HIDDEN (Hidden Trilogy Book 1) (11 page)

“Have a seat anywhere.”  Tyler motioned to the logs placed haphazardly around the fire.  We claimed one log and watched as other kids trickled in to sit down too. 

“So, Kendra,” Tyler asked sitting on my other side on another log.  “What do you think of our town so far?”

“It’s not bad.  The people are nice so that helps the transition.” 

“Is it different from where you were before?”  Tyler asked. 
Which time?
  But I didn’t think he was referring to my multiple homes over the years. 

“No.  We moved from a small town just like this one.”

“Ah, but the friends here are much better, right?”  He joked.

“Yes,” I laughed,
if only he knew.
  A boy across the fire called to Tyler and they started a conversation about football.  While I followed sports, I wasn’t an avid sports fan.  I turned to Bree and Cassie beside me.

“So, you think our ruse worked?”  I grinned, still high on our ploy.  Cassie laughed a little nervously. 

“I’ll let you know in a couple hours.”

If that wasn’t a buzzkill.  “What do you mean?”

“Well,” Cassie said slowly, “I’m thinking that it will take that long until the boys return and check on us.  When they find my car gone in the driveway, things could get a little…iffy.”

“What do you mean?”  I asked, and then paled.  “Will they tell your parents?  Will they care?”

“Oh I don’t think they will tell our parents.  But they will come looking.”  Bree assured. 

“Well,” I said relieved and smiled at them, “here’s to a couple hours of freedom, then.”  They grinned in return. 

The darkness slowly crept in and easy conversation flowed around the campfire.  I found I was having a great time with Tyler and his friends with Cassie and Bree there to enjoy it with me.  They were great story tellers and easy to talk to about anything.  As full darkness surrounded us, I felt Cassie stiffen beside me.  I looked over at her in concern.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can scent Cade.”

“You what?!”  I asked, a little too loudly. 
What the hell did she mean she could “scent” Cade?
  Tyler looked in our direction.

“What’s up?”  He leaned in our direction since the others were still laughing and being loud. 

“Cade’s here.”  Cassie said quietly.  I saw Tyler’s eyes widen. 

“So are Brody and Hunter.”  Bree added just as quietly.  If Tyler could have gone any whiter he’d be a ghost. 

“Where?”  I asked as I scanned the group around us for a scowling face. 

“Coming through the trees behind us.”  Cassie whispered.  I turned around just as Cade’s form materialized from the trees.  Hunter and Brody not far behind. 

“I’ll go talk to them.”  I said reassuringly, to them or me I wasn’t sure.  I stood up and stepped over the log.   I walked to meet Cade who had stopped just outside of the trees.  The glow from the fire didn’t reach out to him which made him look like a hulking shadow.  I could just imagine the scowl he was wearing.  Not to mention I could feel the angry vibes that flowed off him in waves.  I stopped a couple feet from him. 

“Hi.”  I said simply.  I waited for a response and watched as he looked to me, to the people gathered around the fire, then back to me. 

“You lied.”  I could hear the fury behind those words.

“About what?”  I asked innocently, laying the sugar on thick. 

“You said you were staying at your house.”  Cade seethed.  Apparently he wasn’t amused. 

“No, we discussed staying at my house.”  I clarified, dropping all pretenses of sweetness.  “A better option presented itself.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Didn’t know we had to.”  I pointed out.  His eyes narrowed further before he answered. 

“You might not, but Cassie knows.”

“Why is that again?”  I asked, with a little steel of my own in my voice.  “Why does your sister, who is the same age as you, have to report her movements to you?  If anyone it should be her parents.”

“It’s just the way things are.  You’re putting Cassie and Bree in danger when you rope them into your halfcocked ideas like this.”

“What danger?  And what other ideas have I had?”  I asked looking around.  “We were having fun until you showed up.”  I saw him flinch slightly and I instantly felt bad for my words.

“There are things in this world that you don’t understand.  We,” he motioned to the three of them, “are responsible for our group.  For maintaining their safety.  For the future.”

“The future of what?”

“I can’t explain things.”  He said impatiently.  I felt like there was a hidden “to you” left off that statement.  Like he was never going to be able to explain things to me. 

“Do you want to know why we did this?”  I asked. 

“Do tell.”  He replied as he crossed his arms. 

“It’s because you guys are always hovering.  I get that you are looking out for each other.  It’s sweet and all but how do you expect Cassie and Bree to experience anything when you scare everyone away.”

“We don’t scare people away.”

“Oh really?  Tyler did a good impression of a ghost when he heard you guys were back here.”

“Tyler’s an idiot.”

“Tyler’s nice.”  I replied and Cade narrowed his eyes at me.  I closed my eyes in frustration and sighed.

“Look,” I glanced behind me to see both Bree and Cassie looking over their shoulders and watching our exchange.  I thought we were far enough from the fire to not be heard but we seemed to have their rapt attention.  “While I don’t get why you need their exact location all the time,” I held up my hand to forestall him.  “Not that I’m asking, but we have to come to some sort of arrangement.”

“Arrangement?”  He asked, perplexed. 

“Yes.  Allow some freedom to do some girl stuff or hang out with other people.”

“In exchange for?” 

“I don’t know, what do you want?”  I asked, and he seemed to consider my question before answering. 

“I want to know where all three of you are going and who you will be with.” 

“So all you want is the details,” I asked.  While I thought it was a little unreasonable to be giving someone my own age that information, it wasn’t anything different than what I would share with Steve and Nicole.  If it granted us a little more freedom to do as we pleased, then, I guess I could deal with it.  And if he tried later to say we couldn’t go somewhere, well, tough cookies, because he didn’t specify in the agreement. 

“Yes.”  He nodded in answer to my question. 

“Deal.”  I held out my hand and he accepted it, a little reluctantly.  I think he was trying to figure out what he missed.  His palm was warm, and lingered just a little too long around my hand.  I pulled back first and turned to go when I saw him take a step forward.  “What are you doing?”  He looked at me in surprise. 

“Joining you.”

“You can’t.”  I said. 

“Why not?”  He asked, like it should be obvious he could be wherever we were. 

“Well, first of all you weren’t invited, so that is called party crashing.”  I said, and then added quickly at his scowl, “Second, you make people nervous.”  I paused before asking out of curiosity, “What’d you do anyways?  Beat the crap out of them or something?”  I joked. 

“Or something,” Hunter growled from beside Cade.  I’d almost forgotten that both he and Brody were there during our discussion. 

“So what are we supposed to do?”  Brody asked, going back to the original discussion.  

“Go back to tracking, or whatever you were doing.”  I shrugged.

“It’s dark.”  Brody pointed out. 

“Can’t track in the dark?”  I teased, and Hunter scoffed.  “Regardless,” I continued, “go find something else to do.  If you want to be invited, maybe you should be nicer to people.”

“Go ask Tyler if we can join.”  Cade said.  I narrowed my eyes at him. 

“Now you’re fishing for an invite?”  I shook my head.  “No, showing up like this is weird enough.  Go home.  Or do something else.  We will let you know when we leave.” 

“I don’t want to leave.”  Cade bit out, like it was a hard thing to admit.  I looked at him in confusion.  Why would he want to stay some place that tension would be high and hardly anyone liked him? 

“Cade,” Cassie said softly as she approached us.  She put a hand on her brother’s arm and tugged him aside.  They had a private conversation, one I couldn’t hear over the loud laughing and joking that had resumed around the bonfire.  Bree was standing and had taken a few steps closer to us but no further.  She watched all five of us with interest, biting her lip in uncertainty.  I pulled out my phone and saw that it was just after ten.  Early to go home, but my fun meter was kind of shot at that point.  I sighed and moved to stand next to Bree.

“Would you care if we went home?”  I asked her.

“No, I think that would be a good idea.”  She admitted as she looked over my shoulder.  I nodded and turned around.  Cassie and Cade had stopped talking and were looking at me. 

“Cassie, you mind leaving?”  I called. 

“No.  Let’s go.”  Without a backward glance, she left the boys near the edge of the woods.  I made myself turn back around without looking at any of them too and sought out Tyler.  He was across the fire, laughing at something someone said while watching me.  I smiled and nodded my head to the side, asking him to come over.  He excused himself from the group he was talking to and wound his way to me. 

“Something wrong?”  He asked as his eyes slid past me.

“No, but I think we are going to call it a night.”

“Already?”  He asked, disappointment heavy in his voice. 

“Yeah, we need to get home.  But it was a lot of fun.  Thanks for inviting us.”  I smiled up at him. 

“Any time.”  He grinned in return and wrapped his arms around me in a hug.  Shocked, I didn’t have time to decide if I should put my arms around him before he stepped back with a smug grin on his face and said goodbye.  I turned sideways to maneuver around the bonfire and saw Hunter with a restraining hand on Cade’s shoulder.  Cade looked furious. 
What the hell?
 

Cassie, Bree, and I ignored the boys as we circled the house and found her car on the street.  I looked up and down both sides but didn’t see Cade’s vehicles. 

“Where’s Cade’s car or truck?”  I asked, once we were inside Cassie’s. 

“Oh, maybe they took Brody or Hunter’s.”  Cassie commented as she pulled out onto the street and headed in the direction of my house.  I really wasn’t ready to go home, but I guess I didn’t have much of a choice.  It took about fifteen minutes to reach the other end of town.  Cassie stopped in my driveway but didn’t shut off the car. 

“I’m sorry I got you guys into this.”  I said quietly. 

“Are you kidding?”  Cassie asked.  I looked at her in surprise to see she was grinning.  “Tonight was so much fun.”

“I agree.”  Bree piped up from the backseat. 

“Yeah, but them showing up-“ I started before Cassie interrupted me. 

“You brokering that deal with him was genius.”  Cassie grinned. 

“Why’s that?”  I asked innocently. 

“Oh, don’t think you can fool us.  You got him to agree to only knowing where we were and who we were with, nothing about being with us or telling us we couldn’t go.”  Cassie laughed. 

“Yeah, that was some brilliant maneuvering.”  Bree giggled. 

“Yeah, you learn the tricks of the trade fast growing up like I did.”  I sighed.  They stopped laughing.

“Oh, Kendra, I didn’t mean-“ Bree started.  I interrupted. 

“No, I know.  At least I could use those skills to my advantage tonight, right?”

“Right.”  Cassie agreed. 

“I’ll see you guys Monday?”  I changed the subject.

“Yeah.”  Cassie replied.

“Yep.  Bye Kendra.”  Bree said. 

“Bye guys.  Thanks for tonight.”  I climbed out and headed to the front door.  The lights were off in the house so I assumed Steve and Nicole were already asleep.  I locked the door behind me and quietly made my way up to my bedroom.  Just as I shut the door behind me, a text beeped on my phone.  I just knew who it was from.  I checked and yep, from Cade.

U home? 

I thought about not answering, but figured after our…confrontation…earlier, it would be best not to test the waters so soon.  I texted back:

Yes

I set my phone down on the night stand next to my bed and went through my bed time routine.  A few minutes later I curled up under my covers and shut the light off.  A text was waiting for me. 

Did u have fun tonight?

I did. 

I’m sorry for ruining ur night.
  His response made me pause. 
Cade…apologizing?
  Why couldn’t he do that in person? 

It wasn’t ruined.  Just not how I imagined it going. 
There was a long pause before the next message came in. 

How did u imagine it going?