Hidden River Secrets (Hidden River Academy Book 2)

by KT Strange

  “Where’s Garrett?” Colt asked. Shawn made a face.

  “Staying home,” he said. Buck squeezed my fingers. We all knew what that meant. Shawn and Garrett were still fighting, and it hurt to think that Garrett didn’t even want to come to camp if it meant being around his twin brother.

  “Ah, say no more,” Buck replied.

  “Yep. When’s the bus due?” Shawn looked around. Other students were joining us, being dropped off by parents, or… I squinted. Most likely nannies. A lot of nannies. Given how young they all were, and the odd, sorta-polished kinda-casual way they were dressed. Like they didn’t have a lot of money, but were making do the best they could. Sleek ponytails, neatly manicured, but in clothes that were bought at H&M and other fast-fashion shops, and carrying fake Louis Vuitton. I’d been at Hidden River long enough that I could spot knock-off and ‘designer inspired’ styles now. Boots had given me a crash course one day, scrawling through Instagram and pointing all the fakes.

  “Why do older teen students have nannies?” I asked Buck under my breath. “That’s crazy weird.”

  “Uh, well,” he cleared his throat. “When parents of a certain means just aren’t interested in parenting…”

  Colt snorted.

  “It’s an old tradition of the very fucking rich not enjoying the actual duties of being a parent,” Colt said, eyeing me up. “Although to be honest, how much did our parents act like parents? The difference was that your mom and mine didn’t have the cash to splash on hired help. Were your pacifiers dipped in booze to keep you quiet, too?”

  “Can we talk about marshmallows?” Shiv asked. “I don’t want this trip to start off all depressing.”

  Buck laughed.

  “Yeah okay, let’s change the subject, who’s looking forward to making noises in the brush at night and scaring the fuck out of Colt?” Buck smiled down at me, that expression turning my insides gooey. Shawn bent down to squat next to us.

  “Gimme some sugar?” He asked, making Buck groan at the cheesy line. But I kissed Shawn anyway, just a small peck. I knew people were watching us, but that was their problem, not mine. I wasn’t going to hide my relationships anymore. I was done playing good-girl Mia. It hadn’t made them like me any better. It hadn’t made them be any kinder to me.

  I caught Shiv’s eye for a moment. She was the only one who really mattered when it came to Shawn. She gave me a small smile, and looked away quickly. She’d told me she just wanted me to act normal. She wanted to get over her relationship with Shawn, she’d said. Moving on was important to her. He’d always be her first, but that didn’t mean she was going to wait around for him to go back to her.

  Still, I wanted to keep it classy.

  The bus pulled in, kicking up dust as it did. Colt offered me a hand, hauling me to my feet.

  “Thanks,” I said, dusting my ass off from where I’d been sitting on the ground.

  “Let’s get to the front, so we can sit at the back,” Shawn said. “It’s always better in the back.”

  “That’s because you like to get handsy, Riordan, and if you and your little girlfriend are squirreled away in the back-row you think the teachers won’t notice,” Reid’s voice piped up, and I turned. He was standing behind us. He smirked at me, waving his fingers. “Every guy likes a back-seat blowie, just remember that.”

  Buck made a noise of warning.

  “Fuck off, Reid,” he said. Reid snickered, and walked away. He was followed by an older man, who was pulling along a suitcase.

  “Is he bringing his butler?” Colt asked, pointing. “Cause if that’s the case, I call shenanigans. We’re all supposed to do our own chores on this trip. It evens the playing-field between you rich bastards and us normies.”

  “This camping trip is going to last a lifetime,” Shiv said to me, her eyes wide. “Please just tell me you brought sedatives or something, and knock me out until it’s time to go home, okay?”

  Her words startled a laugh out of me, and I shook my head.

  Much to Shawn’s disappointment, I didn’t take Reid up on his suggestion. Shawn did not get a back-seat blowie, or anything more than a snuggle as I sat, sandwiched between him and Buck. Mostly because Buck had told the two of us to behave, since he wasn’t interested in us getting sent home, and him having to do the rest of the trip without us.

  We arrived in one piece, not having murdered Colt for all his complaining, at the camp-site just as it turned about noon. A scattering of cabins sprouted up between the trees, in a semi-circle around a large clearing. A fire-pit with build in log benches was down near the water, the steel-gray lake threatening to be cold enough that I wasn’t interested in swimming… even if it would be my first time swimming in a lake.

  At the far edge of the lake, mountains grew tall, piercing the sky, their tips covered in snow.

  “The lake’s glacier fed, and deep.” I turned to see the speaker. It was Cael again. I hadn’t seen him on the bus. He wasn’t in his uniform, but in casual clothes, dark denim shorts, and a rusty-red t-shirt. It seemed to bring out the blue in his eyes. I stepped back.

  “What?”

  “Are you a strong swimmer?” He asked, glancing out over the waters.

  “Uh-“

  “I wouldn’t go in unless you’re confident in your swimming skills.” He pointed out, a ways from the shore. There was a platform anchored in the middle of the water, a small trampoline on it. “We jump off of that. But it’s cold and a lot of people cramp-up halfway. So don’t let anyone tell you it’s safe for you to go, unless you’ve been swimming most of your life.”

  My cheeks flushed.

  “I’m not that great,” I admitted.

  “Most people who come from your kind of background aren’t,” he said, and when he saw me bristling at his words, he sighed. “I just meant that you probably didn’t have the opportunity to take a lot of swimming lessons.”

  “Yeah, go on, remind me again that I’m poor,” I said, turning to leave the shore’s edge. A few of the teachers, and the camp staff, were starting a bonfire, and I wanted to get a good seat with Shiv. We needed girl-time.

  “I didn’t mean it that way-”

  “It doesn’t matter, it still came out shitty,” I tossed those words over my shoulder and left Cael behind. He was an ass.

  An hour later, I was sat by the fire, stretching my legs out toward the flames. They warmed my bare skin, and I was grateful for the mosquito repellent that had been on the list of toiletries I’d been asked to buy before the trip. Shorts plus a lake-front camp-site meant a lot of mosquitos as the sun set later.

  Shiv lowered her roasting stick to the flames. It was ‘afternoon snack’ time or whatever, since we’d gotten in after lunch and it’d be awhile before dinner was served in the camp’s mess hall. My stomach was rumbling, and the fact that the sticky treats were about to be busted out made me damn glad.

  The boys were nowhere to be found, having run off to their cabins for a bit to unpack and get settled. I didn’t have much to unpack, honestly, and it’d taken me only a few minutes to unroll my sleeping back and stash my clean clothes on the tiny shelf that was built into the wall next to my lower bunk. I’d let Shiv have the top bunk. It seemed only fair to her that way.

  “Ugh, I seriously hate camping, but this part is alright,” Shiv commented, pulling a toasty looking marshmallow off the stick with her fingers. She gummed it into her mouth with a happy moan.

  “Me next?” I asked. She past me a roasting stick and I reached into the bag of marshmallows to grab one. “We would do this, in the park where me and my mom lived,” I said after a moment. “I never got to go camping, right, but this was something that we’d do whenever we got graham crackers in our food backpack.”

  “What’s a food backpack?” Shiv asked. I sighed and pulled my marshmallow off. It was only browned on one side but that’s how I liked it.

  “They would give it to us at school, for over the weekend. I’d usually eat lunch at school, but to make sure we had
enough food to eat over the weekend, the school would give backpacks to each of the kids under a certain income threshold.” I eyed Shiv as she took this in.

  “Huh,” she said, a thoughtful expression on her face. “I never thought about that. I guess that’s a good idea.” A sadness entered her eyes. “You grew up really rough.”

  “Don’t feel bad for me, I’m fine,” I said, waving a hand at her. “Want another marshmallow?”

  “No, I’m good,” she replied; her voice was soft. “That kind of made me lose my appetite.”

  “It’ll come back,” I said.

  “Heyyyyy pretty ladies,” Colt greeted us, thumping down a few feet away on the log bench. “Pass those marshmallows, daddy’s hungry.”

  “Oh gross,” Shiv said, wrinkling her face up. “Do you have like, a burning need to be disgusting all the time?”

  Colt winked at her.

  “There’s a thin line between super hot and super creep,” he said. “I enjoy flirting with the boundary, I have to admit.”

  I had to smile at his words. It was all just a game to him, to keep people away. It was transparent, really, but I wasn’t going to be the one to bust his chops in front of Shiv. I felt like if I did, I’d actually hurt him, and Colt had been a better friend to me than almost anyone.

  Colt grabbed the bag of marshmallows and stuffed three in his mouth without bothering to toast them. Shiv made a gagging noise.

  “You can go eat like that over there,” she said, pointing at the far side of the bonfire. He opened his mouth, and all I saw was white marshmallow fluff, half-masticated. “Oh god! Over there! Christ!”

  Colt snickered and got up, taking the marshmallows with him.

  “He’s disgusting,” Shiv muttered, “and so fucking weird.”

  “I dunno,” I said, tilting my head to watch him go. “He’s got a nice ass?”

  Shiv shoved me gently.

  “You already have two, don’t get greedy, god,” there was an edge to her words and I fell quiet, watching the flames lick over the logs.

  I didn’t mean it that way. Colt did have a nice ass. That didn’t mean anything. I could admire any guy’s gluteal region, and it was just… me expressing my appreciation for the male form.

  “You’ve got that weird look on your face,” Shiv teased me, “are you thinking about Buck?” I blinked and laughed, startled from my thoughts. Buck had a very nice ass and I admired in on a regular basis. I just… hadn’t been right then. Was that something I should’ve been worried about?

  “Yeah,” I lied smoothly. “I’m gonna go find him.”

  Shiv gave me an awkward slap on the ass.

  “Go get him, tiger,” she said. I stared at her, eyes wide.

  “Ooookay,” I said, “that was weird and I’m going.”

  “Orientation is in a few hours, right before dinner,” Shawn was saying to some younger students that had been trucked out with us when I found him, Buck, and a few other members of the football team standing around at the far end of the clearing near the middle cabins. “But before you get smart, the girl’s cabins are on that side, and are off-limits unless you want to be shipped back home. They have a special SUV they leave at the main road just for that purpose, so don’t be an idiot. Steal panties on your own time, not at camp.”

  I nudged Shawn from behind, startling a yelp out of him. A few of the younger guys, in grades eight, nine, and ten, from the looks of it, laughed.

  “What if the girls come to our cabins,” said a cheeky-looking kid. I snorted.

  “That’s never gonna happen,” I said. “So dream about it, cause that’s not becoming reality.” I felt a hand ghost up my spine and turned my head to see Buck hovering behind me. He bent down, to murmur in my ear.

  “Me and Shawn scored a cabin almost to ourselves. Garrett was supposed to be in there, but he stayed back. So maybe you sneak over later?” His words were soft, and I shivered.

  “Might not be a great idea,” I said as we turned, walking back through the greens, the younger students running off to their assigned cabins. “Who else is in there with you? What’s almost mean?”

  “Eh, we got Cael, but he’ll be out most of the night. He digs the wilderness stuff something fuckin’ fierce,” Shawn said. I snuggled between them as we walked, enjoying the warmth of their arms as they slung one over my shoulders, and one around my waist.

  “Wait, why’d Garrett not come?” I looked up at Shawn. The ghost of his bruises were still there, shadowing his skin, but he’d healed up enough from his fight with his brother that you could almost not tell. I reached up to touch his lip and he smiled, kissing my finger-tips.

  “He’s being an idiot,” Shawn said with a shrug.

  “You guys still not talking, huh?” I asked. He grimaced.

  “Let’s not talk about the not-talking,” he suggested.

  “Sounds good to me. We’re here for a few days, let’s enjoy ourselves and forget about all the shit back home,” Buck said with a sigh, his fingers squeezing as they wrapped around my shoulder.

  I tried to let their warmth and closeness push away my sadness that things were still messy between Shawn and his brother. I couldn’t do anything about it, I certainly couldn’t fix it, and I even, to a small extent, understood Garrett’s feelings. It wasn’t me he had a problem with. It was Shawn, and how things had played out. It was just one of those things that wouldn’t get better until the two of them were able to talk about it, and for the last little while they’d just been fighting instead of being normal non-grumpy human beings.

  Maybe some time apart would do them good. I may have been nervous about camping for the first time, but the awe I felt every time I looked at the high mountain-tops with their snow, and how the hills were furred with pine trees right up to the lake-shore on the opposite side from our camp, was something I was willing to put up with bugs and bears for. It was enough to soothe the soreness in my chest where my heart had been beat up.

  Garrett would get over it. He and Shawn would start talking again. We’d get back to Hidden River, and hopefully things would have smoothed over by then. At least, that’s how it would go if the world were fair. And it seemed like I deserved a little fairness in my life after all I’d been through. So maybe just that once, I’d get the perfect outcome I was hoping for.

  And if I didn’t? That was a bridge I’d have to cross when I got there, and I had two guys holding each of my hands to cross it with me.

  Eighteen

  “Rope courses. I fucking hate heights. Of course it’s a rope course,” Shawn said, looking up at the trees we were going to be expected to climb. I patted him on the shoulder.

  “Remember, this is friendship building, right? Let’s get it done.” Buck nudged Shawn on the other side and Shawn threw him a sheepish smile.

  “Yeah, okay, whatever. I’m going to so out-climb you,” he retorted. I hid my grin behind my hand as Colt caught my gaze and rolled his eyes dramatically.

  “When you’re done listening to these two flex, come spend time with a real man-fuck.” Buck had snuck up behind Colt while he was talking, and shoved him forward into a pile of leaves. Colt went down with a yell, and the camp counselor who was manning the start of the rope course leveled a glare at the two of them.

  “No horseplay around the ropes,” she said, before turning to me. “Are you ready to go up?” I stared upwards, swallowing hard to combat the nerves I was feeling.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “You ever done something like this before?” She asked, as she helped me step into my harness and get buckled up. I shook my head. She gave me a sympathetic smile. “You’ll be fine.”

  “Promise?” I asked, trying to inject a little humor into my voice.

  “Your dad signed the waiver, right?” She teased back and I put my hand on the first rung of the rope ladder. I needed to climb up, and then I could walk through the trees, pretending I was a squirrel.

  “Uncle,” I said with a smile. She gave me a soft look and nod
ded.

  “Alright, climb. If you get stuck, yell out, and we’ll come get you.”

  I took a deep breath and started climbing. The ladder was anchored, but it still had give to it, twisting with my body weight.

  “Well shit that’s nice.” One of the guys down below said. I huffed out a breath, ignoring them. My helmet was tight, and as my arm muscles started to protest, I felt a trickle of sweat at the back of my neck. I’d braided my hair that day to keep it out of the way, thankfully, or I would’ve had tendrils stuck to my skin, itching and irritating me as I tried not to die.

  I got up on top. There was a single nervous moment when I left the ladder to stand on the wooden platform, fifty feet in the air, but then I felt stable. Sort of.

  “Oh,” someone muttered. I looked up at the person standing next to me, the guide for the next leg of my trip, across a rope bridge that led to another platform. It was Cael.

  I tried not to make a face at him to let him know how much he irritated me.

  “Are you going to pass on my good advice this time?” He asked.

  “Are you going to mock me for being poor?” I retorted. He glared at me and then pointed to the two waist-high ropes on either side of the bridge.

  “Hang onto those. One foot in front of the other. Don’t look down if heights scare you.”

  “I’m not afraid of anything,” I said, lying through my teeth. “I don’t know what fear is.” He made an amused snorting sound.

  “Alright, Superwoman, get going so the next student can come up.”

  “Whatever,” I replied, determined to grit my teeth through this next challenge and not piss myself in fear. Because it was a long way down. Cael clipped my safety tether, and nodded to the bridge.

  “Go,” he said. “Try not to hold the rest of us up.” He was an irritation, like a sliver under my skin. I needed to get a giant pair of tweezers or I needed to just ignore him until he worked his own way out.