Shattered Secrets (Book of Red #1) (26 page)

I wanted to knock some sense into him, shake him until he realized Megan deserved him. She didn’t deserve to have her heart crushed by him allowing some girl to drape her legs over his lap. I didn’t care how long they’d known each other.

He grabbed our hands and dragged us to the beach, and Derick followed close behind, looking like he wanted to kill someone.

“Don’t leave us with that hag again,” Will said, once we arrived by the water.

Derick brushed by me on his way to a woodpile, his gaze set on Will, and together they tossed a few logs onto the fire.

“Did you see the way she was sitting on me?” Will asked, clearly unfazed by Derick’s sudden hatred.

If only we had that telepathy thing.

“Yeah. Saw that”—Megan looked back at the house, then muttered—“and saw you letting her.”

“Why’d you invite her?” I asked, staring at Derick as he pulled a few beers out of a cooler and then sat on a beach chair.

Titling his head, he handed me a drink and pulled me down beside him, his body rigid. I’d hardly ever been one to get involved in other people’s crap so openly, and this new side of me probably surprised Derick as much as it did me. But my sudden desire to help two of my friends couldn’t be what bothered him.

I put my mouth to his ear and asked, “What’s wrong?”

“Bad feeling,” Derick said, pressing his fingers to his temple, “right here.”

Will shrugged, ignoring our side conversation. “I found out the hard way that if Jessica McClaren is not invited to one of my parties, she tells her daddy, and he tells my dad. That’s probably the only thing he’s ever punished me for, upsetting his partner’s daughter, and being grounded sucks.”

“Hateful,” I said, receiving nods from Will and Megan. They rarely got in trouble at home. Their dads weren’t ever around to punish them—or maybe it was because their dads’ peers weren’t around.

“Why didn’t your other friends come down here?” Derick took my hand in his and rubbed his thumb over my knuckles, a touch so soft I could curl up and sleep in it, an act so casual it seemed as though we’d held hands for years.

Will stared.

So did Megan.

I got tinglies in my chest, tinglies that meant we did something to prove our love.

And oh how I loved our hands together, but at the same time I wanted to vomit; people who are in love don’t hide things from each other.

I chugged the beer.

“Probably waiting for all their money-leeching groupies to get here,” Will said, smiling at me. “Would you like another?”

“Sure.” Drinking could relieve me of thoughts.

Thoughts sucked.

How could I help my friends when I couldn’t help myself? When I wasn’t brave enough to tell Derick about what the book said?

He squeezed my fingers and followed my lead, finishing his beer in a matter of seconds. “Grab two?”

“Ahh. I get it,” Will said, pulling out more Rolling Rocks. “Hiding all the time must be stressful.”

“Hiding?” Megan sat up as if her gossip alarm went off and alerted her to fresh information to spread all over town.

My pulse pounded, heating my fingers and toes, blood traveling up my neck and into my cheeks.
Derick’s theory better be right, or we’re screwed
.

Will sat beside her and handed us each a bottle. “Tell me you don’t recognize them. The names, the car, their
faces
?”

Recognize us? “Do
you
recognize us?”

He shrugged. “Yes and no.”

Derick glanced sideways at me.

“From what?” Megan squinted, leaning closer, squeezing the bridge of her long nose. “You guys are giving me a headache. Who are they, Will?”

He laughed. “Don’t you watch the news?”

“Every night with my mom. I hate the news; you’d think she could find a better way to spend time with me.” Megan frowned. “But why would these two be on TV?”

“
Cannonball
!” Some guy called.

Five big splashes, lots of laughing and high-pitched screaming, dance music blasting from unseen speakers, and we were saved. Sweat covered Derick’s face, his muscles tense and shaking.

He did this; he controlled these people, the music, the noise. Somehow.

I wanted to kiss Derick and smack him and be jealous at the same time. I also wanted to ask what changed his mind about letting our friends in on our identities. Maybe he changed his mind because of Will and the fact that he seemed to be figuring us out, and that made Derick worry about the integrity of the Safe Zone. But if Megan couldn’t, why was Will able to? Maybe that’s what Derick had a bad feeling about?

Will eyed Derick for a moment, then glanced at me and Megan. She bopped her head to the beat as though she lost all train of thought.

Romancing worked… well.

Finishing my second beer, I stood. The flow of alcohol in my veins made me sway and the horizon twirl. “Who wants to dance?”

Anything to break the attention away from the runaway status of me and Derick.

All three of them shot up, and we made our way to the deck. We danced, and we laughed, and we twirled, and we drank. Blue and red globe lights spun around and blurred in my vision, meshing with the sounds of bass and drums and guitars. People bounced beside me, giggling and singing, their half-naked bodies covered in water, sweat, and beer.

Derick jumped in the pool, fully clothed, and motioned for me to follow.

I shook my head.

“Go on, Abby!” Megan shouted from near the diving board.

“No way. I’m not wearing that bathing suit!”

Will broke away from her, ran over and pushed me in. “Live a little, gorgeous.”

I sank into the chilly water, the blue light filtering through my eyelids, then kicked my way back to the surface, to the sounds of cheers.

Laughing, Derick swam to me. The depth of his blue eyes seemed endless, enchanting with the lights of the pool reflecting in them. “You look sexy.”

“Oh yeah, I hear soggy is a great look.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, ready to dunk him. “And now—”

The ground shook, and everything around us exploded into flames. Kids screamed and took off running toward the beach. The house burned, filling the sky with smoke, glass exploding from the heat.

“Derick?” I flailed, heart pounding, treading water and spinning in circles. “Derick!”

What the hell?

Where’d he go?

“Abby,” he shouted above the chaos of screams and thunderous booms all around us, “I’m behind you, at the edge of the pool. Take my hand. We have to run.”

“Run where?” I grabbed hold of him, and he pulled me to my feet.

Another rumble shook the concrete, cracking the pool in two.

He stared at the water cascading through the lawn, his eyes wide, panicked. “Anywhere.”

“What’s happening?”

An older man ran by us, hair disheveled, skin gray, screaming Will’s name. Not angry, but afraid.

Flames licked the side of the house. I glanced to our left.
Every
house burned.

“I don’t know, but let’s follow him.”

We ran down to the beach and found a crowd huddled around something. Derick squeezed through the people, keeping a tight hold on my hand, tethering me to him.

He broke through the last of the guys and girls, who didn’t appear to notice us, and stopped.

Will and Megan lay on the sand.

Arms and legs sticking out at odd directions.

Covered in blood.

Dead.

Aedan Mordha stood over their pale, mangled bodies, smiling.

He looked right at me with his cold, determined eyes and said, “You did this, Abigail Doran.”

screamed, and Derick covered my mouth with his wet hand. We weren’t by the ocean anymore. We were in the pool, and the music and lights were all back to normal.

“Promise not to scream again.” He pulled me close, holding me tightly, but I felt him shaking. “She’s okay, Will.”

“Does
Abby
speak for herself?” The animosity in Will’s voice didn’t match that of the gentle guy I’d known since grade school. He sounded more like the agitated Derick on the beach earlier, before we downed five or six beers.

Their roles reversed.

“I’m fine,” I said without turning around, then I whispered, “Tell me you saw that too.”

Derick nodded, his lips tight. “I think we need to sober up and go home.”

“I think that was pretty sobering.” Every ounce of fun I had evaporated and left me with an instant hangover.

I might never drink again.

We climbed out of the pool, water draining from our clothes and splattering on the concrete. Most of the partygoers remained oblivious to our changed attitudes; they kept singing and dancing, but not Will and Megan. I couldn’t look at them without seeing images of Will’s head bashed in and Megan’s arms and legs broken and limp at her sides. Hallucination or not, the pain of their death brought on uncontrollable tears.

They stared at me, and who could blame them? I screamed while in the pool, and now I was crying like a baby.

Will took a couple steps forward, eyes focused on Derick. “What’s wrong with her? What did you do?”

Why would Will insist Derick did something to me? Of all people.

“I’m okay, Will. It’s just”—I needed to lie, or stall them, or hell, maybe we could tell them the truth, even though the truth wouldn’t make sense. I needed my friends, alive, well. We’d have to start slow—“I sometimes get flashbacks.”

“Flashbacks of
what
?” Megan propped her hands on her hips, looking from me to Derick, her eyes narrow and her lips pressed together like a mother deciding a punishment for her children.

We drank a lot, but Megan and Will seemed as sober as me and Derick, almost like they were scared straight.

How loud
did
I scream?

Taking a deep breath, I resigned myself to tell Megan a simple truth for now. Maybe it would make sense and she’d let us go home, where we could figure out exactly how to explain this to them. “I was kidnapped, and every now and then, the memories overwhelm me.”

“That’s terrible. My best friend”—Her eyes widened—
please make the connection
—“Oh. The
news
! There’ve been so many bad things.”

She didn’t recognize me. My heart sank to my feet, draining away with the pool water.

Megan hugged my neck, pressing my soggy clothes against my skin, and I squeezed her right back. “Do you need to talk? Do you guys need help? Your parents are probably so worried—”

“Megan.” Will tugged her arm, pulling Megan away, but he kept his gaze on Derick.

Some weird, male thing passed between them. All clenched fists and teeth and puffed out chests, territorial and possessive.

I had no idea why.

“I Tweeted and Facebooked videos begging for my friends’ kidnappers to return them.”

And Megan left me little time to figure out this new tension.

“How could you run away and leave them to worry? That’s not right.” She shook her head and bit her lip. “But you’ve been through so much. You don’t need to listen to me lecture you.”

Megan’s colorless skin flashed in my mind again.
You did this
.

I shuddered.

Derick saved me once, but what did fate have in store for Megan and Will? What did
Aedan
have in store for me that involved them?