Buried Secrets (New Adult Dark Suspense Romance) (14 page)

“Come on!” Suzanne called.

Dusty hesitated. She thought about going back to the Mustang, hiding in the backseat maybe. Or just telling Shane she wanted to go home. She felt out of place as it was in her Starlite uniform, although she’d ditched the heels to go barefoot on the cool grass. Then she felt arms sliding around her waist and she smelled beer, feeling the heat of Shane’s breath against her ear.

“Go on, scaredy-cat. They won’t bite.”

She shook her head, but Shane was guiding her, arm around her waist, pulling her toward the crowd of people. They all knew her—she’d been hanging around with the guys at the Starlite for weeks, even shooting pool with them after hours—but it still felt strange to be among them like this.

“Hey Dusty!” Ryan smiled and tipped her a wave, his glasses reflecting the bonfire’s glow, his face flushed from the heat. “Lookin’ good, as always!”

“Hi, Ryan.” Dusty greeted him warmly. She hadn’t seen him since that day at the florist, and she remembered how kind he’d been, giving her a yellow rose for Nick—remembering how it had been his favorite color.

“Sit here!” Suzanne patted the space next to her and Shane nudged her forward. Dusty went, still reluctant, and Suzanne grabbed her hand to pull her the rest of the way, squeezing it as Dusty sat beside her.

The bonfire was warm but the night air was cool. It made her shiver as Suzanne leaned over and whispered, “I’m so glad he got you to come!”

Dusty rolled her eyes, looking up at Shane’s smug, smiling face. He was standing in front of the bonfire, a beer in one hand, the other propped against the side of the van she was sitting on.

“I think I’ve been the victim of a conspiracy!” Dusty protested.

“Don’t let her fool you.” Ryan laughed, slipping an arm over Suzanne’s shoulder. “I had to drag Susie here kicking and screaming too.”

“It’s hard,” Dusty confessed, glancing up at Shane. He was still smiling, but not smug anymore. It was a soft, sweet sort of smile, like he was enjoying watching her.

“Give yourself some time if you can,” Suzanne suggested. “It’s hard to get right back in the saddle again, considering everything that’s happened.”

Dusty nodded, blinking back tears. It was good to hear someone acknowledge it. Nick’s death, her life, everything seemed to be falling apart at once, and she felt, sometimes, as if she should be moving on, getting back to some semblance of order. But she found she couldn’t, even if she’d wanted to.

“Hey, it’s Dusty!” A chubby, dark-haired girl climbed out of the front of the minivan, coming around to join them. “I just nursed Joshie and got him to go back to sleep so keep it down you guys.”

“You brought the baby?” Dusty’s eyes widened, vaguely remembering Teri from high school now that she saw her. So this was Cody’s shotgun wedding wife! “Can I see him?”

“Sure.” Teri led her around to the side of the van, letting Dusty peek in. Her heart melted, seeing the tiny baby in his car seat, eyes closed, one hand tucked under his chin, the other up near his mouth. He was still nursing in his sleep.

“Isn’t that the sweetest thing you ever saw?” Dusty whispered.

“Almost.” Beside her, Shane slipped an arm around her waist. He wasn’t letting her wander too far from his sight. “Poor kid, he’s got Cody’s nose.”

“Aw, he’s got a cute nose,” Dusty protested, glancing around for Teri, but she’d disappeared around the back of the van.

“No, but you do.” Shane turned her toward him and pressed her up against the side of the van, a hand on either side of her head, his knee sliding between hers.

She looked at him, cheeks warm in the light from the fire, eyes dark, and thought for sure he was going to kiss her as he leaned in, but he just touched his nose to hers, then his forehead, closing his eyes and taking a long, slow, deep breath.

“He’s here!” Suzanne called and Dusty frowned, wondering who she was talking about, but Shane seemed to know.

“Come on. I want you to meet someone.” He stood, taking her head, and she found herself pulled along again, around the front of the van this time and past the back of the Mustang. They stopped on the other side of it, where another car had pulled up.

It was a small car, piled with people. At least six in the back and four in the front.

“Hey!” The guy who climbed out the driver's side door could have been Shane’s older, heavier twin and Dusty recognized him immediately although they’d never officially met.

“Hey brother.”

“Told you I'd make it.” Buddy clapped Shane on the back. “I brought the gang and everything. Hope you don't mind.”

“Finally, a
real
party.” Cody called over. He and Teri had their arms around each other, swaying together to the music.

“Buddy, this is Dusty Chandler.” Shane made the introductions, so formally. He sounded proud. “Dusty, this is my brother, Buddy.”

“Hey there.” Buddy nodded toward her. He was tall, taller than Shane, with the same blonde-blue-eyed look. He wore a denim jacket and jeans, and he looked normal, not like the hardened criminal she’d expected. His hair was cut at a respectable length and he was clean-shaven. “You look familiar.”

“I'm Nick Chandler's sister.”

“Oh.” Buddy’s face crumpled. “Hey, yeah, I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks.” Dusty nodded, feeling that familiar, aching heat in her chest.

“So, you two an item now, or what?” Buddy eyed the two of them standing together. Dusty glanced up at Shane and he never took his eyes from her face.

“Something like that,” she replied, feeling Shane’s arm tighten around her waist.

“Well, that's cool.” Buddy grinned.

“Let's party!” Cody popped the top on a beer he’d shaken up. It sprayed all over his wife, Teri, who threw a can at his head and missed. It broke everybody up.

✝
Chapter Twelv
e
✝

“You okay?” Shane whispered. Dusty rested her head against his shoulder as he put his arm around her, giving him the only real answer he was looking for. A sliver of the moon sliced through the sky. The breeze was chilly, but the fire wa
s warm. They had spread a blanket on the Mustang’s hood. The stars were studded diamonds on a backdrop of black velvet.

“You're going to catch cold if you don't put your jacket back on.”

Shane had insisted she use his jacket as a pillow.

“Nuh-uh.” He shook his head, eyes turned upward toward the sky. “I've got you to keep me warm.”

Dusty put her head back down, eyes half-closed, comfortable with the rise and fall of Shane's chest. The party was still going but it was more subdued. Everyone had consumed a ton of beer, herself included. She felt sleepy and relaxed.

Ryan and Suzanne sat by the fire, talking quietly. Cody and his wife were in the front seat of the van with the baby. Nate had brought along his guitar and was strumming it, playing something for Buddy. Jake was passed out on the Mercury’s hood.

“Is Suzanne going out with Ryan?”

“Neither one of them are coping very well,” Shane admitted, the rumble of his voice against her ear.

“Are any of us?” Dusty closed her eyes. “Isn't that what these parties are for? So we can all forget about Nick?”

“Not for me,” Shane said finally, and she felt his hand on her hair, his touch soft and soothing. “For me, it's a way to remember him. He made all of this more fun.”

“I wouldn't know.” Dusty opened her eyes. “I was never invited.”

“Yeah, you were.” Shane rolled to his side to look at her in the light of the fire, smiling softly. “You were invited—you were just too much of a princess to come.”

“Not true!” she scoffed. “I was only invited in backhand ways, and only by
you.
Nick never once asked me to come along.”

Shane sighed. “He didn't want you along.”

“What?” she whispered.

He touched her cheek, shaking his head. “Nick was always yelling at me about asking you. Don’t you get it?
I
was the one who asked because
I
was the one who cared about you being left out. Nick didn't want you along because Nick didn't want us to get involved.”

“That's not true.” Dusty cocked her head, frowning. “That can't be true.”

“It is.” Shane continued to stroke her hair, her cheek. “He used to tell me to keep my hands off his little sister, and I used to tell him you’d see me in hell before you let me near you. It was kidding, but it was serious too. Nick wanted to be my friend, but Nick wanted you to stay his sweet, innocent little sister.”

“I'm not—I wasn't—his
little
sister,” she protested. “We were twins. Okay, he was the older twin—by about two minutes.”

“He thought of you as little. It was like...” Shane paused, careful and searching. “It was like he grew up, but you were supposed to stay young and innocent forever.”

“He didn't say that.” Her head felt funny, light, and her mind refused to focus.

Shane shrugged and Dusty looked at him.

“He really said that?”

He nodded.

“I always thought it was you.” Dusty gave a little laugh. “I always thought...”

“I know.” He rubbed his thumb along her jaw. “But that doesn't matter now, because you're here.”

Dusty didn’t answer him.

“Come here.” Shane pulled her into his arms and sat. Dusty snuggled up, but Shane stood, pulling her with him. She stumbled slightly, feeling dizzy.

Shane laughed, catching onto her waist. “You're drunk.”

“I'm not.” She shook her head but stopped because the world had started spinning. “So are you going to tell me where you were last week?”

He had been gone for three days with no word, and she didn’t want to admit to him or to herself how strange it felt not to have him around.

Shane’s mouth moved near her ear. “I told you. I was hunting.”

“You’re up to something.” She lifted her face so she could see his eyes. “I know you.”

“So are you.” His smile spread slowly and he hid it in her hair. “But I don’t ask and you don’t tell.”

“What are you talking about?” she asked innocently, resting her head below his chin.

“There’s a big stretch of land up near Ottawa Falls. You know it?”

She nodded, her eyes closed as they swayed together. “Isn’t that Native land?”

“I give… tours… up there.” He chuckled. “Yeah, I’m a tour guide. Let’s call it that.”

She snorted, shaking her head. “Hunting on Native land is illegal.”

“I know,” he acknowledged, pressing himself more fully against her, hands moving to her lower back, pulling her in to him. “But I doubt you’re going to run to Buck Thompson about it.”

“I assume they pay you?” she asked, ignoring his comment.

“A thousand a trip.”

She gave a low whistle, looking up at him. “Why you?”

“Because I’m good at doing things without getting caught.” He grinned.

“That I believe.” She gave a short laugh. “But why would they want to hunt on Native land?”

“More game,” he reminded her, shifting his weight as they moved, his thigh pressing between hers, making her gasp. “But I think it’s about the thrill of it.”

“Thrill of the forbidden?” she murmured, her face close to his, their breath mingling.

“Yeah,” he breathed, groaning when she wiggled closer against him.

“I can understand that.”

Her fingers moved through his hair as they rocked. He lowered his mouth to her neck, nuzzling her hair out of the way. She moaned softly as his tongue made slow circles below her ear. Shane’s mouth on her neck, his breath in her ear, made her dizzy with wanting and she tried to fight it, but she was losing.

“I want to take you somewhere,” he whispered.

“Yes.” She nodded, closing her eyes, giving in.

They didn’t even say goodbye.

Shane ducked into the car and started it up, hurrying her in. He put the Mustang into reverse and, putting his arm across the back of the seat, he quickly and effortlessly backed the car up onto the gravel running along the edge of the path. Then he put the car into drive and accelerated. Dusty twisted around to see Jake still passed out on the Mercury's hood.

Shane glanced back at them in the rearview mirror as he guided the car along the gravel. It was little more than a path outside the ring of grass and inside the ring of trees.

“Where are we going?” Dusty asked as he started up the path leading out to the main road. Dusty looked out the passenger side window and, in the fading light from the fire behind them, all she could see were the trunks of the pine trees. The branches were high above them.

“You'll see.” Shane came to the end of the short path and turned right onto another dirt road, this one made with two cars in mind.

Shane cut the engine and turned to look at her. She’d known where they were going by the time they were halfway there. It was where every guy in Larkspur took a girl when he wanted to make out. Every girl in Larkspur knew—when he took you up to the bluff, it was getting serious.

She remembered parking up on the bluff in Tom’s Ford F-150, make-out sessions that went farther and farther every time, ending with Dusty telling him
no
, and Tom getting out of the truck, taking a short walk, rearranging. Until his eighteenth birthday when her jeans had joined his on the floor and she had whispered
“Yes,”
into his ear.

He had told her he loved her, and she was the best birthday present he’d ever had.

Now the world had flipped over, turning everything upside down.

Tom was in Iraq, Nick was dead, and she was parked up on the bluff with Shane Curtis, looking over the lights of Millsberg. It was a clear night and there was a full moon so low it hung like ripe fruit. Shane turned to her, not talking, not moving toward her, just waiting, watchful. They both knew what being up on the bluff meant.

Dusty looked across the hood of the car, at the city below. It was a Sunday night, quiet down there, but she could see her father’s office building—the tallest one in town—and the lights of the movie theater.

“Hey princess.” Shane touched her hair, rubbing a strand of it between his fingers. She had hated when he called her that, using Nick’s name for her, but she was used to it now. Nick had always teased her with it, a brotherly frustration in his tone. Shane said it with an affectionate fondness, and something else. She didn’t know what it was, the feeling she saw in his eyes, the way his gaze followed her around the bar when she was waitressing at the Starlight.

She could have written it off as lust—she’d seen him look appreciatively at her hemline or the V-cut of her blouse—but the rest of the guys did that too. They all did. She dressed to put herself on display, it was part of the job. She’d even caught Sam staring at her cleavage, stammering and looking away when she met his eyes.

It might have been lust, but there was more. There was something in the way Shane looked at her she’d never experienced before, with other guys, even Tom. There was a reverence in it, the way his gaze swept her form, lingering at her lips, searching her eyes, like she was perhaps the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, like she was a dream he didn’t want to wake up from.

What are you doing?

That voice spoke up and she cut it off, something fluttery bumping around in her belly, an ache growing in her chest. In that moment, the world and everything else in it was gone. There was nothing except Shane, sitting here next to her, close. His hand slipped lower, fingers sliding along the side of her neck, thumb rubbing slowly back and forth against her collarbone.

“I think I must be dreaming,” he murmured, giving voice to her thoughts.

He edged closer, close enough she felt his breath against her face. She was a little drunk and the alcohol worked to loosen her limbs as she wrapped them around his neck, her lips too as she looked at him, her heart rate quickening.

“Am I dreaming?” he whispered, cupping her face in his hands.

She shook her head in reply but he was already kissing her, mouth gentle and prodding, tongue exploring the soft recesses of her mouth. He tasted like beer—they both did—and it excited her. He put one hand behind her head, tilting it, slanting his mouth against hers. She became soft and pliable in his hold, giving into him, realizing it had already happened—she’d given in to him, to this, a long time ago.

She’d given in the very first time they’d been alone together like this. Some part of her had been longing for him since, had been holding out for his mouth, his hands, his whispered words, calling her name. Nothing else made her feel this way, had ever made her feel this way. Why had she resisted for so long?

She unzipped his jacket and lifted the edge of his t-shirt, running her hand up over the hard, planed muscles of his chest and stomach. There was a line of hair starting at his navel, disappearing below the waistband of his jeans, blackly exciting. Dusty touched it, her breath quickening.

Letting her hands wander down his back, she pushed off his jacket, tossing it to the floor. Shane slid her beneath him on the long bench seat, his mouth trailing over her cheek, her neck, lower, to the open V of her blouse. His denim-clad thigh parted hers, pushing her already short skirt to dizzying heights.

Shane groaned when she reached for him, rubbing her hand over his erection, creating a hot, denim friction. He rocked against her, breathing ragged, burying his face against the side of her throat, lips warm, feathering her with kisses. Dusty whispered his name over and over, not sure if she was trying to convince herself or him that yes, this was what she wanted, he was who she wanted.

“Wait,” he whispered, shaking his head, eyes still closed as he sat back behind the wheel. “Wait, wait. Dusty… wait.”

“I’m tired of waiting.” She came after him, closing the distance in an instant, kissing him up against the door. “I think we’ve waited long enough.”

“No.” Shane grabbed her wrists as she slid her hands under his t-shirt, turning his head so she couldn’t capture his mouth with hers. “Stop.”