Page 23 of Their Wicked Secrets: Untouched, Vol 5 of 6

I rest my forehead against hers, and she touches my neck. She mouths to me, I love you.

My insides burn. I’ll do anything for her.

CHAPTER 8

The Wounded

Harper

As soon as I part from Luke and Jack after last period, my insides grow untethered. Kenz sticks close to my side, but I’m exposed. All the stares I tried to ignore earlier are more intense.

Kenz loops her arm in mine. “Come on. Ignore them. They’re just jealous you could be Homecoming Queen.”

My stomach turns. “Fuck, I hope not.”

“Why not?” Kenz leads me toward the parking lot, and we get caught up in the wave of students leaving the school. “You’re as pretty as the other girls. You’re nicer than most.”

My phone vibrates in my hand, but I don’t look to see what message I’ve received.

“The only reason I’m nominated at all is because I’m the horsemen’s girlfriend.” I roll my eyes. “That, and Sidney wants to humiliate me.”

Kenz chuckles. “Yeah, but just because this school wouldn’t know a good thing if it smacked them in the face with a wet t-shirt doesn’t mean you don’t deserve it.”

“A wet t-shirt?” I arch an eyebrow at Kenz’s choice.

She shrugs and tugs me to the right toward her car. “What? It’s better than a fish or whatever the actual term is.”

I consider that and smile. She unlocks her car and we slide in. Fuck, I missed having just us time. We definitely need a girl’s night. Just the two of us.

“It seems like it’s been forever since we talked. How are you and Brandon?” I clip in my seatbelt.

Kenz sighs and sags back against the car seat. “I don’t know. He seems good some days and other days he’s almost obsessed with what everyone else is doing.” She turns to face me. “I love him, but I know he’s not end game for me. I definitely don’t want to end things now, but I know we’ve got an expiration date. If that makes sense?”

“He asked me at the game if something was wrong. Said you seemed distant.”

She starts the car. “My mind has been in a thousand places. I mean, you’re under attack. I’m not sure I trust the lollipop gang that we’ve been hanging out with. Especially finding out that Penny is Luke’s sister. And going through the guys’ list of ex-ugly bumpers isn’t really making me crave intimacy at the moment.”

She cringes on the last bit before pulling out to join the mass of cars trying to exit the school.

“You guys should have a date night.” I wish everything would be that simple to fix. “Reconnect.”

“Maybe.” Kenz sighs. “Honestly, I think he just expects more from me now. Like we should be fucking like crazy still. Which, trust me, we are, but somehow I don’t feel like I’m enough.”

“Well, that’s shit.” I straighten. “You’re wonderful, and if he doesn’t think you’re enough, you should find someone who does.”

Kenz laughs. “Fuck, you’re all over the place. Go on a date. Fuck that dude. Did someone slip you some extra sugar at lunch?”

“I’m just tired. Tired of always having someone to fight or something to figure out.” I pick at a piece of lint on my shirt. “Things were much easier when I was invisible.”

“You were never invisible, H.” Kenz pulls along the curb outside Nico’s house and parks the car. “I’ve always seen you. Your mom’s always seen you. Fuck those others if it took announcing to the world that you belong to the horsemen to put you on the map. You should have been on the map from the start.”

I shake my head at her tirade, but my heart squeezes thinking about my mom. Fuck, where is she? When is she coming back? Is she already back? Will she get in touch with me?

“Hey, are you okay?” Kenz reaches out and takes my hand.

I can’t say anything. We don’t know who is trustworthy and who isn’t, but we know that we’ve been bugged before. “It’s just going to be a long week.”

She smiles and squeezes my hand. “It will be over before you know it.”