Ruin (Dirty Secrets #3) (2 page)

“I’m not lying,” she says, looking me straight in the eye. “Your dad committed suicide because he couldn’t deal with the fact that Hailee isn’t his biological child.”

Daisy never looks me in the eye when she lies. She does this thing where she looks away or stares at my forehead. Not this time. And for a moment, I believe her.

“How do you know?” I ask.

“My mom told me,” she says, shrugging her shoulders. “She told me when I asked where Dad was. She said he has affairs with other women because she isn’t good enough for him. He doesn’t love us enough to remain faithful.”

Oh my God.

I didn’t catch what she said then, but now that I think about it I wonder… Are Daisy and Hailee half sisters? Was that what she was trying to tell me? That we shared a sibling?

I try to push the thought away, but I can’t.

Hailee and Daisy both have green eyes. They both have natural dark brown hair, but Daisy keeps her bleached. Now that I think about it, they do look alike. How could I not have seen this before?

Maybe because I didn’t
want
to see it.

“Mom doesn’t care about me,” Hailee says. “Not that she cares about you and Trey either. She only cares about herself and Ben.”

“Well, I care about you. Always.”

“Thanks,” she says.

The rest of our conversation is light and easy. But I can’t stop thinking about what Daisy told me. I have to find out the truth.

Swimming.

If I start crying now, I might never stop.

There is a rope hanging from a limb on an old oak tree. We’ve been swinging off the rope into the water since I was six. My dad was with us the first time, so it became a tradition. We do it often during the summer. Labor Day feels like the last weekend of summer. The last weekend before everybody gets serious about school and before the weather turns cooler. This is our way of saying farewell to fun for another year.

Hailee and I come out of the girl tent. It’s a small one bedroom tent. The boys have a bigger tent, but there are more boys so I don’t mind. When we get out, the boys are waiting for us. Of course.

“Madeline, put something over that,” Trey says.

I look down at my dark blue bikini. I’ve worn it a hundred times this summer and he’s never said anything before.

“Stop being stupid,” I tell him.

“I’m being serious. There’s nothing to that thing.”

“Well, I don’t care. You’re my brother. You can’t tell me what to do.” I put my arms on my hips, as if I’m challenging Trey. “I’ve worn this same bikini all summer long. Why are you waiting until the end of summer to tell me it’s too skimpy?”

“Because you weren’t dating Jace then,” he says. “I don’t want him lusting over my sister.”

“Right. And us
not
dating stopped him from lusting all summer?”

Trey narrows his eyes at me. “Your boobs look bigger, or something. Maybe it’s too small for you now. That’s probably why I didn’t notice.”

I laugh — hard. “Now it sounds like
you’re
the one who is checking me out.”

“Come on, Mads. You know what I mean. Just put something over it.”

“No. You’re being ridiculous.”

He grunts. “Fine. Whatever. If you want to look like a slut, who am I to stop you.”

I suck in a breath, trying to process what Trey just said.

“Dude, not cool,” Jace says. “Madi is not a slut and you know it. Apologize to her.”

“Are you seriously going to tell me how to talk to my sister?”

“Yes, I am. She’s my girlfriend and I won’t let you talk to her like that. Now say you’re sorry so we can go swimming.”

“Fine,” Trey says, then looks at me. His face softens when he looks at me. I’m not sure what he sees — maybe how hurt I am. What he said hurt me a lot more than I would ever admit to him.

I bite my lip and try
not
to cry.

“Come here,” he says, holding out his arms. I step into his embrace. “I’m sorry, Madi. You know that I don’t think you’re a slut. In fact, you’re the least slutty girl I know. I shouldn’t have said that. I just… you’ve never had a boyfriend before. It’s hard for me to think of somebody being… with you.”

I nod but don’t say anything. I’m scared my voice will break if I do. If I start crying now, I might never stop.

He pulls back and looks at me. “I know that it makes me a hypocrite, because I’ve been with a lot of girls. But… I just imagine you being a virgin for the rest of our lives, even after you’re married.”

I smile at him. “Jace and I aren’t going to have sex on a camping trip with you, Hailee, and Thayer.”

“I know,” he says. “But do me a favor. When you and Jace finally
do
have sex, don’t tell me about it.”

I hold out my pinkie. “I promise.”

He hooks his pinkie on mine and smiles.

Some things will never change.

The five of us head down to the lake. Trey pushes the rope over to me and I grab it. I guess I’m going in first.

I have done this one hundred times, so I’m not nervous at all. In fact, I’m excited. I climb up on the rope and push myself off the bank. As soon as I am over the water I let go and fall in, laughing the whole time.

Within a few minutes, I am joined by four other people. We are all swimming, and joking around with each other. We try to use sign language for Thayer’s sake, but it’s kind of hard to hold your hands out of the water to sign. It’s times like this that I feel bad for him. He’s missing out. But I love that he doesn’t let it get him down. He has a smile on his face the whole day.

Thayer is awesome.

And so is his big brother.

Jace has his eyes on me all day, which makes me feel very loved. And hot. Definitely hot. I wear a bikini every day just so I can get him to look at me like that… Or nothing. That would work too.

Life with Jace will never be boring, that’s for sure.

Campfire.

Most embarrassing moment.

That night, the five of us are sitting around the campfire, eating s’mores, and just laughing about things that happened while we were swimming. It was a great day, and it’s going to be an awesome night.

“What is your most embarrassing moment?” Trey signs.

“Me first,” Hailee signs. “One time, when I was in the fourth grade, we went on a field trip to the zoo. My best friend, Mandy, had me laughing so hard that I peed my pants in front of everybody. For the next year and a half, everybody referred to me as Tinkle Bell.”

We all burst out laughing, even Hailee.

“You next,” Hailee signs to me.

I’ve had a
lot
of embarrassing moments. With Daisy as my friend, it was pretty much a given. I could say a lot of things right now — the time she sent a naked picture of me to every guy in our school, the time she told the whole school I had an STD… the list is never-ending. But I know the most embarrassing moment has
nothing
to do with Daisy.

I look at Jace as I sign. “One time, when I was fifteen, Jace and I were swimming in the lake and my bikini top came untied. He saw everything, but he turned his head away, like a gentleman. I was so embarrassed. But Jace was nice about it, and he never said a word to me about it after.”

“I didn’t know that,” Trey signs to me, then looks at Jace. “You really love my sister.”

“I do,” Jace signs. “My most embarrassing moment was when that spider crawled onto me during class my sophomore year.”

I immediately start laughing — hard.

We were sitting in class and a spider crawled onto Jace. He’s never been a big fan of bugs, and he
flipped
out. I’ve never seen somebody move so fast in my life. He was screaming and nobody knew what was wrong with him. It was the funniest thing ever. Once everybody realized what happened, most of the girls and some of the guys stood up in their desks until the spider was killed — the teacher included.

“It wasn’t funny,” Jace signs. “I could’ve died.”

I shake my head at him.

“I don’t have any embarrassing moments,” Thayer signs.

“What about the time you farted really loud in the middle of that nice restaurant?” Jace signs.

“That wasn’t embarrassing,” he signs back. “Maybe to you and Mom, but definitely not embarrassing to me.”

I could picture that — Thayer farting and everybody turning to look at him. He obviously can’t hear, so he didn’t know it was loud. But I have a feeling that if he did know it was loud, he still wouldn’t be embarrassed.

“Madi, do you think I could talk to you alone for a minute?” Trey says out loud.

“Sure.”

We get up from the campfire. As we walk away, I hear Hailee laughing about something Jace signed, but I didn’t catch it. I follow Trey far enough away where nobody can hear our conversation.

“I just wanted to say that I am sorry about earlier. And, really, every day since Jace and you started dating. I haven’t been very nice to either of you,” he says. “You should know that I am not going to stand in the way of your relationship.”

“Thank you. That means a lot to me.”

“And I promise to stay out of your room when Jace is in there,” he says.

I smile at that. “Good.”

“I keep thinking that if I wasn’t so worried about you and Jace having sex that I would’ve known something was going on last night at the party. I mean, I
should
have known. And I keep thinking that if I would’ve known, I could’ve done something to stop all of it.”

“There’s nothing you can do or could’ve done,” I tell him. “Even if you were with me, Emma still would’ve been taken. And even if Emma
wasn’t
taken, it could’ve easily been me, Frannie, Cassidy, or Hayden.”

“I know,” he sighs. “God, I’m such an idiot. Do you forgive me?”

“You know I do.”

“Good.”

“There is actually something else I need to talk to you about,” I tell him. “Something that happened at the party.”

“You aren’t going to tell me you had sex, right?”

“No!”

He smiles. “Good. Proceed.”

I frown, thinking about what I have to tell him. “While we were playing two truths and a lie, I got a text from this person telling me what I should say. And the two truths were kind of personal things… things about us that I’m not sure you know. A lot of people at the party heard, so I know it’s only a matter of time before you know too. I just wanted to tell you first.”

“What is it?” he asks.

“Hailee is only our half-sister. Mom had an affair,” I tell him.

“I know that,” he says.

“You do?”

“Come on, Mads. Hailee looks
nothing
like us,” he says. “Plus, I remember hearing arguments about it before Dad died. I didn’t say anything to you because I knew it would hurt you. Besides, it doesn’t matter. Hailee is our sister.”

“I know,” I say. “I think I know who her real dad is.”

“Who?”

“I think Hailee and Daisy share a father.”

“Oh my God.” Trey runs his hands through his hair and stays quiet for a moment. “You know, that makes
so much
sense. They look just alike. How have I not seen this before? The green eyes… the nose… even the way she talks.”

“There is one other thing…” my voice trails off.

“What?” he asks, hesitantly.

“Mom lied to us about
how
Dad died,” I tell him. “He didn’t really die in a car accident. He committed suicide.”

“Are you sure?” he asks. His voice is low, and I can tell he doesn’t want to believe what I’m telling him.

“Daisy told me when I was fifteen. I didn’t believe her at the time, but after thinking about it I realize that it might be true. This other person knew… the kidnapper. I don’t think it’s a coincidence, do you?”

Trey sighs. “Let’s just… forget about this for now. Knowing won’t change the past, and I’d rather not think that my dad was the type of person to do that.”

I nod. “Okay. I just wanted you to know… in case people talk about it.”

Trey grabs my arm and we walk back to camp. Soon after that, we all go to bed. I hate that I ruined his night, but I’m glad we got to talk. I feel a lot better now that he knows. I just wish him knowing didn’t hurt him so bad.

Sunday, August 31

What the—

Early Sunday morning, we head back home from our camping trip. Hailee somehow managed to get poison ivy, so she is feeling too miserable to swim anymore. I don’t mind though, because Jace is taking me out on a date tonight. I want to take my time getting ready, because I want to look cute.

As we pull up in front of our house, there is a big moving truck sitting in our driveway.

“What the—” Trey says.

Yeah, my thoughts exactly.

Hailee, Trey, and I leave all the stuff in Trey’s truck and walk to the front of the house. Mom is standing in the living room, telling the movers what to do.

“Just put that there,” she says, pointing the in corner. A huge elephant statue is set down.

“What is going on?” Trey asks her.

“Ben is moving in,” she answers, then continues telling the movers what to do. She acts like what she said is completely normal… like she isn’t completely ruining our lives. She didn’t even
talk
to us.

“Mom, what do you mean he’s
moving in
?” Trey uses a forceful voice with her, trying to get her attention.

Finally, she looks at us. “Ben is moving in.”

“And you didn’t think to
tell
us?” I ask. “Did you think this
only
affected you?”

“It’s
my
house,” she says. “It doesn’t matter how this affects you.”

“And the worst mom award goes to…” Hailee says sarcastically. She crosses her arms over her chest.

“It’s not like it makes a difference,” Mom tells us. “He’s here all the time anyway.”

“But Ben has a house,” Trey says.

Actually, Ben has a
big
house. He inherited it from his grandpa when he died a few years ago. With the house, he also inherited millions of dollars. None of which my mom has seen a cent of in the past two years of their relationship.

“Ben is going through a rough financial patch right now, so he is selling his house,” she says.

“What? How did he manage to blow his way through millions of dollars?” Trey asks.