Secret Bay High Lies (Secret Bay High - Book #4) Read online

  “That’s not good,” I breathed. “She saw us.”

  “I know,” Damon said. “Fuck.”

  It was rare for him to use such strong language, but it was really the only thing that was going through my mind as well. I could already hear how this was going to go. She was going to tell us all over again that we couldn’t be together. She was going to force us to break up. Just when I got Damon back in my life how I wanted him to be, she was going to tear us apart.

  All the promises we made each other didn’t matter. Susan was going to be the one to once again ruin my life. She didn’t care if I was happy. She only cared about herself and Dean. She didn’t want us to be dating. In fact, she completely forbade it when she caught us the first time.

  Clearly, she thought that was the end of the situation, not realizing that our love was strong. I was sure that was the end of it between us, but Damon wasn’t going to give up on me because Susan didn’t think we should be together. And, it worked.

  But, we hadn’t planned on Susan catching us again. That was a total surprise that had caught us both off guard, and now, it was clear neither one of us knew what to do.

  “She’s going to make us break up,” I said, my voice catching in my throat.

  “She can’t make us do anything,” Damon replied calmly.

  “What if she makes one of us leave? Puts us back in the system if we don’t?” I asked, my voice quivering with emotion.

  “She wouldn’t do that. You’ve been through too much, and she’s been my mother since the fourth grade. Do you really think she would just give me back up to the system?” he asked.

  “It doesn’t matter how much I’ve been through. I’ve only been living here for a few months. I’m new. She’s not going to miss me. She might even be glad that I’m out of the picture!” I gasped.

  “Listen to what you’re saying!” Damon replied. “This is Susan we’re talking about! She’s not the easiest person to get along with, but I don’t think she’s going to do anything so rash. It’s not like either of us are doing anything bad. We’re just two people who’re in love, and she can’t tell us not to feel how we feel!”

  “I’m so afraid of what she’s going to say,” I said. “I don’t want to go in there.”

  “I know you don’t, and I really don’t want to talk to her, either, but the sooner we get this over with, the sooner she’s going to see that it doesn’t matter what she says or does. We feel the way we feel, and nothing is going to change that. I’m proud to have you as my girlfriend, and I’m not taking that back,” Damon replied.

  He grabbed my hand and gave it a light squeeze, trying to give me more confidence. I knew he wasn’t afraid to argue with Susan, but I was still afraid of what she would do if we refused to break up with each other again.

  Damon had long insisted that we were nearly adults and able to do what we wanted, but he couldn’t control how Susan would react. She did have the right to sign either one of us back over into the system if she felt she couldn’t raise us the way she felt was right, and though I agreed it was unlikely for her to do something so harsh, it scared me to think that she might.

  I didn’t trust anyone but Damon and Abby, and I felt now I was going to lose both. I couldn’t fight it if Susan didn’t want me in the house anymore. But then, I wasn’t going to just walk away from Damon, either. He had made me promise when he asked me if we were going to be together to not let anyone tear us apart, and I promised.

  I meant it when I said it, and I was going to stand by that now, even if I was terrified over what the outcome would be.

  We were nearly to the door when I suddenly pulled my hand back. “I can’t do this. She’s going to be so pissed, she’s going to make us break up!”

  “She’s not going to do that,” Damon hissed. “I’m not going to let her. I told you nothing is going to pull us apart. What do you think she’s going to do? Just send one of us away? That takes time, and there’s only a few months until we are old enough to make our own decisions anyway. She’s just going to have to deal with it.”

  “What if she doesn’t?” I asked.

  “Then she’s going to be the one who looks pretty silly when we turn eighteen and date anyway. It’s not like she has the right to tell us who we can and can’t love,” Damon said.

  My heart was in my throat as he took my hand again and pushed through the door. I wasn’t sure what to expect besides a furious Susan, and I was right. She was sitting at the kitchen table with Dean standing in the doorway. Immediately, I was put off with Dean being there.

  I could understand Susan wanting to address this, but the fact that Dean was there only made me angry. He wasn’t part of this. He wasn’t my father, and he wasn’t even Damon’s real dad, either. This was none of his business as far as I was concerned.

  Not to mention, I didn’t want him in the house, and Susan didn’t care about that. She had gone ahead and moved him in without asking us if it was alright. She told us what was going on after the decision had been made, but she didn’t give either of us the chance to tell her whether we wanted it to happen or not.

  Not that she would have listened to me anyway. She was the homeowner, and I, well, I was the foster kid who had come to live with her because I was now officially an orphan all over again. I needed a place to stay, and she had it. I was the charity case.

  It didn’t matter if Damon would have wanted Dean to move in or not. The fact of the matter was that I didn’t, and I wasn’t going to change my mind on that. Now, I didn’t need him to be there being the father to me that he was clearly trying to be. My father was dead, and for all I knew, my real father was dead, too. Dean could just forget it and screw off if he thought he was going to be the next father in my life.

  It just wasn’t going to happen.

  “I told you this isn’t going to happen under my roof,” Susan said.

  “You aren’t going to tell me who I can and can’t date,” Damon crossed his arms, clearly on the fight. We both expected this to go poorly, but Damon was clearly taking the offensive rather than the defensive role. I was hoping to solve it in a calm, quiet manner that settled the situation.

  “I’m not comfortable with the two of you dating each other considering the fact that you live together,” Susan replied. “When two people are in a relationship, living together takes it to a whole new level. You have to be really serious about each other and willing to make a lot of compromises to be together like that, and I’m not sure either one of you are ready.”

  “You and Dean live together,” Damon challenged.

  “I’ve been dating Dean for years. You were just a little boy when he and I got together, and we were together for years before you moved in. You know how long it’s been. Dean is my life partner,” Susan replied.

  “And Sutton is mine,” Damon didn’t back down.

  “But you are so young. The two of you are still in school, and I’m not going to let you take this relationship to such a serious level when you’re kids!” Susan said. “Do you think that makes me at all a responsible parent to just turn a blind eye to what you are doing? You have so much ahead of you still. There’s so much time for you to meet the right people and fall in love and move in together then!”

  “I have met the right person, and she’s standing right here!” Damon shot back. “You told me once that you just know when you’ve met the love of your life. I thought you were crazy when you said it, but now I know what you mean. Don’t tell me that I don’t know how I feel.”

  “I’m not telling you that you don’t think you feel a certain way,” Susan replied gently. “I’m just telling you that you are too young to make this kind of decision. You haven’t even graduated high school yet. How do you really think you are going to be able to sustain the ups and downs of a relationship that is this intense when you’re not even committing yourself to your math?”

  I cringed. I knew the words would hurt Damon, but she did have a point. He had all but blown off the cla
ss, and he had said over and over that it really didn’t matter in the long run. But, even if he had thrown himself into that before, I really didn’t think that it would have mattered. Susan made her stance on the situation clear, and I didn’t get the impression she was willing to change.

  Then again, I knew I shouldn’t be surprised. Susan was never one who really thought about things internally. I could easily point out that she was obsessed with Dean, and she hadn’t been paying attention to hardly anything that had been going on in the house since he came back into the picture.

  But, I knew that would be borderline hypocritical for me to point out to her. I was pretty obsessed with Damon, and I had been my entire life. From before he bullied me and long after. Shoot, I hadn’t even forgotten about him when I was sure I’d never see him again. He was in my heart and my mind both, a part of me that I couldn’t – wouldn’t – let go.

  She had to be able to understand that since she clearly felt the same way about Dean. They’d even gone so far as to break up, but life and love pulled them back together even though it seemed like it would never happen.

  There was so much I wanted to blurt out, but I kept my mouth shut. Dean had yet to speak himself, and it seemed that the argument was once again largely between Damon and Susan. The two of them certainly didn’t have any issue going head to head, and it wasn’t about to calm down now.

  “Math is stupid! I can do what’s important, and that’s all I need to do!” Damon shot back.

  “If you can’t dedicate yourself to math when it gets hard, then how are you going to stick with a relationship when it gets hard?” Susan replied coolly. “That’s my point, not the math itself.”

  “Because Sutton isn’t math!” he snapped.

  “You are in love right now, but when life gets hard, you’re going to see that things change. People change. How are you going to keep it all together when the hard times come?” Susan asked.

  “We are in the middle of some of the hardest times of our lives!” Damon said with a laugh. “If you had any idea how hard it is to get through each and every school day you’d understand.”

  “I do understand,” Susan said. “But you don’t. So, I’m just going to have to say it plainly. I’m not going to allow you two to date while you are under my roof. It’s not appropriate, and you are too young for this level of commitment. That’s all there is to it.”

  “You aren’t going to police who I’m allowed to love!” Damon shot back. The conversation was beyond heated, and I felt sick to my stomach. I could see Damon wasn’t going to back down, and I could see with each new accusation he hurled at Susan, Dean was getting more and more agitated.

  He clearly wasn’t going to do anything that would step on Susan’s toes, but he wasn’t going to just stand by and let the fight go on and on, either.

  But, I felt helpless. I wanted to say something, anything, but my words were stuck in my throat. I just wanted the argument to end, I just wanted Susan to back off and leave us alone. I just wanted to be happy.

  But the fight was only getting worse.

  Chapter 8

  Sutton

  “Don’t argue with me!” Susan finally demanded, running out of patience as the argument was clearly going nowhere. Dean and I had stood watching them both hash out their sides of the situation, but they were just going round and round about the same issues.

  Neither one of them was going to bend, and Dean was clearly getting agitated.

  “I told you,” Susan continued. “As long as the two of you are living under my roof, you aren’t going to be dating each other!”

  “Then I’ll move out!” Damon nearly shouted. “I’m old enough to get emancipated, if that’s even a thing in the foster system! My own parents didn’t want me, and I’m not going to let you tell me who I can and can’t love! You aren’t my mother, and you can’t control who I fall in love with!”

  “Damon,” Dean now stepped in, clearly having heard enough of the bickering. He walked over and put his arm around Susan’s shoulders as he looked at Damon with a fatherly expression on his face. “Your mom is just trying to do what’s best for you, that’s all. She cares about you, and she doesn’t want you two to make any mistakes that’ll harm you in the future.”

  “She’s not my mother, and she’s not Susan’s mom, either, for that matter!” he snapped. I was surprised he was willing to stand up to Dean, and even more surprised when there was a twinge of guilt in my heart at the look on Susan’s face. It was bad enough for Damon to be reminding her of the fact that she wasn’t his real mother, but she visibly winced when he brought me into the conversation.

  Of course, she was just our foster mother, but then, maybe there was a reason she had chosen to go into the foster care system rather than have children of her own. I’d never thought about that side of things. At the same time, he did have a point, and it wasn’t my job to make her feel better because we weren’t hear real kids.

  “Damon!” Dean snapped. I could sense the temper starting to flare, but Damon had heard enough. He wasn’t going to stand there and continue to argue with either of them about his feelings toward me, and that was final.

  “I’m done with this,” he said with a shake of his head. He threw his hands up in the air and stormed out of the kitchen.

  “Damon, you don’t walk away while I’m talking to you!” Susan called after him, but he ignored her and kept on going. I wasn’t sure what I should do. Part of me wanted to speak my part, but another part of me didn’t want to talk about this anymore. I didn’t want to keep going back and forth with Susan about whether I could love Damon or not, and I had no interest at all talking to Dean about any of this.

  So, I made the quick decision to turn and follow Damon out of the kitchen and right up the stairs. But, instead of going to my room to hide from the adults downstairs, I walked right into Damon’s room and pulled the door closed behind me.

  “You aren’t really going to move out, are you?” I asked, my voice quivering. It was the one thing I was afraid of happening, and I didn’t like thinking about it. Not only would it be hard to live without Damon in the house, but to be alone with Susan and Dean sounded even worse.

  If he left, then I was going to do what I could to get out of there, too. I didn’t want to live anywhere without Damon and shoot, I might even want to move in with him wherever he went. Id’ get a job to help pay with bills if I had to. As long as the two of us were together.

  “I don’t want to,” he admitted. “I’m just not going to let her split us up again, and if she sees how serious I am about that, then she might back off and just let us make our own decisions. You and I are both only months away from being adults ourselves, we can make our own decisions and I’m going to.”

  “It would really suck here without you,” I said softly. “I’d hate it more than I do now.”

  “I don’t think Susan is going to push it to that point,” Damon said. “You saw the way she reacted when I told her that I would go through with it if it meant I could still date you. You are my top priority here, Sutton. I know Susan means well, and I do love her, but I’m not going to let my love and respect for her rob me of being with you.”

  “She’s given us so much, I just feel bad,” I looped my hands around the back of my neck and sighed. I did feel bad. Susan was clearly hurt by the way the conversation had gone, and she was hurt by the way Damon and I had ignored her wishes and continued our relationship behind her back.

  She had given up a lot for both of us, and she didn’t have to. This was something she did out of the goodness of her heart, and we were both grateful to her for it. I felt trapped between a rock and a hard place. I wanted Susan to be happy. I didn’t have anything against her as a person, but I also wanted her to respect me and my own decisions in life.

  She wasn’t me, she wasn’t my mother, and she didn’t have the right to tell me who I could and couldn’t love, either, as far as I was concerned. Damon was right about that. We were both nearly
adults, and that was reason enough for her to respect us.

  “I’m sorry that I talked to her that way,” Damon said. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or if he was talking to himself out loud. “I’m really grateful to her for all the things she’s done for me in my life, and she doesn’t deserve to be talked to that way. I was just so frustrated with her for, well, everything I guess.”

  “I know,” I said as I walked over and wrapped my arms around him. “I knew it was going to be harder for us if we were to start dating again.”

  “But you don’t regret it, do you?” he asked quickly, looking down into my eyes as he spoke.

  “Not for one second,” I said with a smile. “I knew it was going to be hard, but I wanted to do it anyway. I want to be with you, and I’m not going to let anyone tell me whether I can or can’t. That is between you and me as far as I’m concerned, and that’s final.”

  He smiled and leaned forward, kissing me passionately. There was a part of me that was relieved that Susan knew about it. Though she wasn’t happy and didn’t agree with it, it was easier to kiss Damon knowing we weren’t hiding what we were doing anymore.

  She could argue and tell us we couldn’t, but she couldn’t force us to stop. And, I hoped Damon was right, she wouldn’t want to push him to move out to prove a point.

  Our clothes came off quickly, falling to the floor as we climbed into bed. We kissed naked for a while, but then, I smiled as I climbed over the top of Damon, turning around so my pussy was right over his mouth. I had seen people do it on movies, and I wanted to try it out myself.

  He smiled, putting his lips to my soft clit as I took his cock in my mouth, sucking and licking him while moving my head back and forth. He moaned, licking and sucking on my clit.

  We pleasured each other until we both came hard, and I had a mischievous look in my eye as I swallowed his cum.

  “That’s sexy,” he said as he pulled me close for another kiss.

  “You’re sexy,” I told him with a wink. I laid down on the bed next to him, running my hand up and down his chest and feeling happy for the first time in a while. There was still a lot of stress in my life, that was for sure, but when I had Damon on my side, I felt like it was all going to be okay.