Page 75 of Half Truths (Secret Society 1)
“You really did have a lot of shots earlier, huh?” He smiled down at me. “You usually only do the public affection thing when you’re drunk.”
“Not true.” I frowned. “And I’m not being affectionate. I’m holding onto your arm so I don’t fall over.”
The wind blew my hair wildly. I reached up with one hand and fixed the thin gold crown on my head, pressing myself closer to his body for body warmth. We walked to the edge of the wraparound porch. I let go of his arm and leaned against the column. He stood between my legs and brought a hand up to my face.
“I miss you, Mae.”
“I miss you too.” I closed my eyes.
Right now, in this moment, I thought maybe I did miss him. Every other day, I hadn’t really. Not that I hadn’t thought about him or wondered what he was doing. He was my safety for so long, it felt weird not to have him around, but still, I couldn’t truly say I missed him. Or us.
“So, let’s work this out.”
“No.” My eyes popped open. “I miss you, but that doesn’t mean I want to be with you. We don’t work together, Trav. You know this.”
“We can try again.”
“I knew this was a bad idea.” I shook my head, walking a little further down the porch, pulling far away enough that he had no choice but to drop his arms.
“Mae.” He exhaled loudly and reached for me again. I took another step back. “We can be friends. Forget I said anything.”
I looked at him. I knew him so well, too well, to believe he’d want to talk and just leave it at that. From the way he was looking at me, I knew he still wanted me, and the only thing I wanted was the comfort his arms brought, and the ease I felt around him, not because I was in love with him, but because I had been once. I seemed to be so far from that girl though. Too much had happened.
“Do you mind if I go inside and grab a beer?” Travis asked.
“Not at all.” I sat down on the white swing. “I’ll be right here.”
He looked at me one last time before he disappeared inside. I sat down on the swing and leaned my head back, closing my eyes as I kicked my foot away from the porch and let myself swing.
“That looks comfy.” It was Hailey.
“It is.” I kept my eyes closed.
“Mind if I join you?”
I shrugged and finally opened my eyes to meet hers as she took a seat. Her toga covered a lot more than mine. I’d never seen her with her hair up in a bun like that.
“How shitty is this party?” She rested her head beside mine.
“It’s not bad.” I smiled.
“I haven’t gone inside yet. I just got here.” She tapped the porch with the front of her foot and started swinging us. “Did you know that approximately ten thousand people go missing each year here?”
“I didn’t realize it was that many, no.” I eyed her. She looked like she was high on something. Not that I knew Hailey to do drugs, but who knew anymore. “Where did that piece of information come from?”
“I was researching something earlier and it came up.”
“What were you researching?”
“Just . . . things.” She closed her eyes. “I guess there’s a club for girls to hire sugar daddies.”
“Oh?” My heart beat faster.
“I was using my mom’s computer and saw she’d marked the tab. Probably research for a story.”
“What did the website say?”
“It was catered towards students who needed money and mentorships, but everything was so . . . I don’t know.” Her eyes popped open. She looked at me in a haze. Maybe mine, maybe hers. My head was spinning with information and the swing. “The website looked sexy.”
“Did you ask your mom about it?”
“Actually, I did. She said Lana had told her about it. I guess she wanted to write a story on it for the paper. It’s weird that she’d disappear while investigating that and secret societies, isn’t it?”
“I guess.” My heart continued hammering.
“This is why these secret groups need to be brought to light. Secrets can be dangerous, you know?”
My palm itched. I nodded in agreement. Secrets can be dangerous.
“Remind me again why you’re so obsessed with this particular society?”
“If the two things are linked, they could be human traffickers for all we know.”
“Oh my God.” My heart pounded. “I doubt it. Wouldn’t they have been caught?”
I wanted to tell her that was ridiculous, but what the hell did I know, though? I couldn’t exactly scratch that off the list of things that may be going on. Could my father be involved in something like that? I wanted to shout no way, but if he was really sleeping with Lana, his friend’s daughter, his son’s friend, a girl not much older than his own daughter, I couldn’t be sure of anything. I felt sick.
