Uncovering His SECRET (17 page)

“Yeah, and you made
her feel like shit. For saving your worthless ass,” Stella tells
me.

“You’re right,” I
tell her. She is, and it’s about time I started owning up to the
shit I’ve done.

“When we get her
back, are you going to fight for her, or are you going to just walk
away again?”

“Fight. Definitely
fight.”

“Good answer.”

“How can I help? If
it’s not someone after me, who could it be?”

“We don’t know. You
were meeting at seven?” Jade asks me.

“Yeah. I knew
something was up when she didn’t show. I was racking my brain to
figure out what I could’ve done since I hadn’t seen her this
morning.”

“From her credit and
debit card records, we can tell that she went to Houston earlier. She
bought some things from a few stores, got lunch and gas, and then
nothing more.”

“Was she meeting
someone in Houston?” I ask, not understanding why she went there.

“No. She wanted
something new to wear for your date, including a new bathing suit,”
Stella tells me.

“There’s a bathing
suit on her bed,” Ellie says.

“Yeah, that’s the
one for when they’re actually back together. She was going to wear
a more modest one tonight. It’s not up there, and neither is the
dress she sent me a picture of. So, she has those on, along with her
pink boots.”

I whip my head around
to Stella. “Pink boots?”

“Yes, they’re the
ones you gave her years ago. She never wears them, but she wanted to
tonight. I knew she’d want them while she was with you, so they
were in the suitcase I sent with Wayne.”

“So let me get this
straight. Someone has her while she’s wearing a dress she bought
just for me and her special boots. Plus she has a bathing suit on.”

“Yep.”

“I’m going to jail
for murder.”

“Nah. We’ve got you
covered,” Isa tells me. “No one will know if you kill one of
them.”

“You think it’s
more than one?”

“They got Tegan. No
way it was less than four people,” Jade tells me.

“I don’t think that
makes me feel any better.”

“We’ll get her
back, Caleb. Any other outcome is not an option.” Reina tells me.

I stay there with them
all night. My mom and Betty bring us food, while my dad and grandpa
use their connections to do what they can to help. They brought Ethan
over here because this is really the safest place in the world at the
moment.

Cyndi and Brad talked
to him, and then he came and sat next to me on the couch, cuddling
into me as I wrapped my arms around him. When he fell asleep, I took
him upstairs to his bed and then came back down to watch and wait.
This is one time when my science brain is not much help, but I need
to be here.

Just after sunrise, my
dad’s phone pings with a text. He opens it, and his face goes
white. “Dear God, what have they done?”

“What is it, Dad?”

“Whoever has Tegan
has just plastered the town with pictures of her.”

My blood is boiling as
I imagine what kinds of pictures they took. Before my dad can show us
on his phone, I hear Ainsley talking into hers. “I need access to
this satellite and to have it moved to these coordinates for one
minute…fuck protocol, this if for Tegan Kelly. Did you forget that
she saved your asses last year?”

Scott plugs her tablet
into the big screen TV as she nods. A few seconds later, the town
square comes up. She types something else and the picture zooms in.
We all see it, and we all curse out loud. There are several different
shots of her in her black bikini. It’s not her half-dressed body
that has us cursing, though. It’s the words written on her body.
The pictures highlight a different word on each one, for all the town
to see.

Tegan Kelly is a
slut

Tegan Kelly is a
whore

Tegan Kelly is
disgusting

Tegan Kelly is
trash

Tegan Kelly is
easy

Tegan Kelly is a
bitch

Tegan Kelly is a
gold-digger

Tegan Kelly is a
cunt

Tegan Kelly is a
skank

“They’re just
pieces of a body. We don’t know,” Matt says.

“It’s her,” I
say, trying to swallow past the lump in my throat. “It’s her. We
have to find her. Someone in this town has to know something, and if
I have to go door to door, I will.”

“I think a town
meeting is more in order. After we all go out in groups and remove
the pictures, of course,” Reina says, a scary look on her face.

“Half the town’s
going to wake up to them on their phones or social media. But just so
you know, for as many people who have vilified Tegan here, there are
at least twice as many who will support her,” my dad tells her.

“And you know this
how?” I ask.

“Because I’ve
always been one of them,” he replies, looking me in the eye.

“Me too,” says my
grandpa. “I never believed she betrayed you. We had to publicly
support you, but Brad has filled me in over the years. About
everything.”

“You knew about
Ethan, too?”

“I did. Your father
didn’t, because that was something he couldn’t have kept from
your mother. She would’ve told you, and you weren’t ready to hear
about that boy yet. I knew Tegan would bring him back here one day,
and I couldn’t wait to meet him.”

I’m dumbfounded. And
humbled. I claimed to love Tegan, and yet I believed the worst about
her. While my dad and grandpa were silently supporting her. I know
he’s right, too. I wouldn’t have been ready for Ethan back then.
I was too full of hate. Now, though, I’m pretty much full up on
love. For both Tegan and Ethan. Real love. The kind that believes and
trusts. And the kind that kills.

“Thank you both. For
keeping the faith for me when I was too dumb to do it myself.”

“We knew you’d come
around,” my dad says with a smile.

“Okay, now that we
all love your dad and grandpa, we really need to get moving. I’m
assuming you want to come with us. Can your mom come over and watch
Ethan?” Stella asks.

“Not even all of you
could stop me from going, and yes, I’m sure my mom will come over
here. I’m pretty sure she’s been Team Tegan all along, too.”

Tegan

The next time I wake
up, I’m more alert. Still a little groggy, but I can open my eyes,
and move. Well, as much as a person who’s hog-tied can move. I can
also feel the pain on the side of my head. I move it side to side in
order to assess the damage. I don’t think I have a concussion, but
with the heavy drugs they were giving me, I can’t tell for sure.
Waking up is a good sign, though.

“Oh look, our special
guest is awake,” my least favorite football player ever says to me.

“Guests usually get a
bed, and, you know, the freedom to move their hands and legs.”

“Tied up, and still
being sassy. I really wish I could fuck you into submission, but I’m
told it’s too risky, and I
do
have scholarships to worry about.”

“I’d never submit
to you, so you’re not missing anything.”

“You won’t be so
bitchy when you see the fun we’ve been having while you were passed
out.”

I feel hands pull me up
from behind, and I’m carried over to a full length mirror on the
wall. Oh my God. I remember them writing on me, but this. How could
they do this? How could anyone do something like this to another
human being? I won’t let them see my pain, though. They can’t
have that.

“You’re regular
artists, aren’t you?”

“Some might consider
the photos we took, and how we worded them, art.”

He holds up a picture
of me. It’s just my stomach, with the word “slut” written on
it. The sentence above it says “Tegan Kelly is” and then an “a”
is next to slut. I. Will. Not. Break. In. Front. Of. Them. I repeat
that to myself over and over as he shows me all the versions they
made, with different parts of my body covered in different—but just
as demeaning—words. It’s hard to stay calm when he tells me they
put them up all over town, but I do it. I have to shut down the hurt
in order to survive.

“Don’t worry, we’re
going to touch up the words before you go on display tomorrow.
There’s some big town meeting about your disappearance, so everyone
will get to see you in all your glory.”

“Like I told you
before, it’s your funeral.”

“You’ve got me
shaking in my cleats.”

“You have no fucking
clue.”

* * *

Caleb

No one in this damn
town will admit to knowing about what happened to Tegan. The people
who are on her side swear they’d tell us if they knew. The others
refuse to help. The mayor says there’s nothing he can do, while the
damn sheriff was smirking at Reina while telling her he hadn’t
heard anything. He started to suggest that she ran off with some
other guy, but my grandpa told him to “shut his fool mouth,”
which effectively silenced him.

Today is the town
meeting, which is being held in the football stadium, the only place
big enough to fit the whole town inside. Reina says she’s going to
get answers, even if she has to start shooting people to get them.

Scott and Ainsley have
had no luck with the tracker. All they can figure is that there was
some weird electric current on or near Tegan for it to malfunction.
The people who have her better have been smart enough for it to be
the “near” and not the “on” option. It’s been two days
since Tegan was taken, and we’re all getting a little frantic. And
ready to spill some blood. Ethan’s been attached to me, even asking
me to sleep in his bed with him, and just seeing him hurting is
enough to bring out some primal instincts in me.

Jane Corrigan, Helen
Wilson, Mallory Daniels, and Maggie Griffin have all flown in for the
meeting. So did the rest of the Griffin family, along with Faith’s
boyfriend, Gavin. Zack and Kace wanted to be here, but we thought
their star power would be too much of a distraction. As it is, Nate’s
glaring at everyone who asks him for an autograph, but he refused to
leave when people started recognizing him, saying they could all go
fuck themselves if they won’t help Tegan. He actually said that to
a few people, and I’ll admit it was pretty awesome.

Now that pretty much
the whole town is here, the mayor goes up to address the crowd.
“Welcome, everyone, and thank you for taking time on this fine
Sunday to listen to our guests speak. Please give a warm welcome to
Reina Corrigan.”

More than half the
crowd cheers, but the others boo her. The mayor looks over at Reina
nervously. He should be nervous. Less than a half hour ago, the
President of the United States was on the phone, telling him she
expected his full support and cooperation. He changed his tune from
mocking to submissive pretty damn fast after that.

“Thanks to those of
you who actually know the meaning of a warm welcome. The rest of you
could drop off the face of the Earth, and I wouldn’t care. I’m
inclined to help you there, in fact. You see, Tegan Kelly is one of
my best friends. I would do anything for her, and I know she feels
the same about me. I’ve tried to be patient with all of you, but
some of you know who took her, yet you’ve have refused to help me.
You’ve even helped out the cowards who took her by sharing the vile
pictures they took of her, or making your own signs to replace the
ones we took down. I’m all for freedom of speech, but you should
know that my friends and I also happily exercise our right to bear
arms.

“I’m going to give
you this one last chance to give me the information I need to help my
friends and I find Tegan. You don’t have to do it publicly, you can
call the number on the screen behind me. I’ll give you five
minutes. After that time, I’m going to unleash the resources at my
disposal and rain down the kind of Hell on this town that’s beyond
even your worst nightmares. If you doubt me, you should ask your
mayor about the phone call he had with the President less than an
hour ago.”

She walks to the side
of the stage to stand next to me. “That was awesome. Scary as all
hell, but fucking awesome. Someone’s got to help after that.”

“They better because
I wasn’t kidding. I will take down this whole town if I have to.”

“I know.”

Right then, the coach
of the football team walks up. He wasn’t my coach, and I’ve never
cared for him very much, but if he can help, I’ll be more than
happy to change my assessment of his character.

“Hello, sir. Do you
have some information for me?” she asks him.

“Yeah. I have some
info for you. You need to go back across the border where you belong.
A girl like you could get herself hurt around here.”

Matt is off the stage
in seconds, tackling the bastard to the ground. Before he can
recover, Matt pulls out a gun and shoots him in the shoulder. “Talk
to my wife like that again, asshole, and I will end you.” He looks
around at the crowd, who have gone quiet. “That goes for the rest
of you, too.”

The minutes tick by,
and no one calls or comes up to the stage. Well except for the
paramedics who took the coach away. Right at the five minute mark,
the volume of the crowd increases as people start checking their
phones. Several of them begin running from the stadium.

“Shit,” Scott says.
“I’ve got a visual on Tegan and it’s not good.”

* * *

Tegan

I had to endure the
little bastards re-marking my skin since the letters apparently
weren’t as prominent as they wanted. Of course they kept me tied
up, and held down while they did it. We’re almost to the town
square where I’m apparently being put out for all to see me. The
only thing keeping me sane is the fact that once I’m in public, my
friends will come for me. And these boys.