Page 15 of Secrets Unveiled

I make my way over to the spot Ophelia and I always chose, due to it being the flattest spot, and I sit down, leaning my hands behind me and looking up to the sky. It’s beautiful—oranges and pinks coat the clouds as the sun rapidly starts to descend. I lay back against the rocks and watch as the sun dips below the trees, and soon I’m lying in darkness. It’s so soothing out here. The sound of the birds in the woods, the absence of sounds from the city, and just being in the fresh air is everything I want at this moment.

As I sit there, I can’t help but think of Saint again. His presence this morning was so different from usual. Yes, he always gives me a kiss goodbye like my brother, and all the other club members for that matter, but his touch this morning had felt so… different. Different in a way that was more sensual. I scoff to myself, standing up and brushing off my jeans as I decide it’s getting late, and I need to head back. Looking at my watch, I see I’ve been here for well over an hour, and it’s now close to nine o’clock. Saxon is going to kill me. As I look at my phone, though, I see no missed calls or texts from him, which is weird because he usually always checks in on me. I pocket my phone and head back through the woods.

The sound of distant voices has me freezing. Spinning around, I can’t see anything right away, but I can still hear someone, or maybe more than one person, talking in muffled tones. I stand behind a thicker tree, peering out across the quarry’s ledge, trying to spot whoever is here with me. Squinting my eyes, I start to think it’s too dark, and I won’t be able to see anyone, when a shadow of something, or someone, comes into view at the edge of the quarry. I step out from behind the tree, squinting harder as the shadows become clearer. Two large—what look to be—men are carrying someone who appears to be unconscious. One man is holding onto the person’s arms, while the other is holding the legs. Both men are wearing all black with masks covering their faces, but they are so far away, I can’t see what the masks resemble.

I step a little further out into the open to try to see better. The men set the unconscious man down for a moment as they stand to their full heights—they are both huge, towering men. They start conversing about something in voices so low, I can’t hear. A moment later, the mystery men pick up the guy and toss him over the ledge into the quarry. It takes a moment for the body to hit the water due to the height of the cliff, but the moment it does, a gasp leaves my throat, shock bubbling in my core. My eyes lift from the water back to the mystery men who are now staring directly at me. I run. I don’t hesitate—I have to get back to my bike and leave right fucking now.

I waste no time. Turning on my heels and racing through the woods, it takes me no time at all to reach the gate as I hurdle over it. Finding my bike, I don’t even bother with my helmet and swing my leg over my bike. As I try to get my keys from my pocket, a strong-arm wraps around my mouth, muffling a scream I can no longer get out. I’ve been caught. Fuck my life.

SAINT

What the fuck is she doing here? She’s thrashing in my arms as I try to get her to calm the fuck down. I don’t know if she saw Saxon and me, or what she is even doing out here in the first place, but I spin her around so she can see it’s just me.

“Why the fuck do you look like you’ve just seen a ghost?” She freezes, her eyes wide as saucers, and she continues to breathe like she just ran a marathon.

“Sage? What’s wrong?” I ask, trying to play everything off as if this is totally normal. The both of us in the middle of an abandoned quarry late at night is completely normal, right? I shake her shoulders when she doesn’t respond, the panic in her eyes starting to make me worry.

“Sage, speak. What the fuck is wrong?” Just then, she throws her arms around my neck, squeezing as if I might disappear. I wrap my arms around her small frame as I watch the taillights of Saxon’s truck pull out from where we hid it and give him a quick wave to hurry the fuck up before Sage sees him. I brush my hand down her long hair, trying to comfort her as I watch Saxon’s lights slowly disappear down the road. As soon as I know he’s gone, I pull Sage from my chest and peer down at her face. She’s still shaken up, no doubt from what she just saw, but I can’t give myself away.

“Saint, I’ve never been so happy to see you in my life,” she whispers to me while looking over her shoulder. I don’t respond; I just let her speak, not sure what she truly saw.

“Saint, I was by the quarry, and, yes, I know I’m not supposed to be out there, but when I was by the ledge, I saw something,” she says so fast she starts fumbling over her words. Trying to catch her breath, she continues, “I saw what looked like two men, and they threw another person over the ledge into the water.” Another glance over her shoulder before she grabs ahold of my shirt. “We have to get out of here. I’m sure one of them saw me, and it won’t be too long before they find us here. Please, we have to go now.” I lower myself to her level and cup her chin in my hand.

“I got you; no one is going to hurt you. Now get your helmet on and slide on the back. I’ll drive us home.” Sage quickly does what I say, throwing her helmet on without buckling the straps and situating herself on the back of her Ducati. I throw my leg over the bike as well, careful to not hit her, and settle myself in. Just as I reach for the keys, Sage squeezes my shoulder.

“Hang on—how did you know I was here? What are you doing out here?” I don’t answer. I just turn the key, kick up the stand, and rev the engine as we peel out of the small dirt area. Her arms wrap tightly around my waist as I pick up speed down the windy roads. It doesn’t take long for us to get back to her house. I clearly hadn’t been following the speed limit requirements through the back roads, nor did I care when we hit the city limits.

Pulling into her driveway, I see Saxon is already here and breathing a sigh of relief. If Sage asks me why I was out there in the first place again, I don’t know what I’m going to say. Do I flat out lie, or just pretend like I go there often? You know, to clear my head and shit? That sounds like something I would do, right? Fuck, I’m screwed.

Parking the bike back in the garage, I flip down the kickstand and wait for Sage to climb off first. As soon as she does, she rips her helmet off and gives me a concerned look.

“Please, no word to Saxon about where I was. He’ll be pissed if he knew I was up there.” She’s worried about being scolded by her brother… I may be able to get around this after all. I swing my leg off the bike and stare down at her.

“Listen, Sage, you don’t think I need to tell Saxon? Especially after what you saw? He needs to know that.” I cross my arms over my chest, pretending like I care if her brother knows she was up there. She looks to the side door as if Saxon will appear there any moment.

“Please, Saint. We don’t need to say anything. Plus, it was dark. I may have just been seeing things. You know how I let my imagination get away from me sometimes.” She shrugs her shoulders, gaslighting herself into thinking what she saw was just a figment of her imagination. But I know the truth. I run my hand down my face, letting out a sigh.

“Fine, I won’t say anything, but I don’t want you going up there anymore by yourself, understood? Especially at night.” I shake my head back and forth as if I can’t believe she would do something so irresponsible and turn to head towards the house. I quickly pull out my phone and send Saxon a quick text, telling him not to mention a thing. Heading in through the garage door, Sage and I make our way to the kitchen where Saxon is sitting at the island drinking a beer.

“What up, man?” I say, giving him a nod before opening the fridge and grabbing a beer for myself.

“Sup,” Saxon replies, then looks to Sage, who hasn’t looked up from the floor since entering the house. If she is trying to make herself look innocent, she’s doing the opposite. Sage looks like she did something she knew she wasn’t supposed to.

“Sis, how was your ride? Took a long one, huh?” he says to her, looking down at his watch. She pulls out a chair at the small dining room table in front of the bay window and sits down before she answers him. Looking at her brother, she gives him a sweet smile before nodding.

“Yeah, it was such a nice day I lost track of time, and before I knew it, it was dark.” Her eyes shift to me quickly, as if to remind me not to say anything about where she really was.

“Yeah, I saw her enter the city and followed her back up here.” My bike is already in the garage, Saxon knows that, but I want Sage to think I am explaining why we both came in at the same time, rather than me driving her here on her bike.

“Cool. Glad you had a good ride.” Saxon downs the rest of his beer before standing from the bar stool and cracking his back. “I’m going to take a quick shower. You staying here tonight, man?” he asks me before giving me a bro handshake. He knows I am, but for the sake of this ruse the three of us are playing at, I nod, taking a swig of my own beer. I stay here a lot since my work, a.k.a. the club, needs me close to Saxon at the drop of a hat. The spare room had practically become mine. It was once Frankie’s, but since he moved out, it sort of turned into mine. It is on the opposite side of the house and has its own en suite bathroom. I enjoy staying here, more so than my own apartment. I grew up with Saxon and Sage, and knowing the three of us are under the same roof makes me feel like I can protect them, mainly Sage. Saxon can protect himself—he’s a ruthless fucker.

Sage and I stare at each other as Saxon leaves the kitchen, and neither of us says a word until we hear his bathroom door shut behind him. She finally lets out a long breath of relief and lowers her head to the table. I chuckle to myself. It’s cute how nervous she got with her brother, as if he was her actual father, and he just caught her breaking curfew or something.

“You know, he’s not that scary,” I say to her, making her head snap up as she gives me her usual scowl.

“Not to you, but I don’t want any more lectures from him about how I’m reckless and need to be more careful.” I shrug my shoulders; I mean, he was right. She does need to be more careful. Her family is the head of a pretty well-known motorcycle club; that automatically puts her at risk of danger. She narrows her eyes at me, knowing I agree with Saxon, but she doesn’t say anything. Standing from the table, she brushes her hair back over her shoulders and freezes mid-brush.

“Hang on—you still haven’t told me what you were doing out there either.” Fuck, I was hoping she would drop that question. I finish my beer, trying to buy myself some time to think of an answer. She just stands there, staring at me and waiting for my response.

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