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

  “So, what happened?” Rylie asks taking a bite of cookie.

  When I texted her before I just told her that the stalker had tried to kidnap me and now he’s in custody, that I was hurt but ok, so I can appreciate the question.

  “I went to the diner with the guys and everything was great until Trick said that we should probably talk about the fact that he kissed me in front of everyone and then immediately afterwards Jensen did, because the kids at school probably won’t have forgotten about that by the time we get back” Rylie’s eyes go wide, “yeah exactly, so me being a dumbass, panicked and made some ridiculous excuse about needing the bathroom.”

  “Wait a second, why? I thought you were going to talk to them all anyway?” she interrupts confused.

  “I was, I am but I wasn’t planning on it until we get back from our trip and I was going to start the conversation not them. I hadn’t prepared or got myself ready for bad news or anything. I know it was stupid and I should of just stayed then maybe Jeremy wouldn’t have taken me.”

  “Taken you? Oh, my fuck, you said tried not actually fucking succeeded” she says her eyes wide.

  “Let me finish telling you what happened?” she nods so I continue, “Jeremy attacked me outside the bathroom, hurt me badly enough that I couldn’t make enough noise or fight back properly and then dragged me towards the exit to the alley after bashing my head against the wall hard enough that my body wasn’t cooperating. I worked my shoe off and left it behind so the guys would know that I hadn’t just run off because of the conversation. He had a car hidden at the entrance of the alley and I briefly managed to get away from him but because of the head injury I just fell forward and landed on my face. I screamed for Trick and Jeremy having had enough, pulled me to the car by my leg, scraping the rest of me to hell along the gravel. He was driving me out of town spouting all this bullshit and then a car started following us.” I briefly wonder when the guys took the cars they borrowed back, they’re probably taking them back now actually.

  “I didn’t recognise the cars, Jeremy’s driving became erratic the longer they followed us but the car following never rammed into us or anything like that. The only time it came in contact with our car was whenever Jeremy tried to take a turning. We ended up on the road by October Farm, the car behind us had back up because suddenly there was another one heading straight for us. Jeremy didn’t stop until the very last second. I was prepared to fight whoever they were even though I was in pain and bleeding or at the very least run but fortunately it was the guys, they said they had some sort of protocol in place, the cops came and that’s pretty much it” I finish explaining.

  My hands are shaking, I haven’t really thought about what happened and I know it’s going to take me a while before I can talk about it without my hands shaking, at least it didn’t induce a panic attack. Although I’m sure I have some new triggers now, fan-fucking-tastic. I didn’t tell her the things he said, I’m pretty sure they would’ve induced a panic attack and I didn’t tell her that my boys played with the bastard before the cops showed up, nor did I tell her that they threatened his life. I have absolutely no doubt that they would follow through on their threat and once again a thrill goes through me at the thought. They would really go to those lengths for me, I hope they know I’d return the favour.

  I’m fucked up, I’m not even fucking sorry for it.

  Rylie just stares at me before gently wrapping her arms around me, “I’m so sorry Ever.”

  I accept her hug, shaking off my darker thoughts.

  “It is what it is and it’s over now” I say taking a deep breath and leaning back, I want my guys. “So, what movie are we watching?” I ask changing the subject and ending the conversation. I’m already going to have to tell it but in more detail tomorrow morning when I have to go down to the station to give my full statement. Great way to start Christmas eve, although to be fair, whatever it takes to get him sent away is good with me. My past Christmas eve’s haven’t been much better anyway so it won’t really make much difference to me.

  “Well that depends, comedy, romance or action?” she asks pulling three different movies out of her bag, I point to the action. “How did I know you were going to pick that one” she chuckles as she puts it in and we settle down to watch.

  Halfway through the movie she pulls out her phone and starts texting, once she’s put it down she keeps fidgeting and shooting me looks, finally I’ve had enough and I turn to her smirking.

  “Everything ok?”

  “Erm yeah, actually. You’re fine right, so you won't mind if I go and hang out with Darcy? She finished work early” she says guilty.

  My smirk drops, and I try not to frown although a twinge of hurt pierces me, she promised to spend the whole day with me and I was really looking forward to spending it with her. I can’t help but think that if it was the other way around I’d never ditch her for the guys, especially if she’d been through something shitty.

  My mood instantly sours.

  “I mean you can come with If you want” she offers but it’s pretty fucking clear she’s just saying it because she thinks she should and not because she actually wants me to hang out.

  “No, that’s fine. Go have fun, I’m tired anyway” I say trying to smile but really not feeling it.

  “If you're sure?” She asks like it’s actually up to me, if I tell her to stay she’s going to be miserable and I refuse to force someone to spend time with me if they’d rather be else where.

  That’d be shit for me and her.

  “Yeah of course, tell Darcy I said hi, keep the stalker stuff to yourself though please” I say trying to keep my tone even and not show just how much she’s hurt me.

  “Yeah of course, see you after Christmas then” she says as she gathers up her stuff, I walk her down the stairs and wave as she leaves.

  I feel like there’s a lead ball in my stomach, and yeah, I am definitely hurt by her actions. I’ve barely seen her, and she’s already gone. Pretty shitty thing to do actually and it’s put me in a foul mood. Just as I’m shutting the door a delivery van turns up and starts piling boxes out the back and onto one of those cart things. Whoops, it looks like all the places I ordered from yesterday use the same company to ship it. The guy walks up the path and stops in front of me. His eyes widen as he takes in my injuries before he looks away and scrubs the back of his neck with his hand, clearly uncomfortable and not making eye contact with me again.

  My shitty mood worsens, thanks delivery douche.

  “Where do you want me to put these?” He asks, his eyes darting around so he's looking everywhere but at me, holy fuck man, it doesn’t look that fucking bad.

  “Just inside the door please” I say forcing myself to be polite.

  He nods once and has the boxes stacked inside the door in no time at all, he has me sign something, still not looking at me which pisses me the fuck off but he hightails it away from me before I can fucking say anything, the ass.

  Trying to shake the whole ordeal off I try to think of something else I can do to kill some time since the guys are out still. It might be a good idea to wrap their Christmas presents, I probably won’t get a chance to do it without them around before Christmas now. The guys will kill me since they told me no heavy lifting before they left earlier but whatever, I’ll be careful. With that in mind I slowly take the boxes upstairs one by one. Checking the label’s as I go, only one of the boxes is for Jenny though and I leave that one by the front door, I have no idea where she is or I’d take it to her. I carry the last box up the stairs.

  Once I’m in my room I fish the guys presents out from the back of the closet where I hid them and set them on the floor by the bed. There’s more space down here so it’ll be easier to wrap them. Looking through the parcels it’s pretty obvious that the long box has the wrapping paper in it and after a quick search of the boxes, I find the tape dispenser and all the pretty bows. That lifts my mood a bit. I set everything down in the order I’ll need it and reali
se that I forgot to get scissors.

  I want to print off the concert tickets anyway, I’ll wrap Cash’s two ticket's since I bought a photo frame to put them in, so they don’t tear when he unwraps them. The tickets for the rest of us I’ll just give out to the others after Cash has opened up his gift.

  I make my way back downstairs to ask Jenny if she has a printer and if I can borrow some scissors for the wrapping paper. Walking past the lounge I pause when I see her curled up on the sofa reading a book. She definitely wasn’t there earlier, or she would never have let me carry all those boxes up stairs by myself.

  “Hey” she says looking up and smiling at me until she catches the look on my face, I forgot to put the fake smile back on. “Are you ok darling?” she asks softly and it all just comes spilling out of me.

  “Rylie said I was obviously fine so she’s gone to spend time with Darcy and the delivery guy took one look at my face and then wouldn’t look at me again and practically ran away from me” I am mortified when my eyes fill with tears.

  “Oh, sweet girl come here” she says as she stands up and pulls me into a mom hug.

  “I don’t know why it’s getting to me so badly” I sniffle.

  “You have been through a hell of a lot these past couple of days, it’s understandable. I’m disappointed in Rylie, unfortunately some people lose themselves when they enter new relationships. I’m not condoning her behaviour, I’m only saying that hopefully after the newness of it settles, she should go back to normal. As for that delivery guy he’s lucky he’s already gone, or I would’ve had his balls.” She says fiercely startling a laugh out of me, “weak people get uncomfortable when presented with someone who has obvious strength” she says just as fiercely and her words sink into my soul, I am strong. “Now it’s Christmas, you aren’t going anywhere, and you’ve had a shitty morning, so since it’s after midday do you want some lunch and some eggnog?” She smirks and I grin.

  “Yes please to both” I say, “thank you Jenny” I initiate a hug with her for the first time and she pulls me close.

  “Anytime sweet girl, come on.”

  I follow her into the kitchen, taking a seat at the breakfast bar and watch her bustle around the kitchen, she pulls out a large jug from the fridge and pours me a huge glass of the stuff and places it in front of me before getting her own glass and making us both sandwiches. I take a tentative sip and holy fuck this tastes amazing and is far to easy to drink. She sits next to me and we eat in silence before I remember the reason I came down here in the first place.

  “Thanks for lunch and the eggnog. I actually came down to ask if I can borrow some scissors, I want to wrap the guys presents whilst they aren’t here, and I was wondering if you have a printer? I bought Cash concert tickets and I’ve got a frame to put them in” I say finishing of the eggnog.

  “That’s a brilliant idea, sure. I’ll get my laptop it’s hooked up to the printer already so it will probably be quicker” she gets up but instead of going out of the room to get the laptop, she gets the eggnog back out of the fridge and tops up both of our glasses. I grin appreciatively, although if I keep going I’m going to end up drunk, Jenny does not go easy on the alcohol in this stuff.

  I have the tickets printed off in no time and before I go upstairs Jenny once again tops up my glass, winking as she does and whispering, it’s Christmas. Which has me chuckling. Going up the stairs with my now full again glass I realise that I am actually quite tipsy and by the time I finish this glass I’m going to be happily drunk.

  I immensely enjoy wrapping the guys presents although I have a fight with tape at one point getting it stuck everywhere, stupid tape. I’ve just finished wrapping the last one and I’m sat watching Love Actually whilst I sip the last of my eggnog when the door downstairs opens and the guys voices float up the stairs. I grin happily doing a little dance before I remember that I have all the guys presents spread out around me, as well as piles of discarded wrapping paper, I have tape stuck all over me from my tape fight, I’m pant-less because at some point I decided pants suck so I’m sat on the floor in only my boy-short panties and tank. The presents are wrapped but I still don’t want them to see them and when I hear footsteps on the stairs I panic and start shoving the presents under my bed with my feet.

  Don’t ask me why I used my feet, it made sense at the time. I get the last one under the bed and turn back around, sitting cross legged my eyes on the TV just as the door opens.

  “Holy fuck what happened in here?” Jensen asks, his face shocked before his eyes land on me and he bursts out laughing. The other guys push past him to see what he’s laughing at and then promptly do the same. I grin happily at them glad they’re home.

  “Il mio Cuore, are you ok?” Cash asks trying to contain his laughter.

  “Cashy!” I exclaim throwing my hands up in the air and grinning at him.

  “Cashy?” Luc asks, just as Jensen snorts with laughter starting the others off again.

  Trick walks towards me his eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips.

  He looks fucking edible.

  He crouches down in front of me and opens his mouth but before he can utter a single word I launch myself at him. He catches me with grunt but the force has him falling backwards. I straddle his hips as we land, which is fortunate because I’m tipsy enough that I could have quite easily accidently kneed him in the balls. His eyes widen in shock before they fill with heat and I smirk as I lean down and take advantage of his surprise, slipping my tongue past his lips, I don’t stay in control for long as Trick’s arms wrap around me and he returns my kiss passionately.

  I pull back and grin at the slightly dazed look on his face.

  “Hey gorgeous” I grin before I scoot off of him making him groan and sit back down where I was.

  Jensen still laughing his ass off practically falls down next to me as Cash sits the other side. Trick finally sits up, still slightly dazed and crouches in front of me again. Riot, Rafe and Luc all stand behind him trying to contain their laughter and not succeeding very well.

  “Ever, are you drunk?” Trick asks and the guys all turn to me.

  “Nope” I answer popping the ‘p’. I lean towards Jensen and crook my finger at him in a come here gesture, he smirks as he leans closer. “Shhh, don’t tell Trick but I’m hammered” I tell him my finger on my lips and my eyes wide.

  There’s a beat of silence before everyone falls about laughing again.

  Rafe looks me over when they’ve finally calmed down, grinning he points to his forehead. “You have a bow stuck to your head.”

  “That’s where the little fucker went. I was looking for ages” I growl pulling it off.

  “Holy shit, she’s fucking hilarious when she’s drunk” Luc says grinning and I stick my tongue out at him.

  “Careful Ever I warned you about that tongue of yours” Trick says his gaze heated. I stare straight at him, licking my lips before biting down.

  I am drunk, that is my only excuse for what comes out of my mouth next.

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing Trick” I grin as all of the guys stop moving, “but I want to lick you from base to tip and then suck” I purr, smirking as all of them groan.

  Trick’s heated gaze devours me as his hands clench at his sides as if to stop himself from reaching for me.

  “And if you think it’s just because I’m drunk right now your wrong, I’d love to take you in my mouth” I add, as all of them groan, Jensen burying his head in my neck and biting down, making me moan loudly, drunk me is an idiot because I add, “but stupid sensible sober me made a rule” I scoff and Jensen’s head snaps up from my neck, the others looking at me in a way that's more curious than heated.

  “What rule Sunshine?” Riot asks crouching down behind Trick, I open my mouth to tell him about the no sex until I’ve told them all I love them and want them all rule, wait love? Sober me is going to pissed I used that word again, I start to tell them but now that Riot has moved I can see the TV again and I ge
t distracted.

  That was a close call, I don’t want to tell them that rule.

  “I hate this bit” I say instead.

  “What?” Jensen asks looking confused and I point to the TV they all turn to watch and then back to me.

  “Why do you hate it, Firecracker?” Luc asks gently.

  “Because they’re best friends and they both love her, why can’t they just share? I mean would that be so bad?” I ask feeling sad.

  The guys do the eye communicating thing and then all focus on me again. Jensen wraps his arm around my shoulders and I lean into him.

  Trick takes a deep breath and starts to say something when Jenny yells upstairs.

  “Ever!!” she calls before giggling, she's had as many as me, “do you want more?”

  “My mom got you drunk!?” Trick asks his eyes widening as the guys burst out laughing again.

  Before anyone can stop me, I’ve popped up to standing and race towards the door.

  “Fuck” Rafe growls from behind me before scooping me up in his arms, my back to his chest and spinning me to face the room.

  “Ever, where are your pants?” Riot grins.

  All the guys had started to get off the floor so none of them are looking at me and Jensen spins round so fast his legs tangle and he ends up in a heap on my floor, making me giggle.

  “I thought she had those little sleep shorts on” Cash says, his eyes running up and down my legs.

  Trick raises his eyebrow at me in question.

  “Pant's suck, so I took them off” I say simply.

  They chuckle and Luc tosses me some shorts, when I pout he says, “you can’t go downstairs and get more eggnog without pant's on Firecracker.” He chuckles.

  I frown but concede and Rafe puts me down so I can put them on. I’ve just settled them on my hips when Jensen decides chime in.

  “Yeah Angel, she might think we’re all fucking in here” he says it as a joke and Trick smacks him for it, but Jensen's eyes widen as he takes in my expression and the attention once again falls on me.