Walking to the door, he opened it wide and stared at the people gathered at the top of the stairs in the backyard. Thank god Kendall’s family wasn’t due home for a couple of hours.
Talk about a cluster fuck.
His three teammates and fuming ex-girlfriend were huddled together. The guys looked nervous.
Jared said through gritted teeth, “Get in here.” As they walked down the steps, he pointed a finger at Erica. “Watch what you say. Don’t fuck with me.” Looking at the guys, he added, “Careful. All of you. I’m serious.”
They nodded and filed past him through the door, standing together just inside. Jared closed the door and walked to stand beside Kendall, dropping his hand possessively to her shoulder.
“First things first…what the fuck are you three doing here and why did you bring her with you?”
Big Country looked uncomfortable and shuffled from foot to foot as he again put his hand carefully over Erica’s mouth. She screeched behind it. “Dude, we thought you were like, into drugs or something. You’ve been weird for months.”
“I followed you here after practice,” Tommy admitted. “I went back to get the guys and Erica was there throwing a fucking fit in the parking lot.”
Rubbing his hand over the back of his neck, Slade explained, “She threatened to figure out why you were so fucked up. We didn’t want her fucking your shit up and we couldn’t shake her.” He swallowed carefully. “We never expected…this.”
Tommy shook his head. “I saw you head into a basement in, you know, this neighborhood. I figured drugs for sure.”
“We wanted to help. That’s all, man.” Big Country looked uncomfortable.
Slade nodded. “If it was drugs, your college and pro chances would disappear. None of us wanted that to happen. Why didn’t you tell us?”
Jared shook his head. “Kendall asked me to keep it quiet. I’ve been with her six months.” Erica bit Big Country’s hand and it dropped away. “I cheated on Kendall with you…not the other way around.”
The cheerleader flipped her hair. “You must be doing drugs. No one would choose her over me.” She ran her hands down the slender body she obsessed over every minute of every day. She needed constant reassurance that she wasn’t fat.
For the hundredth time, Jared wished he’d listened to his conscience.
“I’m not on drugs. Kendall is amazing.” He pulled her to her feet and held her in front of him, his hands cupping her shoulders protectively. “Guys?”
All three of them looked at Kendall as if seeing her for the first time.
Tommy’s mouth hung open. “You’re real pretty, Kendall.”
“I sure never realized you looked like that.” Big Country tilted his head.
“Wow. That’s a shocker,” Slade mumbled.
Erica crossed her arms. “Whatever. Doesn’t make up for her nutso hair and shitty clothes. Talk about a weirdo. No one even knows she exists.”
Taking a deep breath, Kendall said quietly, “Being pretty or popular doesn’t matter to me. Not at all.” Erica gasped loudly. “Not that they shouldn’t be someone else’s only goals in life.” Pulling away from Jared, she walked to the basement door and opened it wide. “I like my privacy. Go back to your oblivious lives. Leave me out of it.”
There was a moment of stunned silence and no one moved. Sighing heavily, she said more clearly, “I’m tired.” She pointed at the door. “Everybody out. Now.”
Erica tossed her hair, put her nose in the air, and hissed, “Later, weirdo. He’s going to regret picking you.”
Kendall murmured, “Cheerleader.” Erica turned her head and Kendall pretended to lunge at her. The blonde jumped back with a small scream. “Don’t try your preppy bullshit with me, sweetheart. I can fuck you up in ways nobody comes back from.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No, I’m explaining that your tantrums are ridiculous and I will give you the ass-kicking you have coming if you don’t get the fuck out of my house. Grow up.” To the men who brought her with them, she added, “Get her out of here before I stop being polite.”
The three males filed out with small nods, murmuring apologies with embarrassed expressions.
When everyone else was outside, she sighed heavily. “You need to leave too, Jared.”
He walked closer and stood in front of her for a long moment. It had only taken six months of hiding and lying before he figured out how much he needed her.
“Be my girl officially, Kendall. I want you to be mine all the time, not just here.”
She put her palm on his cheek and he leaned into the touch.
“I can’t draw attention to myself. Being with you would make it impossible to avoid it. You can’t help being popular.” She gave him a small smile. “I’ve loved having you in this world away from reality. It was more than I ever imagined I’d have. I mean that, Jared.”
It sounded like she was saying goodbye permanently.
Kendall stretched up and pulled Jared down for a deep kiss. When she broke it, she didn’t meet his eyes as she gently nudged him toward the door.
He didn’t budge. “We need to talk. I know you’re upset so I’ll wait through the weekend.”
“Time won’t make a difference…”
“Kendall.” He pulled her to him hard and laid claim to her mouth. After a long time, he gentled the kiss and stroked his tongue over hers until she was limp in his arms. “I need you. I-I love you, Kendall.”
“Oh, Jared. I so hoped you wouldn’t.” She rested her head on his chest and a sob broke from her control. He stroked her back as she cried. Finally, she whispered, “I love you, too. I hope your love for me doesn’t turn to hate.”
The words didn’t make any sense. She gave him one more tear-stained kiss before pushing at his torso, edging him toward the door.
Everything inside him rebelled. His subconscious screamed, “Don’t leave. Don’t let her out of your sight.”
He wanted to stay locked in her quiet sanctuary and let the rest of the world get fucked.
“Go, Jared. You have to go.” He turned but paused to look over his shoulder. She mouthed, “I love you.”
As he crossed the threshold into her backyard, he thought she’d call him back, tell him to wait, tell him to stay with her, that they would figure it out together.
She didn’t.
A moment before the door closed and the lock clicked into place, Jared heard her release a painful sob.
He stared at the door for a long time. He could leave as she wanted or stay and force her to talk it out.
In the end, he knew he owed her time to process. She was fiercely independent and their deal got fucked all to hell because he messed up.
Without looking at any of the group waiting for him, he said, “I better not hear a single word about this. I have shit on all of you that I’d only use if you tried to hurt Kendall. Leave her alone.” To Erica, he added, “You won’t win against me so be smart. I love her…I’m willing to fight dirty.”
He turned and left the yard, the others following in silence. His mind was consumed by Kendall, making sure she was okay.
He’d give her a day to calm down and then they’d talk it out.
Chapter Five
Kendall listened through the door while Jared talked to his friends. Her heart clenched at his need to protect her.
He’d woken like a lion from sleep in a single day.
When she heard the gate on the side of the house close, she took a deep breath and kicked her own ass in gear.
Walking to the steel door blocking the basement room from the main part of the house, she unlocked the deadbolts and walked up the stairs. On the first floor, her footsteps echoed. The rooms were completely empty because no one had ever lived in the house but her.
She was about to leave it for the last time.
At the front window, she stood to one side and watched Jared walk down the street toward the shopping center. His friends followed slowly in a truck but
he didn’t get in.
Twice, he stopped and turned as if to return to her. Each time, she held her breath.
She wanted him to, but knew the risk if he did. Her strength would never hold if tested a second time.
Too soon, he was out of sight.
The magnitude of what was about to happen crashed into her heart and left her gasping for air. She sobbed brokenly with her arms clutched tightly around her torso.
It felt like she might shake apart.
Struggling to keep it together, Kendall gave herself time to cry, to feel the aching loss of the man she’d fallen irrevocably in love with.
Then she washed her face in the bathroom off the empty kitchen, gently reminded herself that wishing did not change reality, and got to work.
Walking into the garage, she opened the door of the SUV her father purchased in cash. It had been repainted twice over the years.
She removed the new tags from the magnetic compartment attached to the undercarriage and traded them out. The old ones went beneath the truck until she could discard them in a random dumpster in another state.
The forged title and registration matched the VIN number on the dash, as did the insurance information. She took them from the file under the driver’s seat and replaced the previous forged set in the visor.
Every week in the past eight months, she started the truck to preserve the battery. Once a month, she drove to another town more than a hundred miles away, stayed the night at a cash motel, and had it serviced.
The gas tank stayed full and there were emergency supplies stashed in the wheel well of the cargo area.
The console between the front seats featured a false bottom that concealed two loaded 9mm handguns. The gun range she used to practice was three blocks from the mechanic who serviced her vehicle.
On those weekends, she always told Jared her family had to visit an elderly aunt. He was always ravenous when she returned.
Another lie among so many she told him.
Inside the house again, she removed her duffel bags from the secret compartment in the pantry.
It was the first thing she created when she moved in, just as her father had done in every new home. He showed her how to make a combination hiding place and safe.
One bag held more than half a million dollars in cash and several new identities in a locked security bag. The other was empty. They were virtually indestructible.
Carrying them with her to the basement, she gathered her personal belongings. The most important items went in the bag with the cash and IDs in case she ever had to leave the second in a hurry.
Kendall folded the quilt her mother had made years before she was shot execution style and left to die in the dirt.
Then she carefully packed the professional camera equipment her father gave her a year before he was tortured to death a few feet from where he’d hidden her.
She removed every photo from every surface, leaving the frames behind, and emptied her darkroom.
The photos she took of them making love went in their own waterproof envelope. Their faces weren’t visible, just their profiles, but their bodies were beautiful, their passion obvious.
There were at least a hundred photos of Jared and a few of her. Choosing one that didn’t show her face, her favorite of him, and the best one of them together, she put them in an envelope to include in the letter she planned to write.
She would mail it on her way out of town.
There were few things she carried from place to place. Choosing her favorite clothes and a few mementos, she was packed and ready to leave within thirty minutes of Jared walking out the door.
Everything else had to stay behind. Another room of stuff she’d never see again.
After she loaded the SUV with the duffle bags, she did one more sweep through the house.
Pulling on boots and a jacket, she removed stationary from her desk. Writing quickly, she folded the letter, included the photos, and addressed it to Jared. She wrote no return address.
Inhaling deeply, she took it with her.
She spared a final glance at the sanctuary she’d inhabited for almost ten months. It was the longest amount of time she’d spent in any location in six years.
Nothing could be traced to her. Her father removed her fingerprints when she was barely twelve.
Inhaling carefully, she backed from the room, dousing the space and everything in it with a clear, odorless chemical. It corrupted any DNA left behind, making it impossible to identify. At the door, she tossed a special fogger inside that would take care of anything she missed. She set off several more foggers on the sprawling second floor before returning to the main floor.
In the kitchen, she removed her old driver’s license from her wallet and replaced it with one that bore a different name. According to her new documentation, she was twenty years old with a new social security number, high school diploma, and job history.
In the steel sink, she burned her old ID. She’d never be Kendall Torres again. Her father’s brother provided new documents every six months through a source they trusted.
She hadn’t used her given name in almost six years.
In her mind, she’d always be Kendall. It was the name Jared knew her by, the name he used when he said he loved her.
She placed the keys to the house on the kitchen counter before setting off several more of the cannisters.
Walking to the garage, she got in the vehicle, started it, and rolled down the window. Holding her breath, she dropped two more foggers on the concrete floor before raising her window and opening the automatic garage door.
As she put the SUV in reverse, Kendall realized it was the first time since she moved in that she’d driven out during the day. Idling in the driveway, she closed the rolling door and tossed the remote into the grass of the front yard.
Gripping the steering wheel tightly, she pulled out and drove to Jared’s neighborhood on the other side of town. At the end of his street, she motioned to a group of kids about age ten.
“Will you put this letter in the Stalzer’s mailbox? I’ll give you twenty dollars.”
“No way. You’re scamming us.”
Removing the cash, she handed it to the girl who looked to be the oldest. “Nope. Ten now and ten more when I see you put it in the box.” After settling up with her impromptu postal person, she hid her tears and said, “Thanks.”
She took the closest on-ramp to the highway, and drove east.
When she got up to speed, she rolled down her window and tossed pieces of her cell phone out every few miles.
As she drove, she cried. She wished things could be different but they never would...not for her.
She didn’t know where she was going or how far she’d drive until she found the next place to pretend she had a real life. There needed to be hundreds of miles between that place and this town before she could consider stopping.
It was the only way to ensure Jared’s safety.
Ultimately, no matter how far she drove or where she again put down temporary roots, it would be too far away from the man she loved.
Chapter Six
Jared knew he couldn’t wait to talk to Kendall. The next morning, he decided to kidnap her for the day so they could talk everything out.
He needed her and she needed him, too.
After he left her house the day before, she ignored his calls and texts but he didn’t blame her.
The entire experience was awful.
Leaving the bathroom freshly showered and dressed, he walked into the kitchen. His mom turned with a big smile.
“You look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning.”
Debbie Stalzer was the epitome of the All-American Soccer Mom. Small and brunette, she headed the PTA, organized bake sales for church, volunteered at every charity she could fit in her schedule, and was proud to say her family came first.
She handed Jared a tall glass of orange juice and ruffled his damp hair affectionately.
He w
as her oldest and personal favorite. She refused to admit it and he tortured her about it constantly to make her flustered.
“Another two months and high school is done. I’m stoked.”
“I’ll miss you around here.” She set food in front of him. “You’re up early for a Saturday.”
“I have an errand to run. Gotta get my freak on.”
“I love and hate that you’re so honest with me, Jared.”
He grinned. “I know, Mom.”
Eating in record time, he washed his dishes and grabbed his keys. “I’ll see you tonight. There’s someone I want to introduce you to.”
“The girl from the parking lot? Your dad mentioned her.” He nodded with a blush and her eyes widened. “You’re bringing a girl home to officially meet your mom? That Erica has sure tried to become my daughter-in-law...”
“Not in a million years. I should have broken up with her months ago. No, that’s a lie. I never should have started dating Erica in the first place.” He took a deep breath. “You’ll love Kendall. I’ll fill you in after I convince her she needs my awesomeness in her life. I messed up.”
His mom stared up at him with a shocked expression. “You’re serious about this girl, honey?”
“Oh yeah. I have to figure out how to talk her into going to the same college. I need her close.” He thought he might be able to bring Kendall around to his way of thinking. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”
With a smacking kiss to his mom’s cheek, he left the house and drove across town to Kendall’s place.
They never hung out on the weekends because her parents were home. He drove by the house a couple of times, a little nervous. He didn’t want to get her in trouble.
Parking down the street, he watched the house for almost an hour trying to decide if he should knock like a normal person.
Deciding to bite the bullet, he drove back and parked in the driveway for the first time.
His days of being a coward were done.
A couple of feet away, the sun reflected off black plastic in the grass and drew his attention. It was the remote for the garage door opener. Frowning, he got out and picked it up.
Dirty Little Secret: The Damaged Series - Book One Page 4