Things this serious and my mind was in the gutter.
“You can’t be here,” Charlotte yelled at me.
“The fuck I can’t,” I said. “I need to see her.”
“No,” she said. “This is bad, Wes.”
“Bad? How bad?”
“Julia is losing her mind,” Charlotte said. “She’s crying. She had no idea what… I mean, nobody did.”
“Of course you didn’t,” I said. “I did though. I stopped her from doing it.”
“What?”
“Yeah. I saw what she had done. And I told her to stop. I stood up to her. She’s too fucking beautiful to do that to herself. And those pieces of shit found out…”
“Oh, Wes,” Charlotte said.
“I love her, Char,” I said. “All bullshit aside. I love her.”
“I believe it,” she said.
“Everything okay?” a voice called out.
It was Emma on the porch steps, baseball bat in hand.
Charlotte waved a hand but Emma stayed in place right there.
“I’m not here to start shit,” I said. “I tried to warn her. Protect her from this place. She thinks me and Noelle… you know, that doesn’t matter. She can think what she wants. The truth is what matters.”
“And what is the truth, Wes?” Charlotte asked.
“I’m not telling you that.”
“Then get out of here,” she said.
“Bat time,” Emma called out.
“Bat this,” I said and showed her my middle finger.
She rushed down the steps.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen next,” Charlotte said. “With Aira. And everything. This is really bad.”
“No shit,” I said. “I just need to see her and tell her…”
“Tell me what?”
I turned and saw Aira.
She had snuck around the house.
Wearing a really baggy white hoodie with her hands curled up in the sleeves. Her hair was messy and her eyes puffy from crying. Wearing shorts… which broke my heart. I wondered if she was forced to show Julia the marks and scars. And I wondered if Julia had called her parents…
“Oh, darling,” I said as I rushed toward her.
Emma put her bat out to stop me.
I ripped the bat out of Emma’s hand and slammed it to the ground.
“Fuck you, Wes,” Emma whispered.
I closed in on Aira and she stepped back.
So I froze.
She didn’t want me near her.
I nodded.
“Fine,” I whispered. “I wanted to see you. For a second.”
“Here I am. My life is over.”
“No it’s not, darling. I’m going to fix this. You’re going to fix this too. You’re stronger than this. You can own this and walk away from it.”
She shook her head. “They all think I want to die.”
“Do you?”
“No,” Aira said. “Nobody believes me.”
“I do, darling. I’ll always believe you. And I never meant to hurt you. Or make it seem…” I gritted my teeth. “I dropped you off and went to Tech to see Noelle. To tell her what she did was wrong. To make sure she knew I loved you. That was it. Ryland was there… they beat the shit out of Walker.”
“What?” Aira asked.
“Yeah. They jumped him in one of the bathrooms. To get back at me for what I did to Dean. The night I snuck out of your bed…”
Aira’s cheeks turned red. “Wes… I’m sorry…”
“No, you don’t ever have to be sorry,” I said. “For anything. You never have to be fucking sorry, darling.”
I reached for her and touched her arms.
It was only a split second but that split second was enough to remind me why I was alive and why I was willing to fight for her. And for everything around us.
“You can’t be here right now,” she said. “Julia is so lost in this. Kailey is in there talking to her. I’m not supposed to be outside.”
“Okay,” I said. “Aira, I swear to you I love you. We’re going to fix this. What they did…”
“They deserve the baseball bat,” Emma said.
“And then some,” Charlotte added.
“I’ll be back later,” I whispered to Aira.
She nodded.
Her eyes filled with tears as I turned away.
I looked at Charlotte and Emma.
I felt like I was going to cry.
The looks on their faces were shocked. Maybe they’d fucking realize what Aira really meant to me.
But that feeling of crying was quickly replaced with anger.
It was time to face Ryland.
He was waiting at the end of his long driveway.
Leaning against his neon green street ride, helmet in hand.
There was no hiding the sound of my engine as I rode up to him.
He just stood there, hatred burning from his eyes.
The years between us were never going to calm down.
Ever.
And this was just more gasoline on the fire.
Instead of stopping, I rolled by and took off.
Jett was right.
Punch for punch wasn’t going to do a thing.
I was still going to send a clear message to him.
I just needed to do it carefully.
If it weren’t for Aira I would have done something really crazy. Something that would have ended up with me getting into some serious trouble.
Then again, a few miles up the road I pulled over and thought about what I wanted to do.
So I turned around.
Except this time I parked my ride and was far enough away that Ryland wouldn’t know I was coming.
He fucked with the girl I loved.
So I was going to fuck with the one thing he loved.
Chapter 26
Aira
Charlotte put her arms around me and guided me back around the house.
“You really love that bat, huh?” I asked Emma.
I laughed through the tears as she nodded. “Guys think because I’m pretty that I have no crazy side. Screw that.”
“Thank you for being here,” I said.
“We’re always here,” Charlotte said.
On the back deck Kailey was waiting at the top step.
My nose crinkled at the smell of smoke.
I raced up the steps to find Julia smoking a cigarette.
My jaw dropped. “What are you doing?”
“I haven’t smoked one of these in years,” Julia said.
I lowered my head. “Sorry.”
“Girls, go inside,” Julia said. “I need a minute alone with Aira.”
Kailey, Charlotte, and Emma (with the baseball bat) all went inside.
“This tastes horrible,” Julia said.
“Where did you get that?”
“I have some hanging around. As a reminder that I quit.”
“And I made you smoke. Great.”
“Not you, Aira. Everything.”
“Nobody believes me, Julia. Not even you.”
“What do you want me to believe?” she asked.
“What I told you. Which was the truth. Why would I do that to my own locker?”
“Miss Carson thinks it was a cry for help.”
“Miss Carson thinks everything comes out of a stupid book,” I said. “I know who did this to me.”
“What about what you did to yourself?”
“That was what I used to do,” I said. “I told you that.”
“You never did that here?”
“Once,” I confessed. “And you know what? Wes saw it. And he stopped me. He saved me from it.”
“He’s trouble.”
“No, he’s not. Everyone thinks he is. And I let them cloud my judgment. I hurt him today too. I accused him… and it wasn’t him. I know who did this. They wanted to hurt me. And they did.”
“What do I do here, Aira?”
“Whatever you want. I know th
e truth. I would never take that stuff to school. And I haven’t done anything… you can see… I mean, you already looked…”
My jaw quivered.
“I had to know,” Julia said. “You’re my responsibility, Aira. I thought you coming here was good.”
“It is good, Julia. That’s my point. I can’t change what happened. And everyone keeps wanting me to be sad about my house burning down. Why?”
Julia didn’t respond.
“So, fine, I have nightmares about it. And at night I go for walks. Okay? In the middle of the night I walk the beach. And Wes meets me. And he makes it feel okay.”
“Jesus, Aira,” Julia said.
“You want the truth, right? Being here is good. If they want to kick me out, then whatever. I didn’t take that to school. That’s not even…”
“Do I have to search your room? Your bags?”
“You can do anything you want, Julia.”
“What about you?” she asked. “What do you want to do? I mean, if this girl did this to you… we can fight back. We can call the police. Talk to-”
“No,” I said. “It’s not worth it. Why give them a voice? It’s my secret. Well, it was. I’ll do whatever they want me to do then. I’ll talk to Miss Carson. I’ll talk to someone else. I really don’t care, Julia. I have nothing to hide. I’m better than this town.”
Julia let out a long sigh and shut her eyes. “You need to talk to someone about everything. That much we agree on. Maybe you don’t think so but all of this just sits inside you. I still say we go after who did this. The right way.”
“What’s the right way?” I asked.
“Not with a baseball bat,” Julia said. “What is this? I mean… you make friends and the pretty one carries a weapon around? And then I have Weslee Jackson showing up here at all hours of the night?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “He’s the only one who gets it. I won’t stop seeing him either.”
“Which brings me to my next point. Your parents.”
Shit.
I lowered my head.
“I haven’t called them,” Julia said.
“You haven’t?”
“No. My fear is that they’ll freak out and make you leave. And as much as it’s crazy here, I think it’s crazier with them. Especially since your father is gone on business and your mother is hell bent on drinking every last sip of wine.”
I laughed. “Yeah. That’s her life goal.”
“But now I’m in a bad spot. I’m not your legal guardian, Aira. They’re going to want to talk to your parents. So you need to get ahead of it.”
“Me?”
“You need to call your mother. Tell her whatever you want.”
I groaned. “That sounds horrible.”
“It is,” Julia said. She flicked the cigarette away and walked to me. “I love you, Aira. My god do I love having you here. And I have to be sure you’re okay. As a friend though, I am so sorry for all you’ve gone through. But you need to find a better way to get this stuff out.”
“And I’m telling you the truth, Julia. I don’t do that anymore. And maybe we can talk about it someday. Not right now. Today is a mess.”
“Agreed,” Julia said. “I’m going to go make some calls. Straighten out whatever I can.”
I hugged Julia back as tight as I could.
She went inside and out came Charlotte.
“Hey,” I said.
Charlotte showed me a piece of paper. “This is for you.”
“What is it?”
“Whatever you decide to do, Aira, we have your back. All the way.”
“Thank you,” I said.
The door opened again and Kailey and Emma stepped outside.
“You’re going to want that,” Emma said, nodding to the piece of paper.
“I’m sorry I never told you about it,” I said.
“You don’t need to do that,” Kailey said. “We all have secrets, Aira. But what’s stronger than secrets are friendships.”
“And baseball bats,” Emma added.
“That’s very true,” I said. “I still can’t believe this. That Mika went that far to spy on me. To look at me like that when I didn’t know. And then somehow Ryland got my combo. Those two fuckers…”
“Open the piece of paper,” Charlotte said.
I slowly unfolded it.
It was a handwritten note.
Well, not a note.
But a secret.
About Mika.
I gasped when I read it.
I looked up from the paper and Kailey, Charlotte, and Emma were stone faced.
“Is this true?” I asked.
“Completely true,” Emma said.
“Why did you write it down?”
“So you can read it,” Charlotte said. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“It’s horrible, right?” Kailey asked.
I read the note again.
I folded it in half.
“So this is what we do?” I asked. “She exposes my secret and I expose hers?”
“Yeah,” Kailey said.
I shook my head. “No. I’m not going to do that.”
“What?” Charlotte asked. “You have to-”
“No,” I said. I tucked the note into my pocket. “But you can do something else for me.”
“What?” Emma asked.
“Make it seem like I’m in my bedroom,” I said. “And keep Julia away.”
“Where are you going?” Kailey asked.
I curled my lip. “I’m going to do this the right way.”
I saw Mika sipping a smoothie with Kaci and Nelle.
I wasted no time and walked right up to the table.
When Mika looked at me, she gasped.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “They let you out? Surprised you’re not in a white coat. Seeing how fucking crazy you are.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “You think this is a game, don’t you?”
“No. I’m really nervous for you. I mean… wow. I knew you were ugly but what were you thinking? Trying to make yourself pretty?”
Kaci and Nelle giggled.
“Fuck you,” I said to them.
“Careful, girls,” Mika said. “I think I’m going to call the police. Just to be safe.”
I grabbed Mika’s phone and ripped it out of her hand.
She gasped and her face turned white.
“I’ll do it then,” Kaci said. “This is harassment.”
I slowly put the phone down. “No. This isn’t harassment. I came to thank you.”
“Thank me?” Mika asked.
“Yeah. I had been hiding that secret for a long time. It was something I used to do. Not anymore though. But I’m glad it’s out in the open. I have nothing else to hide.”
“Yeah right,” Mika said. "You're screwed. Henders is going to send you away. This isn’t going to go away with a happy attitude, Aira. Why don’t you just go cut yourself some more.”
I took the words and hid them behind my anger.
I had the secret of all secrets in my pocket.
One that would ruin Mika.
But I wasn’t going to do that.
I was doing things differently.
“Just tell me how you got into my locker,” I said. “Give me that.”
“Simple,” Mika said. “Ryland overhead you telling Wes. I guess you couldn’t get into it?”
“Right.” Fucking Ryland. “You know, Ryland follows me because he wants me. He wants to fuck me, Mika. He wants to fuck me so bad. And maybe I’m just messed up enough to do it. I mean, think about it. Crazy girl like me… I’d let him do anything to me… to hide the pain…”
Mika’s face turned bright red. “He’ll never love you.”
“He’ll never love you either,” I said.
“Please. That’s not going to hurt me.”
“I know,” I said. “You’re a cold, ruthless cunt. And I sort of respect that. But I do know what will hurt you.”
“Oh
yeah?” Mika asked. “What?”
I smiled.
And I swung.
I punched Mika as hard as I could, right in the nose. She was expecting bitchy words or a secret, but no, I wasn’t going to do that. I wanted a better message.
And that message was sent.
Mika flew back off the bench and hit the ground hard.
Kaci and Nelle jumped up.
“Enjoy that,” I said to Mika as she burst into tears.
I turned and walked away.
Now I needed to find Wes and kiss him.
Chapter 27
Aira
It had been the longest day of my life.
News had spread instantly about me punching Mika.
It was only a matter of time before it got into the halls of HCH and that meant Miss Carson would be calling Julia about it.
Then I’d get more hell.
I told everyone to go home and I promised Julia I would be on the deck or down at the water. I wasn’t going to go out of sight. She had to run to the store to get groceries and told me when she got back I had to talk to my mother. That was a conversation I wasn’t looking forward to. But at least I could guide it the way I wanted it to go.
I had to hide my swollen hand from Julia and I was happy when she left so I could get ice on it. I stood outside on the deck with the soft beach breeze playing with my hair and a bag of frozen corn on my hand. It throbbed pretty bad but I didn’t think anything was broken.
Other than Mika’s nose.
The piece of paper with her secret was still in my pocket.
And it was pretty clear that everyone in Hidden really did have something to hide.
I wasn’t in the mood to go down that road though.
Mika found out first hand what would happen if you messed with me.
Simple as that.
And the fact that Kaci and Nelle did nothing about it proved they were useless.
I hated them. With a deep passion.
Even if my stomach flipped a little, knowing Mika probably didn’t mean to be the raging bitch she was. But even still, she really fucked me over. I had no idea what Principal Henders was going to do with me. He could get the police involved and I could be in really hot water. Which meant I had to basically grovel to Miss Carson and Julia, proving to them I wasn’t the person they thought.
I shook my head and flipped the frozen corn over because the one side wasn’t all that frozen anymore.
Hidden Creek Secrets (Hidden Creek High Book 1) Page 20