Locked In Silence (Pelican Bay 1)

Because I’d been too much of a coward to risk anyone realizing I had one pretty big thing in common with “Nerdy Nolan” and “Grungy Grainger.”

Shame washed over me and I quickly shut off the interior lights, pitching the cab once again into darkness.

Fortunately for me, Nolan seemed to figure out what a waste a one-sided conversation was, so he fell silent. I couldn’t help but keep glancing at him every few minutes as I tried to catalogue all the differences between present-day Nolan and the shy, awkward Nolan of ten years ago.

Unlike Nolan, I hadn’t been born in Pelican Bay, so my memories of him started at the awkward age of sixteen when I’d entered Pelican Bay High School as a junior. The majority of the small class of students had all known each other their whole lives, so I’d been the dreaded new kid on the block. But I’d been accepted pretty quickly into the fold for reasons I couldn’t say I was exactly proud of.

First off, I’d come in as a star athlete, something that, for whatever reason, had been seen as a high-value characteristic. Second, I’d known how to charm everyone…and I mean everyone. Students, teachers, hell, even the principal had liked me. Which meant I’d won all sorts of accolades that had made the jaunt through high school that much easier – student council president, prom king, homecoming king, captain of the football team, debate team, baseball team…the list went on and on. On top of the charm and the natural athletic talent, I’d also been graced with good looks, something I’d had little to no control over but had been valued for just the same.

But as much as I’d thrived in high school, I’d eagerly waited for the moment I could put the small town of Pelican Bay in my rearview mirror forever. It wasn’t the town itself I’d had an issue with – it was more of what it had represented to me.

Of all the places my parents could have decided to live out their golden years, they’d picked a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. That by itself I could have dealt with, but Jeremiah and Julia Kent hadn’t been content to just to settle into obscurity. No, like all the other times in their lives, they’d needed to be the center of attention, even in a nothing town like Pelican Bay. And being the center of attention meant me and my older brother, Maddox, didn’t get to just blend in with our surroundings like we’d craved for so long. We didn’t get to be just regular high school students trying to navigate the chummy waters of adolescence. Life wasn’t allowed to be boring for a Kent.

“Dallas…”

Nolan’s voice had me looking over at him and I was surprised to see enough light streaming in through the window that I could see his face. It took me a moment to realize that at some point we’d entered town and were currently driving down Main street where there were enough street lamps to illuminate the cab of the truck every few seconds. I also realized that Nolan was touching me.

Fuck, how had I missed the fact that we’d reached town?

Because you were taking a walk down memory lane, idiot.

Memory lane – yeah, right. Nightmare alley was more like it. I pulled my arm free from Nolan’s touch. I was glad I was at least wearing long sleeves, since I already knew what kind of reaction his bare skin on mine would lead to. As it was, my belly was still churning with an unexplained sensation that I could only classify as butterflies.

“You missed the turn,” Nolan said. “I live over on Waterview.”

I knew exactly where he lived, though I didn’t want to dwell on how I knew where he lived. But, of course, that was exactly what happened as I took the very next right and made my way over a few blocks to get to his street. I tried to shrug off the memory, but it refused to be ignored…

“Okay, give it here,” Jimmy said with a laugh.

I glanced over at Jimmy Cornell as he took the bag from Doug Parsons who was sitting in the back seat. “Go right here,” Jimmy said to me.

“Where are we going?” I asked as I steered the Jeep onto a quiet road lined with the same boring little Cape Cod style houses that Pelican Bay seemed to pride itself on. No surprise that my parents had gone a whole other way and built a massive Victorian style home on a bluff by the water that had made the surrounding cottages look like shacks in comparison.

“You’ll see,” Jimmy said with an air of mischief in his voice. He flopped down in the seat and began rifling through the plastic bag.