Secrets We Keep (Thistle Cove 1)

He leans against the end of the bed. “I feel like a man that’s been lost in the desert, and you’re a pool of fresh, sexy water.”

He doesn’t mean it to be funny, but I laugh anyway. “I know what you mean.”

Finn looks around the room, eyes widened like he’s realizing this may possibly be the last time he’s in here. “How did she have such a hold on us, and what’s life, what’s Thistle Cove, going to be like with her gone?”

I shake my head and walk over to him. “I think that’s part of the answer to all of this.”

“What?”

“The hold that Rose had on people. We loved and hated her. Everyone craved her approval and her attention. She made people jealous. Possessive.” I swallow, trying to explain what I mean. “Other people may have felt the same way. Men from that dating app. Men who played games with money and power and control.”

He nods and picks up the electronic devices he’d dropped on the bed. “We need to find out who she was meeting.”

I eye the books once more and even though it’s wrong, I pull the first Eden book off the shelf and tuck it under my arm. For some reason it’s a piece of her I want to take with me. “I agree,” I tell him. “Rose had a way of affecting people, we just need to find out exactly who they are.”

30

Ezra

Dad wakes me with the clank of his keys hitting the kitchen counter when he rolls in at ten on Sunday morning. I fell asleep on the couch, watching football highlights.

“Morning,” he says, barely looking up from his phone. He’s a chronic texter. Work, business deals, women. God knows. I rub my face. “Sorry I missed the game on Friday night. I heard you had an interception.”

“I did.”

He flashes me a mega-watt smile. “I knew you had it in you, son. Keep up the good work, and you guys will go all the way to state.”

State. I’ve been hearing the stories my whole life. Ezra Baxter and Jason Chandler—the stars of Thistle Cove High. Dad had been integral in getting Coach Chandler back to the high school, he and Mr. Waller. The way they talk, it’s like my life won’t be complete unless I have one of those rings.

“Yeah, we’ll see.” I stretch and walk over to the refrigerator. “Finn held it together on Friday, but with everything going on with Rose, he’s struggling a little.”

“It’ll die down soon,” Dad says, putting down his phone. “It’s been a week. The odds of her showing up are pretty slim.”

I frown. “That’s a little pessimistic.”

“I know the statistics. Every hour that passes with a missing person means they’re less likely to be found alive. And if Rose really jumped over that bridge, her body could be halfway to the Caribbean by now.”

“Jesus, Dad.”

People want to know why I’m so brash? I learned it from the best.

“I hate it for the Wallers. I’ve known them my whole life—held Rose in my hand when she was a baby. I feel for them, but it never helps to be naïve.”

“Is that what you think happened?” I ask. “That she jumped?”

“It’s impossible to know what’s running through the mind of an emotional teenage girl, but it’s likely. Rash, sudden suicides happen. She may have been on that bridge and just had the urge.”

Or maybe she was looking for some help—something to make it better, like drugs--and she’d been turned away. I haven’t told my dad about that or about the SugarBabies site. If he finds out my fingerprints are on any of this, he’ll flip.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I pull it out. It’s from Finn.

Got it. Can we meet at your house? 1pm?

I reply with a thumbs up.

“A few people are coming over today—to work on a school project.”

His expression is surprised. “A school project?”