  He’s always up with happenings around the town, so I’m a little surprised that he didn’t know anything about the car.

  It makes me even more curious to find out if it’s Savannah’s and what clues it might uncover about her sudden appearance in town.

  Her sudden appearance that is turning my world upside down and making my heart feel something I never thought it would again.

  I couldn’t possibly be falling for her, could I?

  (11) Addison

  Part of me knows that trying to get Hunter back is futile.

  He'd made it pretty clear a year before when I ran off to the city again that he didn't want me back, nor did he love me anymore.

  But the selfish part of me wants him all for myself again.

  I hate admitting to myself that I’m a tad possessive.

  It was what drove all my boyfriends away, if you could even call anyone in my past since Hunter a boyfriend, as most guys I’d been with I’d barely even had a second date with.

  It’s a family thing, my brother Jett has a possessive streak too and he still kind of has a grudge against me for getting with his best friend.

  But truthfully how could I not have fallen for Hunter?

  He’s genuinely a good guy, outrageously gorgeous and probably the best I've ever had in the bedroom, not that I'd ever tell him that.

  Jett is bound to be forever furious with me when he finds out that I’m about to knock on Hunters' door in a desperate attempt to win him back.

  He'd called me vindictive and I truly hate that word but thoughts had crossed my mind of trapping him into taking me back.

  Pretending after seducing him to be pregnant.

  He would never know the truth until it was too late.

  Could I really be so cruel to him? To the man I love?

  I stop at the gate to the farm, panic rising in my chest.

  It seems crazy, my whole plan tumbling in my head.

  I’ve never really stopped loving Hunter but I still can’t feel any love for his home.

  Making him fall in love with me again is probably going to be the easy part of my plan in getting him back. I still don’t want to live on the farm, but I probably would finally have to give in if I wanted Hunter in my life.

  Happily I find that he still doesn’t have a lock on the gate. It squeaks open and I proceed to drive my car in, before jumping out again and closing it behind me.

  He’d never forgive me if his stupid dog got loose.

  Opening and shutting the gate was such an annoying part of farm life.

  Again jumping back into my idling car I pull up closer to the house.

  To my surprise his stupid dog doesn’t come bounding towards the car.

  He’d always hated me.

  It wasn’t like I’d done anything to the ugly mutt but he still had something against me.

  Closing the car door behind me, I lock it out of habit before walking slowly up onto the verandah.

  I can’t believe I’m really going to do this.

  Reaching the front door, I knock as hard as I can muster on the screen door.

  The sound of barking and pawing at the door is evident, but there doesn’t appear to be any lights on that I can see.

  Tapping my foot, I’m about to turn to leave when I hear Hunter’s voice trying to calm the dog.

  “Down Blitz,” he says, opening the wooden main door.

  He looks at me with disgust, before asking, “What are you doing here Addison?”

  “I wanted to talk.”

  “What would we need to talk about?” he asks me.

  It makes me feel like an intruder.

  He hasn’t even opened the door and the stupid dog is snarling at me.

  “Um…us,” I say trying to be calm.

  “There is no us Addison,” he replies spitefully.

  “Please Hunter. Can I just come in?”

  He still glares at me.

  Maybe I shouldn’t have come.

  He’d told me before he didn’t love me, but I have to try.

  I’ve never gotten over him and if I don’t try to get him back I probably never will.

  He doesn’t say anything but sighs and reaches to the handle pushing the door open to invite me in.

  The dog jumps up on me and not in a friendly greeting way either.

  It makes me a little tense.

  Hunter again tells him down and points towards the kitchen.

  The dog thankfully retreats.

  I take a deep breath before focusing my attention back on Hunter, following him towards the living room. He’d stopped in the hallway with his hands on his hips.

  God, he’s so gorgeous.

  Me, I’m completely tongue tied.

  I’d crazily come here straight from the hospital, still dressed in my scrubs and I’d not even really thought about what I was actually going to say.

  The silence between us is strained and the thought crosses my mind of literally throwing myself at him and kissing him, but my mind knows I have to talk to him first.

  He’s the one to break the silence.

  “So why are you here Addison?”

  The way he says my name makes me cringe.

  But I have to get straight to it, “I came back for you Hunter.”

  “Why Addison?”

  “Because I still love you. I’ve never stopped loving you.”

  He shrugs, “Seriously, come on Addison, you never loved me.”

  He’s literally tearing my heart out.

  He’d never been so insolent about my feelings before.

  “How can you say that Hunter? I…”

  My words are frozen on my tongue.

  Why does it feel like there was nothing between us?

  Like we have no past together?

  This isn’t the Hunter I love.

  “Oh I don’t know Addison, maybe because you brushed me off twice, ran away to the city and…”

  He stops talking.

  I know what he’s going to say next. He’s going to bring up my rejection of his proposal.

  “And because I didn’t say yes?”

  “Ding ding ding.”

  “I’m sorry Hunter. But please just let me explain.”

  “Whats to explain? You didn’t want to marry me. What would have changed?”

  “Me, Hunter. I’ve changed.”

  Again the silence envelopes us. There isn’t really anything else I can say, but I haven’t really gotten anywhere.

  “Maybe you should prove it to me,” he says again breaking the silence and shocking me to the core in the process.

  Before I can respond to his strange words he’s headed down the hallway.

  Hesitantly I follow.

  Knowing the house so well I know he’d gone to the bathroom, so when he calls back, “Just give me a minute,” I knew where he’d gone.

  I tiptoe further down the hallway until I reach his bedroom. Nothing has changed.

  It seems like yesterday I’d been in that very room.

  There is only one way to prove to him that I still love him, that we are meant to be together.

  I inwardly thank myself for still only having my scrubs on.

  I never wore anything but underwear with them and today I’d worn a lacy bra and g-string as I’d not had time to wash my normal everyday underwear.

  Pushing my pants down my legs without pulling my shoes off was hard to do quickly.

  I knew it was a little weird that I wore high heels to work with my scrubs, but I always found them comfortable.

  And now practically being half naked wearing high heels was as sexy as hell.

  Naked and wearing high heels had never failed at getting Hunter hot for me before.

  He was probably finished in the bathroom so I have to hurriedly pull my top over my head.

  Hearing the toilet flush is my signal.

 
; It’s now or never.

  I lay down on his bed, leaning on my elbows with my butt and legs in the air.

  The bathroom door creaks open and he calls out, “Addison are you still here?”

  I giggle and call back, “Find me.”

  I can hear his bare feet on the creaky floorboards. He stops in the door jam, leaning against it.

  He looks insanely gorgeous.

  “Seriously Addison? This is your plan?”

  “Come on Hunter. You never could resist me.”

  Tentatively he steps further into the bedroom, closer to the bed. Grabbing his hand sends a shiver straight through my body.

  Touching him still wakes the same lust in me.

  Fuck, I want him so much.

  (12) Hunter

  To say I was shocked to find Addison half naked lying butt up on my bed is an understatement.

  She’d said she was only here to talk, but as usual she can’t help but flaunt herself.

  She’d always had a way of getting a reaction from others using her body.

  Practically every guy in town had fallen victim to her charm and tried to get into her panties, but she shut them all down.

  I’d been the only stupid idiot to fall in love with her though. She’d tried to tell me she loved me too, but after all the rejection she’d put me through I thought that pretty unlikely.

  Now standing in the door jam of ‘my’ bedroom looking at her half naked on my bed, I can feel my body betraying me.

  Stepping closer to the bed she grabs my hand. Lust shines in her eyes and lust swells in my jeans.

  I inwardly curse myself for being a male, but it isn’t because it’s Addison but the fact I’ve not been laid for close to six months and the touch of any woman would have given me the same reaction.

  Her eyes are on me, lustfully begging me.

  My mind wanders to Savannah for a moment and I can’t help but feel like I’m cheating on her, as crazy as that seems, considering I’ve not even kissed her.

  My thoughts are cut short though when Addison stands up, forcing her body to crash into mine.

  Her words are filled with lust, “Do you still want me Hunter?”

  I want to say no, but my body is saying yes.

  Even though it’s wrong and I’ve been thinking about a possible devious plan like what is happening for over a week, it’s the right time to make Addison think I do want her back.

  Getting her back of course is not what I really want, there isn’t anything I want less, but she’s a pawn in getting information about Savannah and part of me also wants her to feel the heartbreak I did, as this time she’d shown she isn’t over me, even though I’m definitely over her.

  Looking directly into her eyes I whisper, “I want you Addison,” before crashing my lips onto hers. Hungrily she responds to my kiss.

  It feels like a whirlwind kissing her again.

  It makes my head spin and I want to pull away, to push her away.

  But that won’t make my plan work.

  I have to continue playing along, to make her feel like I do want her, when I clearly don’t.

  When she’s the one to pull away I don’t stop her from lifting my t-shirt over my head but have to stop myself from cringing when she runs her hands down my bare chest, her touch feeling wrong.

  Her hands stop at my belt buckle and she fumbles to undo it.

  It has be done even though it’s wrong.

  I don’t want this but I have to do it.

  Pushing her back on the bed causes a giggle to escape from her mouth.

  I take her mouth in a kiss again as she continues to help me wiggle out of my jeans.

  Again she pulls back from my kiss, and this time she speaks, “Make love to me Hunter,” she begs reaching behind her back to undo her bra.

  The straps fall down her arms and she’s even more exposed to me, naked except for small fragment of lace of her practically non-existent g-string.

  In time gone by I would have marvelled at her naked body before me, knowing she was mine but now I don’t want her.

  I can’t deny she’s still breathtakingly gorgeous, but I don’t love her and despite my body’s reaction to her I can’t have sex with her.

  She’d hurt me in the past but taking advantage of her now isn’t the right thing to do.

  Shaking my head I stand up by the bed.

  The smile she has on her face moments before fades into a frown and I think she’s going to cry.

  I’m taken aback by the possibility of Addison showing any emotion.

  “I can’t Addison,” I declare.

  Sobbing she replies meekly, “Why Hunter? Don’t you love me anymore?”

  Can I really tell her that I don’t love her? Now when she’s starting to sob uncontrollably half naked on my bed.

  “No, Addison I don’t love you anymore.”

  My words are like a knife, cutting down any defence she has left.

  The tears are streaming down her cheeks.

  It’s her turn to stand up from the bed and she looks at me sadly, the hurt evident in her eyes.

  Despite everything I really don’t want to hurt her, but I don’t know what I could have say to make it better. She lifts a hand close to my cheek like she’s going to slap me.

  I know I would have deserved it if she did but before her hand makes contact with my cheek, she instead wipes it across her own tear stained cheek and bends down to pick up her clothes before running down the hallway, not even looking back at me.

  Blitz starts barking when he hears the screen door slam shut.

  It’s hard to decipher what has just happened.

  If she’d come to my house just six months earlier and forced herself on me, I would have taken the chance, as idiotic as that seems.

  But now my world feels completely changed.

  I don’t really know what has changed but something has and Savannah is part of it for sure.

  Blitz is still madly barking. Going out to calm him I listen at the door for the sound a car engine and the scrape of tyres on the gravel but outside it’s eerily quiet.

  Addison is still here.

  It might be a foolish next move, but I rush out of the house in my boxer shorts and pad down the verandah.

  She’s sitting in her car, her head in her hands, sobbing into the steering wheel.

  I’ve have a plan to pretend to get her back to try and find out more about Savannah, so even though it’s probably foolish I tap lightly on her window.

  She jumps at the noise, but seeing me shivering in my underwear makes her giggle as she rolls down the window. “What?” she spits at me.

  Ok, here goes nothing, Make her think you still want her.

  “I’m sorry Addison. I panicked.”

  “What?”

  Is that all she can say now?

  “I’m sorry. I just think we should take the possibility of getting back together slow ok?”

  She nods. “Ok, I can deal with that.”

  I lean into the car and press a kiss on her forehead. “Goodnight Addison, Drive safe.”

  She rolls up her window after saying goodnight to me and waves as she drives towards the gate.

  I don’t stay to watch her drive away down the road, instead retreat quickly inside.

  Back in the house Blitz stares me down, giving me a look of disgust.

  It makes me laugh that even my own dog is judging me for the choice I’d just made, but it’s a choice that had to be made.

  Addison doesn’t need to know that I honestly don’t have any intention of truly getting back with her.

  The only thing that’s getting to me now is that I’m being vindictive and I feel so guilty.

  Guilty. And I hate nothing more than feeling guilty for my actions.

  What have I gotten myself into?

  (13) Quentin

  It had been a surprise to hear from Hunter a week earlier.

  He'd been so caught up with things on the farm and I really feel like I never r
eally see him.

  He'd always been an attentive older brother, always looking out for me, but we had drifted apart a little as we gotten older.

  I know it’s partly due to the fact that I kind of had a thing for his ex-girlfriend Addison.

  Their relationship was so complicated though and even though they broke up I knew he'd never forgive me if I tried pursuing her.

  Being part of the police force as well, I had to ensure that I did the right thing by everyone in my life and I had to be on top of what was happening in the town and surrounds.

  So when receiving the phone call from my older brother about the abandoned car near the farm I feel like I’ve failed at my duties.

  Granted I hadn't been on patrol out there for weeks. I wasn't sure if anyone had.

  Hunter had text me a picture of the car registration. Tapping it into the police database gives me some out of the ordinary results. It’s registered to a male with an Adelaide address.

  What puzzles me is the name wasn't the same name as the mystery woman's name.

  The mystery woman who ended up in Hunter's house.

  I’m sure they are connected somehow, but a search on her name produces no results, at all.

  There is no record of a Savannah Galison anywhere.

  It’s against police protocol to divulge any information to members of the public about cases, but I have to call Hunter.

  He seems close to the mystery woman and as his brother I have to tell him about what I’ve found out.

  It’s close to knock off, so I quickly jot down some notes in the file the Sergeant has started on the mystery woman case and tidy my desk.

  Jumping in my Kingswood, I dial Hunter's number. He answers straight away.

  "Hey Quent? Did you search the rego?"

  "Yeah bro I did."

  "And?" he asks me, a hopeful tone in his voice.

  “It's not exactly good news Hunter."

  He sighs heavily into the receiver.

  "What do you mean?"

  "Its registered to a male from Adelaide."