Trust Me

His Secrets

“Yeah, didn’t you know?”

“No, he probably just forgot to tell me,” I said defensively. Jake had told me all about his family, why hadn’t he said a word about his brother? Ryan looked at my anxious face.

“Well Jake’s known for being kinda secretive,” Ryan said, trying to reassure me.

“So tell me about this brother, Nate,”

“I’m not sure I can,” Ryan said awkwardly. “If Jake hasn’t told you, then he should be the one to tell you,”

“Come on, you can tell me,” I pouted.

“I don’t know,”

Ryan was looking really torn. I could tell that he wanted to tell me but his friendship with Jake was stopping him.

“Come on Ryan!”

He looked at me and smiled.

“Fine, I’ll tell you but there will be a price to pay,”

I looked at his smirk and felt a little hesitant.

“Okay, but the information first,”

“Well Nate is Jake’s older brother. Jake and Nate are pretty close and they look out for each other. They are look pretty alike but the only big difference is that Nate is way wilder than Jake is. Nate got in with a dangerous gang; they’re have a pretty bad reputation and Nate’s a little scared. Jake’s just trying to help his brother out and so he checks up on him every few days,”

“Wow,” I said thoughtfully. I felt sorry for Jake, what a strain to have to look out for your older brother.

Ryan cleared his throat.

“You need to pay me back now,”

“What do you want? I bet I can guess it, money, information, jeweller-“ I listed.

“No, none of that. Just give me a kiss,” Ryan interrupted.

“Oh,” I said slowly. My pale cheeks blushed to a pink colour.

I leaned forward, Ryan’s deep green eyes were looking at me. I found myself staring off at his lips, they were the only part of Ryan that looked delicate and fragile. Before I could psych myself out, I kissed him on the lips.

There was an awkward silence that seemed to echo through the beach box.

“Well I guess that’s it,” I said quietly but it sounded loud in the silence.

I looked over at Ryan. He was staring at me in awe. I felt embarrassed about the kiss. I hoped that Jake would never find out.

“Anyway,” I said commandingly. “Do you want to get back to poker?”

“Yeah, sure,” Ryan said. He sounded a little strange but I ignored it.

He continued teaching me and I got the hang of it pretty quickly. It was my sort of game, keeping your ‘poker face’ on. It was like me every day.

 “So you and Jake sleep down here at night?” Ryan asked, suspiciously.

“Yep, Jake and I are pretty ‘hard core’,” I joked using some of Ryan’s unusual vocabulary.

“I’ve done way more hard core things that him,”

The competitive tone in his voice made me jump. I couldn’t tell what brought on that remark but I just ignored it.

I missed Jake. I didn’t want his substitute, Ryan. I only wanted Jake to talk to me all night long and laugh till the sun came up.

I stood up and headed over to the blankets, “I’m a bit tired so I’m just going to lie down,”

Ryan looked bewildered. “Oh, okay then. I’ll stay to make sure no one comes in,”

“I’ll be fine, no thanks,”

He looked disappointed but nodded good bye and left. As I headed off to sleep, I only hoped that Jake would be back when I woke up.

I was standing in the hotel room, waiting for my Mother. I was impatient and itchy in my white, lace dress. My hair had been teased and tormented by the hairdressers booked especially for the occasion. It was pulling and giving me an unimaginably bad headache. My Mother was taking a long time to get here. It was another mother daughter photo shoot and she seemed to think that she could get here whenever she wanted to.

 I had been in this room for an hour and I was sick of it! The bodyguards had told me to stay here, looking serious while adjusting their expensive ear pieces. I had patiently waited, tapping my nails against the marble table. The smell of the musky perfume from my Mother’s new dress hanging up in the closet was making me feel nauseous.

I stood up suddenly, almost falling over in my heels. Looking out of the room, I couldn’t see anyone around. The long hallway almost had me lost but I spotted the staircase. I teetered down the marble staircase and looked out of the window.

Suddenly a bright flash startled me; I stood still for a moment looking for the source. Then I saw them, hundreds of them waiting with their weapons of destruction in their hands.

Just one bad outfit and you could be in the papers for years, always referenced to and never with any privacy. Now they were getting my picture, I stepped backwards and tripped over my long gown. A bodyguard caught me and pulled me away from the window.

“You’re not meant to be down here, miss,” he said. I ignored his comment.

“Is my Mother coming here soon?” I asked. He hesitated for a minute and I heard crackling on his earpiece.

“She’s coming in right now, miss. You’d better go upstairs,”

I scurried up the marble staircase and sat down on the velvet couch. My Mother’s girlish laugh was echoing through the hallway of the hotel. She entered the room and nodded coolly at me.

“We don’t have all day! I want a bucket of hot water with a hint of lavender for my sore feet before the shoot,” she shouted. “Hurry up!”

I grimaced; it was going to be a long day.

Night had begun to settle in when I woke up. Stomach grumbling, I pulled on a jumper and looked around for something to eat. I couldn’t find anything, nothing at all. I racked my brains for an idea but there was only one. I had to go out and buy something.

I knew my Mother well and she would have security guards all around searching for me. She wouldn’t want the bad publicity of a missing daughter to outline her name.

I needed a brilliant disguise but there wasn’t much you could do with the things in a beach box and in a backpack. So I stuffed my jumper with a singlet, tucked my long hair into my jumper and put some sunglasses on. I took a few deep breaths and tucked some money in my pants pocket.

The beach was quiet and empty of people. The peaceful lull of the waves made me feel calmer as I walked towards the milk bar at the top of the beach. A man in sunglasses and an earpiece was talking to someone in a car.

Holding my breath, I walked quickly into the milk bar and picked up a magazine to hide my face. Peering over the top, I could see the car driving off and the man walking towards the milk bar.

Damn it, I thought. How am I meant to hide in a tiny milk bar? I grabbed a ready to go sandwich and a bottle of juice as the man was looking in the chocolate bar section. I went up and quickly put my items on the counter. “That will be $10.50,” the tiny woman said loudly. The man looked up at me but I was facing the woman.

“Thank you,” I growled in a deep voice as I handed her the money. I strode out of the store and went a different way to the beach box.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man coming out of the store. He saw me and started to run. I could feel butterflies in my stomach. I was going to be taken home. I broke into a run but he was too fast.