Hidden Secrets (halted)

Part 19

Once I got home I gave an earful to Cody but he just found it amusing!
"Let's just go!" I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the house.
"How far a walk is it?"
"It's up the hill that way!" Cody pointed up the road where I have never been before. "It will take under five minutes to get there!"
"Okay then, here we go!"
I grabbed his hand and we began our journey to the fair by foot.

***

"It's quite busy!"
I looked around, paranoia creeping into my mind remembering losing each other at the club. "Quite? Quite doesn't even begin to describe it! There's no space anywhere!"
"Oh look over there!"
"What? What do you see?"
"A space!"
I looked at Cody unimpressed at his attempt of humour. "That is not funny! Smart ass!"
"Hey! Quit it with the attitude, comments can be hurtful!" He looked at my blank face. I wasn't apologising for speaking the truth! "I just want to have a great time!"
"Good, me too!"
"So..." We looked around at all of the stalls. "What do you want to do first?"
"Erm?" I looked for a stall that was hardly occupied, which was hard!
I finally found one which looked alright. "There, that one!"
"Which one?"
"Come!" I dragged Cody through the swarm of people towards the stall. "This looks alright!"
"I'm going to win you that fluffy little bear!"
The game we had to play was to hit the target and I laughed in my mind. If only the man owning the stall knew who was playing this game.
Cody hit every target without a problem. I managed to hit some but I found out I only shoot better in life threatening situations.
Cody retrieved the little fur ball of a teddy and handed it to me with a sweet smile.
"I know what you're thinking, but the biggest isn't always the best!"
"I wasn't thinking that!"
"It was the one that caught my eye, like you did!" I must admit that I blushed as I cuddled the bear to my chest. "Thank you Cody!"
"What do you want to do now?" He had his hands buried in his pants pockets and he looked at me waiting as I looked around for something to do.
We went around the whole fair. We got hotdogs and chips to eat, then we went on some of the rides. Then we got some candy floss.
We sat on a bench resting our legs for a while. "Is there anything else you want to do?" I put the stick in the bin from the candy floss and had a look around.
The Ferris wheel queue was very short so I pulled Cody towards it. "You're not afraid of heights are you?"
"No!"
"Good!"
We got into one of the carts together and the bar dropped across us.
"Is this safe? It seems very rickety!"
"Are you scared Cody?"
"No, I'm worried of your safety!"
"Sure!" I giggled as I noticed him holding on to the bar tightly as we began to move.
"I feel that my life is finally normal again!" I turned to look at Cody and smiled at him to show him how thankful I am for everything he has done. "I don't know how my life would have turned out if you weren't a part of it!"
Cody placed his hand on mine and looked me in my eyes. "My life would be pretty messed up right now if you never came into it and made my entire life revolve around you!" The cart stopped moving making us rock backwards and forwards and we both grabbed the rail. I looked over the edge and the owner of the Ferris wheel was messing with the controls. There was nothing either of us could do as we were at the top.
"We may be stuck up here for a while!"
"More time for us to talk then!"
"Yeah."
He stroked my cheek and we refused to look away from each other. He held the side of my face as he leant forward and kissed me, but the strange thing is that I kissed him back!
He found my hand and laced his fingers through mine. We both looked at them when he nudged the ring.
I honestly felt terrible for Cody!
"I wish that ring was from me!" I took back my hand as I could feel his pain in his touch. "I know you never will have those feelings for me, the ones you have for Mike! But I will keep waiting!"
"Cody..." I bit my lip to stop my sobs from escaping, and I looked up at the stars to prevent my tears from leaking out of my eyes. "...I'm so sorry! I don't want to keep hurting you!"
The cart started moving again and cheers sounded from below.
"I'm sorry Nicole! It's me who should be apologising. I'm a selfish son of a b-" I covered his mouth then hugged him.
"Don't be silly, you don't ever have to apologise! Not after everything you have done for me!"
"If only you knew!"
"Knew what?"
"The truth!"
"The truth of why I'm here?"
"You know I love you, don't you?"
"I do!"
"And I would do anything to protect you!"
"Yes. Why are you saying this?"
"Because no matter what I have done to protect you I don't want you to get mad at me!"
"Why would I get mad at you? You haven't done anything wrong!"
I saw a look of guilt in his eyes as he looked down to stop me from seeing it. I lifted his chin up and he then looked me in my eyes. I leant towards him and kissed him. He immediately put one hand on the centre of my back and pulled me closer to him and the other held the back of my head. My fingers were lost in his hair and I only just realised how much I enjoyed being in his embrace and having his lips on mine.
We separated when someone coughed to get our attention. We had reached the bottom and it was time to get off. I grabbed the fluffy bear from the seat and held Cody's hand with my other. He helped me out and we began walking, clueless to where.
"I have waited so long for a moment like that!"
"Well the wait is now over!"
We were silent for a while as we kept walking around.
"Do you want to go back home?"
"Yeah sure!"
We exited the fair and began down the road. I heard footsteps of people right behind us and I heard a smack and Cody fell to the floor. Before I could react and turn around my sight was covered with a bag or something that muffled my attempts of screaming. Someone else put my hands behind my back and tied them together, then I was picked up and I knew I was over someone's shoulder. But I wasn't for long, I was thrown into something and a body was thrown next to me. Cody. I heard a door slam and then two more followed by an engine starting. I was in the boot of a car!
The engine stopped and my heart started to race. The boot door opened and they got Cody out first.
Then it was my turn and they dragged me towards them then I was picked up and carried somewhere.
I was sat down on a chair with my arms over the back and tied to it. The bag, or sack, whatever it was. Was removed and my sight was now restored. In front of me were two ugly men grinning at me showing yellow teeth. Ew! They moved to the side and Cody was sat opposite me. He was tied to a chair and his head was hung low. Another man came into my view and he looked too formal to be here! He was carrying a bucket and he swung it so its contents went all over Cody. It looked like water. Cody burst to life his head flung upwards sending water everywhere and he was gasping for air. The water must have been very cold!
"And he lives!" The big ugly man was laughing which sounded like a monster.
"Please don't hurt him!"
"The girl speaks!" The thin ugly man chuckled. His voice just as disturbing as the others.
"We're not going to hurt him, we're just going to interrogate you and to do that we have to kill him!"
"No, you can't do that!" The big man backhanded me across my face from my right cheek, just below my eye. My cheek stung and my eye watered.
"Garret, stop it! He wants her alive and unharmed!"
"Why do you keep killing everyone I love?"
"After your father and grandmother this would be our third!"
"What about Mike! You killed him!"
"Who is Mike?"
"He was my protector, who you killed!"
"Nicole, keep quiet. I don't want you to get hurt!" Cody's voice was full of pleading.
"He killed more of us than we had the chance of capturing you!" The formal man was rubbing his chin deciding if I was telling the truth.
"But he was outnumbered and shot to death! Four years ago!" I looked at them all individually, how did they not know?
"Quiet girl! Stop distracting us!" The thin ugly man spoke and I shrunk in my seat in fear as he sounded very threatening!
They all turned away and the formal man lifted the gun to Cody's head.
Cody gave me eye contact and he could see I was crying. His eyes were sad and I knew he was telling me he was so sorry!
I felt a warm breath on the back of my neck. Whoever was behind me was very close.
"Nicole," their voice was in a whisper. They obviously only wanted me to know they were there, "keep quiet." I felt my entire body shiver as I recognised who it was and my heart flipped over and over in my chest. "I'm going to get you and blonde boy out of here!" My eyes went blurry as my eyes refilled with tears, I definitely wasn't dreaming this time!
A gunshot sounded and I flinched. I looked at Cody who's eyes were squeezed shut. He opened one of them and looked around. The formal man fell to the floor. Two more gunshots sounded and the other two fell to the floor. The ropes around my wrists slackened and I brought my hands around to the front, the rope had been cut. I watched as he did the same to Cody. They both ran over to me. Cody stayed silent, it was he who spoke.
"You found the ring!"
"Mhm!"
"You're wearing it!"
"Yes!"
"We'll talk later, first we have to get out of here!"
He held my hand and pulled me through the warehouse to the exit.
We got outside and the car was there. I am so confused! Is this a dream?
We stopped and Cody ran on ahead.
He removed his hand but something else was removed too. I lifted my hand up in reaction to examine it. He had removed the ring.
"If you wanted it back you should have asked!" I could feel my heart break. After constantly wearing the ring from the day I found it, the person that got it me took it away.
"Nicole-"
"If you didn't love me you should have come and told me sooner! I have been drowning on guilt ever since you left!"
"Just listen-!"
"I-I should have listened to my brain and not my heart. I should have moved on from you four years ago!" I stepped away from him as I pressed my hands where my heart was crying out like it had been ripped from my chest.
I turned but he stopped me and pulled me back around to face him.
"What do you want from me?"
He knelt down in front of me and held my hand.
"I wanted to do it properly!" I stopped breathing, I should have let him speak instead of throwing all of my hate at him. "Nicole Meadow, will you marry me?"