Wicked Lies

by L A Cotton

  “I’ve got to get out of here,” I rushed out, staggering back from the railing. Kiera stared at me as if I’d grown an extra head.

  “Stay, we can tal—”

  “Go, I’ve got to go.”

  I didn’t know where I needed to be, but anywhere away from her and her searching eyes was a start.

  “Kyle,” she called after me, but I was gone, sprinting toward the parking lot with no destination in mind. I couldn’t go home, Mom would want answers and Rick would want to continue his Dr. Phil routine. And I couldn’t go to Laurie’s, not after how I’d left things.

  She contacted your dad.

  She contacted your dad.

  She contacted your dad.

  The words vibrated around my head like a bad hangover. It might have been funny if it wasn’t so tragic. I’d lied to protect him, to keep the past buried where it belonged and all along he’d kept this from me. We were Stones. That name meant something in Wicked Bay.

  It meant a helluva lot.

  But as my feet pounded the asphalt and my body vibrated with so many emotions I couldn’t name them, all I could think was oh, how the mighty had fallen.

  Chapter 20

  LAURIE

  “What do you mean he’s missing?” I shrieked into the receiver.

  “He...” Lo paused for a beat and then let out a defeated sigh. “Maverick took him out to clear his head and left him at The Bay, but he never came home.”

  “Oh God.” My heart stopped. I swear, for a split second, it actually stopped beating and when it reset, a jolt of pain rushed through me.

  Kyle was missing.

  Gone.

  How had we ended up here?

  “H- how long?” I barely managed to say the words, paralyzed by fear.

  “Three hours.”

  “Okay, well, three hours is nothing. He could with the guys or at The Shack or maybe he needed some more time.”

  “We checked in with Matty and Trent, they haven’t seen him. And his cell is going straight to voicemail. Rick’s already done a drive by of all the places we thought he might go.”

  A beat passed.

  And another.

  But I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t find any words.

  “Laurie?” Lo’s gentle voice came over the line. “We’ll find him but if you know why he ran, now’s the time to speak up.”

  The words were right there. Right on the tip of my tongue. But if I said them, if I betrayed Kyle more than I already had by going after Kiera, there was a chance he would never forgive me.

  “I- I can’t, I’m sorry.”

  “Shit, Laurie. He’s not involved in anything... you know, dangerous, is he?”

  “No, it isn’t anything like that, I promise. He’s just going through some stuff.”

  “So why the secrets, why can’t you—” Lo paused, whispers and mumbling filtered down the line. “Sorry.” She was back. “Maverick needs me. I’ll keep you updated. Whatever’s going on with him isn’t going to stay a secret for long. Uncle Gentry is here, Rebecca too. They saw his room. They’re asking questions.”

  When I didn’t reply, she breathed out a long sigh. “I’ll call as soon as we hear anything. If you think of where he might have gone, text me. Please. I know you think you’re protecting him, but this isn’t like him, Laurie.”

  “I will,” I said, and she hung up.

  Scrolling to his number, I started texting.

  Me: Kyle, where are you? Everyone’s worried. Your dad and Rebecca are asking questions. You’re only going to make things worse. I know things are a mess. I know you feel betrayed, but I’m here for you. I’ll always be here.

  He didn’t reply, but then, I hadn’t expected him to. Because we didn’t turn to one another anymore. We hid behind lies and fake smiles and forced conversations. And right there in that moment, as I clutched my cell phone willing it to ring, I didn’t know if we’d ever find our way back to one another.

  THE VIBRATIONS OF MY cell phone pierced the darkness, and I fumbled to the side, trying to locate it. “Yeah?” I rolled onto my back.

  “He’s okay. Kyle’s okay.”

  I bolted upright rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “He came home?”

  “No,” Lo’s voice was grave. “But he texted Maverick.”

  Ignoring the hurt slicing through my chest, I said, “Did he say where he was?”

  “Just that he was safe and needed space.”

  “God, this is such a mess.”

  “You could always talk to me. My mum used to say a problem shared is a problem halved.” My best friend’s voice was thick with pain.

  “If I could, I would, you know that. But he’ll never forgive me if I tell you. It’s his story, Lo. I have to respect that.”

  Silence followed and then she whispered, “God, this sucks. I thought we were done with all this. The drama and secrets.”

  “You do know who your family is, right?” Nothing about the Stone-Princes was straightforward.

  “I know, I know.” She sighed. “I just... it’s our last summer together, I wanted us to have fun. Yet here we are again, surrounded by scandal.”

  “Kyle spending the night away from home is hardly a scandal, Lo.”

  “You know what I mean,” she ground out. “Kyle is jeopardizing everything. He got benched at football camp, did you know that?”

  “I...” There was no point in lying. I’d already done enough of that. “Yeah, he told me.”

  “Maverick said it’ll be fine, that USC will still want him, but I can’t believe he did that.”

  “Lo, Maverick would go to war for you. He’d risk everything... for you. Is it so hard to believe that Kyle isn’t the same? They might not be blood related, but they are brothers in every sense of the word.”

  Kyle was just much better at forcing down all of his crap, whereas Maverick wore it as a shield, keeping people at arm’s length. He was better since Lo, softer around the edges, but if anyone threatened him or his family, I didn’t doubt the old Maverick would come out swinging.

  Literally.

  “Is that a roundabout way of telling me, Kyle’s Jekyll and Hyde routine is all because he’s protecting you?”

  “What? No! I’m just saying... God, I don’t even know what I’m saying. I hardly slept, worrying about him.”

  Kyle’s secret would affect them all. His dad, Rebecca, his siblings. I still had no idea what they believed, where they thought Kyle’s mom had been all these years, but her reappearance would cause shockwaves.

  That’s what Kyle was trying to prevent.

  He was protecting them.

  But in doing so, he was ruining himself. Alienating himself from his friends and family.

  From me.

  “I know, me too,” Lo’s voice pulled me back into the moment. “We have to fix this, Laurie. We have to find a way to bring him back to us.”

  If only it was that simple.

  “It’s senior year. I might be a Brit, but even I know how important it is.”

  Way to remind me. I swallowed the snarky reply. Lo didn’t deserve my anger. She cared about Kyle almost as much as I did. They were, after all, family. But I couldn’t help but wonder if there was no bringing him back, not to me, anyway. Some betrayals couldn’t be forgiven.

  So while I didn’t doubt Kyle would return to his family and they would work through things over time, I wasn’t so sure where my place was in everything.

  If I even had a place anymore.

  MY MOTHER WAS THE DEVIL incarnate. That was the only explanation for the fact she’d called me and demanded I head straight over to Contessa and pick up the dress she’d had put aside for me for the gala. It was the last thing I wanted to do, given my bad mood and pounding headache but as she’d so eloquently put it, ‘Hildi is expecting you. Don’t be late and remember to smile. The dress is costing me a small fortune’. In other words, I was to put up and shut up.

  I crossed Main Street and made my way to the row of stores. Designer bou
tiques, high end salons, a cute little diner where coffee cost more than the average American’s hourly salary. It reeked of money and fakeness and everything I resented.

  “Ah, Laurie,” a tall willowy woman sang as I entered the store. “Gabi told me to expect you.”

  My saccharine sweet smile didn’t only hurt my pride. “Well, here I am.” I swallowed the urge to puke. Kyle had spent the night in God only knew where and I was about to get fitted for a dress to attend a gala I didn’t want to attend, where I'd be forced to play nice with my parents' friends and their parent-approved sons.

  “It’s the sage green one, right?” she asked as if I actually had any say in the matter. I nodded tightly, following her to the back of the store where the changing rooms were. “Here you go.” She pulled open a curtain and waited for me to slip inside. At that point, I zoned out. Barely aware of her thrusting a dress into my hands, I got undressed robotically. Once the dress was on, I went out to her and she beamed. “Just perfect.” Her assessing gaze moved over my body and I fought back the urge to turn back into the changing room and tear the damn thing off. “A little tight around the hips but we are what are.”

  Bitch. I grimaced letting her tug and pull and smooth. She squared me in front of a mirror, but I looked right through the girl staring back at me. It wasn’t me. Wasn’t who I wanted to be.

  “Excellent.” She clapped. “Take it off and I’ll have Sandy prepare it for you to take away. Do we have shoes and accessories? Your mother never—”

  “It’s fine, I have something that will work.” I probably didn’t, but I felt like the walls were closing in around me and I knew if I didn’t get out of there soon, Hildi would have more to report to my mother than my less than stellar mood.

  Ten minutes later, I left the store under Hildi’s watchful eye, breathing a sigh of relief when I rounded the corner. No doubt, my mother expected to be informed of our appointment; in fact she was probably already calling her.

  The dress was beautiful, there was no denying that. The silk material had flowed over my curves like liquid gold, hugging my waist and flaring slightly at my hips, falling over my legs like a shimmering waterfall. I should have felt beautiful.

  I felt like a fraud.

  “Laurie, wait up,” a voice yelled from across the street and I groaned when my eyes landed on Jared. He waited for the traffic to clear then jogged over to me.

  “Hey,” he said eyeing the dress bag in my hands. “Busy morning shopping?”

  “There’s a thing next week. My parents want me to attend.”

  “The Lockhurst charity gala? My parents attend every year.”

  I nodded. “Are you going?”

  “I hadn’t planned on it. Those things are always kind of a drag.” He flashed me a sympathetic smile, and I didn’t know whether to feel relieved or disappointed. It might have been nice to know at least one person there.

  “I wish I didn’t have to go,” I said.

  “So don’t.” He shrugged. “What’s the big deal?”

  “My mom’s big into presenting a united front. Family first and all that.” A lie if ever I’d heard one.

  “Bummer.”

  “Yeah.”

  “So, hmm,” he ran his hands through his hair. “How are things with Stone?”

  “How much time do you have?”

  His eyes widened, and I instantly wanted to take back the words. “Crap, I didn’t mean—”

  “It’s cool.” He gave me an easy smile. “But if you want to talk, you know where to find me.”

  “Thanks, but I’m fine.”

  An awkward silence descended over us. “So, I should prob—” my bag started vibrating, and I fumbled inside until my fingers found my cell. “Hello.”

  “He’s home, Laurie. He came home.”

  “Thank God,” I rushed out. “Is he okay?” The words hurt my heart.

  “He’s... home, that’s all that matters. Listen, I need to go but I’ll text you later.”

  “Okay.”

  We hung up and Jared cleared his throat and I remembered he was standing there. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah.” I forced a smile. “It is now.”

  And God, how I wanted to believe it was.

  Chapter 21

  KYLE

  “Kyle, thank God.” Rebecca rushed toward me, pulling me into her arms. But the hug didn’t last long. She yanked herself back and schooled her face in concern. “You have some explaining to do, young man.”

  “Rebecca, give him some space,” Dad said calmly.

  Too. Fucking. Calm.

  As if he couldn’t possibly be the reason for my runaway act.

  “It’s good to see you, bro.” Rick came up to me and we did that awkward guy-hug thing but then Lo was there, wrapping her arms around me, whispering how pissed she was at me under her breath.

  “Thank the Lord,” another voice chimed in and I watched my grandma and grandad waltz out of the kitchen. “We’ve been worried sick.” My grandma threw me her best scowl.

  “I—” I had nothing.

  I’d expected Dad and Rebecca to be worried. But I hadn’t expected to find them amidst some kind of family vigil. I hadn’t even been gone twenty-four hours, and I’d kept Rick informed of my whereabouts. Kind of.

  “Son.”

  I froze. Lifting my head, my eyes collided with Dad’s and I ground out, “We need to talk.”

  The room fell silent. Lo and Rick gave me some space. Summer stayed back, shooting me a meek smile. There was no sign of Macey. Guess her stepbrother going AWOL didn’t warrant her concern.

  Whatever.

  It wasn’t like I’d done it for attention or the welcome home committee. I'd needed time to think. To make sense on the new world I now lived in. Where dead mothers resurrected, and solid dependable fathers were liars.

  “Kyle? What is it, son, what’s wrong?”

  “We should talk, in private,” I added.

  Rebecca opened her mouth to protest because, of course, anything I had to say to him, I could say to her. But I doubted she was ready to hear anything about to come out of my mouth.

  “Please.”

  It wasn’t a plea, but Dad went to his wife—the woman who helped raise me—and whispered something in her ear. She nodded tightly and ushered Rick, Lo, and Summer, into the kitchen. My gran and grandad lingered unsure of what to do, but I made the decision for them.

  “You need to hear this.” After all, this affected them too.

  “Son.” Dad motioned to the living room, waiting for me to go first.

  He kept saying that... son, like he needed to remind himself of our relationship. It was weird. And part of me wondered if he knew what was coming. If he sensed the bomb I was about to drop.

  Dad waited for us to file into the living room and shut the door behind him.

  “I...” I choked. The words had all been there. Stewing. But now I was here, now he was looking at me with concern in his eyes, I wanted to puke.

  “Kyle, dear, are you okay? You look a little green.” My gran ushered my grandad to pass me the bottle of water he was holding, but I refused it, running a brisk hand over my head. Once. Twice. Three times. To be sure I was doing this.

  No backing out now.

  “Why did you do it?”

  Not my best moment considering I had rehearsed this moment over and over in my head while I hung out at Matty’s.

  “Do it? I don’t understand, what are you talking about, Son?” Confusion danced in my father’s eyes and a part of me hated myself for what I was about to do. After everything he’d been through at the hands of Rick’s Dad... but he’d lied. The one man I’d spent my whole life worshipping had lied.

  Worse than that, he’d taken away my right to know my mother.

  “Cut the bullshit, Dad.” My gran gasped and muttered something about ‘cussing in front of your elders’, but my eyes were locked on Dad’s, waiting for the penny to drop.

  And when it did, his whole body seemed
to shrink into itself. “H- how did you find out?”

  “Kiera, my sister, paid me a little visit.”

  The remaining blood drained from his face and I knew I had him by the balls. But then I realized something else—my grandparents had gone deathly quiet. I studied my grandmother. Beatrice Stone. So well put together. So poised. But her usually polished facade was nowhere to be seen now.

  “No,” she gasped.

  “Oh yes, Gran. Imagine my surprise to find out not only that I had a sister, but that my mom, the woman I thought abandoned me, the woman I thought wanted nothing to do with me, had tried to contact me. She tried to see me.” The muscles in my jaw clenched as I tried to maintain control.

  “Kyle, I can explain,” Dad cleared his throat, loosening his collar.

  “Good, because I’d really love to hear how you forgot to tell me that my mother—the woman who gave birth to me—tried to reconnect with me and you failed to mention it.” My chest heaved with the weight of my words. I hadn’t realized how badly I needed to get that all off my chest until the last word left my mouth.

  Dad stood, pacing in short lines. Back and forth. Back and forth. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” he murmured. “Everything I’ve ever done, it was only to protect you, son, you have to understand that.”

  My eyes bugged as I fought back the urge to put my fist through the coffee table. “Understand? Are you kidding me? She tried to see me. All these years I thought...” I shook my head clear and met his apologetic gaze. “I deserved to know. That was my right. Mine.”

  “Kyle, dear,” Gran started but my grandfather levelled her with a look and she pursed her lips.

  “What happened? I want the truth, Dad. Right here, right now. I want to know everything. I deserve that much. You owe me.”

  He flinched at my words, but I couldn’t find it in myself to feel bad. Finally, he stopped pacing and sat down with a defeated sigh. “She never truly disappeared.”

  “What?”

  “I first met Maria in senior year of college. She was so vibrant and passionate. The total opposite of me. I was so focused on the future. But we clicked. And I fell in love with her.”