HIDDEN CREEK THEN: a hidden creek high novel Page 2

  “What happened to your hand?” I asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “Jett…”

  “Sweetheart, it’s fine,” he said in a soft voice.

  “It’s not fine. I thought you were done with that.”

  “Scotty got mouthy,” he said with a grin. “Made a comment about you.”

  “So you killed him?” I asked.

  “Yup,” he said. “Tossed him into the ocean.”

  “Jett…”

  “Julia,” he said.

  “Did you win?”

  “Of course I won,” he said.

  “And… you got money?” I asked.

  “Why does that bother you?”

  “It just does,” I said. “I don’t want you to ever get hurt. And it’s… fighting for money? It just sounds…”

  Jett swallowed hard. He put his hands to the wheel. “It’s sounds… what? Wrong? Dirty? Poor?”

  “No, no, no,” I said. “Nothing like that. It just sounds so dangerous. And I feel bad…”

  Jett looked at me. “No way, sweetheart. You never have to feel bad for me. Ever. I’m taking care of myself. Like I always do. And I’m going to take care of you too, Julia. You never have to worry about that.”

  “Do you really think Pop is ever going to let you do something bigger with the garage?” I asked.

  “Yeah,” he said. “Believe me. It’s all good. It’s perfect. I’m here with you. How can it not be perfect?”

  I bit my lip and grinned.

  He’s a tough one, Julia. He’s got a bad streak. A badder attitude. He drinks and fights. He smokes. Everything about him screams ‘wrong’ and ‘run’ … and there’s other guys… but they’re all boys. They’re not him. I can’t help who I love. And, yeah, that’s right. I love him. And nobody can control my feelings.

  “Let’s go to the beach.”

  “What?” Jett asked, smiling.

  “Take me to the beach,” I said. “Right now. Drive fast. Let’s go. Mister big and tough bar fighter dude. Show me what you’ve got.”

  Jett kept smiling. “The bakery opens in a little while…”

  “So? I can function on no sleep. What about you? Do you need your beauty rest? Want me to show you how to change your tampon too?”

  Jett started the car. “You’re going to ruin my life, sweetheart.”

  I leaned across the seat and kissed Jett’s cheek. “Maybe that’s my secret plan… you’ll have to wait years to find out…”

  * * *

  Jett drove really fast.

  But it didn’t scare me.

  It used to though.

  But I trusted him.

  And the road we were on was wide open. And was straight for miles.

  With the windows down, my hair blew all over the place. I stuck my hand out the window and tried to fight against the wind.

  I was so freaking tired but there was no way I was missing out on a night with Jett.

  And plus, at the beach, we could find a spot to-

  “Ah, shit,” Jett said.

  His car suddenly started to come to a stop.

  I blinked fast and realized there was a cop behind us.

  Lights flashing.

  My heart climbed into my throat.

  “Jett…”

  “It’s fine,” he said. “I was speeding. That’s all.”

  “I’m dead,” she said. “What if you get arrested?”

  “For what?” Jett asked. “I’m not drunk. I’m driving. I would never drink and drive, sweetheart.”

  “Right. Sorry. I’m scared.”

  “Don’t be,” he said.

  Jett pulled over and kept his hands on the wheel.

  “Is that who I think it is?” a voice asked.

  “Dusty,” Jett said. “What are you doing out this late?”

  I crouched and looked at the cop.

  He looked familiar.

  “I could ask you the same,” the cop said. “And you have company. Wait a second… is that Bea’s girl?”

  “Julia,” Jett said. “Yeah, she’s with me. We were taking a ride. Is that a problem?”

  The cop leaned down and looked at me. “Does Aunt Bea know you’re out this late with this guy?”

  My bottom lip quivered. “I have my period.”

  “Excuse me?” the cop asked.

  “I have my period,” I said. “Bad. The cramps hurt so bad. So I called Jett. To take me to the beach. I’m in a lot of pain. I’m sorry he was driving so fast.”

  “See?” Jett asked. “I’m just being a nice guy. That damn reputation I have… it’s a shame.”

  “What’s a shame is what’ll happen next time I see Bea and tell her Julia was in your car at almost two in the morning.”

  “Please,” I called out.

  “Do you know why I’m out here, Julia?” the cop asked.

  “No.”

  “We’re closing in on two in the morning. And I need to make sure that any damn fools that are drunk don’t try to drive home. Because all it takes is one second-”

  “For your life to change,” Jett said.

  “Smart ass,” the cop said.

  “Dusty, come on,” Jett said. “I’m not doing anything wrong. So break my balls and send me home. Or find a reason to arrest me. Leave Julia out of it. Okay?”

  “You better turn your ass around and go home,” the cop said. “Right now. I’m not lying either. Get the hell off these roads at this hour. Understand?”

  “My girl wanted to see the ocean,” Jett said.

  “She can see it in the morning,” the cop said. Then he looked at me. “And maybe you should go see a doctor about your, uh, your… uh…”

  “Period cramps?” I called out.

  The cop stepped back. “Yeah. That.”

  “Have a good one, Dusty,” Jett said.

  Jett turned the car around and drove slow.

  He reached for my hand and smiled. “Look at you. You wild badass. Lying to the cops.”

  “That guy doesn’t like you,” I said.

  “Not many people do, sweetheart.”

  “I do.”

  “Yeah… I like you too, Julia.”

  * * *

  I leaned against the counter, my chin resting on my hand. I had no idea what I was looking at. All the power and strength of sight was being used to run through the night in my head one more time.

  The way Jett drove so casually and then took a right turn and sped down a back road to get away from the cop - Dusty.

  I screamed and he laughed.

  I had no idea how he drove the way he did without killing us.

  And yet, somehow, he got off the back road, put us on a main road, and we were at the beach a few minutes later.

  He told me there was no way I was going back home without getting what I wanted.

  I was nervous Dusty was going to find us.

  But he didn’t.

  And even if Dusty did tell Aunt Bea about it… oh well.

  The night was worth it.

  Everything we did under the stars in front of the waves was so totally worth it.

  I floated above the seat the entire drive back.

  Jett kissed me goodnight and watched me walk down the street to Aunt Bea’s house.

  She was still asleep in her chair, the TV on.

  The first step creaked and she woke up, asking me what I was doing.

  I lied and told her I was getting a glass of milk.

  I slept for an hour, woke up, and made sure to get my butt to work.

  But I was still living the night.

  “You didn’t hear a word I just said, did you?”

  I jumped and turned.

  Aunt Bea stood with a large tray of bagels.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I’m over here talking to you and you’re not listening,” Aunt Bea said.

  “Sorry.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Julia…”

  “I�
�ll help you with those bagels,” I said.

  “Of course you will. I just told you to help. Are your ears painted on?”

  I grinned and took the tray from Aunt Bea. “My ears are fine.”

  “Then what’s wrong?”

  I grinned bigger. “It’s just my period… nothing else.”

  Chapter 3

  LATER

  Julia

  (prologue)

  I wasn’t even done with the cigarette in my hand and there I was, reaching for another one. Leaning against the railing of the deck that had brought me comfort for so long. The beach house that I worked my ass off to not only buy but keep. It didn’t matter the truth inside my heart or my head, it was my house and I loved walking outside to have a coffee on those rare mornings I wasn’t at the bakery before the sun came up.

  But now it was all changed.

  Again.

  Every single time I got life to calm itself down, it fought back.

  Really hard too.

  The entire plan in my head had been so simple.

  I had the memories. Those were great. The best memories of my life.

  I had the memories before the memories. Those were the ultimate ones. The ones I kept to myself and would never ever share with anyone.

  And that was okay.

  That was all part of the plan.

  And I was going to run the bakery like I was. It opened, it closed, it functioned. It didn’t lose money. It didn’t make me rich. I got to live my dream of having a beach house.

  All the in between stuff would fade with time.

  There was no fading.

  There wasn’t enough time either.

  Because life never stopped to let me breathe.

  So standing on the deck, chain-smoking cigarettes, complaining like a teenager… it all felt right. And normal. And it felt okay.

  I finished my cigarette and flicked it down to the beach.

  I couldn’t stand to turn around and see the empty house.

  It all had happened so fast.

  That was our thing though.

  It had always been so fast.

  That’s what used to make us crazy. That’s what used to piss everyone off about us. That’s what tore us apart the first time.

  The first time.

  I shut my eyes.

  It wasn’t supposed to be like this either.

  The first time was the only time. The first and last time together. Not a first time and then try again…

  I heard the door behind me slide open.

  “Hey, Pretty J.”

  My body stiffened. Every muscle tightened.

  My eyes moved to the cigarettes.

  I reminded myself who I was and that it didn’t…

  My left hand casually swiped and I knocked the cigarettes off the deck to the sand.

  I slipped my right hand into my pocket and snuck out a piece of gum.

  As I put the minty green gum into my mouth, I shut my eyes, seeing myself as a teenager, sneaking gum into my mouth to make sure Aunt Bea didn’t know I had started smoking.

  “It’s okay to cry in front of me. It wouldn’t be the first time. I know you’re going to miss this place. You know that’s okay, right? It hurts now, but it shows you’re moving forward in life. I am too. And we both can move forward. Finally.”

  I made sure my mouth was full of peppermint burn and I turned around, blinking fast.

  The plan had been for Jett to be walking toward me.

  And he would have grabbed me by the waist and sat me on the railing and kissed me like he did when we were teenagers. And I wouldn’t have been chomping on fucking gum and he would have stolen one of my cigarettes.

  That. Was. The. Plan.

  Instead…

  Kinney - my fucking ex-husband - walked up to me, touched my cheek with one hand for one second, and he kissed my forehead.

  Chapter 4

  LATER

  Jett

  (prologue)

  I turned the corner and felt the light mist of the leftover rain lingering in the air.

  My hands were in my pockets and I kept my head down.

  Someone’s shoulder smashed into my shoulder.

  I looked up.

  “Fuck off,” some guy said to me.

  I curled my lip and let it slide.

  I stopped walking and looked to my left. The neon lights of the bar were calling my name. A place to go. To forget. A place where everyone in there understood… or if they didn’t understand, they’d be there until the end of the night. They were my best friends, my family, my everything. Until the lights came on or the sun came up. And then we’d all be strangers once again.

  That’s what I needed in my life.

  I stuffed my hand into my pocket and instead of taking out a cigarette, I had something else with me.

  I held the diamond ring between my thumb and pointer fingers.

  It was a small diamond. I guess someone being nice would call it classic looking. Not sure what the fuck that meant other than not big enough.

  But that was the whole point of it all.

  Did she really want a diamond ring that weighed fifteen pounds and needed a fucking insurance policy so she could wear it outside of the house?

  If she did I would have gotten one like that for her.

  Not a fucking problem in the world.

  But that’s not what she wanted.

  Then. Now. Or ever.

  Not even during that fucked up in between spot in her life.

  You mean the spot where she is right now again? Falling back into that sense of comfort because you take things too far? You push too hard. You always do. And then you fuck everything up.

  I gritted my teeth.

  That damn voice in my head needed to shut up.

  The only way to shut it up was to check out the neon lights next to me. Without a doubt there was someone there who was at least half as beautiful as Julia with a broken heart looking for one night to forget it all.

  That I could handle.

  I held the engagement ring up to the streetlight above my head.

  Then I laughed.

  Like a psycho, standing there on a wet sidewalk, laughing at a ring that Julia would never fucking wear.

  Ever.

  Not just because of what was happening now either.

  I lowered my hand, stepped forward, and tossed the engagement ring down the storm drain.

  It didn’t even make a sound.

  And just like that, it was gone.

  I turned away from the neon lights because I had something else to do real quick.

  I moved down the sidewalk with speed and was lucky enough to find the guy who bumped shoulders with me and then proceeded to tell me to fuck off.

  When I grabbed his shoulder and turned him around, he looked confused.

  One punch knocked him down.

  The second punch was for telling me to fuck off.

  The third punch was for all the pain I felt in my heart.

  And the fourth punch was because of Julia.

  I got the hell out of there, my right hand bleeding and swollen.

  Just like the old days in life.

  I went to the neon lights, sat at the first open barstool I could find, ordered what I needed to make all the pain disappear, and I waited.

  I flexed my hand and gritted my teeth.

  That’s when I realized maybe some types of pain never actually go away.

  Chapter 5

  NOW

  Julia

  “These numbers don’t match. At all.”

  I had notebooks, invoices, and an old laptop on the small desk in the back of the bakery, trying to make sense of what was going to keep the business open for another month.

  Now, was it really that drastic?

  Nope.

  But if Aunt Bea was around, she would be pissed at me for letting the accounts get this messy.

  I had always hated math.

  It was never my thing in life.


  Whether it was back in school when I needed a passing grade or in the real world when I needed to pay a vendor and had no idea how much to pay or how much was in the checking account.

  “What the hell does this even mean?” I asked.

  There was a soft tap tap tap at the open door.

  I looked up and Whitney stood in the doorway, wearing a black apron with white flour all over it.

  “You’re talking to yourself again, Julia.”

  “I know,” I snapped. “This is all stupid.”

  “Sorry.”

  I shut my eyes. “Whit. I’m sorry. I snapped.”

  “You’re under a lot of stress,” she said.

  “That’s why I hired you. You were supposed to take all my stress away.”

  Whitney laughed and stepped into the office. “I told you I could help with this part too.”

  “Yeah, you’re the big shot with a fancy college degree, right?” I asked.

  “Stop that,” she said.

  “And remind me again why you aren’t working some real job somewhere? In a big city. Big paycheck. Things to do…”

  “Because that’s what everyone wanted for me,” she said.

  “And you’re just the rebel, huh?”

  “Smart rebel,” she said. “I made sure to get college and everything out of the way before making my stand.”

  “And making your stand is… here?”

  “Small town bakery in the middle of a beach town. Nobody knows me. I’m happy. What else could I ask for?”

  “I’ll tell you what I can ask for,” I said. I pointed to the desk. “Someone to sprinkle some fairy dust on this mess and make it make sense.”

  Whitney untied her apron and took it off. “Trade you then.”

  “Whit…”

  “What?”

  “I can’t afford to pay you anything extra,” I said. “I mean it too. I’m not some business owner sitting on cash claiming I’m poor.”

  “I don’t want anything extra,” she said. “We have a good thing here, right?”

  “We do.”

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “I don’t want you to feel… I don’t know. Like I’m using you.”