Secrets Worth Keeping (Finding my Home Book 2) Read online

  Secrets Worth Keeping

  Finding My Home Book 2

  Nikita Parmenter

  Contents

  Title Page

  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

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Secrets worth keeping

  THE FINDING HOME SERIES BOOK 2

  NIKITA PARMENTER

  Copyright © 2020, Nikita Parmenter All Rights Reserved

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, duplicated, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the Author’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  This is of course for my Sherlock (every book will be dedicated to her, I have been warned that I have to or I’ll be in trouble) also to my amazing mum and my Bee. I love you all.

  Chapter One

  Trick

  “Ever’s been a while in the bathroom” Luc says his tone concerned as his gaze drifts to the back of the seating area where the hallway to the bathroom is.

  “She was really freaked out when you bought up that we needed to talk about Jensen and you kissing her in front of everybody” Rafe signs.

  I sigh heavily and scrub my hand through my hair.

  “I know she was but this has been going on for a while now, we really do need to talk to her about it” I reply wearily. The last thing I want to do is scare her off especially since we just got her back. These last couple of weeks, even with all the shit stuff at school with Selena and that fucking stalker, have been the best of my life and I know for a fact that I’m not the only one that feels this way about it. I haven’t ever seen my brothers this happy or settled. She’s good for us.

  Jensen is still staring towards the bathrooms worriedly and I know he won’t relax until he knows for certain that she’s ok and that’s not something I can help him with. The only person that can reassure him is Ever herself. I glance around the now crowded diner in a bid to try a distract myself until she comes back. It seems that everyone’s had the same idea as us and now the dance has ended most of the kids from school have turned up here. We’re all getting more attention than usual but the looks people are sending our way are at least respectful if not incredibly curious. I probably should’ve thought it through better and not kissed her in front of everyone but I had to reassure her and I’m completely unashamed of her and what we have with her. I just hope that she feels the same. We have been quite careful in making sure that none of us out right kiss Ever in front of everyone at school after Jensen did it the first time. The only exception being when I asked her to the dance and if I’m honest that was sort of unplanned, I had no idea she would react like that and as soon as her lips landed on mine, I was gone. It was probably better that I kissed her again instead of one of the other guys otherwise the rumours really would’ve gone crazy.

  “I’m going to check on her” Jensen says, finally having had enough of trying to be patient. We all watch him walk briskly towards the back corridor ignoring the greetings he’s getting along the way.

  “Guys!” Jensen suddenly yells loud enough that the whole dining area quiets.

  We are up and out of the booth instantly and racing towards Jensen. Only one thing would make him shout like that. Several people start to get up to follow us since it’s obvious something is going on and they’re nosy fuckers.

  “Stay the fuck down” I command them and everyone sits back down, no one daring to move a muscle.

  We race down the corridor and the guys freeze in front of me, I push through them dreading what I might find.

  “What the fuck happened?” I demand.

  “She’s not here, I already checked the bathrooms” he tells Luc as he moves towards them, “she’s fucking gone, but I don’t think she went willingly, I found this” Jensen says, clearly holding on to his calm by the thinnest thread, as he holds up Ever's shoe. His fingers twitching.

  “TRICK!!” We hear Ever scream.

  “The alleyway” Cash says urgently already heading in that direction.

  I push out the door and we stop just outside of it near a dark patch on the floor as Riot crouches down next to it, a deep frown on his face as he touches it lightly with his fingertips.

  “It’s blood and it’s fresh” he confirms our worst fear.

  “That fucking stalker Jeremy must have her, fuck!” Luc, paces as he runs his hands through his hair.

  Rage heats my veins; how dare he try to take Ever from us.

  She is ours.

  A car door slamming shut has my head snapping up and landing on an older model brown sedan parked in the shadows near the entrance to the alley and concealed well enough that I didn’t even spot it. I start moving towards it before I’ve even consciously given my feet permission to do so. I hear the guys feet pounding behind me but we are no match for a car, especially one that’s trying to get away from us. Something catches my attention in the back seat and my entire body fills with a rage that consumes all rational thought.

  “Oh god no, Ever!” Jensen rages next to me. “Where the fuck are my knives, when did we decide it was fucking ok to not be fucking armed!” he rants as he loses his shit at the sight of Ever.

  Ever’s bleeding and scraped face, stares back at us from the back seat and the image is going to haunt me for the rest of my life, her eyes seem glazed and fuck knows where else she’s injured if her face is anything to go by.

  “Fuck” I roar.

  I turn as the car swerves onto the road and very definitely out of our reach, and instantly punch the alley wall, not the smartest thing to do but that fucker has just taken my heart. Our heart. Fuck, none of us will survive it if anything happens to her.

  “Come on Brother, our girl needs us” Riot says firmly gripping my shoulder tightly, urging me to get a hold of myself.

  Guilt pierces through me as I spin on my heel and march back into the building, here I am freaking out when Ever needs me to be strong.

  “Everybody shut the fuck up” Rafe roars, shocking the shit out of the entire diner and ensuring everyone fal
ls silent immediately.

  “Key’s” I growl.

  This isn’t the first kidnapping we’ve dealt with, Jensen has a habit of getting himself kidnapped by Waverly and because it kept happening we decided to put some protocols in place. Several of our boys, throw their car keys in our direction and I catch a set and so does Rafe and Cash. I nod in thanks briefly as we rush out the doors and to the cars.

  “Trick!” Luc shouts gaining my attention, “are we herding him towards October road?”

  “Yeah, he’s probably heading that way anyway it’s the quickest route out of town!” I call back hopping into the car as Riot hops in the passenger seat with me.

  Rafe has Jensen and Luc and Cash will be in the same car.

  We pull out of the lot and instantly floor it, weaving through the traffic like we’ve done this several times before, which we have. To be honest I think Jensen gets himself kidnapped on purpose just because he’s bored. He’s usually far too pleased with himself when we eventually find him, bloody and bruised, usually surrounded by several knocked out Waverly fuckers.

  “Hang on Sweetheart, we’re coming for you” I mutter quietly.

  Riot grips my shoulder in a firm grip.

  I normally curse living in a small town what with the lack of anonymity but one thing we have going for us now is that unless you want to add an extra two hours on your journey there really is only one way out of town and that’s through the wooded roads out by October farm.

  “Man it’s been too long since we saw his car, maybe he’s not trying to head out to town?” Riot growls.

  “He has to be. Only an idiot would kidnap someone and then keep them in the same tiny ass town, he has to know the police know about him too.”

  “Yeah but what if he doesn’t?”

  “Dude, you’re not fucking helping right now!” I snap at him.

  “Shit sorry you’re right” he pauses, “there, Trick that’s the fucking car, floor it!”

  “We can’t ram it off the road like we normally would, we can’t risk Ever getting hurt.”

  “Just nudge him when he looks like he’s going down a side road away from the backroad then, like we usually do but softer” Riot suggests worriedly.

  “Good idea, call the guys fill them in and get Rafe to go through the track in the woods we built, hopefully it’s not too overgrown and he can cut them off. That fucker is not leaving town with our Everleigh!”

  “You got it boss” Riot agrees unthinkingly, the guys have always deferred to me as a leader in these situations and I fell into it naturally when we were kids.

  “What’s happening?” Rafe immediately barks through the Bluetooth in the car.

  “Can you see the fuckers car yet?” Cash asks harshly.

  “It’s up in front, we’re going to do the usual but we’re going to have to be gentler, we can’t risk hurting Ever” Riot explains the plan and I watch Rafe split off from behind us, the car with Cash and Luc taking its place.

  “Stay on the line” I add.

  “Fuck” Riot suddenly swears harshly and my gaze swings away from my side mirrors immediately focusing back on the car in front.

  “She looks so much worse closer up, she looks like she’s been dragged across the gravel face down.” I growl out between clenched teeth.

  Curses ring out of the Bluetooth, each of us struggling with the fact that she was hurt and we weren’t there to stop it, again. I want to reassure her in some way but I know she won’t be able to see me from this far away. She knows our cars, she won’t know that we’re coming for her. Just as I think about flashing my headlights at her in the vague hope that she understands, her eyes widen in fear and tears start making fresh tracks down her bloodied cheeks as her head snaps back around to face the front.

  “I’m going to kill the fucker” I curse harshly as I nudge his bumper when he tries to turn down a sideroad.

  “Did you see that?” Riot his voice troubled.

  “See what?” Jensen growls. “What the fuck happened?”

  “Jeremy obviously just said something to Ever and whatever it was had her terrified, I’ve never seen her look like that before” Riot explains his voice strained.

  “Fuck, hurry the fuck up! Let’s fucking end this once and for all” Jensen says coldly, his voice hard.

  “We can’t fucking kill him” Rafe warns.

  “Why the fuck not” Luc surprisingly growls, he’s normally the more level headed one of us but then again this is Ever, she breaks all the rules.

  “Because dumbass, that’s murder and the cops already know that he’s the one stalking Ever. There were too many witnesses at the fucking diner, witnesses that weren’t our people. It’s too fucking messy. I know for a fact we can use force to make him stay put if he tries to escape whilst we are waiting for the police to show up though, especially if he hits first” Rafe growls, a dark glee hidden behind his words.

  “Jensen is Matty’s brother still in lock up?” I question suddenly as we enter the first stretch of the back road by October farm.

  “Yes.”

  “He still owe you a favour?”

  “Yep, I think it might be time to collect on the debt owed” he chuckles darkly.

  “Where are you guys?” Luc asks.

  “Still pulling through the woods about a half a mile out, we going to make it?” Rafe asks.

  “Yeah just, thank fuck we had that made.”

  “Yeah well it became necessary after someone fucking decided it was fun to get kidnapped” Cash accuses.

  “I was bored” Jensen’s defends loudly and like it would actually be a valid argument to explain why he kept letting himself get kidnapped. It’s fucking not.

  Through the back window of the car I can just about make out Ever wriggling around in the back seat and I wonder what she’s up to. I know our girl and I know she won’t give up without a fight but I’m also worried that whatever the cunt said to her triggered her on some level. She doesn’t know that we’ve come for her and if she panics I’m worried she might do something impulsive.

  “Guys we need to hurry this up, if whatever that cunt fucking said to her triggered her then she might not be thinking clearly, I can see her moving around in the back seat” I warn them.

  “Her movements are jerky, it’s a high possibility that when we do get to her she’s going to be in shock or getting there” Riot warns studying Ever's blacked out form intently.

  “Got it” the others all confirm together their concern more than evident.

  “We’re nearly at the exit onto the road, should be about two minutes, tops” Rafe says.

  “Remember high beam, blind the fucker, people automatically stomp on the break when they can’t fucking see” Cash reminds him.

  “Luc when he finally stops you pull up on the right, you, Riot and Jensen get Ever” I command before Jensen interrupts me.

  “What the fuck, I want to knock the shit outta that fucker” he threatens, rage pulsing in his tone.

  “Can you honestly fucking say that you won’t kill him?” I ask seriously.

  “No” Jensen bites out harshly.

  “Get our girl to safety, Brother” Riot says softly and Jensen just grunts on the other end, but I know he’ll go to Ever.

  “Rafe, you me and Cash have got that Jeremy fucker” I sigh heavily, “don’t fucking kill him” I instruct again, they all need to hear it more than once.

  “Got it boss” they all echo back to me.

  “Rafe I see you, don’t swerve unless it really looks like he won’t fucking stop.”

  I hold my breath as Rafe’s high beam headlight hit’s Jeremy’s car, momentarily blinding him as Rafe carries on driving towards him at full speed, the car swerves and I panic that the dick isn’t going to save it in time.

  At the last second the fucker straightens the car back out and I release the breath I was holding, loosening my white knuckled grip on the steering wheel.

  “Fuck that was close” Rafe breaths out harshl
y.

  “Come on slow the fuck down” Luc is chanting from the car behind us.

  I’m about to call it and get Rafe to pull out of the way when Jeremy finally slams on the breaks. The guys react immediately boxing the car in so it can’t go anywhere, I leave the engine on and leap from the car, Riot doing the same as me. He rushes to Ever’s side of the car, yanking the door open. I can’t focus on that right now though, if I do this fucking cunt might escape and after what he’s put Ever through you’ve got to be fucking dreaming if you think we are going to let that happen.

  I yank open his door, chuckling as the idiot panics trying to get off his seatbelt. Rafe and Cash flank me as I haul him out of the car just as his seatbelt unsnaps and pin him to the side of the car by his throat. He’s by no means a small guy but he is smaller than me and more to the point I have rage on my side. He hurt our girl. He tried to take her from us. I take a deep breath and push the festering anger aside.

  We can’t kill him, too many witnesses. I remind myself.

  It should scare me that the thought even crossed my mind but me and the guys have always been a little fucked in the head and there isn’t anything we wouldn’t do for Ever.

  “I’m not fucking scared of you, I’m saving her” he whines as he struggles uselessly in my grip.

  I glance over my shoulder and share a dark look with Rafe and Cash.

  “Saving her from us?” I ask deceptively calm.

  “Yes” he spits at me with no sense of self preservation, “if you really cared about her you’d let her leave with me. I can protect her from you” he growls.

  I punch him hard in the face, enjoying is yowl of pain as bones crunch under my fist. I pull my fist back to strike him again but Rafe places a warning hand on my shoulder. So instead I ask a question.

  “What were you going to do with her?” I ask.

  “I was going to set her up somewhere far away from you” he obviously lies, the guy has a seriously shitty poker face.

  “He was going to marry me and enjoy breaking me in” Everleigh spits, from the other side of the car.