Hidden Truth (The Benson Brothers Book 2)

  Hidden Truth

  By

  G.L. Snodgrass

  Copyright 2019 G.L. Snodgrass

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof in any form. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means. This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author's imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  Other Books by G. L. Snodgrass

  Regency Romance

  The Reluctant Duke (Love’s Pride 1)

  The Viscount's Bride (Love’s Pride 2)

  The Earl's Regret (Love’s Pride 3)

  Marrying the Marquess (Love’s Pride 4)

  Confronting A Rake (A Rake’s Redemption 1)

  Charming A Rake (A Rake’s Redemption 2)

  Catching A Rake (A Rake’s Redemption 3_

  Challenging A Rake (A Rake’s Redemption 4)

  Duke In Disguise (The Stafford Sisters 1)

  The American Duke (The Stafford Sisters 2)

  Young Adult Romance

  Certain Rules

  Unwritten Rules

  Unbreakable Rules

  My Favorite Love (Lakeland Boys 1)

  One Night (Lakeland Boys 2)

  My Brother’s Best Friend (Lakeland Boys 3)

  Worlds Apart (Lakeland Boys 4)

  My Brother's Bodyguard (Hometown Heroes 1)

  My Hidden Hero (Hometown Heroes 2)

  My Best Friend’s Brother (Hometown Heroes 3)

  My Sister’s Best Friend

  Our Secret (The Benson Brothers 1)

  Hidden Truth

  Chapter One

  Parker

  A girl walking into the boys’ bathroom was something you didn’t see every day. But I’ve got to admit it, Jade McDonald pulled it off with style.

  Golden blond shoulder-length hair with purple streaks. Flowing black calf-length dress with knee-high boots. A silver nose ring and three long hoops in each ear. The girl was a gothic hippy. A Stevie Nix want-a-be with a touch of witch.

  Chin up, she stared at me, daring me to comment.

  Jade McDonald had always been this way. An outsider. A strange girl who refused to fit in. Smart when she wanted to be. A loner with her own sense of right from wrong. Pretty, in that elfin, wispy way some girls can pull off. The kind of look that just naturally pulled at my protective instincts.

  All I could do was shake my head and say, “You know you’re in the wrong place, right? You turned right when you should have turned left.”

  She sneered at me with that patented Jade sneer that said I couldn’t begin to understand the realities of her world.

  “Have it your own way,” I said as I finished washing my hands.

  She was about to respond when a heavy pounding on the door made her jump.

  “Is anyone in there?” a gravely feminine voice demanded from the other side.

  Jade’s eyes grew two sizes as all the color drained from her face.

  Interesting, I thought. It seemed that there actually was something in this world that Jade McDonald feared. And it was named, Mrs. Crawley. The school Vice-Principle.

  Drying my hands, I raised an eyebrow at Jade then pushed past her and opened the door a crack.

  Mrs. Crawley stood with her hands on her hips, looking like a Valkyrie in search of her next victim. An inch under six feet with her hair in a tight bun. The woman had been known to scare offensive linemen into quivering puddles of jelly.

  “Parker Benson?” she said in surprise. “Is Jade McDonald in there?” she asked as she tried to look over my shoulder.

  My stomach tightened. There are turning moments in a person’s life and this had the potential of being one for me. I was student body president. Editor of the school paper. And in the running for valedictorian. Every part of my soul told me to tell the truth. It was burned into my being.

  But there is a counter code. The one that says you don’t rat out a fellow student. Especially not if they are a pretty blond with deep blue eyes.

  I gave Mrs. Crawley my best frown and shook my head. “This is the boys’ bathroom. No self-respecting girl would be caught dead in here. Not even Jade McDonald.”

  It was as if a life spent walking the straight and narrow was all designed for this moment. Mrs. Crawley looked at me and saw a young man who never stepped out of line and just knew I was telling the truth.

  She sighed heavily then turned to march off down the hall.

  My insides turned over. I hated lying like that. But there had been something in the way Jade had looked at me. Like I said, she brought out the protective streak in me.

  Letting the door swing shut, I turned back to Jade and raised an eyebrow. “You owe me,” I said with a smirk.

  She glared at me and said, “Don’t hold your breath.”

  As she turned away to examine her surroundings, I studied her profile. That was so typical of Jade. Defiant. On her own. She had always been that way. In second grade, when other girls were collecting and forming cliques, Jade had stood alone, in her own little world.

  What I had always found surprising was that she didn’t seem to mind. There was never a sense of loss. No sense of a desire to belong. Over the years, girls had tried to include her only to find themselves rebuffed. They just didn’t see the world the way she did.

  That is the thing about living in a small town. Everyone knew everyone and you either accepted who they were or … Well, really, what other choice did they have? People ignored the different and went on with their lives.

  That was Jade McDonald. The definition of different.

  “What did she want with you?” I asked.

  Jade turned and stared at me for a long moment. “Mind your own business.”

  I laughed. “Hey, you’re in the boys’ bathroom and I just lied to the Vice-Principal for you. That makes it my business.”

  Her glare narrowed even more intensely. “Lying to Vice-Principals is supposed to be the default position for a teenager. Only you would think it was a bad thing.”

  The opinion wasn’t new, and her words didn’t hurt. My brothers and half of my friends had been giving me a hard time for never breaking the rules for years. I normally let it slide off of me. They didn’t understand my reality. But for some reason, having Jade McDonald say it created a little twinge of guilt.

  “Hey, I’m not the one hiding,” I said. “So, how’s your way working out for you?”

  Her eyes flashed. I’d touched a nerve.

  “Shut up,” she said as she turned her back to me and opened the door a hair to see if Mrs. Crawley was still haunting the hall.

  I laughed. The words of someone without a great comeback.

  “Hey, maybe I can help.”

  She turned on me like a snake ready to strike. “I don’t need your help. I’m not some damsel in distress sent here to fulfill your freakish fantasies.”

  My draw dropped. You’d think I’d just offered her money for a night alone.

  “I’ve got to tell you,” I said. “Dressed like that, you are the epitome of a damsel. And hiding in the boys’ bathroom sort of makes it a distress situation if you ask me.”


  Her eyes narrowed. Really, did the girl ever smile?

  “And what are you doing here anyway?” I added. “School was out hours ago. And the only after-school activities are the cheerleader tryouts. And no way is that your thing. There is the chess club. But again, you’re too smart for them. So, why are you still here? I doubt seriously that you can’t get enough of this place. So, what gives?”

  She continued to stare at me. I could see the thoughts running through her mind. How do I get rid of this guy? And how had she screwed-up so bad to be stuck in a boys’ bathroom with Parker Benson?

  “And what are you doing here?” she said with a sneer. “Let me guess. Save the whales committee or feed the homeless drive.”

  I laughed. “Ouch, that stung. How could a person be so terrible as to care about the rest of the planet? I was finishing up the next edition of the paper if you must know.”

  She gritted her teeth and glared at me. I glared back but with a hint of a smile. I was in the right and she knew it. A happiness filled me, pushing aside any guilt I had felt about lying to Mrs. Crawley. I had her and she knew it.

  But I’ve got to give her credit. There was no back down in Jade McDonald. She wasn’t going to give in, no matter what. She placed her hands on her hips and said, “Go save someone else. Someone who cares.”

  I glared back, refusing to look away. She continued to stare at me until at last she sighed heavily and said, “Please, just go.”

  My insides turned over. What could I do? A pretty girl had asked me to leave her alone. One of my unwritten rules was that I never imposed myself on others. Especially not girls. They had enough jerks to deal with in their lives. I didn’t need to add to the list.

  “Okay,” I said with a shrug. “But if you need anything let me know.”

  She shook her head, obviously unwilling to accept my offer.

  I glanced at her one last time then shook my head and turned to leave. As I pulled the door open, Jade stepped forward and touched my arm.

  “Thank you,” she said, “for not ratting me out.”

  Here, I saw a softer side of Jade McDonald. A girl pushed to the brink who had forced herself to do the right thing and thank me.

  “No problem,” I said, “anything for a damsel in distress.”

  Our eyes locked for a moment and a strange new sensation filled me. Curiosity mixed with desire and need. The thoughts must have raced across my face because she suddenly blushed and stepped back.

  Great, I thought. That was the way to make an impression on a pretty girl. Let her know a guy’s true thoughts.

  Giving her one last smile, I turned and left her there in the boys’ bathroom. Alone. A young woman with more problems than she knew how to deal with. A pretty girl who needed my help whether she knew it or not.

  Chapter Two

  Jade

  Parker Benson. Of all the boys in all of school. Why did it have to be Parker Benson?

  My heart continued to race. It hadn’t stopped since Mrs. Crawley saw me sneaking into the girls’ locker room. I had thought for sure I was a dead duck.

  Luckily there had been a back door and I was able to get out of there before she found me. I thought I had gotten away with it until I saw her rushing after me across the quad.

  I’d done the only thing I could think of, ran back into the school then snuck into the boys’ bathroom. School had been over for hours. The place should have been empty. But no. Of course not. Parker Benson.

  The boy was just too perfect to be true. Handsome, tall, dark hair, smoky eyes. Built tight and strong with a kindness that surprised people. But Parker had always been that way. Deep down, a hero in waiting. All of the Benson brothers were like that. It must have been in the genes. Men ready to take on the world if the cause was right.

  To top it off, Parker Benson was born with an innate sense of confidence. As if he knew that he was on the side of the angels and had nothing to fear. How was it possible for a person to be so lucky?

  As the door closed behind him, I scrambled through my mind trying to figure out if Parker would rat me out. My heart jumped into a higher gear. Was he even now tracking down Creepy Crawley to tell her I was here?

  And why hadn’t he told on me when she came to the door? It seemed counter to everything I knew about Parker.

  The boy was the poster child for forthright, do goodership. School president. Friend to everyone without being smarmy about it.

  That was the thing about Parker. He fit in everywhere. The jocks liked him. He could have been their leader but he had more important things to do. What made it surprising was that they understood and cut him some slack. The nerds and geeks liked him because he didn’t look down at them as if they were a lesser species of human.

  The girls adored him. The handsome looks, the kind eyes. But again, he didn’t abuse the worshiping. There had been a few girlfriends over the years. And from what I had heard. They had been more than satisfied. But nothing serious.

  No, Parker was different. Focused on grades and his other stuff. Nothing was more important than getting into an Ivey league school with a full scholarship.

  And knowing Parker, he’d do it. Nothing would stop him.

  He was so different than his older brother, Jake. Bad boy extraordinaire. He hadn’t even finished high school. And the little brother, Buck, was the school stud. Terror of the football field and slayer of young girls’ hearts.

  No, Parker Benson was different. He always had been.

  I remembered in sixth grade. When Tony Belmont had threatened to demolish Little Jimmy Peterson. It was Parker who stepped in and stopped it. When rumors had begun about Cassie Phillips, he was the one who stopped them before they could get going by sitting with her at lunch. Letting the rest of the class know that they were wrong.

  Simple things. Always the good guy.

  My heart ached as I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. If I had to, I could hang out in here for a couple of hours before the janitors showed up.

  One of the first things I had learned was the janitor schedule. It was a necessity if I was going to keep hiding here in school.

  God, what a screwed-up life, I thought. A hippy for a mother and a drunk for a dad. My world had dissolved into a puddle of crap the day I turned eighteen. Mom left for a commune just outside of Portland. Dad kept it together for about three weeks until he fell into a binge that he couldn’t crawl out of.

  The sheriff hanging the repossession notice on the door had been the final straw. I hadn’t waited until they threw us out. I’d stuffed a gym bag with what I could and hit the streets. Somehow, I had ended up at the only place I knew. School.

  In freshman year, I had discovered the boiler room just off the gym. A perfect place to hide and escape the taunts and jeers of Marcie Jones and her crowd. Someone, probably one of the janitors, had put an old leather couch, coffee maker, and microwave in the back. The perfect place to hide from the prying eyes of the man.

  But I think the current crop of janitors didn’t know about it. The school district had changed the janitorial contract a couple of years ago. And I guess the old janitors sort of forgot to tell the new ones about this special place.

  If you think about it, school was a great place to crash. They had washing machines in the locker rooms for uniforms and stuff. Showers. Heat. Wall sockets to charge my phone. It even had access to the school’s Wi-Fi system.

  But the best thing was that everything was covered in a layer of dust. No one had been there for years.

  The only reason to come into the boiler room was maintenance every other Wednesday and they did that during the day while I was in class. At night. There was no one about. The janitors cleaned the locker room between seven and eight. I just kept quiet and out of the way and they had no idea I was back there.

  A weed hiding in a field of grass.

  Sighing to myself, I glanced around. The boys’ bathroom. The place didn’t look near as messy as I had thought it would. Suddenly, I was tempte
d to go into the stalls and read the graffiti but I held off. I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as the girls’ bathroom. No, what kept me back was the sudden fear of seeing my own name on one of those walls.

  Instead, I swallowed hard as I opened the door and glanced up and down the hall. All clear. Taking a deep breath, I stepped out and hurried to my hide-a-way.

  As I plopped down on the couch and put my hands behind my head, I stared up at the pipes above me and shuddered. It had been close.

  Parker Benson. The picture of him smirking at me wouldn’t leave my mind. The boy was so sure of himself. It was enough to make me grind my teeth. Everything about the boy was too perfect.

  Looks, super smart, attitude, confident smile, just the right amount of tall. Everything designed to grab a girl’s heart. But it was the eyes that got to me. I hated to admit it. But the boy’s eyes drew me in like a flame drew a crazy moth.

  And then there was me. About as imperfect as a girl could get. I knew the stories about me. Witch, loner, scary. When the truth was so much worse, homeless, from a twisted, broken family. No friends, hiding in a boiler room with forty-eight dollars left to my name.

  A cold fear traveled down my spine as I wondered when I would hit bottom and what would happen to me then.

  The next morning, as I blended into the school rush, I kept one eye open for Creepy Crawley. It had taken most of the night but I’d come up with a story about forgetting my gym clothes in the locker room and needing to take them home to be washed. That was why I was going into the girls’ locker room an hour after school.

  Or at least that was my story and I was sticking to it. What could she say? Sure, it seemed weird, but then I was known to be weird. It came with the territory.

  Of course, I was so worried about our glorious Vice-Principal. I didn’t see Parker until he stepped up next to me and smiled down like he was a gift from God put on this planet for women to admire.

  “So,” he said with that cocky grin of his that pushed my buttons. “Will you need rescuing again today?”

  My jaw slammed shut as I ground my teeth. The boy pushed things too far.