Midnight Secrets

by Rita Stradling

  “Listen up!” Justin called over the crowd. “The party is over. Get your booze and drugs and your shit and get the fuck out of my house.”

  Everyone gaped at him, probably waiting for Justin to tell them it was a joke. Instead, he pointed to the top of the hill.

  “I’m going to say this one time: do not throw a party at this house without my express permission again. I don’t need the mess or the heat from my parents. There are taxis at the top of the hill. I could give a fuck where you take your party, but it’s not going to be here.” People finally started moving, and Justin called out one final message, “Oh, and don’t even think about leaving me a big fucking mess.”

  The crowd filtered out achingly slowly, and more than one person tried to find an excuse to stay. When Mitch walked by Justin and brazenly grabbed out the mini-keg, Justin growled, “I’m serious, Mitch. Throw parties at your own house.”

  My new least favorite person on Earth patted his own chest and said, “Why would I? Mitch Holter, remember?” Mitch glared at me as he passed and said, “See you soon, housekeeper’s kid.”

  When everyone had finally left, Justin and I shared a patio recliner. Bailey snoozed on the ground beside us, blissfully unaware of how close she’d been to being attacked by an asshole. “Was that as cathartic as you thought it would be?”

  “It will be if it sticks,” Justin said. “I wouldn’t mind if I never saw my cousin Mitch again aside from family events and holidays . . . or ever. What did he say to you?”

  “That he was going to kick Bailey. I was this close to punching him in the crotch.” I held up my fingers. “And, I’m not a violent person.”

  Justin threaded his hands behind his head. “Mitch is something they call an Elite. Meaning, he has a particular skill set that makes him very important to the Hawthorn Group and, therefore, virtually untouchable. Unfortunately, there are a couple like him at Blackburn Academy and even more in the Hawthorn Group.”

  I pivoted to look into his face. “Justin, are you going to fall in line with what they want and keep all this a secret?”

  “Yes.” He seemed a little surprised that I even asked.

  “Then your friends will never know why you acted the way you did last year. That’s fucked. Blackburn Academy shouldn’t get away with covering up what they did to you.” I shook my head.

  Justin’s golden eyes were still inspecting mine. “What do you know?”

  “They sent you on a mission to kill me. You figured out that I was a dhampir, and so you hid my existence for a year. You pretended to be an asshole and divided your school to stop the missions. And, if you never tell your friends that Blackburn sent you out to kill me, they’ll never understand why you acted the way you did.”

  His free hand came up and wrapped around the back of my neck. “You weren’t the first that the Hawthorn Group tracked down, and you won’t be the last. I did what I did to protect my friends, January. I hid you because I wouldn’t kill an innocent person and I didn’t want to allow any of my friends to have that on their soul either. At least, that’s how it started. You don’t know how amazing it is to be able to tell you this stuff.”

  “Yeah.” I kissed his shoulder. “You scared the life out of me yesterday. If I had known, I would have never pushed you to tell me anything. I hate them for that alone.”

  “January, honestly, I’m going to put all of that shit aside until the vampire who is chasing you is caught. There’s only one place that you’ll be safe. They’re going to use that to keep me in line. They wouldn’t be the Hawthorn Group if they didn’t have some angle or some catch. Blackburn Academy itself is great, though. You’ll be safe there.”

  “What is the Hawthorn Group?” I asked.

  “Name sounds harmless, doesn’t it?” A muscle ticked in Justin’s jaw. “That’s the organization that my father is the CEO of. If you survive long enough to graduate from Blackburn, you graduate into the Hawthorn Group, and you never stop being a member. They’re the ones who sent me after you — not Blackburn Academy.”

  “So, you’re just going to let everyone think the worst of you?” I asked. The very idea made me feel sick to my stomach. Justin had been protecting his friends from murdering people, and they were just going to go on believing that he was an elitist bully.

  He ran a hand up my neck, sliding his fingers behind my hair. “Fuck my reputation. I’ve never cared about it before.”

  It was so much more than just his reputation, and he knew that.

  He leaned in, pressing his forehead against mine. “January, yesterday I was ready to flee to Canada with you. Do you really think I’m going to think twice about this?”

  I slid my hand over his cheek. “It’s not right.”

  “Yes, it is. This, here, is right. And, this here is what I care about, okay? Fuck the Hawthorne Group’s agenda. If they keep you safe, then I’ll pay their price. I could give a fuck, okay?”

  I kissed him. I didn’t care that we were sitting out in the open, I climbed fully up onto Justin’s lap and kissed the boy for all I was worth. My lips sucked and caressed his while his arms wrapped around me and gripped me tighter to him. My whole body ignited at his touch, but the warmth went so much deeper. I had got Justin all wrong and even thinking that he was a selfish asshole, I’d been falling for him.

  He wasn’t. Justin was the most selfless person that I’d ever met, and it broke my heart that only I would know that. I alone would keep the secret of the sacrifice Justin made for his friends and me. Everyone else would think that he was cruel. I hated the Hawthorn Group for that. They had sent this boy to murder me, and, instead, he fed me his own blood to protect me. “Last time we were here, you said you were hiding me from two groups of people while you were trying to figure something out. I figured out that you meant that you were hiding me from the vampires and the Hawthorn Group, but what were you trying to figure out?”

  He watched me for a few moments of silence before he sighed. “I promise that I will tell you, just not yet. It’s too dangerous, and the one thing you don’t need right now is to be put in more danger.”

  “Fine, Justin Roberts,” I said on a sigh. “Continue to be ever enigmatic.”

  “Hey, January.”

  “Hey, what?”

  Justin squeezed me tighter to him. “Would you be my girlfriend?”

  I laughed. “Duh.”

  He lifted his brows and smirked. “You really have a flair for the romantic.”

  I kissed him softly, a couple of times, and then pulled back. “I think I’ve been falling in love with you for a while, Justin Roberts, and it’s been scaring the shit out of me.”

  “Does that mean you’ll stop making a habit of breaking up with me every five minutes? Because that shit was getting annoying.”

  “Seriously?” I glared. “I just said that I’m falling for you, and you immediately use it against me.”

  Like the guy couldn’t just let us have a sweet moment.

  He narrowed his eyes. “Are you going to break up with me already?”

  “Uh, no. I might end up killing you because you’re so freaking annoying, but I’ll do it while you’re still my boyfriend.”

  “Good.” He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me quickly. “And I love you, January. You probably won’t hear that very much from me, but you can just know that it’s true, and it’s going to continue to be true whether or not you keep breaking up with me every five minutes.”

  “That is like the most aggravating declaration of love ever,” I grumbled, but my heart was soaring in the clouds.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Another thing my mother always used to say was, “Your father never really left us.” I’d always thought it was sweet and sad, especially coming from my mother, who rarely expressed any emotion save for bitterness. I didn’t think it was sweet anymore. My father never really left. He was stalking the streets of Brightside each night. Remembering the oft-repeated phrase sent a chill down my spine, and it had nothing
to do with the massive air-conditioning machines that rained misty air onto the crowd.

  I stood squeezed deep within the throng cluttered inside Building B. The final scores were displayed above us. A nervous excitement held the crowd captive, and I heard more than one person whisper that there was always a chance that the twelve scholarship spots could be awarded to someone not on the list.

  “Tenth place, not too shabby, Blondie,” Zack said as he held me around the shoulders.

  Somehow, I’d found myself in a Baldwin brother sandwich, and Zack held me close to one side while Lucas and I had an arm around each other’s backs. It was weird how close I felt to these boys with only knowing them a week. But yet, it felt right to be standing between them as we waited for the scholarship announcement. Susie stood to Zack’s other side, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders too. To my shock, the entire Bad Boys Club had rolled down my driveway in a line of cars, ready to take me to the announcement.

  Justin had insisted on staying the night on the couch and passed out well before my grandmother arrived home, something that Nana had taken in stride. This morning, he’d come into my room, given me a kiss, and then said that he’d be busy all day, but he’d sleep on my couch tonight again if I’d let him. I’d wanted to invite him to sleep in my bed, but there was no way in hell my nana would be okay with that. As sleep fell away, my belly started churning with so much resentment toward the Hawthorn Group that I hadn’t even planned on going.

  In the end, I wasn’t here for my achievement. I was here for the Bad Boys Club members who helped me when there was nothing in it for them. I was here for my nana who stood with hands fisted and eyes wide before me, staring at the dais like it might erupt in flame at any moment.

  “You’ve got this, chicky,” Mia said from directly behind me. “The top ten always get in.”

  “I don’t know,” Patrick muttered from beside Mia. “I don’t think anyone with that low of a Character Trial score has ever made it in.”

  His words had me looking at the Character Trial scores of the other applicants. I couldn’t help but notice that every other score up there had a grade nine aside from my twelve. Across the board, everyone had a ninety-nine or ninety-eight on their character trial. I had a whooping eighty-seven.

  “Meaning,” Mia said, heavily, “that the classist judges tried to push January out in the only subjective trial, but she still made the top ten. What did you get on that very subjective trial, Patrick?”

  Zack leaned in to whisper into my ear. “Can you believe that those two are banging it out on the sly?”

  “You are such a — freaking — liar?” I whispered, catching my f-bomb near slip within five feet of Nana.

  Zack’s eyes glittered with mischief, and he nodded over to his brother. “Hey, Lucas, Blondie doesn’t believe me about . . .” He paused to nod behind him, “You know what.”

  “Hard to believe.” Lucas chuckled and shook his head. “But, Mia’s right. The top ten always make it in. You’re golden.”

  “And, Patrick is going to be crying, because he bet me a thousand dollars that you wouldn’t make it in,” Zack added. “And, I don’t have a thousand dollars, so if they pass you over, Blondie, you and I are storming that stage. Got it?”

  “Seriously?” I leaned out a little to peer at Zack, who was wearing a confident-looking grin. “When did you make this bet?”

  “Two days ago, between the Patrick dinner fiasco and us staying over at your place.” Lucas rubbed the top of his head and rolled his eyes. “Zack just can’t let a bet pass him by. I told him to leave it to Mia, but no, Zack just had to double the guy.”

  “So, if I get the scholarship . . .”

  Susie leaned forward and said past Zack, “If you get the scholarship, Patrick has to pay a thousand dollars to both Mia and Zack, clean out my dorm room for two months, clean Richard’s car, eat ten hot dogs in twenty minutes — that one was from Lucas — and he has to help Braiden at his family’s ranch for three months of weekends. We did a group chat.”

  I covered my chest, feeling my heart swell with affection for these amazing people. They had all bet on me, meaning, they believed in me. Sure, they had my back, but I didn’t think they actually thought I could pull it off. Patrick was going to have one hell of a shitty September. It probably wouldn’t make him like me any more than he did now, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that the thought brought me some satisfaction.

  A silence fell as several people took the stage. I recognized three of them immediately, the matronly Principal Chambers, Purple Hair, and Mustache Man. Several others joined them on the dais, though I didn’t see the three professors who held me down through the Character Trial. They all lined up to the back of the raised dais as Principal Chambers stepped to the front.

  Principal Chambers took the microphone, and the feed screeched for a second before settling into a low buzz. All around me, people stood straight, staring at the dais with hope in their eyes. I wanted to feel that way.

  “Welcome back, everyone,” the principal called out with a smile as she looked over the crowd. As you well know, Blackburn has twelve founding families that offer grants of admission every year. We will be calling them up in a minute, but before we do, we’d like to announce those students who were not working toward a scholarship and took place in some or all of the trials and were granted admission.” Principal Chambers read off a list of a hundred names, and after she was finished gave the microphone over to a line of couples who took the stage during her speech. Each pair approached the front with warm but practiced smiles. They read off the first name from the scoreboard when a man walked up the stairs and onto the dais.

  Man was an exaggeration. The guy was wearing a tailored suit but couldn’t be older than twenty. Everything from the guy’s size to his surly demeanor was intimidating. He was huge, maybe six foot three and wide in the chest. Dark brown hair fell over his brown eyes. He had a sharp chin, high cheekbones, and an upturned nose.

  Both Baldwin brothers sucked in a breath as the man crossed to the front and took the microphone from the couple standing there. They gave it up like they were afraid to be within ten feet of the much younger guy. The moment this man stepped into the room, the entire energy of the auditorium seemed to change from nervous excitement to just plain tense.

  “What is it? Who is that?” I asked.

  Lucas’ brows lifted. “That would be the owner of the Hawthorn Group. His parents gifted it to him on his graduation from Blackburn a year ago.”

  “Justin’s cousin,” Zack said as he glared at the front. “Sebastian Holter. We threw a graduation party for him at the end of our sophomore year — as in we popped bottles of champagne in celebration that he was gone. We call him Prime.”

  Susie leaned out and mouthed, “Prime-Evil.”

  “You guys sure do love your nicknames. Would this be Mitch Holter’s older brother, because I got to meet that lovely guy yesterday. He threatened to kick Bailey.”

  “There are three Holter brothers, and Mitch is widely regarded as the nice one.” Zack shook his head. “Tyler Holter is a sadistic little shit, but at least he’s a couple of years behind.”

  “Hello,” Sebastian called, grabbing all of our attention back to the front. “As the new owner of the Hawthorn Group, I have decided to offer my own personal scholarship to one student this year, freeing up another space. I’ll choose a name at random to receive the first-ever Hawthorn Group Grant.”

  An excited murmur rose through the crowd as Sebastian looked up toward the board. He turned back, and the guy’s intent gaze landed directly on me. “The first ever Hawthorn Group Grant will go to January Moore.”

  I stood there, transfixed by the man’s terrifying gaze.

  “January!” A voice called out from just beside me.

  I turned, only to realize that everyone around me was cheering and shouting. Nana spun and wrapped me in a hug, and it took me a moment to loosen enough to return it. Zack gave me thumbs up while
Susie reached in for a hug as well. Mia patted me on the shoulder and shouted something I couldn’t quite catch.

  Lucas laughed and gestured to the front. “Go.”

  I nodded and headed up through the crowd, not really wanting to get anywhere close to the stage. Richard gave me a high five from where he sat at the front of the crowd, telling me I deserved this. My guess was that he was saying that I deserved great things. I didn’t think being the first ever recipient of the Hawthorn Group Grant was a great thing.

  I stepped onto the dais and walked across to where Sebastian Holter had already handed off his microphone and waited for me to thank him. Holding my breath, I stepped before him and slid my hand into his. His fingers wrapped around mine and his nostrils flared. His eyes met mine, and they were hard as stone. I had this bizarre thought that Sebastian Holter was a demon.

  I shook my head, hoping to yank myself out of my trance. After clearing my throat, I managed to say, “Thank you.”

  His hand gripped mine. “The Hawthorn Group will be very invested and involved in your education this year.”

  I pulled my hand away, and he let me go. “Thanks.”

  The principal met my gaze and gestured to the side of the stage, and I rushed away from the owner of the Hawthorn Group and his demon eyes.

  Two hours later, I still wasn’t quite able to shake off the feeling of foreboding. I found myself line dancing at Sammy’s Dance Hall with not just Lucas, his aunt Pam, and Nana, but the entire Bad Boys Club. The place was a big open room with barn-sized doors that were completely open to the elements. Bulb lights hung on strings throughout the space, leading outside to where a small garden and series of bench tables waited. Almost everyone danced a couple of songs and then headed out to the garden patio tables, talking and laughing. Therefore, I again found myself in a Baldwin brother sandwich, as the two guys kicked, danced, and moved along with the crowd.

  “I told you that you’d be third wheeling it,” Zack said as the beats of the country song slowed. “Yes, thank you for coming.”