HIDDEN CREEK AGAIN: a hidden creek high novel Read online

  HIDDEN CREEK AGAIN

  a hidden creek high novel

  Jaxson Kidman

  Contents

  Welcome to

  HIDDEN CREEK AGAIN

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

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  Welcome to

  Kind of like Elijah…

  I growled at the sound of his name as it soared through my head.

  One second of his name in my head was the one second I needed back.

  The wave started to crest and I missed my spot to get up on the board and ride it the right way. Stubborn me, I jumped up anyway, determined to not let this motherfucker of a wave take me down.

  The wave was kind of like Elijah.

  It just did whatever it wanted without care.

  * * *

  Written by Jaxson Kidman

  HIDDEN CREEK AGAIN

  Elijah & Nova Book 1

  OLD SUMMER LOVE SHOWING UP UNEXPECTEDLY? #check

  TRYING TO HIDE MY FEELINGS FOR HIM? #check

  HEART FOREVER RACING AGAIN? #check

  SECRETS, LIES, AND REVENGE? #triplecheck

  Elijah.

  The one I was supposed to forget… for forever.

  Because that’s what he wanted.

  That’s what he told me in a note he left me with last summer.

  He was always just my ‘SUMMER BOY’ and I was his ‘SURFER GIRL’ …

  Except now he’s back.

  And it’s not summer.

  And he’s ready to cause trouble.

  With everyone he hates.

  With everyone I know.

  And with my heart.

  Hidden Creek High has no idea what’s about to happen… and neither do I.

  I can lie to myself and say Elijah won’t bother me… but who am I kidding? I love my ‘SUMMER BOY’ … and I need him.

  Because there’s something I haven’t told anyone ever.

  And his bad boy reputation might be the only thing that saves me.

  Prologue

  (or maybe something like the end)

  How could this fucking happen?

  I laughed in my mind, knowing how it could happen. Nobody was allowed to hear me laugh at the moment though. Bad enough I had fingers pointed at me over and over again. Now this.

  She’s gone.

  I shook my head.

  She wasn’t gone.

  Gone implied… I don’t know. Something else. Gone had a deeper meaning or maybe a lighter meaning. Gone was the word someone used when they were afraid to admit the truth. Gone…

  She wasn’t fucking gone.

  She was missing.

  No.

  That wasn’t good enough either.

  She was-

  “Need anything, man?”

  I compromised and stopped pacing because apparently, I was putting tracks on the floor. Which was a lie, but that cliché bullshit saying stuff went through me, so I listened and sat down.

  And I just sat.

  In a chair.

  Hands on the arms.

  I stared forward and ran it all through my mind.

  From the second I stepped onto the beach in Hidden and saw-

  “I’m solid,” I said without looking back.

  “Drink? Smoke? Punch in the face?”

  My right hand balled up tight.

  I could have been on my feet and throwing a punch in a second.

  I gritted my teeth and stayed as calm as I could.

  How fucking perfect the way life decides to go, huh?

  What I was known for. What I was meant to do. All of that stripped away because of the word love. I needed to stand up and throw punches. Whether I was hitting faces or walls, something had to be done.

  “Everything is in motion. I know that’s not what you want to hear. And I know you don’t want to hear this… but there’s nothing we can do right now. They’ll find her. She’s tough. She’s-”

  “Shut the fuck up,” I said. “If you want to say shit like that, write it down, take it online, and get it put on a sticker so you can sell it to sad people who need a little motivation.”

  “Yeah. Sure. Sorry.”

  I listened to the footsteps and heard the door open.

  “Is he…”

  “Just give him space. And time.”

  My hands slowly gripped the arms of the chair.

  I pulled myself to my feet.

  The chair flew back and hit the floor.

  Nothing was broken though.

  I turned my head and saw a glass of water on the table. A tall, skinny glass. Some fancy glass. With a metal straw in it. And a slice of lemon hanging off the side. And some green, leafy shit swimming on top with the melting ice cubes.

  I grabbed the glass and took a sip.

  Just water.

  I threw the glass against the wall.

  It shattered.

  That should have felt good.

  But I felt nothing.

  She was gone.

  She was missing.

  She was… kidnapped.

  Chapter 1

  Nova

  Summer Boy.

  That name did more to me than I ever let on to anyone. Not even to Britt and she had been my best friend since kindergarten. She was the one who named him that too. Right after that first summer… the waves, the beach, the late nights, getting caught sneaking out, kissing under the stars, touching under the stars… floating home to get yelled at and not hearing a word my parents were saying because my head was spinning and dazed… then came the heartache.

  I knew he had to leave.

  That was clear from day one.

  He said he was visiting family for a bit. Of course, there was a much deeper and darker secret to that. But that secret didn’t mean a thing to me. I didn’t care who he was or where he came from. He was the Summer Boy. That was the only way I could mend my aching heart. The second Britt called him that, I laughed. The first laugh I had since he left. And him being so brutally honest (and so brutally beautiful) he had stroked my cheek, touched his thumb to my bottom lip, and he lowered his mouth to mine but didn’t kiss me… and he told me he wasn’t going to try and call me. Maybe he’d send a letter. But probably not.

  The honesty was as sexy as his body.

  It was unfair.

  To meet someone like him.

  Tall, dark hair, that body, tattoos, able to surf, able to do other things…

  It hurt.

  My Summer Boy always found a way to hurt me when he left. And sometimes before he left.

  But the key was his name.

  Summer Boy.

  That meant I could spend the rest of the year hiding in the arms of other boys who thought they could act like men and match him, but they never came close. And after the first couple of summers, it became the norm. There was no jealousy. The pain didn’t last as long. And it all worked out.

  It always worked out.

  Because we had our routine together.

  The last week or so of classes I would get jumpy. The anxious feeling that went through me was like nothing I c
ould ever find. The closest was chasing down a monster wave.

  Speaking of which…

  I looked over my shoulder and bit my lip.

  The skies were a little too dark and cloudy to be out in the water.

  I needed it though.

  I needed to find something to chase him away.

  It was driving me crazy that he was in Hidden. That he was walking the streets. Or driving the streets. Or eating at places that were my normal spots. Acting as though this was his town. His home.

  A wave started to build.

  That perfect swell, climbing up out of the water, the coolest and craziest sight ever.

  Nobody was supposed to be at the beach.

  Nobody would want to go to the beach on a day like today.

  Except me.

  I needed it.

  I needed to chase this wave down. I needed my heart to race and get to the verge of explosion. That would chase away the stench of him. The memories. The everything about him.

  It wasn’t time yet.

  Then again, for the wave…

  I paddled toward the wave as it grew even more.

  “Shit,” I whispered.

  I turned and got myself into position.

  My heart started to race.

  I swallowed hard, my mouth dry.

  This was the part where I needed to focus.

  This was about me and the wave.

  That’s why I liked surfing so much.

  There was no noise. No distractions. Nothing I had to hide from. Because there was no way you could hide from a wave. Unless you were on the shore. But once you got into the water, that was it. And even if you tried to get away from a wave, it would catch up. There was no stopping what had been set in motion for so long.

  Kind of like Elijah…

  I growled at the sound of his name as it soared through my head.

  One second of his name in my head was the one second I needed back.

  The wave started to crest and I missed my spot to get up on the board and ride it the right way. Stubborn me, I jumped up anyway, determined to not let this motherfucker of a wave take me down.

  The wave was kind of like Elijah.

  It just did whatever it wanted without care.

  * * *

  The wave took me down.

  Really hard.

  I hit the water with such force I lost my breath.

  My surfboard went in one direction and I was thrown in another. Luckily it was attached to my ankle or else my board would have been tossed around and possibly taken away.

  This was my punishment for being so stupid.

  Knowing that the weather was shit and knowing that surfing in this was dangerous.

  I needed all my focus to be out there in the water.

  And I wasn’t focused.

  No matter how much I tried to lie to myself.

  I rolled under the water and felt the pressure of the wave pushing me down. Holding me down. The water was angry, like a pissed off hand trying to get some revenge or just seek some kind of aggressive relief.

  I hit the bottom of the ocean floor with enough force that I screamed. There was no sound and water flooded my mouth. I shook my head and tried to cough the water out, which was just as dumb as trying to take on the wave to begin with.

  Panic set in as my body realized it was time to get the hell out of the water… except I couldn’t.

  I was still at the mercy of the wave.

  Throwing me around, pulling me and pushing me and treating me like I was some useless, forgotten beach toy. Or some seashell that was cracked that nobody wanted.

  I screamed again underwater, only this scream was for a much different reason.

  Why did you have to fucking come back here, Elijah?

  The burning question that I never got to ask.

  I could have asked it though.

  I could have gone toe to toe with him to ask it.

  But I already knew the answer.

  He wanted to know who killed his brother.

  Fine. That point sort of made sense.

  But… it wasn’t like they…

  The wave flipped me over and my head smacked against the ocean floor with enough force that stars fell into the water and danced around my head.

  That’s when the real panic went through my body.

  If I didn’t fight I was going to actually drown.

  Shit.

  Last thing HCH needed was another body to bury.

  I punched the water and curled my body up so I could get my feet to touch the ocean floor. The wave was too strong though, tossing me forward.

  I probably looked like an amateur as I wrestled my way out of the water and gasped for a breath. I let out a scream too, shutting my eyes, putting my head back, feeling the water drip off my hair and my body.

  I made tight fists and punched the water around me.

  By then, the wave was done, already being pulled back out into the water for another one.

  I managed to grab my board and kicked my legs through the current to get to freedom.

  Then again, was reaching the shore really freedom?

  Probably not.

  That freedom was the same shore where he could show up at any time.

  I stomped out of the water and unhooked my board from my ankle and threw it into the damp sand. The morning storms left the sand looking almost grayish. It looked ugly. Nothing like the perfect, rich asshole laced beach town we were all used to.

  I put my head back and took a few deep breaths.

  I tasted salt.

  My nose burned.

  My eyes the same.

  Behind me I heard the harsh crash of another big wave.

  They were really good waves to catch.

  As long as you were focused. And not afraid of anything.

  Believe me, it wasn’t fear that had me… I don’t know what.

  “Figured you’d be crazy enough to be out here.”

  I lowered my gaze to a normal level and saw Aira walking toward me.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “You look like shit.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  I hurried to fix my wet hair and pretend that I didn’t almost die in the one place I felt most comfortable.

  “The rest are coming,” Aira said.

  I looked beyond her and saw Kailey, Charlotte, and Emma walking the beach.

  Charlotte tripped (surprise, surprise) and grabbed for Kailey. They both almost fell as Emma jumped away and kept her distance. She stopped to take her shoes off, leaving the other two to take the lead.

  “What’s this?” I asked.

  “Hang out?” Aira asked.

  “Bullshit,” I said. “You’re stalking me.”

  “Because you’re so pretty,” Aira said. “Can’t help it. I’m in love with you.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, right.”

  “I’m serious.”

  “You’re always serious,” I said. “Ever since you’ve locked down Wes, you’re always so, so serious.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Nothing,” I said with a laugh.

  “What’s up, bitch?” Kailey called out.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Ohmyfuckinggod this sand is gross,” Charlotte said. She tried to jump over a piece of wet sand, only to land in another piece of wet sand.

  “Careful there,” Aira said to Charlotte. “Jump fast like that and you’ll knock yourself out.”

  Charlotte grabbed her chest. “Really?”

  “Have you not gotten any love from Wes this week, Aira?” I asked.

  “What?” Aira asked.

  “I mean, you tell me you think I’m beautiful and you love me and now you’re worried about Charlotte’s tits.”

  “I’d hate to see her knock herself out with those things,” Aira said.

  “Things?” Charlotte asked. “I can’t control them.”

  “To
o bad you can’t be free like me,” Kailey said. She lifted her arms and started to jump.

  We all laughed.

  Whatever Charlotte had been given through the grace of whatever was the same taken from Kailey.

  “I’m not even wearing a bra,” Kailey said. “I love it.”

  “You finally embrace it, huh?” Aira asked.

  “Fuck off,” Charlotte said. “I wish I could do that.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Not wear a bra,” Charlotte said.

  “You could pull that off,” Emma said as she finally caught up, her shoes hung over her shoulders.

  “Yeah,” Charlotte said. “It wouldn’t be obvious at all.”

  “I bet Flynn would cream his pants in a second,” Emma said.

  “Like that’s hard to do already,” Charlotte said.

  “Ouch,” Kailey said. “Got yourself a minute man?”

  “A one pump chump?” Aira asked.

  “A slam slam oops?” I asked.

  “Funny,” Charlotte said. “I’m just so hot he can’t control it.”

  Kailey touched Charlotte’s shoulder. “Yeah. That’s it. Totally.”

  “Bitches,” Charlotte whispered.

  “Okay, we came to check on her,” Emma said. “She’s alive. Can we leave? It looks like rain.”

  I eyed Aira. “You were worried about me?”

  “You haven’t answered your fucking phone,” she snapped.

  “It’s in my car.”

  “Your hippie wagon?” Emma asked.

  “What’s wrong with my wheels?” I asked.