* * *
Tony and Rhyno were in the shop working.
They stopped and looked at me but went right back to work. Tony gave Rhyno a smack to his shoulder and nodded for the back door. They dropped their wrenches and left.
I went into the office and saw Pop sitting in his normal chair.
He was rubbing his jaw and then touched his chest.
“What do you want, grandson?” he asked.
“Where’s West?”
“Your father?”
“West,” I said.
I refused to acknowledge him as my father.
Ever.
Pop put his hands to his desk and slowly rose up. His face twisted in anger and pain.
“Let me tell you something, Weslee. And you better damn well have your ears-”
The office door opened and there stood West.
Holding a box in his hand.
“What’s this in here?” he asked with a laugh.
I shot back to the door and knocked the box out of his hand.
West jumped back out of the office and into the garage.
I heard Pop give a yell as the door shut behind me as I kept going toward him.
“You go near Aira again and we’re going to have a big problem,” I said.
“Whoa, son,” West said. “What’s this about?”
“What were you doing near her house?”
“What’d she tell you? Did I scare her? I didn’t mean to. I was just talking to her about surfing. That’s all. She was out catching a few waves. I admire that. I used to love surfing. Remember?”
I curled my lip.
Pain soared through my chest.
Yeah, West used to surf. Just the same as the rest of us used to enjoy the ocean. But after Azel…
“Stay the fuck away from her,” I said.
The office door opened and Pop came stumbling out, groaning in pain as he did so.
“You both better listen up,” he started to say.
“It’s okay, Pop,” West said. “He’s defending his girl. I like this. He really loves her.”
“If I find out it’s you, West…”
“Me what? Huh? What did I do now?”
I looked to the ground and saw parts spilled all over the floor. I pointed. “Are those stolen?”
“No,” West said with a laugh. “They were on backorder. I went down to the warehouse to pick them up. Figured we’d have Tony and Rhyno get caught up on a few things. Why bother waiting for a delivery, right?”
I looked at Pop.
He was super pissed.
I stepped toward West. “Don’t go near Aira ever again. Don’t go near her house either. Nobody wants you there. I don’t know what you think you know about her, but forget it.”
“Christ, I can’t even grab a bite to eat without a problem here?” Jett asked as he walked through the open garage bay.
“Remember what I said,” I said as I backed away from West.
“You better smarten up, son,” West said. “A mouth like that will get you into trouble.”
“Like you’d know what my life is like,” I said. “You’ve missed so much of it.”
“Hey, hey, stop that,” Jett said. “Not here. Not now.”
“He was fucking around Julia’s place,” I said.
I knew that would get Jett’s attention.
West laughed. “Fucking around? I was walking the beach. Finding my old spots. Thinking back on life a little.”
“He stopped and talked to Aira,” I said. “Freaked her out.”
Jett stood tall. His eyes shifted from me to Pop to West.
“Go ahead, Jett,” West said. “Let me hear it. We all know how much you love dear Julia. But yet you could never pull that trigger, huh? You just let her slide away. Watched her marry someone else. And even when that came to an end, you still couldn’t do a thing about it. With you being around Wes so much… maybe that explains why he is the way he is.”
Without hesitation, both Jett and I went after West.
Jett bumped me out of the way but I threw my shoulder back at Jett to make my position known. As Jett and I started to push at each other, West just casually moved away. He stepped out of the garage bay and actually had the balls to lean against it.
That’s when Jett finally came to his senses and he grabbed my shirt and my arm to hold me back.
“Not worth it,” he said to me. “This is what he wants.”
“If you go near her again…,” I called out.
“Son, if I had any desire to scare the little panties off your girlfriend I’d do it. I’d do it in a way where you’d never know and she’d never sleep again. Understand?”
I pushed at Jett but he had a firm grip. “Ignore him. What’s going on with Aira?”
I looked at Jett. “Nothing.”
When I pushed away, I stepped back and turned at the last second to make sure I didn’t bump into Pop.
He had a hand against the wall and was rubbing his chest with his other hand.
“Pop,” I said.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Just catching my breath. From you two. You three.”
“Pop, it’s all good here,” Jett said.
I watched the way Jett carefully moved around Pop.
Something wasn’t right there. Maybe it was decades of drinking and smoking catching up to him finally. Or maybe it was whatever West was trying to do. Which was probably give the old man a heart attack and watch him die.
“Pop, let me get you a beer,” Jett said.
“Good idea,” I said. “Have a drink. Relax. Hey, I can show you some naked women on my phone.”
Pop looked at me with rattlesnake eyes. He took labored breaths. He cleared his throat.
He didn’t say a word to me as he allowed Jett to walk him back to the office.
I stood there.
“Well, that was fun,” West said. “I’m going to clean up the parts and turn it into money for the shop. That’s my job.”
I backed away, refusing to help him clean up anything. Even if I caused the mess.
West faced me and we were eye to eye. Toe to toe. Father and son. So much hatred.
“Don’t ever talk to Aira again,” I said. “You want to fuck with the shop? That’s up to you to deal with Pop. But I promise you… you do anything to Aira…”
“I get it. Defending the woman you love. Been there. Ruined my life. You’ve seen everything I’ve lost, Wes. All because of a woman. Well… and because of you. Because of what you did. Or what you didn’t do.”
I shook my head.
I got the hell out of there before I ended up fighting West for real.
I drove to Jett’s so I could get my ride. I wanted it to be known and be heard that I was coming as I sped through the streets of Hidden.
When I stopped, I went down to the beach.
I wasn’t going to find out who was messing with Aira there, but I was going to find Aira herself.
And when I did, I lit up a cigarette and watched her surf.
Aira surfing.
Paddling out into the ocean with Nova.
The two of them talking and laughing together.
Waiting for a wave.
And when one came, it was pretty obvious Nova knew what she was doing and Aira did not. Nova got up on the surfboard and kept her balance. Aira on the other hand jumped up on the surfboard and lasted about two seconds before falling off.
It made me laugh.
Not because she fell.
But because she was so fucking beautiful at it.
Always falling and always getting back up.
So stubborn and perfect.
I felt like someone was watching me.
I turned my head and saw Julia standing up on her deck.
She was smoking too.
Her eyes burned right at me.
I gave a smile and a wave.
Julia walked to the other side of the deck.
The question of whether I was right for Aira didn’
t matter. Or if I was good for Aira didn’t matter.
This was about more than that.
More than my feelings for Aira.
I took a drag of my cigarette and Aira saw me.
She waved.
Her skin dripping with the ocean water.
Her hair messy and wet.
Making me think of her when she came out of the shower.
I exhaled a smoke filled breath.
I’ll find who’s hurting you, darling… and I’ll make sure they never do it again…
Chapter 14
Aira
I ran across the sand but couldn’t find Wes.
He was there and gone.
Like some kind of bad boy sex symbol mirage.
I laughed to myself at that thought as I came to a stop.
“Hey, Aira! What’s up?” Nova yelled from behind me.
She charged through the sand to catch up to me.
“Nothing,” I said. “Sorry. I saw Wes.”
“Wes?”
“My Wes.”
My Wes?
“Oh,” Nova said. “Was he supposed to be here?”
“No,” I said. “Or maybe. I don’t know. He dropped me off and then left. He had to take care of some things.”
“Some things?” Nova asked.
“Don’t ask,” I said.
I started to walk back toward our surfboards which were just tossed aside when I saw Wes. Amazing how the sight of him made me forget about everything in my life. Even though we had just spent the night and morning and a little bit of the day together.
“So, are we done?” Nova asked as we stood at the shore.
“I need to text Kailey,” I said.
“Okay. I was getting ready to leave anyway, I guess.”
I grabbed Nova’s hand. “No. Stay. You might be able to help me with something.”
“Help you? Does it involve Wes?”
“I’m pretty sure everything in my life right now involves Wes.”
Nova rolled her eyes. “Boys are nothing but evil. They will break your heart and break your soul. They will throw you to a wave, watch you get thrown back to the shore, only to do it again.”
I slowly turned my head. “Summer boy got you good, huh?”
“Summer dick,” she said.
“I bet,” I said with a wink.
Nova smirked. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Aira.”
“I have no idea what I’m doing.”
* * *
We were all in my room.
Nova sat on the dresser near the window. I swore she was like a mermaid or something, drawn to the water, wanting to be back in there.
Kailey was by my side.
Charlotte and Emma were near the door.
Emma had her bitch face in full swing. Dark and vicious eyes that stared at me as though she wanted to attack me.
“Someone is trying to attack me,” I said.
“What?” Charlotte asked.
That got her to put her phone away for the moment. She crossed her arms, propping her amazing boobs up even more than they already were.
Emma didn’t look impressed.
“It’s been going on for a little bit,” I said. “Just random stuff. Like what was scratched into my locker.”
“Fitting, right?” Emma asked.
“Emma,” Kailey said.
“No,” I said. “I deserve that. I’m sorry for what happened, Emma. For what I said to you. We don’t need to be friends. We don’t need to pretend anything. But attacking you for your past is wrong. You can fuck anyone you want. It’s not my business.”
“Wow. I can breathe now that I have your permission to fuck someone,” Emma said.
“Emma,” Charlotte said. “Damn, girl. Calm down.”
“I’ll just leave then,” she said.
“I need your help,” I said. “Whether you hate me or love me, I don’t care. I just need your help with this. Someone is messing with me. I can’t tell if it’s just a joke or something more serious is going to happen. I don’t want anyone to think I’m crazy. But they sent me a note. In the mail. And then sometime last night they left a note for me when I was with Wes.”
“And let me guess,” Nova said as she jumped off the dresser. “Wes is losing his shit over it.”
“Exactly,” I said.
“Let that work itself out then,” Emma said. “He’ll find the person and do what he does best.”
“I can take care of myself,” I said. “I want to take care of myself. I’ll prove my point to whoever this is. I’ll make Emma’s baseball bat look like a pillow fight.”
That at least got Emma to grin for a quick second.
“So what do you need us to do?” Charlotte asked.
“Let’s make a list of names,” Kailey said.
“That’s a good idea,” I said.
I grabbed a notebook and flipped it open to a blank page.
“You need a list?” Nova asked. “How many people have you pissed off, Aira?”
“A lot,” I said.
“She’s a wicked bitch,” Emma said. “Which is why I’m still here.”
I looked at Emma and nodded.
I sat down on my bed and put the notebook to my lap.
“Obviously, you have to put down Mika,” Kailey said.
“I figured that one,” I said. “I can’t imagine her sneaking around.”
“I can,” Nova said. “Mika is ruthless. Especially when it comes to anything with Ryland.”
“Which is my next suspect,” I said.
I wrote down Ryland’s name with my lip curled.
“That would be stupid if he did anything,” Charlotte said. “Wes would kill him.”
“Maybe that’s what he wants,” Emma said. “It’s pretty obvious Ryland wants Aira between the sheets.”
“Which will never happen,” I said.
“So he wants to make everyone pay for that,” Emma said.
“This is so fucked up,” Nova said.
“It gets better,” I said. “Of course there’s Kaci and Nelle.”
“Those bitches can’t tie their own shoes without Mika around,” Charlotte said.
She lifted her foot as though nobody in the room knew what a shoe was. She tried to turn on one foot and toppled over. I had the N and the e in Nelle written and then I had a face full of Charlotte’s boobs.
She was damn near on top of me, laughing.
“Oops,” she said.
“You smell like a candle,” I said to her. “Is that perfume? It’s horrible. And get off me.”
“Here, let me get a pic,” Kailey said. “I’ll send it to Flynn. It’ll make him crazy.”
“Yeah, because boys are stupid,” Nova said. “They can’t go a second without imagining two girls kissing and touching each other.”
Charlotte got off me and I sat up. “Flynn likes the way I smell.”
“I bet he does," I said. I tossed the notebook and pen to Kailey and stood up. “You write it down.” I started to pace.
“Who else do we put down?” Kailey asked.
“Noelle,” I said. I froze. “She doesn’t like me.”
“Of course not,” Nova said. “She was supposed to replace you.”
I looked at Nova with a frown.
She shrugged her shoulders. “What? It’s true. Right?”
“She’s right,” Emma said. “But I don’t know if Noelle would go that far.”
“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe she’s trying to make me look crazy or to get me away from Wes.”
“Possible,” Kailey said. “Who else now?”
“There’s more?” Nova asked.
“Always more,” I whispered. “I mean, Nick and Dean. I know Wes got back at them but maybe they’re not done yet. Of course, there’s Wes’s father. Who already creepily talked to me. I mean, anyone Mika or Ryland knows, right? Oh. There’s Luke. Wes fought him. There’s Ryder. Wes went after him too.”
“Not to mention the BFH crew,” Charlott
e said.
“You got tangled up with those guys?” Nova asked.
“Not really,” I said.
“Not really?” Emma asked.
My body shivered at the thought of Jacob.
“That just happened though,” I said.
“Yeah, but they hate anything to do with HCH,” Charlotte said. “And you’re new blood. Causing problems with everyone. Who knows…”
“Maybe it’s one of us,” Emma said.
The room fell silent.
“What?” she asked. “Could be.”
“No,” I said. “I don’t believe it. I won’t even ask it.”
“No need to,” Kailey said. “Emma is just upset because she got denied at the party.”
“And you didn’t?” Emma asked.
“All it takes is a quick text to Ryker,” Kailey said.
“You and Ryker?” Nova asked. “Did that happen at that party on the beach?”
“Don’t look at me like that,” Kailey said.
“Wes’s cousin though?” Nova asked with a laugh.
“You want to go down that road?” Kailey asked. “I mean, I will. Because me with Ryker is nothing compared to what you…”
Nova put a hand up. “I’m not judging at all. If you’re happy, then I’m happy.”
“Oh, I’m happy,” Kailey said.
“How screwed am I right now?” I asked.
“Depends on if Wes is here or not,” Charlotte said.
“Funny,” I said.
“Sorry. Just trying to… whatever. You’re screwed.”
“That’s reassuring,” I said.
“You’re not screwed,” Emma said. “Someone is just messing around. Maybe if you ignore it it’ll go away.”
“No it won’t,” Charlotte said.
“I refuse to ignore it,” I said. “Plus, Wes is already trying to figure it out himself. And he’s going to end up in trouble over it.”
“Trouble is his thing,” Nova said.
“I hate that part of it all,” I said. “I thought things would eventually become normal.”
“There is no normal here,” Kailey said. “Ever.”
She handed me the notebook and I stared at the list of names.
I slowly shook my head.
I came to this town to get away from what had happened in my old town. What happened with Jesse. With friends who really weren’t friends. My house burning down.
HIDDEN CREEK DARKNESS: a hidden creek high novel Page 13
