That lasted all of a second though.
I quickly turned as I thought I heard something.
I hated to admit it, but I feared Mika would be back again.
There was nobody near me.
I was all alone on the beach.
So I started to walk.
Just me and my thoughts. Like I had done every night so far. Except it was usually in the middle of the night. Those were the walks Julia didn’t know about. Because if she did and she knew I couldn’t sleep because of the dreams I had - or what I had done to myself - she would definitely make me talk to someone.
And that I wasn’t ready for.
Maybe ever.
I walked to the pier and made it about halfway up before I stopped. Going all the way up there made me uneasy. It was so childish to fear falling into the water. But still. It was dark. The ocean was powerful.
Then again… I could simply just disappear into the waves and be gone.
Not that I wanted that. I didn’t want to disappear. I didn’t want to be gone. I just…
“Aira.”
I sucked in a breath and jumped.
I spun around and made a fist to defend myself.
Standing at the bottom of the pier was Wes.
* * *
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Same as you probably.”
“I told you to stay away.”
“And when have you ever heard me listen?”
“Yeah. Right.”
He slowly walked up the pier and made a quick move as he jumped up on the railing.
I gasped and reached for him.
But he had his balance and sat down on it.
He looked back at me and grinned. “Join me?”
“I’m not sitting on that. It looks like it’s going to break.”
“Maybe. But I know how to swim.”
He took out a cigarette and cupped his hands to light it. His black hair hanging in front of his face as he did so. It really sucked that he made it look sexy and cool. Not that I wanted to smoke, but because everything about him was dark and bad, yet I was drawn to it.
He threw his hair back and took a drag of the cigarette.
“Nice to be out here in the dark. Away from it all. Right?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Like the other night. You were out really late.”
“So?”
“Well, usually people out that late are either running from something or hiding something.”
“You were out too. So what are you running from? Or hiding?”
Wes laughed. “You’re still the same, darling. That sassy attitude. You used to drive me crazy with it. Always chirping in my ear.”
“Excuse me?”
“Come on. You begged me that day not to steal the spray paint. Do you remember that? You grabbed my wrist and begged me. Your breath smelled like peppermint.”
My cheeks warmed up. “You remember that?”
“Everything, darling.” He took another drag of his cigarette. “Are you going to stay fifty feet away from me or what?”
I slowly moved to the railing and got closer to him.
“Wes…”
“Aira,” he said.
“I’m sorry for what they did to you today too,” I said. “They’re going after you because of me.”
“No they’re not,” Wes said with a laugh. “It’s the opposite. I should have never left you last night. I just…”
“Just what?”
“I didn’t want you to get hurt,” he said. “And you did. Now I have no choice.”
“For what?”
Wes turned his body and swung his legs over the railing and jumped down to the pier. He took his cigarette out of his mouth and flicked it away into the night.
He put his left hand over my right hand on the railing.
“I have no choice but to protect you now,” he said. “No matter what happens.”
My body burned. My toes curled against the wood. “I can… I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can. But there are certain things I won’t allow.”
“Because of him?” I asked.
I didn’t want to say the name Ryland and have Wes freak out again.
Wes slowly nodded. “Yeah. You really made a bad decision by coming back to Hidden, darling.”
“Maybe I had no choice, Wes.”
“Maybe you didn’t. How would I know? You refuse to tell me anything.”
“Maybe that’s for your own good,” I said and wiggled my eyebrows.
Wes let out a breath. “You’re really something, Aira. And eventually you’ll have to spill your secrets.”
“And you’re going to do the same?” I asked.
“Who says I have secrets?”
“I thought that was the point of this town. It is called Hidden, right? Everyone seems to be afraid of you or not like you. I got the warning to stay away. I didn’t stay away. And look what happened…”
I licked my swollen lip.
Wes gritted his teeth and I couldn’t imagine what made him into this. It almost made me want to comfort him.
“I will fix this for you,” he said to me. “I swear on my life.”
“There’s nothing to fix. I already said that before.”
“No. It has to be fixed. They won’t stop, darling.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s what they do.”
“They? You all live in the same town. Go to the same school. I don’t get it. A bunch of rich kids fighting over what?”
“It’s not just about money, Aira. You should know that.”
“How so? My… Julia isn’t rich. What does that make her?”
“Just believe me, this isn’t what you think.”
I pulled away from Wes. “Fine. I didn’t ask for anything. Ever. I didn’t ask to leave. I didn’t ask to come back. You’re right, Wes. Coming here was probably a bad idea. But my options were limited. Sorry I dragged you into this.”
I crept up the pier even though I didn’t want to go.
I hugged myself and made it little over halfway before I stopped and turned. I leaned against the railing and felt the breeze playing with my hair.
Of course Wes was still there. Something told me he wasn’t going to be the type to actually listen when I talked. Not that I actually wanted him to leave me alone.
Wes started to walk toward me again. “Do you remember Jett?”
“Jett? Your uncle?”
Wes laughed. “He’s not my uncle. Everyone called him my uncle. I thought of him like a really cool big brother. Or a father figure. Anyway, he’s still at the shop. And Pop is still alive.”
“Wow,” I said. “He’s got to be like two hundred years old.”
“Just about,” Wes said.
Wes was standing next to me again. He slowly sat down. Which allowed me to look down at him. His knees bent, arms hanging over his knees.
“You can sit next to me, darling,” he said. “I don’t bite. Unless you’re into that.”
I rolled my eyes.
My body ached because of Wes’s looks and words. I was sure he had enjoyed himself around the town of Hidden. While I didn’t. Or my other town. Which was part of the problem with Jesse. He was always a jerk and I knew it. Yet I was attracted to it. And he tried to put a timeline on him taking my virginity. Which I didn’t know what he thought would happen because all it did for me was make me more nervous so I kept pushing his timeline back.
All the while his hands and mouth - and something else - were all over other girls.
I shut my eyes and shook away those thoughts.
Why are you thinking about Jesse when Wes is asking you to sit with him?
Wes was the only one who could probably take anything like a timeline and throw it into the ocean. He could have me right there on the pier. Now that would be one hell of a story. That would totally outdo Kailey’s story of under the bleachers.
I licked my sw
ollen lip and shivered as I slowly sat down.
Bad enough Wes was so good looking in a rough and tough way, now my mind was flirting with the notion of he and I… together… on the pier…
My butt touched the pier and I let out a shaky breath.
I turned my head and Wes was already staring at me.
In that moment - for just a second or two - I saw him as the Wes I once knew.
But when I blinked, he was back to the new Wes.
And one question was close to the tip of my tongue.
You’re going to break my heart, Wes, aren’t you?
Chapter 13
Aira
The back of my right hand rested in the palm of his left hand. His hand was big and hard, strong fingers and calloused fingertips from actually using his hands to work. I had always known the shop his grandfather owned was worth a lot. Even if it didn’t look it. I vaguely remembered my father almost obsessing over it, getting annoyed that Pop wouldn’t sell off some of the land to developers who were willing to pay a lot of money for a little land. And the thing about Wes was that he could have anything he ever imagined, but he didn’t throw that around.
“Okay,” he whispered. “See how long you can last.”
“This is stupid,” I said.
“I can think of other things we can do,” he said as his eyes burned at me.
I shivered again.
With the pointer fingertip of his right hand he gently touched my palm. He made circles and I felt tingling rush from my hand through my body. I cried out with laughter and shut my hand.
Wes started to laugh. “That was pathetic. Two seconds?”
“What?” I asked. “It tickles!”
“Of course it does. You have to learn how to breathe through it.”
“Oh, so this is your thing? The master of tickling?”
“That sounds dirty, Aira.”
I sighed. “Boys.”
“Boys? You think I’m a boy?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I mean, you just had me play some dumb tickling the palm of my hand game.”
“What would you rather do? Go break some windows or steal something?”
“I didn’t say that. Here, give me your hand.”
We switched.
My right hand under his left hand. I couldn’t even see my hand because of how big his hand was. I made circles with my left pointer finger in the palm of his hand.
And he just sat there, stone faced.
The tip of my finger tingled yet he wasn’t moving an inch?
I squinted my eyes and I swore he was fighting it off.
“You suck,” I said.
“It’s because of what I have on my hand.”
“What’s that?”
“Anti-tickling stuff.”
“What?”
“I’m serious, Aira. Here…” He took out his phone and turned on the flashlight. “Look at my hand.”
I looked at his hand. It looked like a hand.
“Get closer,” he said. “You can see it. It’s this stuff that makes it so you can’t feel anything. Or at least not a lot.”
I leaned down toward Wes’s hand.
“Closer,” he said. “So you can actually see it.”
I leaned forward even more.
Two inches away from his hand.
Wes made a gasping sound and moved his hand at my face.
I jumped back and screamed.
He laughed so loud and hard, throwing his head back and stomping his feet on the pier.
“Asshole,” I growled.
I threw a punch with my right fist to his shoulder. And of course it felt like punching a wall.
I yelped and cradled my fist.
Wes looked at me again.
If he was sexy as this tough brooding guy, then he was gorgeous with his wall down just a little to show me he could laugh and have fun.
“You should have seen… oh shit, you’re bleeding, Aira.”
“Where?” I asked.
I touched my lip. No blood. I looked at my hands but there was no blood.
I thought maybe Wes was playing another joke on me.
But his face was serious.
That’s when he reached between my legs.
* * *
My entire body tightened as I gasped.
I felt Wes’s grip against my inner thigh.
So, no, he wasn’t touching me there.
Not that I would have minded…
I looked down and realized what had happened.
I was wearing shorts. Stupid shorts that went up a little too far. And when I jumped back from Wes scaring me…
Wes was shining the light from his phone to my leg.
I hurried to slam my knees together and turned away.
His hand slid around my leg, leaving a little blood.
“It’s fine,” I said.
“What the fuck is that?” he growled.
His fingers dug into my leg. Hitting muscle that made me ache and feel ticklish at the same time. My leg jumped and I fought to not expose my darkest secret to him.
But it was too late.
He had seen.
I looked at him with my eyes wide.
“Aira… is that…”
“Just stop,” I said.
I slid away and hurried to get to my feet.
When I did, I took off.
I had Wes beat as I ran away from him.
“Wait up!” he called out which made me think of back in school when I saw Ryland and Mika.
I couldn’t wait up.
No way.
Nobody knew about what I did. Or why I did it.
I gasped for breaths as my feet hit the sand.
My running slowed and when I lost my breath, I had to stop for a second.
Wes was right there, his arms slipping around me. His strong chest colliding with my back.
I gasped for air.
“I’m here, darling,” he whispered.
His hold was tight but not too tight.
It was perfect.
So perfect.
“Was that what I think?” he asked.
“Yes,” I confessed.
Wes broke his hold from me and he spun me around. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Aira.”
“Just let it go, Wes. It’s my business. It’s my life. Not yours.”
“Yeah, no shit, darling. But you’re hurting yourself. Who the fuck hurt you so much that you have to hurt yourself to feel something?”
I put my hands to Wes’s chest and pushed.
I ended up only pushing myself back.
“That’s right,” he said. “Take it out on me then. But this won’t happen here. Not with me.”
“I’m not with you, Wes,” I spit at him. “I don’t belong in this town or school. Or near you. So stay away from me. Like I said before.”
“Not going to happen,” he said. “Nothing you can do could make it happen.”
“You don’t think? Maybe I’ll let Ryland be the first to have me.”
Wes’s eyes went wider than I’d ever seen them.
His head slightly tilted.
Anger and questions…
I hugged myself. “I’m going home.”
I turned and started to move again but Wes was right there.
He spun me around a second time.
That’s when I reached my breaking point.
I swung my hand and slapped him across the face.
The slap echoed against the crashing waves next to us.
My hand stung, but at least I got him.
“It’s not your fucking business,” I cried.
Wes made a daring move as his hands slid along my cheeks, cupping my face. He brought his lips down to mine in such a hurry that when I tried to gasp for a breath I only tasted his mouth.
His lips closed against mine and he pulled away.
The sound of the kiss rippled through me.
The tips of my toes started to wiggle w
ith a sense of excitement. The eleven-year-old version of myself felt giddy that the first kiss with Wes had finally happened.
But I wasn’t eleven.
And Wes wasn’t some boy offering an awkward kiss.
He came in for a second kiss. I kissed him back this time though. I was more prepared. When he started to pull away I jumped up to my toes, wanting more. I was given not only a second kiss, but a third and fourth. When our lips parted, finally, I let out a sigh. My hands touched his shirt only this time I didn’t push him away or try to slap him. My hands curled around his shirt, making it known he better not stop anytime soon.
A kiss on the beach.
A first kiss with Wes.
Him knowing my darkest secret.
His thumbs gently stroked along my cheeks. The backs of his fingers dug into the back of my neck.
This was a kiss I never experienced before.
This was a real kiss.
And it did real things to my body.
Head to toe.
The butterflies in my stomach ended up in my head and my heart.
But elsewhere I couldn’t believe what I felt.
I sighed as Wes pulled away. He took his hands away from my face. He softly kissed my swollen lip and then kissed my cheek. He brushed his face against mine until his lips were at my ear. He hugged me.
“You can’t do that to yourself, darling,” he said. “Ever again. I’ll protect you. I’ll save you from everything. No matter what happens to me.”
That comment struck me.
I stepped back from him.
Now it was my turn to reach up and touch his face.
“Wes… is it really that crazy here?”
“You’ve seen it. And that’s just the beginning.”
I shut my eyes.
Wes hugged me again.
Standing there on the beach as though it were romantic.
But it was short lived.
He broke away from me. “You should get home now.”
I nodded.
He made fists and stood there like a wall, waiting for me to move.
“Please don’t hurt yourself tonight, darling. For me.”
I swallowed hard. “It’s not what you think.”
“There’s blood on your leg, Aira.”
I looked down at the evidence.
Tears rushed to my eyes.
“Never again,” Wes said.
His tone was dark and almost warning.
HIDDEN CREEK SECRETS: a hidden creek high novel Page 9