Secrets Don't Stay Buried
973 Words
Chapter 13: Secrets Don’t Stay Buried
Lily didn’t see Blake the next morning.
She looked for him—in the quad, near the studio, even passed by the greenhouse—but nothing.
It gnawed at her, the sudden silence. Not because she was needy.
Because it mattered now.
Because his absence left a space in her chest she hadn’t expected to miss.
By late afternoon, she gave in and texted him.
Me: Where are you?
No response.
She stared at her phone until her eyes hurt, then shoved it deep in her bag.
Something wasn’t right.
She didn’t know how she knew—she just did.
By the time dusk rolled in, she was walking alone down the edge of campus, the wind carrying that pre-storm stillness that made the hairs on her neck rise.
And then, like a ghost out of shadows, she spotted him.
Blake.
Leaning against the back wall of the old gym, hood up, head down, cigarette smoldering between his fingers.
He looked like something out of a broken dream. Messed-up. Beautiful. Dangerous.
She crossed the grass and stopped in front of him.
“You ignored me.”
Blake glanced at her from under his hood. His eyes were colder than usual. Guarded.
“Didn’t feel like talking.”
Lily crossed her arms. “Too bad. I didn’t give you that option.”
A flicker of something passed through his expression. Amusement? Admiration?
“Bold,” he muttered.
“I’m tired of feeling like I have to wait for permission to speak,” she snapped. “From Nate. From you. From the damn world.”
Blake exhaled smoke, watching it curl and vanish. “What if I’m trying to protect you?”
“From what?” Her voice lowered. “Yourself?”
His silence was answer enough.
She stepped closer.
“I’m not some delicate thing, Blake. You don’t get to decide what I can or can’t handle.”
His jaw flexed. “You’re not ready for the truth.”
Lily’s heart pounded. “Try me.”
He crushed the cigarette beneath his boot and looked at her like he was preparing to ruin something beautiful.
“I’ve done things,” he said quietly. “Bad things. The kind you don’t just confess over coffee.”
“Things involving Nate?” she guessed.
He nodded slowly. “And others. This school—it looks shiny from the outside, but underneath? It’s rotten. Money buys silence. Power protects monsters.”
Her stomach twisted. “What does that make you?”
He met her eyes, unblinking. “Someone who learned how to survive in the dark.”
Lily stepped even closer. “I don’t care what you’ve done.”
“You should.”
“But I don’t,” she said fiercely. “Because for once, someone sees me. Not the quiet girl. Not the straight-A student. Me. And I see you too.”
His expression cracked—just a little.
Like she’d found the smallest fracture in his armor.
“Lily…” he warned.
But she didn’t stop.
She reached for him, her hand sliding beneath his hoodie to rest against his chest, where his heart pounded hard beneath her palm.
“I’m not asking you to be soft,” she whispered. “I’m asking you not to push me away.”
Blake’s eyes burned into hers like fire and ice at once. “You really don’t know what you’re doing to me.”
“Then show me.”
And this time, he didn’t hold back.
His kiss was rougher than before—hungry, urgent, like he’d spent the whole day trying not to need her and finally gave in.
She welcomed the storm, fingers tangling in his hair as he pressed her back against the brick wall, mouth on her throat, hands gripping her waist like she was the only thing anchoring him to this world.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he rasped against her skin.
“Then stop me.”
He didn’t.
Couldn’t.
His hands slipped beneath her sweater, fingertips brushing bare skin. She gasped at the contact, nails digging into his shoulders, pulling him closer until there was no space left.
The tension that had built between them over weeks—taunts, glances, words left unsaid—finally snapped like a live wire.
And in that kiss, that touch, she felt it:
Possession.
Desperation.
Fear.
Want.
He needed her like air, and she needed to be needed by him.
When they finally pulled apart, breaths ragged and eyes glazed, the world felt different.
Changed.
“I can’t stay away from you,” she confessed, dazed.
“Good,” Blake whispered. “Because I’m done pretending I want you to.”
But as he leaned his forehead against hers, she saw something else in his eyes—something dark and guilty and not fully spoken.
“Tell me,” she said. “Whatever it is you’re hiding.”
He exhaled sharply. “It’s not just Nate. It’s his father. His friends. They think they’re untouchable.”
“And you?”
“I’ve been watching them for a long time. Waiting. Collecting proof.”
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“Because no one else will stop them,” he said. “So I will.”
A chill danced down her spine. “Blake… what have you done?”
His lips ghosted across hers. “Nothing yet. But I’m going to burn their kingdom to the ground.”
That night, Lily lay in bed, the taste of him still on her lips, her skin still humming from every touch.
But it wasn’t just desire swirling inside her now.
It was fear.
And the thrilling, terrifying realization that Blake wasn’t just her weakness.
He was her turning point.
And whatever was coming next—there would be no turning back.
- Writer
