Free The Hidden (The Hidden Trilogy) by Kelley R. Martin Page B

certainly did.” He tapped his finger on his chin, looking thoughtful. “As did Mel, although I’m not a hundred percent–”
    “ What the fuck? ” I slammed my door shut. “ Why? ”
    He sobered. “Mel’s adamant about keeping you in her life. Whether you like it or not.”
    I gripped my keys in my fist. The cold metal digging into my palm was a good distraction from the urge to punch through my window. “You realize how childish and petty this is, right?”
    He shrugged. “How else did you expect her to get your attention?”
    Fuck me, he was right. If I hadn’t ignored her for so long it probably wouldn’t have come to this. I sighed and scrubbed my face with my hands, then opened my door and climbed in. After tossing my bag in the backseat, I leaned over and unlocked his door.
    As he got in, I asked, “How’d you even get in? Late registration’s over.”
    “It’s amazing what humans let you get away with when you throw large sums of money at them.” He grinned, back to his devilish demeanor.
    The car roared to life as I started it. “You do realize I go to school with a bunch of humans. You can’t act all high and mighty around them.”
    “Yes, I can. It’s called being a snob, Thomas.”
    I frowned and pulled out of my driveway. “You know what I mean.”
    He heaved an exasperated sigh. “Yes, I know what you mean. I can’t call them ‘humans’… At least not to their faces.”
    I gave him a pointed look. “Damn it, Matt–”
    “I know , okay? I have to be careful and act human at all times.” He looked out the window and lowered his voice, mumbling, “Geez, how hard can it be?”
    Pretty damn hard sometimes.
    I sped up as I pulled onto the highway. My hands gripped the steering wheel harder as I thought about how much of a colossally bad idea this was.
    Matt’s quiet voice brought me out of my head. “I heard about last night.”
    I tried to remain impassive, but I unintentionally flinched.
    “Are you?” he whispered, as if speaking quietly would soften the blow.
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” I scoffed.
    “Well…none of us has ever seen you with a girl.”
    I shrugged. “You’ve never seen me take a shower, either. Doesn’t mean I don’t do it.”
    Matt’s brow quirked up. “For somebody who says he’s not gay, that was an awfully gay analogy.”
    “You know what I mean, smartass.” I glanced at him before returning my eyes to the road. “There’s actually this girl at school I kind of” –I swallowed– “like.”
    “A human ?”
    I tried not to roll my eyes at the obvious disdain in his voice. “No, she’s like us.”
    He tilted his head. “There’s another Healer at your school?”
    I nodded. “Surprised the shit outta me, too.”
    “What’s her story?”
    “It’s…complicated.”
    He laughed. “I get the message. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
    “It’s not–” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. I might as well tell him. He’d find out eventually, and it’d be better if he was informed of the situation so as not to fuck it all up. “She doesn’t know.”
    He frowned. “She doesn’t know what? That you like her, or…?”
    “ That , and she doesn’t know what she is.”
    His face scrunched up in confusion. “How can she not know?”
    “She was adopted by humans and raised as such. She has no clue.”
    “How…?”
    “I don’t know. My best guess is that she’s the product of a broken mating contract.”
    He sat back with a dazed look. “Fuck.”
    I nodded in agreement. “Exactly.”
    “You gonna tell her?”
    I sighed. “I don’t know. How can you tell someone something like that?” It would shatter her whole world. And that’s if she even believed me. I had a strong feeling she wouldn’t.
    “She’ll find out eventually, regardless of whether or not you tell her.”
    “I know.”
    “And it’ll be much worse if you go with ‘not.’ ”
    “I know .” I rubbed my jaw, feeling like I was