“Pretty night for a pretty girl.”
I turned and saw Wes stepping up on the deck, smoking a cigarette.
“Wes,” I whispered.
“Darling,” he said.
I dropped the frozen corn to the deck and ran toward him.
As I jumped into his arms, I had no idea what he was going to do.
But he caught me.
He held me.
He hugged me so fucking tight my eyes filled with tears of relief and happiness.
When he put me down, I touched his cheeks.
I was in a cloud of his smoke which he took care of by flicking the cigarette away.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered.
“Never,” he said. “I told you that before, Aira. You don’t apologize to me.”
“I thought it was you.”
“That’s what they wanted.”
“You have to be mad at me,” I said. “You have to hate me a little.”
“I can’t,” Wes said.
“You’re supposed to be a tough guy. Stop acting like a pussy and hate me.”
Wes grinned.
My throat squeezed shut.
He really loves me.
Wes bent down and kissed me.
All the anger and pain washed right away.
I reached for his hair and when I curled my right hand I groaned and jumped back in pain.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
I showed him my hand.
“What the hell…”
“I punched Mika in the face.”
“What?” Wes asked.
“That’s right. I found the bitch and I punched her. Kailey and the others wanted me to do something else but I wanted to do it right. Fuck with me and I fuck back.”
“Oh, damn, darling,” Wes said. “I’ve never loved you as much as I do right now.”
“I learned from the best, Wes,” I said with a smile.
He cupped my face. “You’re so fucking strong and beautiful, Aira. Remember that. You’re better than this and them. You’ll get through this.”
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry about me. I’m not going anywhere.”
“I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did to Ryland and that picture. I should have known…”
“It’s okay,” Wes whispered. “I didn’t want you to get mad at me. Or think the wrong thing. That whole situation is a mess. You have to trust me. And that’s hard to ask because of everything that happened today and in your life.”
“I do trust you.”
“Who’s home right now?” Wes asked.
“Nobody. Julia ran to the st-”
Wes kissed me again. He lifted me off my feet and started to walk.
I wiggled my way out of his perfect kiss. “Wes…”
“We’ll have to hurry. I’ve burned a lot of bridges today, darling. Last thing I need is Julia to hate me.”
“Oh, I already think she does.”
“Great. Then I have nothing to worry about.”
He kissed me again and I melted into him.
Oh… he was going to be the death of me…
I bit my lip as my back arched at the feeling of him between my legs. If the first night with Wes was great then this was heaven. It was more than heaven. The way he tore my shorts off me and fell to his knees before me. Then teased my panties down, so slowly, knowing it was making my heart race because there was a chance Julia would be home at any second.
When he kissed below my belly button, I tapped his shoulder.
I was done right there on the spot.
He kept going down until he kissed somewhere else, which instantly brought me to my toes as I gasped for air.
He wrote his name, staking his claim, and then kissed back up and finally stood up.
It made it even hotter that he just dropped his jeans to his ankles and left my hoodie on. We were there on the bed for one reason and one reason only.
That was for him to take me and pleasure me.
Which he did.
And after the long fucked up day we both had, this was needed.
I clawed at the back of his shirt as his tongue tickled the crook of my neck.
Each time he thrust forward it was a whole new set of feelings that surged through me.
We made noise at the same time.
And when I needed a kiss, he was there to kiss me.
Again, as though he could read my mind.
I touched his face and kept him two inches above mine.
My eyes racing left to right to look at his eyes.
Our breaths tangled up like our feelings as he moved faster, harder, grunting as I felt him getting more and more ready to end.
His left hand crept under my hoodie and under my bra so he could touch me.
I shut my eyes for a second and he kissed me.
For whatever reason that was the final spark to send me over the edge.
We kept kissing as he moved even faster.
I loved that he was testing me. Seeing how far I could go and how far he could go. And I never felt more safe or comfortable in all my life.
Wes broke the kiss as he began to finish.
We stared into each other’s eyes, feeling the exact thing at the same time.
That was the moment I heard the front door slam.
“Fuck,” I managed to say in a breathless voice.
We scrambled to fix ourselves, Wes darting to the corner of my bedroom. He pointed to the window and I shook my head.
“Sneak to the deck,” I whispered. “I’ll distract her.”
My heart raced for a hundred reasons.
I smiled at Wes as I pulled up my shorts and buttoned them.
At my door we kissed one more time, ready to face everything together.
Sort of.
I opened the door and found Julia in the kitchen.
“Look, I survived,” I said.
“That’s not funny,” she said. “At all.”
“Can I be honest?”
“With?”
“Wes is here.”
Julia frowned. “Why?”
“He’s on the deck. He stopped over to check on me.”
“Hey, Julia, sorry to be here,” Wes’s voice said.
My face burned hot.
“Weslee,” Julia said.
“Was out on the deck,” he said. “That’s all.”
“What is this with you two?” she asked.
“What it should have been all along,” Wes said as he took my hand. “What I always knew. And I thought I was doing the right thing with Aira. I’m sorry I didn’t say something to you.”
“Are you serious, Weslee?” Julia asked.
“Yes,” he said. “And we know who did this to her. And I promise you that Aira is perfect. I’ll always be here to keep her safe.”
I had to keep my hand hidden from Julia.
She pointed a knife at us as she took a break from cutting up an apple. “I don’t know what I’m going to do or say about you two just yet. But know this…” Julia groaned. “Aira, you need to talk to you mother.”
“I’d like to be here when she does,” Wes said. “For support.”
“I’m going to eat an apple and wonder what the hell I have gotten myself into,” Julia said.
I looked at Wes and we both smiled.
I took out my phone and had to call my mother.
I prayed for voicemail but she picked up on the first ring.
“Hey, dear,” her voice slurred.
“Mom,” I said. “We need to talk.”
“I was just about to call you,” she said. “We do need to talk. I have to tell you something.”
Her voice broke up a little.
“Mom? Are you okay?”
“No,” she said. “Oh, Aira, it’s not okay at all.”
I looked at Wes and Julia.
I shook my head.
The doorbell rang.
All our eyes went to the door.
When J
ulia answered, there was a cop there.
“Dusty,” Julia.
“Mom, wait a second,” I said. “Something…”
“Everything is gone for no good reason,” Mom said. “And you need to know the truth. What happened.”
“What?” I asked.
I watched as Dusty pointed toward me.
Ohgod, he knows about me punching Mika. The bitch went to the cops and now I’m going to get arrested for it…
“… done on purpose…”
Mom’s voice trailed off.
“Wait,” I yelled into the phone. “Mom, give me a second.”
“I can’t!” she screamed. “Someone burned down our house on purpose!”
My heart stopped as I gasped.
Dusty walked toward me but I reached for Wes.
I looked at him.
“What did you do?” I asked Wes.
“What I had to do,” he said. “To protect you. To keep my promise.”
“Wes…”
“It’ll be okay,” he said.
“Did you hear me, Aira?” my mother yelled from the phone.
I held my phone out and started to shake.
“What’s wrong?” Julia asked me.
“S-s-someone burned down the house on purpose,” I whispered.
“No,” Wes said.
He took a step and Dusty pulled at his arms. “We have to go, Weslee. Don’t make me hurt you.”
My eyes filled with tears. “What did you do to him, Wes?”
Wes shook his head as Dusty dragged him out of the house.
“Hello?” Julia asked into the phone as she took it from me.
I watched her face drop with the shocking news from my mother.
I kept shaking as I started to step back.
Someone burned down my house and almost killed me.
And now Wes had been taken away in cuffs because he…
I lowered my head and started to cry.
I found a little strength and ran forward.
When I got outside, I got to watch the police car drive away, Wes in the backseat looking at me.
I reached out to the night and grasped at nothing but air.
I fell to my knees.
I wanted to scream but I had no voice.
I had no house either.
And I had no Wes to save me.
And one question burned in my head.
What am I going to do now?
Want more #hch?
Book 2 is titled HIDDEN CREEK LOVE and it’s AVAILABLE … just go to Amazon.com and type in ‘Jaxson Kidman Hidden Creek Love’ to order your copy today!
But… here’s a little preview of the book before you order!
HIDDEN CREEK LOVE
Chapter 1
Aira
“Hand check!” Julia’s voice cried out before she opened the bedroom door.
I sat with my legs crossed on my bed as I jotted some stuff down in a notebook. I hated the idea of writing out my thoughts and feelings, but Miss Carson suggested it, and quite frankly, I was sort of at her mercy for the moment.
Now, back to Julia for a second. I had to give her credit for trying really hard to be more like a mother and not so much like a friend. But announcing her arrival each time she busted into my room only gave me a chance to hide stuff.
That was, if she really thought I had anything else to hide.
In some weird way, I think she wanted to find me doing something stupid or wrong. Not in a bad way, but in a caring way. My darkest secret was exposed thanks to Ryland and Mika, and there was no coming back from that. But my secret had mostly stayed at my old house. You know, that one that was burned to the ground by someone.
Someone. Arson.
The words made me feel icky.
As did many other things in the town of Hidden and in the halls of HCH.
Honestly, it was just too much to think about.
I had my hands in the air as Julia looked around.
I felt for her. She was so pretty. I mean, for her age and all, she looked young. She worked hard to support herself, owning her own little bakery in town, never once complaining about the hours or what it took to survive. Secretly, she was in love with Jett, even though I could never get her to talk about it. And she had been living a normal life until she decided to help me out by letting me stay with her.
And it wasn’t like she could kick me out either.
I had nowhere else to go.
My father was still traveling for business.
My mother was still drowning herself in wine, claiming she was staying away from the investigation on what happened to the house.
To me, none of it added up or made much sense.
Then again, maybe I just watched too much TV. You know, those shows only have an hour to get to the crime and solve it, right?
Julia walked to my dresser and touched it.
“Go ahead,” I said. “Open it.”
“I hate this, Aira,” she said.
“So do I.”
Julia opened the drawer.
It was socks, undies, and thongs.
I had a few really crazy looking things that I purposely put on top to give Julia a gasp. I mean, this stuff was basically twisted up shoelaces. I had no idea what part rested where, but the point was made when Julia shut the drawer.
She pointed to the nightstand.
I opened it. “Nothing out of the ordinary here either.”
“Close the drawer,” she said.
“You don’t want to count my condom collection? Or how many toys I have?”
Julia’s cheeks went flush. “Aira…”
“I’m kidding,” I said.
I don’t keep condoms here. Wes always brings enough. And for toys… well… I have Wes and his amazing, thick…
“I really hate this,” Julia said.
“You know, Miss Carson keeps telling me to use positive and happy words.”
“Right,” Julia said.
She slowly sat down on the edge of my bed. Which left me uneasy. For good reason too.
“Where did you keep it?” she asked.
“I already told you that,” I said. “In my bag. There’s a hidden front pouch. I kept it there. And it wasn’t anything… whatever.”
Julia touched my hand. “And you feel okay right now?”
I’d feel okay if you left the room so I could get back to what I was doing.
“I promise,” I said.
“I just can’t imagine it. I know I shouldn’t talk about it. But you’re such a pretty young woman, Aira. You have the world in front of you. And I can’t believe that things would get that way. That you would cut yourself for relief.”
I lowered my head. “I know.”
“But let’s talk about happy things then.”
I lifted my gaze. “No. That’s a lie.”
“Oh?”
“If you sit there and force yourself to talk about happy things all the time, it just makes the bad sit there. Why do you think my parents are the way they are?”
“Fair enough.”
“And I like Miss Carson. But she’s a weirdo.”
“She’s the only reason you didn’t get into serious trouble.”
“Which is why I talk to her all the time,” I said. “If you want to look through my stuff, Julia, I’m okay with it. You have every right to do so. I understand why. But I’ve been telling the truth since it happened.”
Julia inched toward me. “This is new for me.”
“I know.”
“You didn’t tell your mother what happened. Neither did I. She’s not in the state of mind to hear it. But I’m sure the school has been in touch.”
“And I’m sure she just said the right thing to make it go away,” I said.
“Do you want to talk about the fire?”
“Nothing to talk about.”
“Aira… someone did that on purpose. Which meant…”
I titled my head. “What? That someone wanted to murder me?”
Julia swallowed hard. “This is hard. I just want to hug you and squeeze it all away.”
“You can hug me, Julia. That won’t make anything go away though. But I’m doing what I’m supposed to do.”
“I know you are. And so am I.”
“Which is why I hide my drugs and porn somewhere outside the house.”
“Oh, jeez,” Julia said as she touched her forehead.
I laughed. “I’m kidding with you.”
“I know. But still…”
“Julia, I’m writing in my notebook. I’m showing up to class every day. I eat lunch with Miss Carson when she wants me to.”
“You could come to the bakery and fill in some of those extra hours with work,” Julia said.
“Yeah. About that.”
“What?”
“I think I’m going to go get a job. Somewhere else.”
“What?”
“Just listen,” I said. “I love the bakery. I really do. But I want something that’s for me. My own thing.”
“You don’t need…”
“You just said I need it,” I said.
“Well, yeah, at my bakery.”
“So you can watch me.”
“Is that wrong?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “But I would like to do my own thing. I don’t care what my parents have or what they’ve already given me.”
“You just want to do your own thing,” Julia said.
“Yeah,” I said. “I have no idea where or anything like that. I just wanted to tell you that. And I want you to know that I appreciate everything you’ve done.”
“It was really shitty what happened to you, Aira,” Julia said. “We can go after them…”
“No,” I said. “Believe me. I know I haven’t been here long but believe me, there’s a way to handle these things.”
“Like Wes did? Getting arrested in front of you when you found out your house fire was arson?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. Right.”
“Well?”
“Well what?” I asked. “He could have done worse. Ryland was lucky all Wes did was trash his motorcycle.”
“I think Wes is the lucky one,” Julia said. “Because if he hurt Ryland, he’d still be in jail. And I think Wes is lucky to have you. But I’m not sure about you two together. It’s like this…”
“Like you and Jett?” I threw at Julia.
She stood up. “That’s your low blow, huh?”
Hidden Creek Secrets (Hidden Creek High Book 1) Page 21