Tainted Creek (The Allstars Series Book 2) Read online

  TAINTED CREEK

  THE ALLSTARS SERIES #2

  KC Kean

  Tainted Creek

  The Allstars Series #2

  Copyright © 2021 KC Kean

  www.authorkckean.com

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.

  This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it wasn’t purchased for your use only, then please return to your favourite book retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademark status and trademark owners of various products referred to in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorised, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Cover Designer: Bellaluna Designs

  Content Editor: Valerie Victoria

  Proofreader: Elemental Editing & Proofreading

  Tainted Creek/KC Kean – 1st ed.

  ISBN-13 -

  Contents

  PROLOGUE

  1. EDEN

  2. EDEN

  3. XAVIER

  4. EDEN

  5. EDEN

  6. TOBIAS

  7. EDEN

  8. EDEN

  9. EDEN

  10. XAVIER

  11. EDEN

  12. EDEN

  13. XAVIER

  14. EDEN

  15. EDEN

  16. EDEN

  17. TOBIAS

  18. EDEN

  19. XAVIER

  20. EDEN

  21. EDEN

  22. EDEN

  23. EDEN

  24. EDEN

  25. TOBIAS

  26. XAVIER

  27. EDEN

  28. EDEN

  29. XAVIER

  30. EDEN

  31. EDEN

  32. XAVIER

  EPILOGUE

  Afterword

  THANK YOU

  About the Author

  Also by KC Kean

  My Bloodline Excerpt

  To Grandad,

  My first love, my absolute king.

  May you win on the horses and continue to be confused by what it is I actually do.

  Thank you for showing me how to love, and what a marriage should look like.

  From your eldest Princess.

  I’m sick of letting the people in this town bleed me dry, I have nothing left to give. Not an ounce.

  EDEN GRADY

  PROLOGUE

  Emptiness.

  One

  EDEN

  Standing on the edge of the cliff with the ragged rocks below, I let the wind tousle the wisps of stray hair around my face as the salty sea air fills my lungs.

  I pull my gray hoodie a little tighter, watching as the waves crash and bubble below, the sound settling my soul a little as I hear giggling in the distance. Being here creates a sense of calm I can’t seem to get anywhere else. The ocean is my sanctuary, but it doesn’t stop the dark thoughts from clouding my mind.

  I wonder what it would feel like to plunge into the depths of the ocean, to let the riptide push and pull me around, not giving me a choice in the direction I take or whether I’ll even resurface.

  I could live with that.

  I’m too emotionally drained, my head a fucked up mess with all the crap piling up on top of me. I’d love to go back to being the seventeen-year-old, fun-loving girl who only had to worry about practicing safe sex and making sure her phone was charged.

  Now I’m lost in a metaphorical sea of lies, secrets, and douchebag Allstars. Knight’s Creek seems to have it all, I just don’t actually want any of what it has to offer.

  “I have a brother,” I whisper under my breath.

  After spending my whole life as an only child, the words feel foreign on my tongue. But it’s not just anybody, it’s Archie.

  Archie Freemont is my brother. Twin brother.

  If I thought my life had gone to shit in White River when my father died, then Knight’s Creek pushed me over the edge of sanity. My life feels as though it’s no longer my own.

  And they knew, they all knew, including Archie.

  Just like that, the trust I had in him is gone. At least that’s what I keep telling myself, but my soul misses him already. The guilt in his eyes as Roxy goaded me, with Xavier encouraging her, will be forever etched in my mind.

  Tobias had taken me home after someone had tried to kidnap me during the Allstars’ football game. I’d woken in Xavier’s bed, finding candid pictures of me scattered across his wall as I lay wrapped in his navy and gray sheets, but when I walked out to see him around the bonfire on the beach on Saturday night, he wasn’t the same guy from just hours earlier.

  No. He was someone else entirely. He was officially the Xavier Knight I’d been warned about. The guy who had a wall dotted with my pictures was gone, and in his place remained the fucking devil himself.

  The confusion on both Tobias’s and Hunter’s faces said enough though. They had no clue what had caused the switch either, but I refused to stick around to find out.

  After reading someone’s shitty attempt at writing an obituary for me, I forced myself up off the bathroom floor and dialed the only number I felt safe enough reaching out to.

  “De-de, ‘um on!”

  Holding my hair off my face, I glance over my shoulder to find Cody reaching his hands toward me, his blond curls blowing in the wind as he smiles up at me. Bethany holds him tightly against her chest with concern in her blue eyes as she watches me.

  If there is anyone almost as mad as me right now, it’s Bethany—Ryan, too, by default. She is the only Asheville who I don’t think is an asshole at the moment, but she’s technically a Carter anyway since she’s married to Ryan, and that definitely boosts my trust in her. I’m also glad she doesn’t push for any kind of conversation that involves her brother.

  I can’t stop the soft smile that instinctively transforms my face, making my worry lines and sad eyes disappear as I put on a brave front for Cody. It’s like he can sense when something is wrong, and the last thing I want is for this little boy to feel my anguish.

  “Are you ready to head back?” Bethany asks, pointing to her SUV in the parking lot, and I nod as she lowers Cody to the ground and he charges straight for me.

  Quickly picking him up before he gets too close to the edge, I balance him on my hip as I follow Bethany’s lead. Cody snuggles in, and I happily absorb his innocence and joy, basking in his comfort.

  It’s been three days since everything went to shit, and this little man has distracted me like crazy. Bethany refuses to let me simmer away in private, letting my anger get the better of me, which is why we’re even out here to begin with. She said it had something to do with my body needing vitamin D and fresh air, but I know it’s because she recognizes how much I love the ocean with the amount I’ve talked about it.

  Although, this is not the kind of D I need right now, but I don’t say it, even though I’m sure she sees the snark in my eyes.

  Bethany holds the back door open, letting me secure Cody in his car seat before I get in on the other side and settle beside him. No shotgun for me when there’s this handsome little man to sit next to. We’re travel buddies for life now, apparently, and I just can’t bring myself to argue against it.

  “De-de, a bo-bo,” he mumbles as I clip him in, and I know he wants his blue bobbly blanket and a nap.

  It’s crazy how I can understand a two-year-old who doesn’t have his full vocabulary more than I can understand ninety-five percent of the population in this toxic town.

  I fall back into my seat as Bethany starts the drive back to her house, and I can already sense her need to quiz me again now that Cody is already half asleep.

  I’ve managed to put something or someone between us each time, stopping any deep discussion from occurring, but I know she’s close to calling me out. The craziest thing is, I know she isn’t trying to pry, she’s just caring for me when no one else is here to do so—my mother included, but I can’t get into that yet.

  My phone vibrates in my pocket, breaking my eye contact with Bethany in the rearview mirror. I reluctantly pull it out. It’s one of two people, the same two individuals who have called me repeatedly since I ran—Charlie and Archie.

  I can’t speak to either of them, not even Charlie since I know she’s so close to Archie. Her messages have promised girl time and declared that I’m her priority, but I’ve been burned enough by this damn town. The whole damn place is tainted with scandal, and I find myself at the center of it.

  “Lou-Lou” flashes across the screen, catching me by surprise. My gaze flickers back to Bethany’s, a frown marring my face as I bring the phone to my ear, surprised to be hearing from her.

  “Hello?”

  “Long time no talk, girl. What’s been going on?” Her cheery voice rings through the phone, and a sense of familiarity washes over me.

  “Straight to the point, huh?” I reply, already missing her sense of crazy. My current inability to smile like the world is made of rainbows is apparently noticeable, since she remains quiet when
she doesn’t hear my usual snark, prompting me to speak again. “So much, Lou-Lou.” I sigh. “There are no words for how upside down things are right now.”

  “What could possibly be so shitty about living so close to the ocean, Eden? Aren’t there any hot boys for you to enjoy? I know you don’t do repeats, but at least it’s a distraction.”

  That’s a much more loaded question than she knows. I haven’t spoken to her since I first pulled up outside of Archie’s home, and even though it wasn’t all that long ago, a lot has fucking happened.

  Pinching the bridge of my nose, I take a deep breath as my eyes fall closed. “We need to catch up, Lou-Lou. I don’t even know where to begin.”

  “Eden? Is everything okay?” Lou-Lou questions as I lean my head on the headrest and glance out of the window as Knight’s Creek passes us by. I can feel Bethany’s eyes flicker to me while Cody snores lightly beside me as I try to find the right way to answer Lou-Lou’s question.

  “It’ll be fine, Lou-Lou. I’ve been through worse. Listen, I have to go, but we need to arrange a girls’ weekend soon, okay?”

  “For sure. You know I’m going to be there for your birthday weekend. Send me your address, alright?”

  Before I can respond, the line goes dead, and I’m left gaping at a black screen as Bethany chuckles from the front seat.

  When I cast my gaze her way, dropping my phone into my lap, she masks her amusement.

  “Friend?” she asks with a smile on her lips, and I nod.

  “One from where I lived previously,” I respond, glancing down at my phone as a text message comes through from Lou-Lou demanding my address, but I shut it off, not knowing which one to actually give her.

  “You mean a decent human being, not some b-i-t-c-h from this stupid town?” she remarks with a grin, and I chuckle at the fact she still spelled the swear word out when Cody is sleeping.

  “That would be correct,” I reply as she pulls into her curved driveway, which leads up to a stunning three-story mansion with a huge fountain made of pebbles out front. The cream exterior and terracotta roof make it feel like we’re in Europe, while the lavender flowers, cypress trees, and ceramic tile steps only add to the Mediterranean vibes.

  Jumping out of the SUV, I notice a bright red sports car parked to the left that wasn’t there when we left. I watch as Bethany gently unbuckles Cody from his car seat, careful not to wake him as a voice booms through the security speakers hidden around the front entrance.

  “Who goes there?” The voice is deep, growly, and deafening, but neither of us worry.

  “That mothertruckin’ man gets on my damn nerves,” Bethany grumbles as Cody blinks awake.

  “Ah shit,” quickly follows through the speakers as Ryan realizes he woke Cody.

  Laughter bursts from my chest at their antics and the way Ryan is secretly a big goofball under all his hard, security man exterior. The way he shivers at Bethany’s irritated tone is brilliant. They are so in love, it’s beautiful and ridiculous all at once.

  “You guys make me want to barf. I’m going to run and hide before I catch your lovey-dovey germs.” I grin as Ryan opens the front door and races down the steps, wrapping Bethany and Cody in his arms and smothering them in kisses. They are perfection. Everything about them and the bond they share just works.

  “Oh, someone’s waiting out by the pool for you,” Ryan calls just as I reach the door, and I freeze.

  It can’t be them. There’s no way. I’ve heard nothing at all not from Xavier, not from Tobias, and not even from Hunter. Even though Bethany told me they know I’m here, they’ve been radio silent, and I’m not ready for them to suddenly show up now. Not when I’m happy with the space I have.

  I’ve enjoyed hiding out here and not going to school. The teachers send my work via email, although my gut tells me it’s only allowed because the Allstars authorized it. I still haven’t heard from my mom, who offers no further details even when I texted her. I asked her to confirm the truth about Archie and now it suddenly feels like my little bubble of peace I’ve been living in has officially burst.

  Someone’s here, and I already know what the topic of conversation is going to be—the fact I’m not Eden Grady, but Eden Freemont. Whatever that fucking means.

  As I move through the den, the cozy atmosphere beckons me to put a movie on and relax, but I continue into the open kitchen before stepping out of the tinted glass doors. My eyes instantly fall to the blond guy sitting with his head in his hands by the pool, raking his fingers through his hair as he fidgets nervously.

  Archie.

  That must be his car outside. Something clearly worked in his favor if he has a car again. Shaking my head, I stop my train of thought. It’s no concern of mine.

  It’s a lot warmer here than it was on the oceanside cliff, so I shrug my jacket off, leaving me in a pair of leggings and a crochet-knitted white t-shirt which I borrowed from Bethany.

  My sandals clack against the cobblestone steps, drawing Archie’s attention, and my heart hurts the second our eyes meet. Betrayal, loneliness, and the throbbing reminder that he is apparently my family, my twin, pounds in my head.

  Quickly rising to his feet, he steps toward me but freezes on the spot, second-guessing his approach, and he should. A part of my brain wants to dissect him, pull him apart, and compare our so-called similarities, but the other part of me can’t bear to make it real.

  I fold my arms over my chest and stare him down as he gapes at me, trying to find something to say.

  “What are you doing here, Archie?” I ask, deciding to put him out of his misery, and he sighs.

  “You wouldn’t return my calls or texts, and I didn’t know what else to do,” he mutters, his arms hanging helplessly at his sides, and I scoff.

  “There’s a reason for that, Archie.”

  “I know. I know, Eden. I just…I’ve been going out of my mind worrying about you, and I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “You fucking wait for me to answer, even if I choose to never speak to you again. You can’t force my hand. Don’t you think that’s already happened to me enough?” I shout, cringing at my language when I know Cody is in the house.

  “I know. I’m sorry, Eden.” I watch as he takes a deep breath and laces his hands together at the back of his head as he looks to the sky, his eyes squeezing shut.

  Four days ago, I would have been doing anything within my power to wipe that pain from his eyes, anything, but I can’t see past my own red haze of anger over his lies and betrayal.

  He’s my brother. My twin brother. He knew. I didn’t. It’s as simple as that.

  Who is our actual mother? Or our father? Did my dad die or is he hiding out at the Freemont house doing nothing to reach out to me?

  Dropping into the closest wicker chair, I swipe a hand down my face.

  “I’m going to need some time, Archie. I don’t think I’ve ever trusted anyone the way I trusted you, and although now it makes sense why, you still lied to me by hiding a secret big enough to shatter my soul.” My words make his face scrunch in discomfort, but he doesn’t argue, knowing I’m not wrong as my eyes water and I fight the urge to cry. “The ease, safety, and comfort I felt around you is gone. If I’m ever ready to listen to what you have to say, I’ll let you know.”

  “Please, cookie, I—”

  “Don’t, Archie. Just…don’t, okay? I can’t deal with this right now,” I interrupt, closing my eyes as I tilt my head back to face the sun as I try to clear my mind.

  “Nothing has to change, Eden, I…”

  Anger boils in my gut, and I’m back up on my feet in an instant, my fists clenching tight as my nails dig into my palms.