UnMasked

by Yara Gharios

  “I don’t want to go out,” she protests when we try coaxing her to do leave the house. “You know, I finally get why Zoey was always on that stupid phone. Me, I’ve got my DVDs, and I don’t need anything else!”

  “You think she got through this because she never got off her phone?” I reply sarcastically. I know it’s kind of rude, but she needs a wakeup call. “No, it was facing it and meeting the guy that helped her get over it.”

  Sadie looks down at her lap and plays with her fingers, everything to avoid looking at us. “Look, I know, okay? She’s stronger than I am.”

  “That’s not what we’re saying and you know it,” Cade steps in. “You’re strong too, Sade. I know you, and you can’t stay mad for very long, especially not at your dad.”

  I follow his lead as he sits by her side and holds her hand. “Look, I know you’re feeling betrayed right now, but it happened eighteen years ago for just one night. He loved your mom just as much as you and Zoey.”

  “Cade’s right. You’re not someone who can hold a grudge for long,” I second. “Besides, I think what you need is a simple closure, and maybe meeting this guy is what it takes for you to get that.”

  We’re avoiding calling him her brother to her face, since she flinched when we did the first time. But it’s not like I know his name, so I can only refer to him as ‘the guy’. Reluctantly, Sadie agrees to meet him, just as long as Cade will be with her when she does.

  A few days later, they leave together to stay in the old pack house for a while, because it’s closer to where the guy’s mother lives and where he’s staying for the summer, according to Zoey. I have a feeling Cade is trying to get her to do more than just meet the guy. My suspicions are confirmed before they leave, when he takes me aside for a moment.

  “I’ve got a plan,” he says to me.

  I cock my head sideways. “Plotting how to murder the guy if he hurts her? Count me in. I’ll hold his arms behind his back and you can kick the crap out of him.”

  He gives me an amused half smile. “Really? Even at times like this, you can’t be serious?”

  I smirk. “It’s like you don’t know me at all.”

  “Well, this is important, so can you make an effort?”

  Looking over his shoulder at Sadie leaning against the car with her gaze aimed at the gravel road and a glazed look in her eyes, I put all joking aside. “What’s your plan?”

  “I’m going to convince them get to know each other, but I’m going to do it as discreetly as I can,” he says. “At this point, I’m not sure how much I can push her. Having this guy in her life might be a good thing. She’s always looked for some link to her father.”

  I frown. “You do realize there’s a slim chance they’ll be calling each other brother and sister that easily, right?”

  He sighs. “I know, but I have to try something.”

  “What do you need me for? You can’t be telling me this to get some of my wisdom.”

  “Yeah,” he hesitates. “How would you feel about coming to Maine?”

  My eyes widen. “You want me to go with you?”

  “Not right now. If –when she needs you, would you consider coming for a few days?”

  I’m not very pleased with this idea. I’ve never been away from home, except for the beach trip, but that was for fun and just one night. More than that, I’ve never been away from my family.

  “Cade, I think Zoey might be your better option,” I suggest.

  “I asked her to come, too, with you. Please, Dyl, do it for Sadie. She would do it for you.”

  Ah, the sympathy card, I sigh.

  Of course, I know she’d do it for me. She’s a good friend like that.

  “Fine,” I agree. “If she really needs me, I’ll drive up there with Zoey and Logan.”

  Confused, Cade frowns. “Logan? I didn’t –”

  “I still have a secret to keep. I can’t go anywhere unfamiliar by myself, and my parents wouldn’t allow it anyway,” I remind him.

  Neither would Logan, since it would break our deal, but that’s not really a factor. My parents are legally responsible for me. I have to listen to them until I’m eighteen. However, being my boyfriend doesn’t give Logan the right to make my decisions for me. If I want to be there for my friend, he can’t stop me. He can come with me, but he can’t tell me not to go.

  “Alright, if that’s what you want,” Cade easily accepts. “Thanks, I owe you.”

  I shrug dramatically. “Obviously, your life is mine.”

  Chuckling, he raises his fist for me to bump before he turns around to join Sadie. Suddenly, something occurs to me, and I stop him before he steps out the door.

  “Wait, Cade.” He looks back expectantly. “You know, graduation came and went, and I still don’t see a ring.”

  He attempts to smile. “I know. She wasn’t sober enough after the party, and since then, it’s been one excuse after another.”

  “You’re stalling,” I state, a little surprised. “Why? Are you nervous? That’s normal.”

  “A little, but not because I’m afraid she’ll say no,” he admits. “What I had in mind would have worked when she graduated, but when that failed, I started having doubts. I made up my mind again at the beach, but then… you know.”

  I give him a reassuring smile. “I get it. Right now is just bad timing.”

  He nods. “Exactly. I’m thinking this can wait a few months, anyway. I’m not in a hurry.”

  “Yeah, you’ve got plenty of time,” I assure him. “What’s important now is to be there for her.”

  Cade simply thanks me. I watch him and Sadie leave, my eyes on their retreating car.

  I’ve got a week until I’m eighteen, I think.

  I may or may not need to take a trip to Maine during this time, since I’m pretty sure Cade and Sadie will never miss my birthday.

  What am I going to do until then?

  I smirk to myself and go inside to look for Logan.

  CHAPTER 22

  Here’s the thing about boyfriends: I’ve come to learn that having one means you’re always distracted. I can’t tell you how many times, when I’m not with him, I’ve caught myself thinking about Logan instead of paying attention to conversation, or eating, or even sleeping. And when I do see him, I’m bathed in a glow of happiness that makes it hard not to melt into a pile of gooey mush all the time. There’s a permanent dopey smile on my face, and it seems to be here to stay.

  Obviously, we don’t spend all of our time together. We both still have our separate lives, even if we mostly think about each other when we’re participating in them. For one thing, there’s still the mystery of Cameron’s list, and whether or not he actually was hiding something with the various families. Plus, there were the kidnapped children to find, and catching the murdered family’s killer.

  Although our deal for me to stay hidden until we figure this out still stands, after we spent hours in his office trying to find something we missed, we realized that we had very little to go on. We needed to talk to the families again. The outcome might be different this time, because Logan has several new ways which he has yet to apply, of approaching the reluctant families, thanks to my secret. That’s not to say he’s going to be spreading around the fact that I’m a girl, just that if it has something to do with it, he has his own way to find that out, cleverly but discreetly.

  For our deal, I promised him to stay in the compound, which means I can’t go with him. I worry about him, but I can’t fight him over it. Visiting Sadie in Maine is one thing, but even I have to agree this would be very dangerous. He goes every few days to visit a different family, sometimes by car ride, and sometimes by flying out, but he never stays long. He claims the trips are exhausting, but I’m hoping it’s actually because he gets anxious when he leaves me and this is where he would rather be. God knows I miss him.

  As for how I spend my time without him, let’s just say I fall back into my old relationship with my brothers very easily. I also grow a he
althier one with my parents, and become good friends with almost all the members of the pack who are my age. Cade’s brothers in particular, and their friends Blake and Tyler, turn out to be some of the coolest and funniest people I’ve ever met.

  The highlight has to be when I finally get the War Day I was promised by my brothers on the first day of that week, for which all the guys help out in one way or the other. I didn’t want to do it when we were at the beach on Sunday, but I also couldn’t wait for the next weekend, so I did it on Tuesday.

  My first idea was to throw a fake bachelor party for Mason, in which I would give him, and the rest of my brothers, the fright of their life, and capture it on tape. But then I realized it would take a lot of time and effort, and the outcome may not have the effect I’d be going for.

  So I settle for a few small things I get in place to prank all of them collectively, though not all at once. I wake up earlier than usual, while everyone is still sleeping, and I go around the house warning everybody what I’m going to do so that they don’t fall victim as well. Sam and Jared end up calling Tyler and Blake to come over and help me set everything up.

  First, I mess with all the products in their bathroom. I’m talking transparent nail polish on their soap, shaving cream in place of their toothpaste, oil in their shampoo, bug spray in their deodorants, the whole shebang. The house is already up, but my brothers’ screams when they find their toiletries defective possibly wake the entire compound.

  “Michael, I swear to God I will kill you for this!” Connor is the first to shout.

  I tut and wave a finger in front of his face in a condescending manner. “But brother dear, you do remember that you can’t retaliate, don’t you?”

  All he can do is growl and mumble something incoherent. One by one, they get up, discover a different prank in the bathroom each time, and threaten me in the same way.

  Marianna helps me with the second part: compromised snacks. She oh-so-sweetly offers them sponge cake and Oreos. Once they discover that the cake is an actual sponge and the Oreos contain their missing toothpaste, the curses start again.

  “This is disgusting!” Mason groans.

  “You don’t like them?” Marianna asks with fake hurt.

  I tut-tut again. “You’ve disrespected the cooking skills of your bride-to-be, brother dearest,” I scold.

  “Bullsh*t,” Nathan cries.

  “Language, bro! You’re talking to a lady,” I warn him.

  Of course, this starts a wrestling match. They may not be able to retaliate, but wrestling is always allowed. I’m really enjoying torturing them, as is the pack, based on the way the rest of the guys cackle when they come over and see what’s happening. Even my parents are laughing their hearts out. The only one who doesn’t react is Danny, but I know it’s because he feels bad, and I’m still giving him the cold shoulder. Dad congratulates me on great stealth in pranking, and Mom tells me she’s proud that her kids have a very strong brotherly bond. It’s all oh-so-heartwarming to hear!

  My relationship with the two of them has gotten much better. Although, more often than not, the awkwardness of new situations is something I can do without. For one thing, my mom is trying to fit eighteen years of mother-daughter bonding time into every moment she gets with me. She’s given me the boy talk again, for instance, as if I need another one. Her ‘first date’ talk hit closer to home though.

  Logan and I haven’t truly gone out on a date. I could blame it on bad timing and busy schedules, but the truth is that I don’t know if we’ll ever get the chance to have a normal relationship, since it lacks any actual dating. I want to, I really do. Being with Logan has woken up the girl in me, and although I’m still the same I-object-tocheesiness me, I still want some cheese in my romantic life. Nevertheless, I would never dare to say that out loud, so I did what I do best and kept it to myself.

  I indulged my mother in everything she said, until she started the period talk. That’s where I drew the line. As for Dad, he has been more attentive and caring than usual. Sometimes, I still feel like he’s babying me, but those moments get scarcer every day.

  It feels great to have my family together again and stronger than ever, even though it’s missing Daniel’s active presence.

  It’s another kind of amazing altogether to have a boyfriend for the first time, one that I love. Every time Logan and I are alone, it’s like we’re wrapped up in our own little bubble that no one can penetrate. When it’s just us, we’d be wandering around somewhere in the compound, either being all couple-y in our attention for each other, which more often than not includes making out, or being very publicly platonic, which is when our more serious conversations take place.

  Once, during the private romance-y moments, I accidentally find out his weakness. We’re on his bed –sitting, don’t get any ideas, he’s still stubborn about the whole birthday talk thing. There’s some meaningless conversation flowing between us about flying –or is it travelling in general? I don’t know. I can’t think about anything other than how nice it feels to be wrapped in his arms, with him planting a light kiss somewhere different on my skin every now and then.

  I do something really silly. I hold his hand palm up, and I start passing the tips of my fingers from his palm over his own fingers, opening and closing. At first, I don’t notice that he stops talking, and I extend my touching exploration over his forearm, then bicep and to his shoulder, repetitively. It takes me a minute to realize he isn’t saying a word and to look at him. He’s watching my movements without taking his eyes off my fingers. I’m surprised at first.

  Really? Touching is a thing for him?

  I don’t linger on that too long and decide to test the limits. Slowly, so that he knows what I’m doing, I straddle him and hold his gaze. I use both hands on both his arms to repeat what I was doing. Each time I reach his shoulders again, I go further onto his torso, chest, stomach… When I’m sure I have his attention, so to speak, I slip my hands under the hem of his shirt and lift it. He doesn’t fight me, no, he raises his arms for me. At that point, I can’t look at his eyes anymore.

  God, he is so hot.

  While he holds me by my waist and back, I run my fingers over the contours of his muscles, play with what little chest hair he has, curling them, and trace every inch of him. He shivers a lot, and the rise and fall of his chest becomes more frequent with the passing time. I don’t dare push my luck any further, because I know what he thinks about this and that he will stop me if I go too far.

  I don’t know what it is about this that affects him more than I’ve ever seen him affected, but I’m amazed by this new discovery. So I act a little out of instinct. Without taking my hands away, I lean closer until we’re too close to maintain eye contact. But I don’t kiss him. I turn my head sideways curiously, like I’m studying him really up close. By the way his lower lip relaxes, I can tell he wants me to close the distance, but he doesn’t, instead allowing me take the lead.

  “What is it about this that is turning you on right now?” I boldly ask, keeping my voice low so as not to break the trance. I am very much enjoying this newfound superpower, and I am testing how far he’s willing to let me go.

  His reply comes out hoarse. “I –” He scoffs to clear his voice. “I don’t know. It’s just… your touch is very soft. It’s like every molecule in my body is being awakened by it.”

  I grin. “You know, when you go all science-y, it really does something to me,” I tease.

  I couldn’t help it, okay? I saw an opening, and I had to swing! In my defense, he did the same to me when we were at the beach. Although, granted, I hadn’t been as excited as he so obviously is at this moment, judging by what I’m sitting on. But still, it’s in my nature to joke at the most inappropriate times. I can’t change that overnight.

  Naturally, this breaks through the haze that Logan is feeling. He pulls his head back slightly and frowns, blinking to focus.

  “You’re killing me, Dylan,” he almost pleads.

&nb
sp; Shrugging, I pass my hands over his chest one more time. “Just wanted you to know how it feels.” I smile coyly.

  He is silent for a moment, breathing heavily. “So the student becomes the master.”

  “Now we both have an advantage over the other,” I boast.

  “I guess so,” he replies, kissing me hungrily.

  The kissing continues for a good long while. The only reason I stop is because of my mom and her ‘first date’ talk. I want to talk to Logan about it. I even have prepared what I should say, and I repeated them so much in my head that I have them memorized.

  Despite that, the words are impossible to get out. While Logan kisses my neck, through all the haze, I try to muster up the courage to bring it up. I nervously bite my lip so much that I start to worry about cutting through the skin. Where do I even begin? How do I say it without sounding needy? Well, first I need him to stop distracting me so that I can get a word in.

  “Logan,” I pant, pulling him back by the neck. “Can I ask you something?”

  He lifts his head up and stares at me with half-closed eyes. “Sure,” he replies, his breathing still heavy.

  In a split second, I decide not to think about it and just do it. “Are we ever going out on a real date?”

  He blinks twice, until the mist clouding his eyes completely disappears and is replaced by a serious expression. “I thought we agreed you’d stay here until we figure out the whole kidnapping mess.”

  Like a chastised child, I feel an urge to look away and hide my face in shame. The part of me that is hopelessly in love with Logan wants nothing more than to apologize and go back to making out. But there’s a reason why I brought this up. After a lifetime of staying quiet, I’m bolder than usual when it comes to sharing my feelings. I don’t know how long this will last, though. I need to make use of my newfound courage before it’s gone and I’m back to being the introvert I was before.