Hidden River Deception (Hidden River Academy Book 4) Page 6

  “You need therapy,” I said. “That amount of toxin inside of one person? What, did your daddy touch you?” I regretted the words just as I said them because she actually blanched, and I knew I’d gone too far.

  “You fucking hideous little cunt,” she dropped her bag and stepped toward me, my stomach binding tight as I swallowed and readied myself for a fight.

  The shower sputtered to a stop and the bathroom door swung open, Colt’s wet body clad in only a loose towel around his hips.

  It broke the moment like a glass smashing, and he stared at us both.

  “The fuck?” He demanded, eyes swinging between Paige and me. Paige ignored him and grabbed her bag, slipping it up her arm with a delicacy that contrasted with the fire in her eyes.

  “See you Mia,” she said sweetly to me, but I could hear the curse at the back of her tongue, waiting to lash out. She swept out of the room, ignoring Colt entirely, and leaving me to stand there, feeling like I’d just avoided something. Colt frowned, before shifting his gaze to me.

  “What’re you doing here?” He asked, sounding slightly irritated before he pinched his towel tighter around his waist. “I mean…” He sighed, his shoulders dropping somewhat. “You okay?” What the fuck was Paige doing in here?”

  “I have no idea, the door was open when I came up, and there she was.” I pointed to the small indent on his bedsheets where she’d been sitting. It was tiny. I hated how small her ass was. I didn’t normally feel bad about my body, but she took petite to a new, ridiculous level. Why did she have to be such a bitch and so pretty too? Her outsides should’ve matched her insides, that’s all I had to say about that. “And I’m here because you didn’t get back to me. I was worried.”

  Colt’s expression shifted from annoyed to sexy in an instant, and he walked toward me with clear intent in his eyes.

  “Yeah?” He asked. “Worried about me? You? Me?” He lifted one finger to tap himself in the center of his chest. His… very wet chest. It was like he’d just stepped out of the shower and hadn’t bothered to towel off at all. Wasn’t he cold? I’d have been cold. My mind rambled to distract me from the way his tight muscles clung to his lanky frame, the swoop of his waist that pulled in where the towel wrapped tight below his belly-button.

  I held my breath. Fuck. I’d just nearly had a fist-fight with Paige. I did not need to get all… turned on, by that graceless idiot standing in front of me with a wicked smirk on his face. His hair fell forward into his eyes as he reached me. I could smell the soft scent of his body wash, prickling at the back of my senses, and see the shivery way his skin rose up in tight little goose bumps everywhere. I wanted to lick a droplet of water off his collarbone. It was… a dirty thought that should’ve been kept for another time.

  “Well you’re a nice surprise,” he murmured, “sorry for worrying you.” He reached for me just as I got up on my toes. Our lips brushed against one another and I shivered in response, the electric feel of it traveling all the way down my spine to pool in my belly expectantly.

  I wanted this. I reached for his towel, my fingers digging into the firm muscles and bone of his hip.

  “Shit,” he breathed, letting go of his towel. It dropped to the floor, and I kissed the side of his neck, my mouth finding each little droplet of water with my lips. My teeth dragged over his collarbone and he stumbled as he stepped toward his bed. “C’mere,” he said, his eyes heated and intent on me as his gaze traveled down my body. He reached for my hoodie, unzipping it as I took him in.

  A cock, a few months ago, would have given me a heart-attack, but now the sight of him half-hard and bobbing stiffer and stiffer just had me… it had me trembling on the inside and so ready for it.

  The groan that melted out of his throat as he got me out of my hoodie and I pulled my shirt off over my head had me anxious to get on the bed and under him. He sat back, his arms pushed behind him so he could lean away from me and just watch.

  “You’re a fucking gift,” he sounded even more breathless than he had done a few minutes prior, and I stepped out of my jeans, in just my underwear. I shifted onto the bed, kneeling over him, my thighs parting around his hips. I sat slowly, his wet skin cold against mine warm and dry. His eyes closed and he lay back, pulling me down with him. My body ached for it.

  I tried to move off of him but he shook his head.

  “On top,” he said, pawing at his side table without looking. He yanked open the drawer, grabbing a condom out of it and stroked himself once, twice-

  I had to look away. It was way too hot. His hands came up around my hips and clasped me there. He lifted and made a noise that was part-groan and part-question. I moved up and over him, his cock dragging along the inside of my thigh. He pulled aside my panties and I sank down on him.

  I was more than ready for it, and the easy slip of him into me had my eyes sliding shut as I sank down onto him.

  It felt like fire. My stomach clenched, my thighs shuddering as they met the back of my calves and he was seated fully inside of me. It was exactly what I needed. I held my breath and rose slowly, listening to the low noises that he was making.

  “Holy fuck,” he whispered, keeping it down. We were both well aware, of the students probably only ten feet or less outside his door. If we got caught… somehow that made it feel more. I shivered, my hips rocking faster, chasing the intense, bright feeling inside of me. His fingers splayed on my thigh, his throat tight as he stroked his knuckles over my folds through my panties, teasing me until I gasped, tightening down on him.

  It came so fast, and Colt looked like he wasn’t ready, even as the push-pull of his cock inside of me was tipping into the ohmygodtoointense territory.

  “It’s okay,” he said, seeing the look on my face and easing me down beside him, his cock wet through the condom. I blushed and burrowed into his side as he wrapped a hand around himself, stroking the length of his cock hard and fast. The sound echoed slightly in the room and I bit my lip, hoping nobody would hear.

  He groaned low, in the back of his throat, and whispered my name, his whole body going tense. His head hit the bed after lifting off of it an inch and he sighed.

  He rolled over, his arm curving around my body as we lay there, our breathing shuddery and muted in the quiet room.

  “God, you are so perfect,” he said, running his finger down my nose, his thumb catching on my lower lip. The smile that stretched my lips filled my heart and I hugged him tight.

  “You too,” I said.

  “Eh, a little bit,” he said with a laugh.

  “Yeah you are.”

  “Hmmm, yeah, I’m a pretty big hero, huh?” His words made the reason I was there come rushing back to me.

  “Um, yeah, I didn’t… er, come here, to just be naked with you and do, er, that,” I said, sitting up and reaching down on the floor for my shirt. My panties felt damp, and I felt like the sexiest thing alive, pulling my shirt on. “We didn’t even get my bra off,” I said. He snickered and sat up, the low ping of the condom hitting the inside of his trash bin as he rustled up some clean clothes.

  “Well, I’m not gonna complain, I still had a great time.” He chucked me on the shoulder as he sat next to me, his eyes soft. It was nice to see him so relaxed after everything that happened. “So why you come, if not to give me a hero’s welcome?”

  I bit my lip. Moment of truth.

  “Shawn’s staying with me and my uncle for a few days,” I said. Colt’s smile faded and he pulled back.

  “He’s… why?” It was obvious the idea upset him and I took a breath to figure out how to get out in front of the whole thing before he misunderstood and got angry.

  “He can’t go home right now, his dad…” I shrugged my shoulder. “Let’s just say that nobody in that house is happy right now, and it’s not safe for him.”

  Colt looked down at his hands in his lap, the frown on his face making my belly squirm unpleasantly. Things had been so nice just minutes before, why did it had to be ruined?

 
Because you swore to yourself you would start being honest and communicating as things came up, and not hiding from the hard truths, I thought.

  “Heh, never thought I’d see someone like him become someone like us,” he said, and I could hear the bitterness at the edge of his voice, but he was toning it down. “So… are you and he…”

  “I’m still, things aren’t fixed,” I said. He swallowed visibly, his lashes fluttering shut for a moment before he looked at me seriously.

  “So is this… are we like, what, group sexing it up at your uncle’s place? I’m sure that’ll go over real fucking well with him.” There it was, the anger and hurt that Colt always seemed to reserve for everyone else but me. And now it was aimed straight at me; the target was my heart, and he hit it dead-on bullseye.

  I let it. I didn’t flinch. I wasn’t going to let him push me away, because no. I loved him too much for that. He was allowed to be upset about it, because nothing about what we were, or what I had with the other guys was clear or simple.

  This was always destined to have hurt feelings. I just needed to be strong and weather it.

  “After everything I did for you,” he said softly. I flinched.

  “He did just as much for you,” I countered, “and since when did you do that just so you could throw it in my face later?” I asked, not able to keep my own hurt from bubbling up. That wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair to do good things and then hold it against the other person later, after the fact.

  His jaw tightened and he looked away.

  “Yeah, I’m a real nice guy and all that,” he muttered, getting to his feet.

  “Colt,” my voice was plaintive and I hated how pleading I was.

  “I know, I’m being an asshole, just let me have my minute, okay? I’m… I’ve got all these fucking feelings Mia, alright? Like, what, I do the good thing and he swoops in to save my ass out of some misguided attempt at being…” He shook his head and shut up, walking to his window and staring out at it.

  I let him, holding my breath, waiting for him to explode again. His shoulders drooped.

  “Whatever makes you happy,” he said, turning to me, and I could see the resignation in his eyes. I hated that this situation had put it there. That… me not telling my uncle about Brandt from the very beginning, had caused this all to happen. I should’ve spoken up sooner.

  Better late than never.

  “Do they love you as much as I do?” He asked, and my lips parted in surprise at the change in his tone, almost like he was just accepting what was going on.

  “I’m still really not sure what I’m even doing,” I admitted. He gave me a wry, sarcastic little smile that broke something inside of me painfully.

  “Just being yourself, and we’re the idiots who are falling all over ourselves to love you. And I don’t even fucking blame Shawn, or Buck for that. Hell, I couldn’t help it. You were just there, being you, and you kicked my heart right open and took me by surprise. I didn’t think I could ever love. I’ve seen how much it hurts when it goes wrong.” He pressed a hand to his chest like he was physically hurting. I got to my feet and walked to him, taking his hands in mine.

  “We’re together,” I said, “that’s what matters and that’s what counts.”

  “I don’t want to pick up the pieces of you when they rip you apart again,” he said solemnly. “Maybe that’s what I’m mad about. Because I saw how much you broke apart, and I don’t want anyone to fucking do that to you. It’s not right. You don’t deserve it.”

  “I’ll be careful,” I promised. “This feels right. It does.”

  “You’re not the one I’m worried about,” he grumbled, and then bent to kiss me, slow and sweet. He was trying, putting all his love into it, and when he pulled away, I was trembling all over again.

  “Everything is going to be just fine,” I said, not knowing how fucking wrong I was.

  10

  Shawn

  After Mia went to go talk to Colt, Coach Quinn left with my brother, and came back by himself with a duffel bag of my stuff.

  “Your brother packed it for you,” he said, tossing it to me. I wrapped my hands around the strap, the weight heavy in my hands. I swallowed around the hurt in my throat.

  “Did they say anything?” I asked. Coach just gave me a sad look, and shook his head.

  “Why don’t we work something up for dinner,” he said. “Feel like spaghetti and meatballs?”

  So that was how it was gonna be. My parents had just sort of carved me out of their heart, leaving more room for Garrett to flourish in. And I was gone, away from them, and not likely to cause anymore ‘scenes’ as my mother liked to call it.

  I could cause a ‘scene’ just by breathing, just by looking at a guy the wrong way. I’d tried with Shiv, I’d really tried, being the good boyfriend, getting her gifts, taking her to all the dance, and shows in town even, working extra hard to prove what a good little straight boy I was.

  While in the back of my mind, Mia had lived, lodged like a sliver under my skin, having all the things I could never with Buck… and somehow, in my chase of her?

  I was a fucking idiot. I just was. Because I’d fallen for her, without even realizing it. Breaking her heart was probably the worst thing I’d ever done in my life. I didn’t deserve her, or Buck either. I didn’t deserve anything.

  My father may have been an asshole, but he was fucking right. Nothing about me was natural. Everything about me was disgusting, and vile.

  Mia came home later that night with glowing cheeks, with Cael as her silent shadow. He left shortly after he dropped her off, clapping me on the shoulder. Sometimes I really didn’t get him. He was stepping in and fixing things for us like… like we were Reid or something. God that was a horrible thing to be compared to. Reid was such a fucked up hot mess.

  School was going to be rough, and even though Garrett kept texting me funny cat memes, the smile I wore didn’t touch my heart. Living with the Quinns was a temporary situation. Where I went next was anybody’s guess. Who fucking knew. It was hard not to feel sad and pathetic. I had a trust fund, but it was locked up until I hit eighteen. I guess my great-grandfather never counted on his grandson being a total homophobic prick and basically cutting out one of his kids from the family life.

  Not having money was a weird feeling, like I was free-falling and had nowhere to land. I was sick about it, because what if I needed something? Money made problems go away. It didn’t fix your life, but it made it easier. You could just throw money at it, and most of the time, the monsters disappeared.

  But now? I was lost without a path.

  One thing that helped was how the basement still kinda smelled like Buck’s aftershave, and I slept well enough. Coach drove me and Mia in to school the next day, and it was like nobody around us knew what had happened.

  Nobody talked about it. I had Mia, which meant Colt stayed close, and so did Buck. Colt didn’t say much to me about anything, just stole some of Buck’s fries at lunch and pushed them onto my plate, saying that I was the charity case now, and that he could see my ribs already, and didn’t Coach Quinn feed us? His constant chatter, half sarcastic-bribes felt good, because it wasn’t like he was taking pity on me.

  It was almost, almost like things were normal. If I avoided the sad look in Garrett’s eyes, that was. Maybe I should have felt betrayed by him, but I couldn’t. He needed a home as much as I did. It wasn’t his fault our parents were idiots and couldn’t seem to love one child as much as the other. I’d never hold that against him, not ever.

  I was at my locker when she showed up, like the virus she was.

  “Sweet Shawn,” Paige said, smiling at me as she leaned against the locker next to mine. “How are you doing? I heard things are rough at home.”

  “Don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, shoving a few of my textbooks into my locker with more force than necessary. “You need something? Herpes cream or something? I don’t got any, check with the nurse.”

  Paige gave
a dramatic roll of her eyes and twirled one of her curls around her finger.

  “God, you’re lame. Not even giving a bit of the gossip? C’mon. You’re all snuggly wiggly with Mia and Buck now? Is that what’s happening? Got no respect for your ex?”

  “Shiv?” I asked, turning to Paige, trying not to mentally calculate exactly how much trouble I’d be in if I shoved Paige ass over teakettle. It was tempting even if I’d be courting expulsion for it. I hated her. I hated the poison she dripped over everything. I hate how she just seemed to suck the joy out of life, the oxygen out of the air.

  She’d make a great fire extinguisher though.

  “Shiv and I are over,” I said.” Paige giggled.

  “Yeah, is she fucking your brother? I guess everyone loves him, huh? He’s the little hero after all…”

  I sighed and looked skyward. Fuck, the bitch was tiring.

  “I don’t know what you’re trying to do. Make me mad? It’s not gonna work, and you’d be better off putting that energy into getting your next boyfriend off. Buck told me you weren’t all that great in the sack.” I turned on Paige, looming over her. She squared her shoulders, even as her pretty lips parted. I wondered how many CC’s of those lip enhancers had been pumped into them. “Trying to drop hints about who I care about?” I asked her, my eyes narrowing. “You really think that’s gonna go well for you? News fuckin’ flash, this isn’t the 40’s, and nobody’s coming for my ass just because I like ass. Okay? So grow the fuck up.”

  Her eyebrows spiked upward and she settled her expression into one that was less… aggressive.

  “Didn’t get laid yet? I’d have thought living with Mia-”

  “Oh give it the fuck up. In case you haven’t noticed, Mia’s sex life isn’t all that exciting to anybody but you. What’s the deal, Paige? You got a crush on her?” I stepped close into her personal space and was rewarded by the flare of her pupils. She was scared. Good. She ought to be. She kept running around pressing buttons, one day one of them was gonna blow up in her face. It wouldn’t be me though. I had enough troubles. “You wish you were the one in her bed, making her sc-”