Hidden Lies (The Hidden Series Book 2) Read online

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Hidden Lies

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  HIDDEN LIES

  First edition: December 25, 2016

  Copyright © 2016 Kristin Coley

  Written by Kristin Coley

  Proofread by Carolyn at Particular Proofreading ([email protected])

  For all of the fans who love Addie and Jake as much as I do.

  Chapter One

  “It’s freezing!” I complained, stomping my feet to keep them from going numb.

  “Oh, suck it up.” Carly shook her head, as a scarf desperately attempted to hold back her unruly mass of hair. “We’re going to meet this psychic, even if we have to stand here all day.”

  I groaned, already over the idea. Carly thought every psychic and medium who advertised in the yellow pages was a fraud, and it was our duty to expose them. Personally, I couldn’t care less, but she thought it was a great project for our criminal justice class. I thought she was asking for trouble.

  “I don’t think standing in the cold outside their place of business, which clearly states they’re closed, is the wisest use of our time.” My hands were shoved into my pockets, but the cold wind seemed to cut through every layer I had on, and I couldn’t stop shivering. “Why don’t you just ask me when he’s coming back?”

  “Oh,” she said, looking sheepish at my question. “When is the fake psychic coming back?” I rolled my eyes at her persistence, even as the knowledge he wouldn’t be back until Saturday came over me.

  “Saturday. Now, let’s go before I’m frozen to the sidewalk.” My fussing had her moving, for which I was grateful. I could be curled up with Jake, instead of standing in the freezing cold, trying to satisfy Carly’s desire to reveal fraudulent psychics.

  “Where are we going?” Carly bounced down the sidewalk, seemingly unaffected by the cold, as I trudged behind her, wishing she was bigger, so she could block the wind.

  “Uh, come on, slowpoke.” She grasped my arm, tugging me forward. “So ... what’s next on the agenda?”

  “I thought I’d stop by Jake’s and see him.” I sent her a sidelong glance to see how that went over. Her expression was crestfallen, but she cleared it almost immediately.

  “Oh, okay, that’s great.” I knew it wasn’t, and felt a prickle of guilt. Jake and I had started dating after I graduated high school. Well, actually right after I turned eighteen. We’d met in my senior year, when a local boy had been kidnapped. My ability had allowed me to know where the boy had been taken, and I’d wound up enlisting Jake’s help to rescue him. The entire situation had become a doozy of a story, but suffice to say, because of our age difference and Jake’s job, we’d had to wait until I was eighteen to ‘officially’ date. At the time, it hadn’t had a huge effect on my friendship with Carly, because she’d been preparing to go to college out of state.

  In fact, she’d spent our freshman year at Millsap, a private college in Mississippi, while I’d gone to a local state college. We’d kept in touch through text and the occasional weekend home, so spending the majority of my time with Jake hadn’t been an issue. However, Carly had decided to transfer to my school for sophomore year. While I’d been excited about this, our dynamic had changed, a fact it’d taken us both some time to get used to.

  Where I’d spent most of my weekends with Jake, Connor and Jules, now I also had to split my time with Carly. They all knew about my ability—the way I knew the answer to almost any question, even things I had no logical way of knowing. She even knew about my dreams, the ones that occasionally predicted the future. She referred to them as psychic visions. You’d think a shared secret like that would give us enough in common that we could all hang out together, but Carly inevitably wound up feeling like a fifth wheel. With Jules and Connor dating, plus me and Jake, it tended to leave Carly out, so I tried to spend time with just her. Occasionally, we’d have a girls’ night and include Jules, but it was awkward. Carly hadn’t gotten to know them like I had, since she’d heard about all the crazy events of my senior year, after-the-fact.

  Now, in the winter semester of our sophomore year, we’d found an uneasy balance. Carly tried to be supportive of my time with Jake, time that seemed to come less often with his increased caseload, while I tried to carve out specific time with Carly between studying, classes, and Jake. It was slightly better, now that Carly and I shared a couple classes. We had an opportunity to hang out and discuss stuff between classes, instead of going in opposite directions.

  The guilt was still there, though. I knew Carly was lonely. It was the main reason she’d come back home, and the fact I had a group of friends she wasn’t a part of didn’t help matters.

  “Join us,” I told her impulsively. I knew Jake wouldn’t mind ... much. She gave me a disbelieving look, but I kept my smile fixed in place. She’d never become part of our group if we didn’t include her.

  “I’d rather not be the third or fifth wheel if Jules and Connor are there.” Her expression was dejected, increasing my guilt exponentially.

  “Really.” My voice was more certain as I threw my arm around her shoulders. Carly was tiny, with her head barely reaching my shoulder, and I was only five foot four. “We’ll make hot cocoa and play UNO.” Those were two of Carly’s favorite things, and to be honest, mine too. I adored Jake, but he was a terrible UNO player. I could tell by her expression she was caving, so I dangled the one thing I knew she couldn’t resist in front of her. “Who knows? Danny might be there.”

  She shot me a hopeful look, her crush on Daniel Phillips well known to me. Daniel, or Danny, as I liked to call him, was the kidnapped boys’ older brother. I’d never met him in the course of my investigation with Jake, because he’d been in protective custody then. But after everything went down, Jake had become friends with Danny.

  Danny was a hard guy to pin down; dark and brooding, after everything he’d been through. The polar opposite of Carly, who had sunshine shooting out of her ass. Not that I would ever say that to Carly.

  “Oh, well maybe we could play some UNO.” Carly’s hand went to her hair. “How’s my hair look?” I bit back my laugh as I nodded, seeing her worry over the fact Danny could run screaming from her crazy hair.

  “It looks good.” And it did. Where it might have been viewed as a frizzy mess on anyone else, it suited Carly perfectly. She was as bubbly and big in personality as her hair was. However, her worry about it sending Danny running was valid, since the sight of her seemed to intimidate him. I winced at the thought. He’d had a difficult time after his brother, Samuel, had been kidnapped. There was a lot of guilt there, and while I hadn’t known him previously, I imagined he’d always been somewhat reserved, much more so than Carly, which wasn’t hard.

  I drew out my phone to text Jake, letting him know I was coming over with Carly. A minute later, he replied with, “Cool. Everyone else is here.” I groaned a little, catching Carly’s attention, so I smiled reassuringly.

  “Jake says great.” I left out the part where everyone would be there, since that fact would have her backing out.

  Something I didn’t understand at all.

  Carly was always the vivacious one, the
one dragging me along to meet people, but when it came to Jake and the gang, she was the opposite, more reserved than I’d ever seen her. I rubbed my eyes, uncertain how to make it all work.

  We hopped into Carly’s old Corolla to head over to Jake’s. I was grateful she always seemed willing to drive me around. I’d purchased a car after high school, but my mom’s car had been totaled a few weeks earlier, and she needed a car more than I did, so she was borrowing mine. I lived on campus, in the honors dorm, which was really nice, since they were like small apartments, and between Carly and Jake, I usually had a ride if I needed one.

  It didn’t take us long to get there, and as we chatted about one of our professors, Carly seemed to loosen up. My fingers were crossed that when Jake said everybody, he meant Danny too. I knew Danny occasionally felt the same as Carly when he was with us—a fifth wheel who didn’t have a place in our group. With my ability, it was sometimes impossible not to have intimate insights into other people’s minds, and often someone’s mental response to a random question would surprise me.

  We walked into the apartment, the door unlocked, since he was expecting us. I was immediately engulfed in a painful hug the second I stepped in.

  “Mmph,” I managed, hearing ‘Addie’ above my head somewhere. He finally released me, and I stumbled back.

  “Connor.” He ruffled my hair with a grin as I pursed my lips.

  “Gonna get stuck that way.” I glared at his sage advice, moving around him to be wrapped in another hug, this one causing me to smile. His strong arms cradled me, and his lips brushed against my icy cheek. I felt his lips curl into a smile as he asked, “Cold?”

  “Not anymore.” I snuggled deeper into Jake’s embrace, happy to be with him. He obliged me by tightening his hold, rocking us gently. Reluctantly, I withdrew from his embrace, remembering Carly. She was standing to the side, looking uncomfortable. I reached over and took her hand.

  “You’re gonna help me make the hot chocolate, right?” She flashed me a smile as Connor whooped behind us, “Hell, yeah. Hot chocolate is what I’m talking about.”

  “Can you make it without me?” she teased, well aware of my tendency to burn it when I attempted. I shrugged, unembarrassed by my lack of proficiency in the kitchen. I figured psychic abilities trumped cooking skills any day. Especially when your boyfriend happened to be a cop.

  We headed into the kitchen, waving at Jules, who was curled up on the couch, as we passed by.

  “Whoa.”

  “Oh, hi.”

  We came to a sudden halt, as we ran into Danny. He stood uncomfortably in the doorway of the kitchen, blocking our access. Carly was struck silent, twirling her hair on her finger. Danny looked everywhere but at her, or me for that matter. I finally broke the awkward silence asking, “How are you?”

  He gave me a quick glance, a muttered, “Fine,” his only response.

  “Great.” I dragged Carly around him, because she was apparently frozen in place at the sight of him. Don’t get me wrong.... Danny was the epitome of tall, dark and dangerous, but Carly’s reaction was borderline ridiculous. I was pretty sure I’d never been this stupid over Jake, and he was much better looking. Jake had these changeable hazel eyes and tousled caramel hair, whereas Danny was all dark angles. He kept his black hair buzzed short, and his brown eyes were so dark, they appeared black to me. He had a piercing stare, a perpetual frown, and I couldn't grasp what Carly found so fascinating about him. They were polar opposites.

  I put the pot on the stove, gathering the other supplies we needed, as Carly stood there in a daze. I shook my head at her reaction to him. She’d never exchanged more than a dozen words with him over the past few months, turning into this shy, reserved girl I didn’t recognize when he was near. But as soon as he was gone ….

  “Oh my God. Did you see him?” She peered at me with huge eyes. “He’s so gorgeous. And soulful. Did you see his eyes? He’s drowning in pain.” It physically hurt me to stop myself from rolling my eyes at her. “I just ... he just ….” A deep sigh escaped her. “It’s like there’s this connection between us.”

  I bit my tongue hard to stop myself from saying, “Really? You’ve never actually had a conversation with him!”

  She continued her gushing, thankfully taking over the hot chocolate making while she did. I hopped on a barstool, figuring I might as well be comfortable if I had to listen to her wax poetic about Danny. Honestly, he wasn’t a bad guy … anymore. He’d been on the wrong side of the law, when his brother was kidnapped, but he’d been trying to make it right. His decision to narc on his drug suppliers was what got his brother kidnapped. That decision had changed all of our lives, and Danny had been living under a dark cloud ever since. His darkness seemed to call to Carly, but it made me want to avoid him. His pain struck a little too close to home for me.

  “Do you think he’ll stay and play UNO?” Carly’s question interrupted my musings, catching me off guard.

  “I doubt it. He couldn’t risk cracking a smile. His face might fall off.” Her frown was ferocious as she waved a wooden spoon dripping with hot chocolate at me.

  “That is so judgmental. You don’t know what he’s been through.” My look had her backtracking. “Ok, maybe you do, but that still doesn’t mean you can say things like that.” She paused, and I could see she was really upset, making me feel about an inch tall. “I know you don’t get it, and honestly I don’t either. But there’s something about him.” I chewed on my lower lip, waiting on her to finish. “He needs people to care about him, and I understand that feeling,” she finally said in a rush, turning back to the hot chocolate.

  I slid off the barstool and gave her a one armed hug, laying my head on top of hers, because she was so short.

  “You’re the best kind of friend.”

  “Hey, is the hot ... oooohhhh, girls hugging …. Carry on.” I shook my head, attempting to choke back my laugh, since it only encouraged the behavior.

  “Connor ….” My exasperation with him was clear, as he slung his arms around us.

  “It’s cool. I get it. Chicks are affectionate. No judging here. I mean, Jake is a lucky man.”

  “CONNOR!” Both of us shouted his name, and I elbowed him, perhaps a little harder than I intended, as I heard an, “Oompff.”

  “Are you wearing out our welcome?” Jules entered the kitchen, giving Connor a peck on the cheek at seeing his pout. “I thought I’d come help you bring everything out.” She grabbed cups from the cabinet, as familiar with Jake’s home as her own. “Is he being disgusting?” She shook her head in mock disappointment. “I can’t take him anywhere. You’d think by now he’d be better.”

  “Oh, I see how this is going now. You’re ganging up on me.” Connor crossed his arms over his chest, pulling his shirt taut over his muscles. I reached over and pinched a nipple, causing him to yelp. He and Jake had taken to working out together. Danny too, if I wasn’t mistaken. Jake didn’t feel the need to flaunt his gorgeous body, but Connor was a different story. He took every opportunity to flex those hard earned muscles, and I loved to give him hell about it.

  Jules laughed, familiar with our antics. She insisted Connor was my brother from another mother, since I treated him exactly how she treated Jake.

  “It’s ready!” Carly gave the cocoa one last stir as she clicked the burner off.

  “Don’t forget the marshmallows!” Connor called, dodging the towel Jules threw at him as he left the kitchen.

  “How do you deal with him?” Carly asked, surprising me. She shook her head. “He’s so … loud.” We all burst out laughing then. Loud was a good adjective to describe Connor. Happy was another. Connor was like having a puppy in the room. Irritating at times, but lovable. I considered him to be the male equivalent of Carly. At least, Carly when she wasn’t around Connor and the gang. I ladled hot chocolate into the mugs Jules set in front of me.

  “I’m not sure,” she replied to Carly thoughtfully. “He’s different from me, and it works. I’m happier when I�
��m around him. He’s the sun to my moon.”

  I smiled at the imagery formed at her words. They really were night and day different. Connor was a quintessential surfer boy, who happened to be stuck in the bayous of south Louisiana. Blonde, blue-eyed and tanned. Jules, on the other hand, had skin paler than my own, with a cascade of dark hair framing light blue eyes. They were striking together … when they weren’t arguing. I laughed to myself as I added marshmallows to the mugs. Jules was focused and intense, whereas Connor was laughing and laid back. It caused more than a few arguments at times, but they seemed to thrive on them.

  “That’s so sweet,” Carly gushed, her thoughts obviously on another dark moody soul. I sighed, fiercely hoping something would come of Carly’s crush. I didn’t like to see her disappointed and Danny, well, Danny deserved some happiness.

  “So ….” Jules stared at me, considering, and I knew she was debating about asking me a question. I recognized the look. You know, the one where someone knows you’ll know the answer to the question they want to ask, but isn’t sure they want to know the answer, even though they wanted to ask it?

  Yeah, it hurt my brain too sometimes.

  Carly stilled next to me, her own intuition sparking.

  I arched an eyebrow at Jules, waiting for her to continue. She bit her lip, suddenly indecisive, unusual for her.

  “Where’s the hot chocolate?” We heard bellowed from the next room, and the moment was lost.

  I shook my head, laughing. “No wonder he got kicked out of his apartment for noise violations.”

  Jules laughed with me. “I think that was an excuse to move in with me.”

  “Not a bad deal.”

  We loaded everything onto a tray and headed into the living room. Connor was in the recliner and hauled Jules into his lap as she walked by. I set the tray on the table and curled up next to Jake with my mug, finally where I wanted to be. The only other place to sit was the loveseat, and I watched Carly perch on it next to Danny. Their discomfort was obvious, but I couldn’t figure out if it was attraction causing it, or something else.