Hidden Truths (The Hidden Series Book 1) Read online

  I immediately grasped the excuse she gave me. I had wound up skipping lunch and our history class yesterday, and being sick was as good excuse as any.

  “I got sick after gym,” I agreed, knowing she had no reason to doubt it, after my reaction to her questions about Samuel. “I had to go home. I’m sorry I didn’t have a chance to tell you,” I smiled, giving her my best sickly look. She caved instantly, unable to even pretend to be angry for longer than a minute.

  “I forgive you. It’s not like you could do anything about it,” she said, already over it, before saying exasperatedly, “You need a cell phone. I mean, I get your mom can’t afford it, but still, I could have called and checked on you.” I nodded in agreement. A phone would be extremely helpful to me, but for more reasons than calling Carly.

  I felt a twinge of guilt at my lie, but it wasn’t like I could explain yesterday’s events to her. I distracted her by asking about our history assignment. We had a few minutes before the bell rang, so we hung out in the courtyard as she went over it with me.

  I knew who it was, as soon as he wrapped his arms around me. If nothing else, the look of shock on Carly’s face would have clued me in. He turned me around, his lips on mine before I could process his intentions. I felt his hand against my pocket, as he pulled back, giving me a wink before walking away.

  “Oh my God,” Carly said, in shock. I touched my lips, the faint impression of his still lingering. That wasn’t how I thought my first kiss would happen, but I also never could have imagined it would feel that way either.

  He hadn’t said a word, but I knew what he intended. I put my hand in my pocket, feeling the phone there. He had declared his intentions by kissing me in the courtyard, and anyone who hadn’t actually seen it would know about it soon enough.

  The bell rang before Carly could start interrogating me. A fact for which I was abjectly grateful. I smiled and waved at her, as I darted away to class. She was still standing there in shock, but I knew that would be gone by gym, and she would begin her interrogation.

  Our English teacher announced we would have a test on Friday, and one of the guys joked, “Can you give us the test questions?”

  The teacher laughed as she told him, “No, you’ll need to study everything.” I smiled, already writing down the questions I saw. My ability did come in handy at times.

  As I walked to gym, I felt the phone buzz in my pocket. I pulled it out, seeing a text message from Hot Boyfriend. The word choice caused me to smile. How many boyfriends did I have programmed into this phone? His message told me to meet him in the parking lot after school. He planned to give me a ride home. I quickly figured out how to get to the messages and replied back, “Okay.” It occurred to me I might need Carly to help me figure out both the phone and boyfriend thing.

  “So who is the incredibly hot guy that kissed you this morning?” she demanded, the second I saw her. “I’ve asked around and gotten mixed responses. He seems to be a mystery guy.” She looked at me expectantly, and I was searching my memory for the name he told me yesterday. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but I knew enough not to say Jake. I kind of wished he had put his fake name in the phone. That would have been helpful.

  “Tristan!” I finally shouted, proud of myself for remembering. Carly’s cocked eyebrow made me realize I might have been a little too proud of remembering, and it showed.

  “Tristan Davidson,” I said a bit more calmly, without even a hint of a question about his last name. I was pretty sure that was the last name he said, but not completely positive.

  “And how come this is the first I’m hearing about this? Am I not your best friend? How long has this been going on?” Her questions steadily got louder, until I was leaning my head away from her. Carly was not even five feet tall, a tiny dynamo that you would never think to be scared of. At least, until you pissed her off. Then you quickly realized size was irrelevant.

  “It happened yesterday,” I answered quickly. “He saw me get sick and helped me to the principal’s office. Then, when I couldn’t get a hold of my mom, he drove me home,” I smiled, satisfied with my spontaneous explanation, but Carly was clearly not as satisfied.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this morning? Before he kissed you!” she demanded, her eyes narrowing on me. I felt like there should be a bright light shining in my eyes. Perhaps I should suggest a career in criminal justice for Carly. “And he kissed you! What was that? You were sick, but he’s kissing you the next day?”

  “It was a twenty-four hour thing?’’ I said hesitantly. “Trust me. I was just as surprised about the kiss as you were,” I answered honestly. My honesty seemed to finally satisfy her , because she moved from interrogation to speculation.

  “Hmm, he clearly has a thing for you. I mean, you don’t kiss a girl in the courtyard, unless you’re declaring your intentions,” she murmured, tapping her chin as we walked into the locker room. I stayed silent, letting her develop her own ideas. “He’s hot. Gorgeous even.” I nodded fervently in agreement to that statement. We looked at each other and started giggling. There was no question; he was the hottest guy we had seen at school. I knew this was because he was older than us, but Carly didn’t. The thought crossed my mind that I could develop a thing for older guys.

  We walked out of the gym, the sight of the obstacle course silencing Carly’s rambling commentary on how hot Jake was. We sighed in unison before I said, “It’s got to get easier, right?”

  Wrong.

  I managed not to trip on the tires this time, but I did slip off the rope ladder and knock the wind out of myself.

  Worst feeling ever.

  The need for air caused me to panic, making my struggle to breathe even worse. I was freaking out when, suddenly, Jake was there supporting me. His voice was low and soothing. “Easy. You’re okay. Slow, shallow breaths. Relax. I know it’s hard, but I promise you’ll catch your breath.” His words calmed me down, and I was able to take a shallow breath. Tears filled my eyes in relief when I felt that sweet air fill my lungs.

  He ran his hand up and down my arm, distracting me. I felt the slightest brush of his lips against my hairline before he was gone. Seconds later, Carly was jumping down from the rope ladder and running to me.

  “Oh God. My heart stopped when you fell, and the only way to get to you was over that stupid ladder! Are you okay? Do we need to go to the nurse? And sweet Jesus, your boy toy is fine. He ran over, as soon as he saw you fall.” Carly’s words spilled out in a rush. Her concern was evident, as was her crush on my ‘boy toy.’ I smiled at her words, shaking my head no at her mention of the nurse. I would rather not let yesterday’s lie be revealed by today’s clumsiness.

  I was excused from the rest of the obstacle course, while the coaches discussed putting more padding under the rope ladder. I didn’t think that would help keep someone from getting the wind knocked out of them if they fell, but hey, if they wanted to try, more power to them. I changed out of my gym clothes and spent the rest of the hour catching up on my work from the day before. Once gym was over, we headed to our respective classes. I already knew Carly was going to have more to say when we met for lunch.

  I couldn't stop myself from looking for him by the side of the gym. He wasn’t there, but a couple of the guys from yesterday were. I suspected why Jake was hanging out with them, so I made it a point to avoid them. One of them whistled at me, but I ignored it and kept walking.

  Lunch went about like I expected with Carly gushing over Jake. Tristan, I reminded myself. I couldn’t afford to say the wrong name in front of Carly, or anyone else for that matter.

  The need to protect Jake thrummed through me. I had barely known him twenty-four hours, but already I couldn’t imagine anything happening to him. I felt as if I needed to keep him safe. I even felt like I could keep him safe, which was foolish. I was a skinny teenager, and he was a trained cop with a gun. The idea that I would keep him safe was ludicrous, but I couldn’t shake it.

  Carly was still going on about how heroic Tr
istan was when he rescued me, as we walked into history together. I personally thought it would have been more heroic if he had caught me before I hit the ground, but I kept that to myself. Carly wouldn’t appreciate logic in her current romantic bubble.

  I handed Mr. Riley my excuse for yesterday. The one I’d forged from my mom, as she knew nothing about my prior day’s absence. I was slightly surprised and frightened by how easy it was to get away with cutting class. No wonder people did it.

  Mr. Riley apparently believed my excuse for missing his pop quiz was lacking, so he asked me questions all hour. I was sure he was trying to catch me in a lie, believing I didn’t read the chapters. The truth was, he would be hard pressed to ask a history question I couldn’t correctly answer. There was a reason I took history as an elective. It became incredibly simple when history presented itself to you like an open book.

  I always made it a point to study with Carly. She would quiz me with questions, and I would have all the answers. I had to be cautious though. The truth wasn’t always what was written in our history books.

  When I was younger and less careful, I would give teachers the truth as I knew it, which sometimes didn’t match my book. My 8th grade Louisiana History teacher took an interest in my responses, wanting to know how I knew so much the books didn’t mention. I played it off as an interest in history, but I learned to be careful after that. He would search for documents that matched my replies, quite often finding information that supported what I said, but occasionally there would be nothing. Those were always the discussions I sought to dodge or play off. I knew it was true, but couldn’t prove it.

  When school let out, I headed to the parking lot in the back, instead of the buses in the front. Carly saw me and walked over.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, reminding me that I never mentioned the phone or Jake’s text to her. “You’re going to miss the bus.” Her confusion was obvious. Carly lived on the opposite side of town from me, and her bus left later than mine. I should have already left.

  “Actually, Ja … Tristan is giving me a ride,” I answered, cringing at my slip of his name. I couldn’t afford that. Carly’s eyes widened in surprise and I believed it was from my reply, until I felt his arm slip around me.

  “Hi,” he said, his smile enough to wipe coherent thought from any female brain. My smile was foolish, the weight of his arm around me consuming my thoughts.

  Carly finally stuttered, “Hey.” I glanced at her, and she was blinking at me rapidly. If she was attempting Morse code with her blinks, I wasn't deciphering it, but I had a feeling I would hear it all tomorrow morning anyway. She walked away backwards, still staring at me determinedly, as if I could understand the thoughts she was obviously trying to send me telepathically. She finally turned around after bumping into someone, but continued to shoot me glances. I was seriously going to need to think about whether or not I wanted to tell her I had a phone now. She would never stop calling me.

  Which reminded me.

  “Thank you for the phone,” I said, looking up at him. I had gotten my hormones under control, and could look at him without losing my train of thought. He shrugged, his backpack slipping off his shoulder before he settled it back in place. “I need to be able to get in touch with you.”

  “I like that you specified hot boyfriend under the contacts. You know to differentiate from my ugly boyfriend,” I told him, smiling.

  “Yeah, about that. It was the only thing I could think of,” he said, slightly awkwardly. I was thinking to myself, ‘The only thing you could think of?’ when he continued, “You don’t already have a boyfriend do you? Because that might be problematic.”

  I arched my eyebrow at him, the implication clear that it was a little late to worry about that now. The entire school knew he kissed me. Even people that had never met either of us knew. That was just how gossip worked.

  He was looking sheepish, when I finally let him off the hook. “No, I don’t have a boyfriend.” I wondered if I should feel peeved at his automatic assumption that I didn’t have a boyfriend, but I couldn’t muster any irritation. It was the truth after all.

  We got in his car and joined the line waiting to leave the parking lot.

  “I got in touch with my contact and relayed my suspicions to him. I left you out.” He glanced over at me quickly. “I didn’t want to try to explain you or our adventures yesterday. I made it clear I think they should move Daniel. There’s no guarantee they will though.”

  “Did they tell him his brother was dead?” I asked, knowing that would affect Daniel’s testimony. He nodded. “They told him. He’s pissed. Instead of testifying, he wants to go rogue and kill them all.” He shook his head. “I can’t blame him. You were right about the execution style killing.”

  I noticed we were not headed to my house, and I asked him where we were going.

  “My place,” he answered. “I had my partner get some mug shot books. He’s not as deep undercover as I am. He’s got a little more room to move. I figure we can look through them. See if you recognize the guy that killed Samuel.”

  “That’s fine,” I tell him. “But first, we need to go by my house to tell my grandfather where I’m at. He’s going to be looking for his snack.” Jake gave me a quick look, but did what I asked.

  When we got to my house, I jumped out of the car, leaning back in as I said, “Wait here. I’ll only be a minute.”

  “Paw Paw?” I called, walking in the door. I didn’t get a response, which didn’t surprise me. He was deaf as a doorknob when he didn’t have his hearing aid in. I went to the kitchen and grabbed a pack of peanut butter crackers before going to the back porch.

  He was right where I expected. I handed him the crackers as he said, “Nabs?” He was referring to the crackers, so I nodded.

  “Paw Paw, I’m going to a friend’s house to study, okay? I’ll be back by dinner.”

  “Huh? Okay,” he answered, as the words caught up to him. He ripped the pack open and I stole one before leaving.

  When I got in the car, Jake gave me a curious look. I shrugged and told him, “My grandfather lives with us. We eat a snack every day after school. He’d worry if I didn’t let him know. I need to be back by dinner.” I smiled at him brightly, buckling my seatbelt, as I tried not to think too hard about where we were going. He nodded once before backing out of the driveway.

  Chapter Seven

  We go to a neighborhood I’ve never been to and never want to return to. Every house was run down with broken, rusted cars in the yards. People were lounging on their porches, with most of the guys wearing bandanas and sagging pants. My family might be poor, but our house was kept up and we lived in a safe neighborhood. I didn’t feel safe in this neighborhood at all and hoped Jake had his gun nearby.

  He sensed my unease and said, “You have to play the part; this is where the dealers live. It’s not where they sell, but it’s the easiest way to infiltrate them.” I nodded, since what he said made sense, but that didn’t mean I wanted to stay here. “Look, my partner will be at the house. I didn’t tell him anything about you, other than you’re my girlfriend. He has no idea you know about me and it needs to stay that way. This puts him at risk too.”

  I nodded my agreement as I asked, “What about the mug shots I’m supposed to look at?”

  “He thinks I’m looking through them. Making sure I’ll recognize a friend or foe, you could say.”

  We pulled up to a run down shotgun house, ending our conversation. I looked around. Weeds filled the yard, which hadn’t been mowed in weeks from the look of it. There was another car on the side; a red Ford Mustang. I was curious about the nice cars in the crappy neighborhood. I asked Jake, and he told me with a shrug, “Dealers drive nice cars and the suppliers don’t live here. They live in nice houses far away from their dirty dealings. Nice cars fit into those surroundings a bit better. Plus, nice cars in this neighborhood tend to announce what we do for a living. The ones that want it come to find you. The ones that don’
t, know to avoid you.”

  I wanted to ask him more questions about the drug trade and his thoughts on how to end the war against drugs in our country, but he was already opening the door. I made a mental note to come back to it. My research paper was about other countries’ endeavors, but I now had someone with me who was intimately acquainted with the front line of our own war.

  He pulled me to him, his mouth brushing against my ear. “Remember to play along.” I attempted to nod, my breath sucked away at the slight nuzzle of his lips against my ear.

  “Well look what the cat dragged in,” I heard a cocky voice say. I glanced over to the couch where a guy was sprawled. He had a video game controller in his hand, and I saw a game paused on the big screen TV. I reminded myself he was a cop too, but he played his part well. His smirk was obvious.

  “Addie, this is Conrad.” I nodded, striving for a quick hello. His eyes took me in, objective and not subjective. He was determining how risky my presence was. I wanted to tell him high alert, but I didn’t. He couldn’t know the truth.

  “She’s helping me study,” Jake said, to Conrad’s obvious amusement. I figured Jake’s grades didn’t really matter, since he wasn’t actually in high school, but it did make me wonder how he was playing this off. It didn’t seem like a good idea to date a minor when you were undercover. Even if it was pretend.

  “What are you studying? Biology?”

  Conrad laughed, as I answered him truthfully, “I’m actually taking physics this semester.” I caught his implication a second later and flushed. Jake fought a grin, rubbing a hand over my arm. I was sure he meant it to be soothing, but in reality it was making my heart beat faster.