Even after everything that has happened, it’s hard for me to look at him and not see my friend. Colt looks more like his old self now. The drugs changed not only his behavior, but his appearance as well. He was skinny, pale and sickly looking when he was an addict. He is obviously clean now, looking healthy and muscular again.
For the first time, I actually feel a little sorry for him. I am not sorry that he was in jail. He deserved that, maybe even more. What I am sorry for is not helping him when I had the chance. I watched him use drugs for so long and I never really did anything about it. We were his family and we failed him. Then we cut him out of our lives completely. What else was there to do after he killed Sarah, kidnapped Eliza and almost killed Jaxon? It was all too late by then.
“I know I messed up.” Colt surprises me yet again by his admission and the sincerity in his voice. “I was so high, I only remember bits and pieces.” For a moment something that looks a lot like regret crosses his face. He quickly composes himself and returns the carefully constructed mask he has been wearing. “It doesn’t matter now,” he says flatly. “We all have to live with the choices we make and you made the wrong choice by pissing off Coleman and abandoning me.”
The bell rings loudly above us, but neither Colt nor I make a move. We hear doors open and students chatter coming from the hallway.
“People are going to come in here soon,” I say.
“I’m not the one with an arrest warrant out on me,” Colt snickers.
“So what, you going to call the cops on me now?”
“You called the cops on me, didn’t you?”
“Colt, you killed somebody.”
He instantly looks away, like he doesn’t want to be reminded of it. “I tell you what, I’ll let you go for today. For old times’ sake. Coleman cares more about getting Jaxon anyways.”
The library door opens behind me and students start walking in at the same time Colt walks out. I look after him until I can’t see him anymore. Only then I start going through the library trying to find Jenna. I speed walk through the aisles and keep calling her name. Finally, I see a book cart move and Jen appeared from behind.
“Are you okay?” I ask and scan up and down her body. She doesn’t look hurt, just pale and a bit shaken. She is doing way better than when Colt broke into my house.
“Yes, I am fine.” Then she lunges forward and throws her arms around me. “I am so sorry I doubted you. I was just confused and freaked out. I should have never thought that about you. Or Jaxon for that matter. Please don’t be mad at me.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not mad at you. I’ve really never been mad at you. I’m just glad you are okay.” I hug her back and lean my cheek on her head. I take a deep breath smelling the familiar lavender scent I have missed.
“Hey you two! None of that in here.” An unfamiliar female voice orders us. We look up and into the frowning face of what must be the librarian. “Are you even a student here, young man?”
“We were just leaving, Mrs. Edwards,” Jenna chimes in. She takes my hand and yanks me towards the exit.
“Don’t let me catch you in here again,” Mrs. Edwards calls after us.
We move through the school with Jenna pulling me behind her. Some students look at us curiously when we pass, but Jenna never stops. When we get out to the parking lot I point out my car and we head for it. I keep an eye out for Colt, but he apparently has really left. After we get into the car and I drive off, Jenna asks, “How did you get here so fast?”
“I was only a block away. I had a bad feeling, so I never left town.”
“A bad feeling?”
“Yeah, when Jaxon went to my place the other day, he told me that your phone was gone.” She twists her body in her seat to look at me. “My phone? Why would he take my phone and why didn’t you tell me before?” She is way more upset about this than I thought she would be.
“You were already so freaked out, and I also didn’t think it was such a big deal. It’s not like you are keeping some top-secret files on your phone. I figured he just got it to see how close we are.” For some reason this doesn’t relax her. If anything, she seems more worried and I can’t figure out why. We never texted each other anything that could make someone think that we are together.
“So, you knew it was Colt who broke in all along?”
“I really didn’t know. I just suspected, especially after Jaxon told me about the phone missing and nothing else. I didn’t want you to worry Jen, that’s the only reason I didn’t mention it.” Why is she so nervous about the phone? Does she have top-secret information on there?
She leans back in her seat and sighs loudly. “Thank you for the new phone,” she mumbles. A little louder she says, “And Lily was ecstatic about her new toy.” Jen reaches over and covers my hand with her own. “And thank you for coming for me now.”
I interlace my fingers with hers and bring her hand to my lips to kiss the inside of her wrist. I let our hands rest in between us, because there is no way I am letting her go again.
“Where are we going now?”
“We have been trying to find Lacey, the girl who accused us. I need to talk to her and figure out why she is doing this. I know her and this isn’t something she would do, someone must be blackmailing her. I don’t know of any other reason why she would do this. We figure out what they have on her and we fix it.”
“So, I was wondering about something,” Jenna says timidly and shifts in her seat a little. “Why did they go through these lengths to accuse you of something you didn’t do when you… you know…” she trails off.
“…do other illegal stuff all the time?” I finish her sentence.
“Yeah, that.”
“Most likely because Colt has been involved in all those illegal activities and Coleman promised him to keep him out of jail. Also, Coleman was one of our regular customers at the club before all of this started. If they start an investigation on the club’s business, then chances are that Coleman’s name is going to come up too.” As well as other important people that do not want their names dragged through the dirt. The third reason is my own speculation. “Maybe they wanted to divide us. They probably hoped Eliza would try to get away from Jaxon and then they would have had a chance to grab her.”
“Oh my god, that makes sense. I am so glad they didn’t get to Eliza.” Jen looks distraught and worried just thinking about her friend in trouble. “How do we find her?”
“Jaxon heard through the grapevine that she is staying with her sister. He is trying to figure out the address now. You don’t have to come with me. We can meet up with Jaxon and he will take you to wherever he and Eliza are staying. You would be safe there.” I don’t know which one I would prefer. I want her close. I want her with me all the time, but she would be safer staying hidden with Jaxon.
“I want to come with you,” she whispers, squeezing my hand.
We are on the road for an hour when Jaxon sends me an address. I ask Jen to put it into the GPS
“It’s only forty miles away, but we are going the wrong way. You need to get off the interstate and head east.” I take the next exit and follow the directions.
We end up in a nice neighborhood in the suburbs about an hour later. I stop a few houses down from the actual address that Jaxon gave me. “We’ll walk the rest of the way.”
We walk up to the single-family home with a white picket fence. “Jen, I need you to ring the doorbell. If Lacey sees me, she might not open the door. I position myself next to the door, so no one can see me from the window before Jenna pushes the doorbell. It doesn’t take long before I hear footsteps from the other side. Jenna smiles and waves towards the window like someone is looking out at her. The door opens, and I hear Lacey’s familiar voice. “Can I help you?”
I don’t wait for Jenna to say anything. I move around the corner and put my foot in the door so Lacey can’t shut it on us. She gasps and stumbles back when she sees me. “Hunter, I…” is all she gets out. I push the
door open all the way and step in the house with Jen right behind me. Lacey looks at me in shock. With her eyes wide, she keeps glancing between me and Jenna, probably trying to figure out who she is.
“Why Lacey, just tell me why?” I am trying to keep my voice calm. Scaring her is not going to be in my favor right now.
“I’m sorry Hunter, I really am. I didn’t have a choice. Please, believe me.” She is apologetic. Her eyes are already filling with tears. My earlier hunch is solidifying… someone is threatening her. We just need to figure who and with what.
We are interrupted by the sound of a baby crying coming from the back of the house. “Hold on, I’ll go get him and then I’ll explain everything.” She disappears into the hallway and I use the time to look around the house, making sure no one else is here. I make Jenna follow closely behind me the whole time.
Lacey returns a minute later holding a small baby swaddled up in a blanket. “No one else is here,” she says when she catches me looking around. “Let’s sit down.” She shows us to the living room and we all take a seat.
“What happened Lacey? You need to tell me everything.”
She takes a deep breath before starting to tell us everything. “Last week, I came up here to spend a few days with my sister. She is a single mom and her normal babysitter is sick. She couldn’t afford to take off work, so I agreed to watch Simon during the day. She usually gets home around five, but one day she still wasn’t here at six.” Lacey starts to full on cry now. The tears run down her face uncontrollably. Jenna gets up from beside me and takes the seat next to Lacey. She put an arm around her shoulder and Lacey composes herself.
“She didn’t answer her cell. I was worried, so I called her work. They said she had left right after her shift ended, which worried me even more. She wouldn’t just leave. Simon is everything to her.” She looks down at the baby in her arms lovingly. “Mindy wouldn’t just leave her six-month-old baby. I knew something was wrong.” Lacey keeps sobbing in between words and Jenna keeps rubbing her shoulders to comfort her. I am so happy Jenna is here right now. I wouldn’t have known what to do with a wailing Lacey and a baby.
“I was about to call the cops when I got a call,” she continues. “He told me that he had my sister and that I needed to do what he said if I wanted her back.”
“Who called you?” I already know who by the way she is looking at me right now, but I still need her to say it out loud.
“Colt, it was Colt who called me.” She confirms. I can see Jenna tense just by hearing the name.
“I’m sorry he did that to you,” I tell her, and she looks up at me surprised.
“I thought you would be furious at me.” She admits.
“I figured Colt had something to do with this. I knew you wouldn’t do this for any other reason.”
“No, I wouldn’t have. You and Jaxon have been nothing but nice to me. Jaxon gave me a job when I really needed one and no one else would hire me. I only said those things because I was scared. I am still sorry though. He said I will only get my sister back after you and Jaxon are locked up. I can’t tell the cops that I lied about you Hunter.”
“Lacey, we’ll get your sister back. I promise, we will get her.” I really hope I am not making an empty promise right now.
13
Jenna
By the time we leave Lacey's place, it is already dark. She told us everything she knows that could possibly help us find her sister, Mindy. She gave us a picture of Mindy and looking at the happy young women holding her tiny baby makes me want to cry. How could anybody take a mother away from her baby? I don’t want to imagine what she is going through right now.
Even though I believed Hunter that he didn’t hurt Lacey, it was still good having her confirm it. I saw it right away. She was shocked to see him but not scared and her apology was genuine. I feel so bad for her. I want nothing more than this whole thing to end. All these innocent people getting hurt is making me sick.
“Where are we going now?”
“We’ll find another hotel for tonight. I have a bunch of people looking into where Colt could be hiding Mindy. Jaxon is looking too. We’ll find her. Hopefully tomorrow.” Hunter sounds just as worried as I feel. I hope they find her soon. I slouch back into my seat, exhausted by everything that has happened today. When we get to the hotel, I realize that yet again I have no clothes with me.
“I think I should keep a getaway bag in your car as well.”
“At least you have your phone this time,” he jokes. He has a point. I’m making progress. Mentioning my phone reminds me of an important call I have to make as soon as I get a minute on my own. I am already in deep trouble for not calling sooner.
“We will get you some new clothes tomorrow.” We check into the hotel and get another suite. This one is just as nice as the last one, but I can’t enjoy it one bit.
“Why so sad?” Hunter knows me well enough now to spot my mood from a mile away.
“This place is nice and I feel horrible staying in this amazing hotel while Lacey’s sister is who knows where going through who knows what.” I just can’t stop thinking about her and the baby.
“We’ll find her.” He sounds sure and that gives me hope that he will find her quickly. I am not going to make the mistake and doubt Hunter again.
“I know it’s early, but I honestly just want to go to bed. Can I have one of your shirts to sleep in?” Hunter gets one out and hands it to me. I change in the bathroom, thankful that I grabbed a bunch of tampons this morning. I don’t know how Hunter would feel about going to get me some feminine products.
I crawl into bed, hearing Hunter’s muffled voice from the other room. It sounds like he is talking to Jaxon. I am curled up in bed trying to forget today’s events and that my lower back is hurting. I am almost asleep when Hunter joins me. He molds his body around mine, making my back feel better.
“You impress me by how well you are handling everything,” Hunter whispers into the dark.
“What you really mean is after I was catatonic last time, you are surprised I kept it together today.”
He chuckles a little bit. “Well, I wasn’t going to put it like that, but… you know.”
“I guess I am getting used to living on the edge and being in constant danger.”
Hunter is quiet for a moment. His arms tighten around me and I feel like I am in a warm and cozy cocoon. “I don’t want that for you. I don’t ever want you to feel like you are in danger.”
“The truth is, I was starting to freak out. I was going to that place where everything goes numb because I was so scared that Colt was going to kill me. Until now, I always thought of Colt as this inhumane monster. Kind of like a psychopath who just kills people for fun. I know you have talked about him in a different way before, but I could never figure out how he could possibly have been friends with you and Jaxon. Hearing you and him talk today was the first time I could see him as anything other than a monster. Don’t get me wrong, I still hate him and I can never forgive him for what he did, but I am a little less scared of him now knowing that he is actually a person too.”
“I get it. Sometimes I can’t believe that we used to be friends either. He just doesn’t seem like the same person anymore.” I know he isn’t done talking but it takes him some time to continue. “I saw a glimpse of the old Colt today. It was brief, but it was there. It makes me angry and depressed as hell seeing him like this. I mourned the loss of my friend a long time ago and now it’s like I have seen a ghost. I can’t help but think that it’s my fault that he ended up this way. I should have stopped him from getting hooked to drugs. I should have got him help when I had the chance. He always listened to Jaxon and me. We could have stopped it. We failed our friend and now it’s too late to help him.” The sadness in Hunter's voice is clawing on my heart.
I turn in his arms, so we are facing each other. I want to wrap him up in a cocoon as well, make him feel better and forget all the bad things. I scoot as close as I can possibly get. We a
re holding each other so close, I feel like we are one whole body instead of two separate ones. This is how we go to sleep, hugging one another, holding on to give comfort and being comforted at the same time. Maybe that’s what a relationship really is. Not the way I watched my mom fail because all she did was take. That was her mistake. I think I will be fine with Hunter as long as I keep this balance of give and take.
Hunter tried his best to keep me occupied the next day, but I can’t relax with Lacey’s sister still missing. I don’t even know her, but I can’t help but worry for her now that I have met her son and her sister. I keep making Hunter check his phone and ask him a million questions in between. “Who is searching for her and how many people are looking? Are they any closer to finding her? Is someone checking on Lacey and the baby? Any news yet?” Hunter must be getting annoyed by my constant nagging even though he doesn’t say anything.
My latest question comes to me in a rush. “What if we just call Colt and you can trace the call?”
“Jen, I’m not some secret agent. I have no clue how to trace a call.”
“Well, it sounded good in my head.”
“I wish I could ease your mind. I really don’t know how to find people. I just know people who know how to find someone, and they are all working on it. Regardless, waiting sucks.”
“Waiting sucks a little less because I’m with you,” I say and try to give him a smile. I don’t think I am very convincing, but he smiles back and that’s enough for me.
14
Hunter
Keeping Jenna busy and her mind occupied proves to be much more challenging than I anticipated. She is so worried about people she doesn’t even know, I don’t want to imagine what she went through when Eliza was missing. I didn’t know her then, but now I wish I had so I could have been there for her. I am worried myself, but I am not about to let Jenna see that. I try to act calm and confident, but inside I am just as anxious as her. The only difference is that I am more worried about her and Eliza, than Mindy. Colt already got what he wants out of her. Hurting her would not help him in any way. I am worried about what would happen to the girls if Jaxon and I are gone. Coleman is definitely going after Eliza, and maybe even Jen just for fun. I wouldn’t doubt it. Just thinking about it makes me sick. I need to punch something.
The Things We Hide: A Friends to Lovers Young Adult Romance (Pushed Aside Book 2) Page 6