Page 14 of Secrets Unveiled

Rubbing my face in my hands, I groan to myself. Why did you let yourself get that drunk, Sage? You’re smarter than that.

“I told you—we have to do it today. I’m over his shit, and he’s starting to interfere with our own shit.” Saxon sounds pissed; his tone is low, but I can still hear his conversation that I’m assuming he’s having with Saint.

“You’re right. Tonight then,” Saint responds. When I hear Saxon walk to the study, curiosity has me standing and making my way over to the living room. Peering into the large room, I see Saint sitting on the sofa. His elbows are resting against his knees as he leans over, texting on his phone. He’s still in his dark jeans and white T-shirt, and his hair is now messy from his hands constantly brushing back the thick strands.

“Everything okay?” I ask quietly, not wanting Saxon to hear me. Saint’s head snaps up, and his silver eyes meet mine.

“Yeah, witch stick. Everything’s good. Just a little mishap that needs to be handled. That’s all.” I can’t help myself. The question comes out faster than I could think.

“What has to be done today?” He stands then, making his way over to me so he’s towering over me once again. Looking down at my face, he brushes his thumb along my jawline.

“Nothing you need to worry about.” His fingers barely dance across my skin, making me shiver as he pushes my hair over my shoulder. Just then, a loud bang echoes through the house. Saxon storms in after slamming the study door and enters the living room once again. I jump back from Saint; my eyes widen into saucers as I look to my brother who’s buried in his phone. Saint doesn’t move from me; his hand falls to the side, but his eyes remain on mine as if he’s not concerned about his best friend seeing him touch his sister.

“Right, everything’s good. We’ll pick him up outside of Mack’s tonight. That’s where he’ll be.” Saxon then looks up from his phone, eyes landing on me before a scowl breaks out across his face. “Fuck.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask, worry now settling into my skin.

“Nothing, sis. You didn’t need to hear that. Just take it easy today and relax, yeah?” he says to me. Rolling my eyes, I look back to Saint, who has stopped staring at me since Saxon entered the room.

“Right, I see I’ll be getting no answers. With that, I’ll go then.” I turn to head out and when I reach the stairs, I hear whispering coming from the living room.

“Fuck, man. You could have said she was in here. Now she’s going to wonder what the fuck is up!” Saxon whisper yells to Saint.

“Why you keep things from her about the club, I’ll never know. Now, let’s get our shit together for later.” I hurry up the stairs when I hear footsteps heading towards the foyer. I stand against the banister as I watch Saxon head out the front door with Saint following close behind. Before he shuts the door behind him, Saint turns around. Silver eyes land on mine before he shoots me a wink, giving me his back once again and closing the door behind him.

What the hell is going on?

SAGE

The warm water sprays my back as I stand in my shower, allowing the water to wash away this intense hangover. Leaning my head towards the tiled floor, I watch as the water swirls around as the remnants of my hangover disappear down the drain. I start to wonder when mine and Saint’s behavior towards one another changed. Was it the accidental kiss the other day? We’ve always had this tumultuous relationship that’s worked for us. We pick on each other; he calls me witch stick, while I call him a big over possessive caveman. We love to bicker with each other—simple as that. However, standing in the shower now, I slowly begin to recollect what happened last night.

Saint brought me home; I know that. He followed me upstairs—no—he carried me upstairs, maybe? Fuck, I can’t remember. Once I was in my room, I vaguely remember feeling like my clothes were suffocating me. I took off my clothes one piece at a time, but don’t remember Saint leaving at that point. I stripped in front of my brother’s best friend.

Sage, are you serious?!

After giving Saint a free show, I remember falling into my bed. Saint then covered me up and left. I think. That’s it, right? Saint said I had a nightmare though, so when was that? The water starts to fall across my face, causing me to close my eyes and breath against the stream of water. The heat of the water is soothing my headache, and I take a break from racking my brain to allow the warmth to heal me from the inside out. As the water puts my soul back together, I can’t help seeing a pair of silver eyes in my head. Thinking of his warm body pressed against my back this morning has my stomach flipping in Olympic style backflips, but why now?

Brushing my hair back with my hands, I freeze with my hands tangled in my hair. He slept in my bed last night! I remember now. I woke up from my nightmare, and like after most of my nightmares, I couldn’t fall back asleep. I got out of my bed, swaying on my feet from the liquid courage that was still flowing through my blood, and asked him to stay with me until I fell asleep! I asked him. Me, the sister of his best friend. Fuck, what have I done?

As I stand in the shower, buzzing with nervous energy, I start washing my hair. He didn’t question it though; he came to me in my room and held me while I fell asleep. There wasn’t any hesitation from him. Saint came to me and cuddled in my bed. He could have said something sly and picked on me for being a little bitch from a silly bad dream, but he didn’t. Tyler Saint Bones had lain with me. His arms wrapped around me as his presence helped me fall asleep. As much as I want that encounter to feel weird, it honestly doesn’t feel weird at all. It feels… right.

Why didn’t he say anything this morning? He acted like nothing happened. Was he waiting for me to say something? Is that why he asked me if I slept well? Jesus, Sage, why are you so worked up? It’s Saint, your friend, your closest frenemy, if you will. He was just being nice, helping you fight off the demons of the night that haunts you.

Saint is no stranger to my nightmares. He practically lives here too and has heard me have a fit once or twice over a nightmare, but it was always Saxon who came in to investigate. It’s never been Saint. Last night it was him. He came to soothe me, calm me, and bring me back down from the terrors my mind likes to torture me with. Fuck, why am I thinking too hard about this?

Finishing my shower, I step out and grab my towel, wrapping it around my body. Grabbing another towel, I twist my hair and place it on top of my head to help my hair dry. I look myself over in the mirror, the look of confusion evident on my face. Rubbing my hands down my arms, I become hyperaware of the places Saint touched me this morning. The electric energy his fingers created against my skin has my nerve endings on high alert. Rolling my eyes, I brush any more thoughts of Saint out of my head and storm back into my room. Grabbing a pair of jeans and a long-sleeve black top, I decide I need to get out and go for a ride. That will surely help clear my head. I dress quickly; lacing up my boots and heading back into the bathroom, I quickly dry my hair. The task isn’t as quick as I was hoping for, though. My long blonde hair is not the easiest to dry.

Once done, I head downstairs and wolf down half a bagel and head to the garage to grab my helmet and keys to my bike. As I enter the garage, I smile to myself when I see my all-black Ducati sitting so perfectly in the garage bay. I haven’t ridden her in a long time, and why not break that streak with a long ride through the back roads? As much as I love my Harley, there’s something about my Ducati that makes me feel like I’m lightning—fast and free, able to zigzag through traffic and reach speeds I know I shouldn’t.

I smash the button that opens the garage and pull my full-face helmet over my head as I swing my leg over my bike. I quickly pull out my phone and send a quick text to Saxon, informing him I’m going for a ride to clear my head. I always like for him or Frankie to know when I’m out riding alone; just in case something happens, they’ll know where I am. I get a quick thumbs up emoji from him and turn on my bike. The loud engine fills the garage, and I flip the kickstand in as I back out of the garage.

Looking at my phone one last time, I note the time. It’s close to six in the evening, so nightfall will be soon. It still being summer, I know the sun doesn’t set until a little after eight, so I have some time. I decide to take one of my favorite routes that heads out over the hills and towards a quarry I used to swim at as a teenager. My father always forbade me from going there, but Ophelia and I were never really the teens that followed our fathers’ orders. It’s no wonder she and I are still alive after the stupid shit we got ourselves into.

The quarry is closed to the public due to the dangers within. The high rocks and steep ledges that lead to the water below have claimed many lives over the years. However, Ophelia and I were never reckless; we usually went out there to sunbathe on the rocks and talk about our latest crushes.

I head out of the driveway and speed towards the winding road to the hills. I ride for about an hour, not caring where I’m going, simply enjoying the road ahead of me. The air is warm, and since it’s a Sunday night, there is little traffic for me to worry about. Once I hit the road that forks off, I turn right. This road leads to a very small pull-off that is gated off with a No Entry sign on the front. Parking my bike behind a set of thick bushes so no one sees, I take off my helmet and hook it on my handlebars. My hair blows in the subtle wind, the smell of the woods hitting me as I make my way over to the gate.

The gate is just that, one gated door that doesn’t allow vehicles to pass through. However, the gate does nothing to hinder people’s ability to jump over it. I jump over with ease and quickly disappear beyond the trees. It’s dark beneath the trees’ coverage. It is now a little after seven thirty, and I know I don’t have much time left before the sky grows dark. Walking a little further through the woods, I know the rocks are just up ahead. Once I reach the rocks, I smile to myself as a flood of memories hits me from my teenage years. So many Saturdays were spent here on these perfectly flat rocks, allowing for the best sunbathing. I smile to myself as memories with Ophelia fill my mind. So many long, deep conversations were had on these rocks, so many tears were shed over boys, hardships, and, of course, the loss of our mothers.

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