Secrets & Surrender: Part One (2 page)

“Now, if I had someone to help me,” I coughed out Cassie’s name in my hand, “maybe, just maybe, I’ll get lucky and get a scholarship. But if you feel like Juan has to have his own room, well then, I guess I can understand that. I mean, we’re friends after all, and well, I don’t want to make you feel bad or anything like that.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, if you really need me there.” She bit down on her lip.

“Yes, I do.” My lip twitched. “I really do need you.” It wasn’t a lie. I did need help. But what I really wanted was to have my home fry with me.

“Well, okay. If you really—Hey! You tricked me.”

I busted out laughing. “Cassie, you and the guilt work really well together. Are you sure you didn’t go to Catholic school?”

“You’re just too much, Mandi. What would I do without you?”

“You won’t have to be without me. I’ll be on you like brown on rice until the day we die.”

“Don’t you mean white on rice?”

“Have you met me?” I held out my tanned arms.

She laughed, her eyes dancing. “Come on, let’s go. There’s so much I need to do before I go back to Houston this afternoon.”

“Do you have to leave today?” Entwining my arm with hers, we headed back to the car. “Tricia’s having her birthday party at The Dixie tonight. I heard the DJ her uncle hired is from Austin. There might actually be some descent party music playing in this town. No offense, but all this country music is making my left eye twitch every time I hear it. It’s a serious medical condition.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’ve lived here for almost four years. I’ll make a Texan out of you if it’s the last thing I do.”

“No! Somebody save me.” I feigned fright.

We giggled hysterically as we climbed into the car. It felt good to hear her laugh again.

“I wish I could stay, but I really should get back. If I’m going to spend the next year here, I want to spend some time with Mom.”

“Okay, but you’re gonna miss out on my totally rad dance moves. And I’ve heard that Cody might be there,” I added, fighting back a smile. I remembered her reaction when Cody Wilde moved back to Koppe. They’d grown up together as friends, and when Cody moved to Utah to be with his mother, Cassie had been devastated. When he finally returned to Koppe, it was like she had come back to life.

“Really? I thought he wasn’t coming back until next week.” Her face lit up at the mention of Cody’s name.

I arched my eyebrow, and she quickly schooled her face into passivity. Ha! I knew it. She liked Cody. He was totally fine—if you liked that hot cowboy thing he had going on.

“He’s back early. I ran into him in the Piggly Wiggly parking lot early this morning. I swear, every time I see him it seems like he grew an inch.”

“He’s that tall, huh?”

“I wasn’t talking about his height?” I waggled my eyebrows.

“Mandi!”

“Hey, just telling it like I see it. Or at least what from I can tell. I told him you were in town, visiting.”

“You did?” Her voice jumped up an octave. Then she looked down and played with a loose thread on her blouse, lowering her voice. “So what did he say?”

“He said, ‘Oh.’”

She furrowed her brow. “Is that all?”

“Well, when I first spoke with him, he said, ‘Hey.’ He’s Cody. What do you expect? A monologue?”

She sighed. “I see what you mean.”

“Well, I did manage to find out that Tricia invited him to the party. He wasn’t planning to go, but when I told him that you might be there, I saw a look.”

Her brown eyes flicked up to mine. “What look?”

“I don’t know. He tipped that cowboy hat of his back with his thumb and squinted his eyes like he was thinking really hard. Then he said, ‘Oh,’ again. Seriously, Cassie, how did you two ever have conversations?”

“You have to get to know him. He can talk your ear off if you let him.”

“I’d rather he nibble my ear off.”

“Mandi!”

I threw my head back, laughing. “Really, Cassie, come to the party. You know you wanna go.”

“I do. But I really should spend time with Mom, even if it is for only two weeks.”

Shaking my head, I pressed my foot on the gas. The engine wheezed as it tried to come to life.

“I have a feeling that in two weeks, our lives will be way different. We’re going to totally rock our senior year.”

T
he moment I walked into The Dixie, country music slapped my face.

A popular country song blasted through a pair of speakers from the back of the popular restaurant, popular because it was the only place to eat in Koppe. The nearest city, if you could call it a city, was College Station. Why my parents thought moving from LA to Koppe was good thing, I’ll never know.

I was slightly impressed that someone had put in a lot of effort to turn the place into what almost looked like a dance club with flashing lights and people dancing—except for the sea of cowboy hats. Then I saw the two-stepping. I shuddered and walked to the bar, wishing that eighteen was the legal drinking age instead of twenty-one. If I was going hang out here for a while, I was going need a drink before the night was over.

I weaved my way around a crowd of giggling girls dressed in jeans and matching denim jackets. They were exactly alike with their blond hair weaved into French braids and curled bangs, which were obviously layered with several cans of hairspray. Those bangs were so stiff not even a tornado could move them. I must’ve missed the blue jeans memo because they stared at me like I was from another planet.

I glanced down at my hot pink mini skirt. It was normal, certainly not out of the ordinary. My oversized black blouse hung off my small frame, revealing a bare shoulder. I wasn’t showing
that
much skin, and my girls were totally covered. I may have gone a little overboard with the matching black lace gloves and lace stockings.

Shrugging off their stares, I grabbed a bottle of soda from the bar counter and scanned the room for Tricia.

Five minutes. I’ll stay here for five more minutes, wish Tricia a happy birthday, give her the present, and then I’m outta here.

Another country song blared out of the speakers. I rolled my eyes as a wave of denim rushed onto the dance floor.

Ugh, gross me out the front door! I didn’t think I could last another five seconds. I was about to leave when Cody Wilde emerged from the middle of the dance floor. My jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Hot damn! Cassie was missing out. He looked better now than he did this morning. Despite being a California girl, I wasn’t into the blond-haired, blue-eyed Greek god thing Cody had going on. But hell, I wasn’t blind. Even I could appreciate a bodacious bod when I saw one.

“Hey, Mandi,” Cody drawled, his deep voice making me shiver.

“Looking good there, Wilde.” I grinned, taking in the snug t-shirt that molded to his muscular body.

“Uh, thanks. You like nice too,” he said shyly as his eyes scanned the room. Normally, I’d be totally offended to have a hot guy pretend to talk with me when he was actually looking for someone else. But I knew he was looking for Cassie. I bit my tongue, holding back a squeal. My brain was spinning with ideas on how to get those two hooked up when school started. This was going to be so much fun.

“Cassie went back to Houston.”

Blue eyes met mine, and his face fell. There was something about him that made me want to give him a big hug and tell him everything was going to be okay. Sort of like what I’d do with Miguelito when he was upset.

“Mandi, Cody! You came.” Tricia bounced over to us, which was very unlike her. Tricia was normally shy and had a few close friends, so it was a surprise that she’d have a party with so many people.

“Of course I did. Wouldn’t miss it. Happy Birthday.” I handed her a tiny box. “It’s from me and Cassie.”

“She’s not here?” Tricia’s green eyes grew sad as she pushed back her thick glasses.

“That’s what I was just telling Cody. She wanted to come, but she had to go back to Houston. She’ll be back. She’s moving in with me this year,” I emphasized, giving Cody a knowing look.

“That’s wonderful! I really do miss her,” she said.

You aren’t the only one. I glanced at Cody. His face was beaming.

“Oh, that reminds me. Cassie wants to get a job when she’s back in town. Do you know if your uncle has any openings at the Piggly Wiggly?”

Tricia’s uncle, old man Fletcher, was the manager at Koppe’s only grocery store. He was a snippy man that always seemed to have something up his ass. The only soft spot he had was for Tricia.

“Yeah, I’m sure he does. He can always use the help. For some reason, his cashiers always seem to leave a few days after they’re hired,” she said, her brow furrowing.

I choked on my soda.
Gee, I wonder why?

“I’m sure Cassie will stay longer than that. Hey, do me a favor, though. Don’t let her know I asked. You know how she is.” Cassie was such a giving person, but she hated it when others helped her out.

“Sure, no problem. You know, my uncle had a crush on Cassie’s mom when they were kids. I’m sure he’ll be happy to give her a job. If she asks, I tell her that my uncle wanted to do her mom a favor. It’ll be our secret.” She winked. As Tricia and I continued our conversation on how to sweet talk her uncle into giving Cassie a job, Cody’s face shifted, and he became restless.

Then I heard a familiar high-pitched twang that sounded like someone was scraping fingernails on a chalkboard.

“Cody Wilde, you know better than to leave me hangin’ in the middle of the dance floor.”

Cringing, I watched as Lynette Baker laid polished red fingers on Cody’s chest as if she owned him.

That girl was something else. She’d never given him the time of day before. Everyone in town talked about how much her cousin, Seth Baker, hated Cody. And whenever Seth bullied Cody, she’d never say anything to stop him. There were times I remembered when she’d even laughed at him. Watching her brush up against Cody now was so infuriating. Why didn’t he just tell her off? Oh, right. We’re talking about Cody here. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.

“You was busy talkin’ with your friend, Carmen,” he said flatly.

“I was takin’ a break. I can’t help it if every guy in here wants to dance with me. I was waitin’ for you to ask.” I tried not to gag when she brushed her boobs against his arm. Even Tricia rolled her eyes.

“Don’t you want to dance with me?” Lynette pouted. Her face looked like a blowfish. I swear I didn’t get these guys who kept panting around her like she was the hottest thing in Daisy Dukes. Doesn’t that girl wear anything else?

Cody’s sapphire eyes flicked to mine with a frantic look of desperation.

“So, Lynette, your family must be excited that Dillon’s starting quarterback again this year.” Tricia’s eyes widened and Cody’s lips twitched as the last words left my mouth.

Lynette’s hand fell to her side as she turned to me, her cold green eyes glaring. “Why are you even here?”

“Excuse me? Tricia invited me.”

“I mean, here, in Koppe.” She turned to me, leaned in, and dropped her voice to where only I could hear. “We only put up with your kind because you’re cheap labor. I know about your family and don’t think I won’t tell.” She poked my chest before she spun around and walked away.

What the hell!
Part of me wanted to yank her back by her bleach blond hair and knock the shit out of her. The sane part of me, which was holding on by a thread, was telling me to ignore Lynette’s crazy ass and not ruin Tricia’s party. At least she was laying off Cody—for now. Then there was the tiniest part of me that was a little afraid that she might actually know about my family’s secret. The only people who knew about it were Cassie and her father. Lynette couldn’t possibly know, could she?

Nah, she was all talk. If she did know, her uncle, Sheriff Baker, would’ve shown up at our house for sure.

“You okay, Mandi?” Cody placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah. I just didn’t expect Lynette to be here.”

“I’m sorry, Mandi,” Tricia said. “My uncle made me invite the Bakers. I guess Seth and his brothers were too upset to come because of what happened to Dillon last week.”

“What happened?”

“He ain’t startin’ quarterback this season.” Cody smiled, his dimple flashing. “He got pissed and quit.”

“Shut up!” Man, oh man, I wished I’d been there when Dillon got the news about that one. Dillon was just as bad as his brother, Seth. They were used to getting their way just because their father was the sheriff.

“Really, he quit,” Tricia said. “But the sheriff made him stay on. My uncle and the sheriff think the new guy won’t last through one game.” She curled her finger, gesturing us to lean in close. She whispered, “He’s from New York.”

I laughed. That was a funny thing about Texans. They thought if you weren’t born here, there was no way you could play football.

“Dominic and his family are really nice, though,” she continued. “My uncle and I had dinner at their ranch last week. You should see their house. It’s huge.”

“Dominic?” I almost felt sorry for the kid. A name like that in Koppe was just asking for trouble. At least it was better than Manuela. I shuddered. I loved my father, and I get that being first born I was named after him, but, really, what were my parents thinking?

“Dominic Marcelli. He goes by Nic. And he has a sister, Bianca. I saw them around here somewhere.”

“Ain’t that them over there?” Cody pointed to the opposite corner of the dining room.

“Oh, good. They did come. I wanted to talk with Bianca about the cheerleader tryouts. She was asking about it. I’ll talk to y’all later.”

Tricia disappeared into the crowd. I stood on my toes, straining my neck, trying to catch a glimpse of who would now be considered my favorite person at Koppe High. Anyone who knocked Baker off his high horse was a friend of mine. The Bakers thought they owned Koppe and everyone in it just because their father was the sheriff. Unfortunately, it was sort of true. It was hard to argue with the law or Sheriff Baker’s interpretation of it. When Cassie’s father was alive, he had brought some type of balance. But ever since he’d died, things in Koppe had gotten worse. I tried my best to lay low and not make any waves.