The Things We Hide: A Friends to Lovers Young Adult Romance (Pushed Aside Book 2)

by Cassandra Hallman

I crouch next to her and put my hand on her shoulder. She doesn’t react to my touch or me saying her name. She is just shaking like a leaf and making a low whimpering sound. I am not sure what to do but I need to get her out of here and somewhere safe. I turn around and get some clothes from my dresser. I put on some jeans and a sweater before grabbing a sweatshirt and some sweatpants for Jen. She is still sitting in the closet in shock.

  “Jen, we got to go somewhere else. You need to get dressed. Come on, I’m going to help you. Okay?” Still no response. I put the sweatshirt over her head and pull her arms though. I feel like I am dressing a doll right now, she is so lifeless. I lift her up gently and make her stand next to the bed. “We are going to put the sweatpants over your pajamas, just step in.” I hold the pants in front of her feet and to my relief she steps in. I pull the pants on her and when I straighten up, she looks at me for the first time. She is still scared senseless, but at least she is reacting now.

  “I’m going to take you somewhere safe.” She doesn’t answer, but when I take her hand and pull her out with me, she follows closely. She clings on to my hand with an iron grip. We slip on our shoes on the way out and make our way to the garage. As soon as we are in the car, I blast the heat and turn on the seat warmer for Jenna who is visibly trembling, even though I don’t think that the cold is the issue. Once we are on the road, I call Jaxon and tell him what happened. He agrees that we should crash in some hotel outside the city just to be safe. I drive us an hour north before I find a random hotel that looks decent. Jenna hasn’t said a word the entire time. We park, and I grab my emergency bag from the trunk before walking together to the front desk. It’s still dark outside and Jen keeps looking around like someone is about to jump out and attack her.

  “No one knows that we are here.” I made sure no one followed us and lost my phone after I called Jaxon. We can use the burner phone I got in the bag I am holding. My reassurance doesn’t seem to satisfy Jenna much because she keeps fidgeting around until we get to the room. I strip down to my boxers and shirt while Jenna watches me. She looks like she is still in shock. Her skin is pale, and her eyes look worried.

  “You going to sleep in those sweats?” She shakes her head and starts taking off the sweater. Her hands are still shaking. I move in front of her and help her get the sweats off.

  I lay down in the king size bed and realize quickly that there is only one blanket. I am about to offer it to her but before I get a chance, she slips under the blanket next to me. I turn off the light, glad to see that she is comfortable with me and that she trusts me. I close my eyes when I feel her move closer to me. She finds my hand under the blanket and I interlace my fingers with hers.

  5

  Jenna

  By the time I wake up, the sun is already high in the sky and filling the hotel room with bright sun rays. I am still holding Hunter’s hand which comforts and scares me in equal measures. I am so glad he is here and taking care of me while all of this is going on, but I am terrified that whatever is happening between us is going to be more than I can handle. I already feel like I need him too much. I try to pull my hand away, but he holds on to it tightly.

  His eyes are closed but his mouth turns into a grin and I know he is awake.

  “Can I have my hand back? I kind of need to go pee.”

  He opens his eyes and his grin widens. “You don’t want me to come to the bathroom with you?”

  “Hard pass!” He lets go of my hand and I instantly miss the connection. I am tempted to just grab him and hold on to him. No, no, no, I need to get a grip. I rush into the bathroom to go pee and then take a quick shower. When I dry off, I realize that I had stupidly put all my clothes in a pile on the floor which are now soaking wet. That means I have to walk out in nothing more than a flimsy hotel towel. I clutch the towel tightly to my chest when I walk back into the room. Hunter is still lying on the bed, playing with some new phone he just took out of a package. He peeks up at me and takes in my half naked body but doesn’t say anything. I walk to the pile of sweats I carelessly dropped next to the bed and carefully pick them up without losing my towel or showing off something without meaning to. When I get back up I see Hunter still staring at me in amusement. With a wide smile he asks, “You need some help there?”

  “Nope.” I step back into the bathroom and suck in a breath I didn’t know I was holding. I hang the towel up on the rack and put on the sweats that Hunter gave me last night. They are at least three sizes too big on me but it’s comfortable and warm. Also, it is big enough that no one will notice that I’m not wearing any underwear.

  Hunter is still smirking when I step out of the bathroom again. He gets up from the bed and shows me the phone he just set up. “We are going to have to use this phone for now. I saved in Jaxon’s new number. They are using a burner phone as well so call or text Eliza on this if you need to, not on her normal number.” I don’t even know Eliza’s number. I only know one number by heart and I will call that number as soon as I get a few minutes to myself.

  “I am starving. We already missed the hotel breakfast, but there is an IHOP down the road we can grab a bite at.”

  “Sounds good.” I am actually starving myself.

  “Grab all your stuff, we are going to stay at a nice hotel tonight.” He looks around the room like we are in some kind of dump. I mean, it’s no Four Seasons, but this is still a step up from the grimy motels I used to stay in when my mom got us kicked out of an apartment. I just shrug and decide to let this one go. If he doesn’t like it here, then I guess we’ll go somewhere else. I grab all my stuff, which isn’t much, and we are out the door.

  I don’t really care about my attire until I start getting dirty looks as we are seated at the IHOP. So what? I am wearing an extra-large sweat suit, sneakers with no socks and my hair is still wet, uncombed and put up in a messy bun. Nothing to see here. The dark circles under my eyes are the final touches of my look-what-the-cat-dragged-in look.

  Hunter on the other hand looks completely put together and seemingly unaffected by last night’s events. I guess getting broken into and having a gunfight in the middle of the night is just another day at the office for him. Which reminds me of a question I have been meaning to ask. “Was that Colt, last night? Did Colt break in to your place?”

  “I honestly don’t know. It was dark, and I really couldn’t see anything besides a figure moving though my kitchen. It is possible I guess, but I also have a bunch of other people who are not fond of me. Or it could have been a random break in.”

  I frown when the waitress put down the bill and Hunter put some cash in it. I hate not having money and him paying for everything. “I’ll pay you back. I have some money saved up at home.”

  Hunter shakes his head. “What’s with the dislike of me paying for you? Didn’t we establish that we are not dating, and I am not asking for anything in return? Just friends, remember?”

  “Yeah,” I sigh loudly.

  “Then what is the problem Jen?” I shrug and look away at his interrogation.

  “Since when do I have to ask you to talk about something?” Since now. I think about giving him another excuse, but my mind is still scrambled from what happened last night, so I decide to go with the truth.

  “I just don’t want to end up like my mom.”

  “You are not your mom, Jen.” He answers quickly, like he didn’t even have to think about the answer. “You are your own person. We don’t have to become our parents.” Something in his voice is telling me that he is speaking out of experience.

  “My mom would always get in these relationships and be so dependent on somebody. She would get so used to the guy paying for everything that when he left, she would be completely helpless. I don’t want to be like that. I want to be independent and be able to take care of myself.”

  “Everybody needs help sometimes and everybody needs someone who cares for them in one way or another. That’s not the same thing as being dependent. You can let people help you and care for you
but still be independent.”

  “I’m just not used to that. I was the one taking care of my mom for so long. It’s weird to me to be on the other side.” I never really thought about it like that until now, but it’s true. I always took care of my mom more than she took care of me.

  “I never met your mom, but from what I can tell she was just a codependent person. You are not like that.” I think about it for a second. It does make sense when I think about it, unfortunately it doesn’t change the way I feel one bit.

  “I guess you are right, but I still don’t like you paying for dinner all the time.”

  He sighs and leans back in his seat. “I’ll tell you what, once you finish school and get a job. I’ll let you pay for dinner a few times and then we’ll be even.” Only after I agreed to this do I realize how that sounded an awful lot like future date plans. Judging by the grin on Hunter’s face he noticed that too.

  6

  Hunter

  Jen is finally warming up to me and I like it. My hope that she one day wants to be more than friends is alive and well. Her walls are slowly coming down and we are getting closer every day. She has been telling me bits and pieces of herself that I doubt she would reveal to just anyone. I wonder if Eliza knows this about her best friend.

  Either way, I savor every new revelation of Jen I can get, even the sad ones. When she just told me about her mom, I could see the hurt in her eyes and all I wanted to do is wrap her up in a blanket and cradle her. I want to shield and protect her, to make sure no one will ever hurt her again.

  “You ready to go?” Jen’s sweet voice drags me out of my daydream.

  “Yes.” We get up together, but I let her walk in front of me, so I can make sure no one looks at her funny. Knowing that she is not wearing anything under that way-too-big sweat suit is driving me crazy. I don’t mind her wearing my clothes at all. Matter of fact, I kind of like it. I just don’t like guys looking at her boobs when she walks. We need to get her some clothes a.s.a.p. After I pay for breakfast, I drive us to the closest mall. “I don’t want to hear any complaints. I am buying you some clothes. Pick whatever you want. Take it as an early birthday present.”

  She agrees reluctantly, and we walk into the first store. I go and grab some more clothes for myself before finding her again. She is still in the woman’s section looking through the sales rack with a sign that says ‘75% off’. It clearly holds the clothes that no one else wants and that are completely out of season.

  “You know they have more clothes over there.” I motion to the new selection.

  “But these are much cheaper,” she states all matter of fact and keeps digging.

  “You must be the only girl in the world who worries about the price when someone clearly told her she can get whatever she wants for her birthday.”

  I watch her look through the sales rack until she finally gives up and walks to the other racks. “They don’t have any in my size left on the sales rack. It takes her less than two minutes before she finds something she likes that fits her, in the main section.

  “Imagine that,” I say under my breath, unfortunately, she heard me which earned me a full-on death stare. Her little defiance makes me smile. She doesn’t take crap from anybody, not even from me.

  “Hold this.” She commands and hands me the two pairs of jeans, two long sleeve shirts, and one sweater she just picked out. “I need some underwear too.”

  I follow her into the lingerie department and watch her pick out a bra and a matching panty set. I am a guy, so of course I instantly imagine her wearing it and nothing else. When she looks up and sees me watching and her face turns bright red. Did she know what I was thinking? Or did she have equally naughty thoughts?

  Acting embarrassed, she grabs two more pairs of panties in a hurry, a pack of socks, and starts walking to the register. I am right behind her, amused by this side of Jen that I haven’t seen much of yet. I am hoping to see more in the near future. I don’t know why, but I like when she gets flustered and embarrassed. It’s rare for her to act that way and it’s the most adorable thing I have ever seen.

  She uses the mall bathroom to change into her new clothes. When she comes back out, she looks happier and more relaxed than before.

  “Thanks again, for my early birthday present. When is your birthday? I’m going to have to get you something nice now.”

  My mind instantly goes to something I can’t say out loud. I do want her to blush again, so I say, “You can let me see you in that underwear I just got you. That would be a nice present.” Very nice. I expect her to be agitated by my comment and punch my arm or something. Instead she just says, “Sure.”

  I think my mouth hangs open for a good twenty seconds before I fully recover from what just came out of her mouth. She just laughs and walks away.

  7

  Jenna

  He caught me off guard earlier, but this time I was ready for a comeback. I’m pretty sure I shocked the hell out of him and I can’t say that I am sorry about it. It was hilarious. I am really getting into this flirty back and forth, I just can’t let it get out of hand.

  We spend some more time walking through the mall before Hunter takes us to another hotel. He wasn’t kidding, this one is much nicer. I feel underdressed in my jeans when we walk through the lobby.

  “I have someone watching my house day and night. If no one tries anything again, we’ll go back tomorrow,” Hunter says when we are going up in the elevator. “Or do you want me to drive you home tomorrow?”

  I should definitely go back. I am getting too close to Hunter. I need to get some distance and I need to go back home where I have someone waiting for me. I need to finish school and find a job, so I can support myself. I know these things, but all I want to do right now is stay. Hunter’s eyes are burning into me while he is waiting for an answer. The elevator door dings open and I still haven’t finished with the battle of thoughts that is being waged in my mind.

  He opens the room with the key card and lets me go in first. I don’t have time to be impressed by the beautiful suite he got for us. I walk in, turn around to look at him and blurt out, “I want to stay with you.”

  Before I know it, Hunter closes the distance between us and his lips are on mine. His hands come around and rest on my lower back to pull me closer to him. My arms snake around his neck pulling him even closer. I have kissed before, I’ve even had sex before, but I never felt anything quite like this. I feel like my whole body is humming with excitement. I forget all the reasons why I shouldn’t be doing this and just give into this kiss instead.

  We are both breathless when we break the kiss. I let out a little squeal when he picks me up and carries me to the couch. He sits down and pulls me with him, so I am sitting on his lap. He tries to kiss me again, but I pull back. “Wait. I need to know that this is more for you than just getting in my pants. I like you, but I don’t want to just have sex if you don’t like me back.”

  Better to be upfront about what we want before one of us gets hurt. It would probably be better if we would just have a one-night stand and I go back home, but I am already too emotionally invested. It would really hurt me if he only wants that. I do really like Hunter and once I am eighteen, I can tell him everything.

  “I do like you and I do want more than getting you into bed. Of course, I wouldn’t mind getting in your pants, but we don’t have to do anything if you are not ready.”

  “Oh, I am ready.” He pumps his fist in the air and mouthed the word “yes”, like he was really hoping for me to say that. We start kissing again and his hands slide under my shirt stroking the skin on my back. I break the kiss for a second to pull my shirt over my head and throw it on the floor. Hunter starts kissing my neck, sending shivers down my spine. He picks me up again and walks us to the bedroom. He deposits me on the bed and takes his own shirt off before he moves on top of me. He plants feather like kisses up my body until he reaches the crook of my neck again and I wrap my arms around him, holding him close.
r />   “Have you done this before?” He murmurs into my hair.

  “Yeah, but it was very uneventful.”

  He chuckles and looks up at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “We were both sixteen and it was the first time for both of us. It was very awkward and an all-around uncomfortable experience, to say the least.”

  “Well, I hope this experience is going to be more eventful for you.”

  We spend the rest of the day in bed, successfully ignoring the world around us. As I expected, my experience with Hunter has been very eventful. So much so that I forget why I didn’t give in sooner. We are perfect together. I think I would be happy never leaving this hotel room again.

  I am lying sprawled out on top of Hunter and I am wearing nothing but his shirt that fits me more like a dress. We are watching some rom-com on the flat screen TV, but I am unable to concentrate on it. I feel so sated and happy right now. Hunter is playing with my hair, making my scalp tingle. I close my eyes and enjoy the feeling when the sound of the phone ringing bursts my blissful bubble and drags me back to reality.

  “I got to get this.” Hunter kisses my forehead and gently rolls me off of him. “I’m sorry, I’ll be right back. Promise.” I watch him get out of bed. He is only wearing some shorts and I am taking full advantage of the show. Hunter is in good shape. I know he used to fight on the weekends like Jaxon does, and even though he doesn’t anymore, he still trains with him. He walks out and closes the bedroom door behind him. A ping of an uneasy feeling hits me when he shuts that door. I hate the thought of him shutting me out or hiding something from me even though I know I have no right to do so while I am keeping a huge secret myself. I wish I could tell him.

  His voice is muffled through the door and I don’t know what he is saying, but I can clearly hear that he is yelling at someone. If the call is about his business, I probably don’t want to hear anything he is saying anyways. I try to concentrate on the movie, but I can’t stop listening to Hunter’s angry voice from the other room. It’s a stark reminder that Hunter has another side to him and that side is much different than the sweet and gentle guy I know. I decide to take a shower and forget about it.