I spotted Kailey, Charlotte, Emma, and Aira just as he said that.
They were off in one of the corners of the large deck.
Charlotte looked right at us.
“Decision time,” I said. “Your bros. Or your pussy.”
“Always take the tits,” Leo said. “Bros forgive. Tits don’t.”
“This is bullshit,” Flynn said. “And it’s not just about fucking her.”
“Sure it is,” I said. I patted Flynn’s back. “Shit, bro, she’s hanging out of that low-cut shirt. About to give everyone a show.”
“I have a couple bucks with me,” Leo said.
“I’ll chip in on that,” I said. “Oh, wait, I’ve already seen them before.”
Flynn glanced at me and curled his lip. “We said we weren’t going to bring that up.”
I grinned. “Oops.”
“Fuck yourself, Wes,” Flynn said.
He walked away.
Leo clapped his hands. Then he cupped his hands over his mouth. “Hope she’s worth it, brother. She better take it all in one shot. That’s a lot of pressure.”
I grabbed Leo’s arm. “Let him go. It’s good. He’s right anyway. It’s a fucked-up spot to be in.”
“So why are we here?” Leo asked.
“I’m keeping an eye on things.”
Leo laughed. “You fucking love her, Wes. Just go up to her and tell her that.”
“Why don’t you go find something to do. Find out why the BFH assholes are here sniffing around.”
“Okay,” Leo said.
I grabbed his shoulder. “Hey. If you feel like throwing a punch, come get me. I’m in the mood to either fuck or fight.”
“And there’s only one girl you want to fuck,” he said. “Because you’re in love.”
I pushed Leo away.
I stepped back and jumped up to the railing on the deck.
I sipped my drink and watched Aira.
She had her side to me as she talked to her friends. And Flynn.
But don’t think for a second I didn’t see her casually looking every now and again.
She could eye fuck from the side. I’d eye fuck her from the front.
Being apart was good though. It was needed.
Just as long as…
And there right on cue, entered another person to their little group.
I put my drink down, slid forward, and cracked my knuckles.
It was time to remind Ryland I hadn’t gone anywhere.
Chapter 3
Aira
Kailey swore I needed the party.
I was just there for the drinks.
Julia was having some kind of girl’s night thing and the house was mine. So I was going to allow myself to have a couple drinks, get a ride home, and sleep it off. If anything, maybe that would help with the nightmares.
And speaking of nightmares…
I rolled my eyes as Wes stood all the way across the deck, trying to prove some kind of tough guy act.
What the hell was the point of that?
To just sit there and look cool? Wait for someone to make a move?
He was out of his mind if he thought I was going to talk to him. Not after seeing him on the roof with Noelle. Or climbing through her bedroom window. Or maybe the fact that when I needed him in that moment, he stood and smoked a cigarette and waited for me to leave before going back inside to Noelle.
Fuck. That. Shit.
I kept my eyes on Emma, even though they kept quickly shifting to Wes and back.
Then the nightmare decided to take another crazy twist.
“Oh, fuck this,” Flynn said with a nod.
“How’d I guess you’d be here, Aira?” Ryland asked as he walked toward me.
He stood behind me and I refused to acknowledge him.
“She loves playing hard to get,” he said.
“Don’t you have some sophomore cheerleader you could work your game on?” Kailey asked.
“Jealous you don’t have the pompoms to compete?” Ryland asked.
“Why don’t you go choke on some glitter as you ruin another girl’s life?” Kailey asked.
“I bet I can choke on your tits,” Ryland said.
“Oh, trust me, I choke on small objects too. That’s why we’d never work.” Kailey looked at me. “So tall… yet so… tiny…”
I still refused to look back at Ryland.
“Careful, Aira,” Charlotte warned.
I felt someone touch my shoulder.
I stepped forward, closer to Kailey.
Flynn moved away from Charlotte. “Don’t touch her.”
“What are you going to do about it?” Ryland asked Flynn.
“He said not to touch her,” a third voice said.
That’s when I turned, only to find Wes standing there too.
I sighed and felt my heart racing and it began to sink.
“Oh, look, it’s your ex,” Ryland said, pointing to Wes.
“Oh, look, it’s my fist in your mouth, asshole,” Wes said.
He moved toward Ryland and someone yelled out the word FIGHT! and that brought the attention of everyone outside.
Everyone hurried to get together and watch the fight.
But this wasn’t just a fight. This wasn’t two people having an issue, needing to work it out.
“I warned her about you,” Ryland said. “And then I had no choice but to tell her what she needed to know. This town will crush someone.”
Wes moved Ryland and threw his right hand at him, catching the neck of his shirt. Ryland was quick and managed to slip away. Just like a snake or something. Smooth and fast, knowing what buttons to press on everyone to get a reaction.
Ryland casually stepped back and jumped up onto the railing and just sat there, legs dangling like nothing was happening.
“Wes, let him go,” I said.
Wes turned his head and looked at me.
Those eyes.
His eyes.
Burning at me.
The same wild look that made me feel…
“Come on, fucking hit him!” someone called out.
Wes turned around all the way and went to find who said that.
“Ah, damn,” Flynn said from next to me.
He rushed into the small crowd just as Wes hit someone.
I covered my mouth as I gasped.
“He’s a little crazier than normal,” Emma said.
I saw Wes’s elbow come back and drive back down again. Then Flynn grabbed his arm and pulled him away. Wes turned and looked ready to hit Flynn.
“I’ve never seen him like this,” Emma said. “You must have something tasty between your legs, Aira. He’s hypnotized and pissed…”
Wes shoved Flynn away and stopped in his tracks a few inches from me. Towering over me.
“I’m leaving,” I said. “I didn’t want to come here to begin with.”
“You didn’t drive,” Kailey said. “You were supposed to have fun.”
“I’ll have fun somewhere else,” I said. “I just want to be alone right now.”
That was the opening for Wes to maybe say he’d leave. To give me a chance to be alone.
But nope.
He didn’t do that.
“Give me your keys, Kail,” I said.
“What?” she asked.
“I’m not repeating myself.” I didn’t even look at her. My eyes were stuck on Wes. “Give me your fucking keys. You can get a ride home from someone else. Or call Ryker. He’ll come get you.”
I put my left hand out and Kailey put her keys into my hand.
I closed my hand and walked off the deck.
As I hugged myself, I demanded I hold my shit together. There was no crying over Wes. There was no crying over anyone. If Wes wanted to finish his war or whatever it was with Ryland, he could do it without me there.
I didn’t need to see it.
Even if I did care… and worry…
* * *
I gave myself the title of the lames
t person in the world.
It was too early and I was in bed.
Sitting up in bed, my TV on, nothing to really watch. I put earbuds in and tried to listen to music but that did nothing for me either. Every note of every song made me think about Wes. When I put on happy and fast songs, I felt crappy for leaving the party.
Kailey just wanted me to go to a party and have fun. Have some drinks, forget about everything, and enjoy myself. I wasn’t sure that was possible in Hidden. Rumors and secrets. Whispers and punches being thrown were just the norm now.
I gave up on music and I gave up on watching anything.
I turned off all the lights and pulled the covers up to my chin and rolled to my right side and shut my eyes.
There was a moment where I held my breath and waited.
I waited for Wes to press his body against mine. And his right hand would slide around my body, always touching my stomach. And it always made my stomach flutter because I didn’t like my stomach. But he would make me forget about that in a few seconds as his hand would begin to explore.
It annoyed me how used to Wes I had become.
Even though everyone warned me.
Even though Ryland warned me.
I groaned, not wanting to think of him while I was in bed.
I begged for my eyes to shut and I begged for sleep.
As I slowly started to drift off, I began to think about my old house. That’s what I always did. Because without the fire…
It was a lot to think about at once.
No fire meant no moving. No moving meant no Wes. No Wes meant… what? Would I have still been with Jesse? Or would that night at the party have been the final straw for me? I thought about when Wes took me to see Mom and we saw Jesse with one of my old best friends. Holding hands. Cora, that whore. I wondered how long she and Jesse had been doing stuff behind my back.
I chased away those thoughts and was back in my old house. Stumbling around my room because I had been drinking at the party. Crying myself to sleep only to wake up to the smell of smoke. I had been in such a deep sleep that it took the heavy, deadly smoke to wake me up. And all I did at first was wave my hands as though I had a piece of hair in my face.
I could have died.
I should have died.
My stomach suddenly felt sick.
I threw the covers off me and ran from the bed to the bathroom.
As I hovered over the bathroom sink, I gasped for breaths. I coughed and felt my mind and my body arguing over whether I was really going to get sick or not. This was nothing but panic.
When I looked at my right hand, I saw the way it was shaking.
The way my body felt.
It was the same sensation racing through me that I used to feel when I needed to… hurt myself.
I groaned and fought that feeling away.
But it wouldn’t go away.
I reached for a drawer and opened it, looking for something. For anything.
I slammed the drawer and ran out of the bathroom. I grabbed the top blanket off my bed and wrapped it around my body and knew I needed to get out of the house before I did something really stupid.
Something really bad.
I went through the kitchen and out the back door to the deck.
I gasped for a breath.
When I heard the crashing of the waves, I shut my eyes.
It helped, but not much.
I went down to the beach.
This was the one thing I would always love about Hidden.
The way Julia’s house was tucked away against the shore. When it was dark out, it was dark. On a clear night, there are too many stars to count. And when the moon was full, it was like a perfect bright light shining down to the water.
Tonight it was just dark.
Really dark.
And that didn’t bother me at all.
I loved walking the beach in the dark.
I walked down to where the water gently touched my toes. I wiggled my toes as the water was sucked away.
I let out a sigh as I started to calm.
That’s when I smelled something.
I turned my head and felt the panic return.
The smell was cigarette smoke.
And Wes was right behind me.
* * *
I didn’t say a word to him.
I looked forward to the water again.
“Just needed to know you got home safe,” he said.
“I’m fine, Wes,” I called out.
“You’re wrapped up in a blanket running from your house.”
No response from me.
“That means you’re having bad dreams again, darling,” he said.
I still said nothing.
Wes was then next to me.
Standing near the edge of the water.
I looked down at his black shoes and watched the end of a wave rush over his shoes and pull back.
“When did they start again?” he asked.
You know that fucking answer.
“I’m fine, Wes,” I said again.
I turned and walked toward Julia’s house.
I didn’t need Wes to check up on me. He wasn’t my babysitter. He wasn’t my boyfriend either, remember? Promises or not, I didn’t want him near me for pity.
When I walked up the deck, I looked and saw that Wes hadn’t moved.
That annoyed me.
Part of me wanted him to chase after me. Grab my arm. Turn me around. Or put both of his arms around me and pull me tight against his body.
Instead, Wes just stood there at the water and finished his cigarette.
He turned and our eyes locked.
My entire body froze.
My mind screamed to go back inside and lock the door.
Instead I stood there and watched Wes as he slowly walked to the deck.
He didn’t go toward the steps though.
He stayed down on the beach and looked up at me.
That’s what he used to do. Then he’d climb up on the deck to sneak in and see me.
“I’ll stand here and wait for you to go inside and get settled,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because I said I would.”
“You said a lot of things.”
“So did everyone else, darling.”
“This isn’t about everyone else,” I said.
“Yeah it is,” he said. “So tell me when the bad dreams started again.”
“Who said I’m having bad dreams? I couldn’t sleep because I left the party early. I’m sort of awake.”
“You have sleep all over your face,” Wes said.
“Whatever,” I said. “Have a good night.”
I turned and looked at the door.
It wasn’t exactly freedom but it would get me away from Wes.
“My brother’s dead, Aira,” Wes called out.
That made me stop again.
I slowly turned my head and looked over my shoulder.
Wes was pulling himself up on the deck. His strong arms moving like he was a ninja. Hands climbing the railing of the deck with ease. I probably couldn’t even hang off the deck for more than four seconds before my arms would quit. Yet Wes did it so effortlessly.
In a matter of seconds, he was over the railing and standing on the deck.
“Azel is dead,” he said. “Okay? Is that what you wanted to know?”
I swallowed hard. “Dead…”
“Yeah. Dead. As in not alive anymore.”
“How old…”
Wes gritted his teeth. “Right after you left, West came back.”
“That’s when your mother got pregnant.”
“Yeah,” he said. “He made all the same promises as he always did. I guess Ma let her guard down and fell for it. Next thing I knew she was pregnant. Then West would just come and go. Leave for a day or two, then come back. Or leave for a week. It was a crazy time, darling. But then Azel came along. He was… he was really cool. Everyone said he was my twin. When he started
to get older he was my little dude. That’s what I called him. That’s why I got the SUV. I wanted to be able to drive him around, you know? And I did. He was my… little dude.”
“And he…”
“There was an accident,” Wes said. “In the ocean. That’s why I don’t go in there.”
I exhaled a slow and shaky breath. “Oh, Wes… why…”
“I block that shit out,” he said. “Okay, Aira? And maybe there’s a part of me that acts as though you never left. So maybe there was no big secret there. I just blocked it out. Because when Azel… when he was gone, things fell apart again. West left for good. Well, up until coming back now. And Ma lost herself in work, refusing to let anyone help her ever again. She refuses to take money from Pop, from Jett, from the shop. From me. I think she’s punishing herself, thinking she’s a bad mother.”
I felt my fingertips twitching, wanting to drop the blanket so I could hug him. I was in a tight tank top, no bra, and just panties. Nothing Wes hadn’t seen before. Nothing he hadn’t taken off me before.
But I held back.
Now we were back to silence.
I bit my lip. “The dreams started right after we… you know. They came rushing back. Okay? And I left the party because I didn’t even want to go to begin with. Kailey thought it would be good for me to have some fun. To forget about things.”
“Get you drunk and throw you into the arms of some asshole, huh?” Wes asked.
Is that jealousy…?
“No, Wes. But even still, why would that matter?”
His lip curled and he stepped toward me.
My body tensed up and I was locked in place again. My body tingled and ached, wanting him to touch me.
As he closed in on me, he made a move around me and walked to the door.
He opened the door and without looking back, he said, “Come on, let’s go check for monsters under the bed.”
My heart raced and broke a little.
Because Wes used to hide under my bed.
As he led the way through the kitchen, I saw the soft glow of the light from the fridge. Wes pushed it shut but I paused and looked.
I didn’t remember the door being open when I walked through the kitchen to go outside. Then again, I wasn’t paying attention to that. I was in the middle of a panic attack, trying to escape my own house.
In my bedroom, it was a little awkward as I walked to the bed.
HIDDEN CREEK DARKNESS: a hidden creek high novel Page 3
