Surge - Maya Nicole Page 0,44

to be embarrassed about.

They were sitting higher in the drawer than they should have been. There was a hand towel spread out under them, so I pulled it back and shouted in excitement.

There was a plastic box under them. I pulled it out and sat on the bed with it in my lap. My mom was a smart woman hiding something under her sex toys.

I unclasped the sides of the box and pulled the lid off. There was a blue envelope with my name on it and that was it.

My birthday was in a few weeks. Maybe this was where she hid smaller presents and I had just uncovered her secret hiding place.

I opened the blue envelope and pulled out the card. It was just a folded piece of card stock. I opened it and inside was a letter to me.

Ri,

If you're reading this, that means something has happened to me to cause you to go snooping. When you're done reading this, you need to destroy it.

I can't put much in this letter, but know that I love you. Anything I do, it's for you, and you're going to have to trust that my decisions aren't from a place of selfishness.

Over the years I've quietly been stashing away money for you. Just enough where your father wouldn't grow suspicious and come back into our lives. Hidden in one of your favorite things is a list of contacts.

Call the first number and tell him the situation. I love you.

Mom

I'd been right all along, something had happened to my mom.

Chapter Fourteen

I'd found the list of numbers inside Little House on The Prairie. It had taken me almost an hour of flipping through books on my bookshelves to find the small piece of paper that had three numbers.

The man that answered hadn't said much and we arranged to meet on Tuesday after school.

It had been a week since my life had taken a drastic turn from sitting in the background to being the center of attention. It felt surreal that three teenagers could so easily flip the switch on someone's life.

I still wasn't sure what to do about the video I had recorded in the back of the car. I wasn't sure if it was incriminating enough, and it also incriminated me. If they wanted to turn the tables and say I broke into their house, I'd be in just as much trouble as Jax.

I parked my car and shut my eyes, trying to calm my nerves before facing the three assholes that were making my life hell.

A knock sounded on my window and I jumped. Morgan stood with the paper bag I had left on the back seat of Jax's car. I swung open my door, hitting him with it.

"Ow. What was that for, vixen? I thought we were friends now." He shoved the bag into my hands. "You forgot your clothes. Where are mine?"

"I burned them." I looked into the bag. "Where are my underwear and bra?"

"They're on the bottom." Morgan looked over the top of my car. "Gotta go."

He took off at a jog and at the gate, threw his arm around a girl's shoulder and kissed her temple. I couldn't see who she was from the back, but she had long, bleach blonde hair and shorts that almost showed her ass cheeks. Maybe I'd report her for violating the dress code.

I threw the bag into my car and slammed the door. It's not like he was mine, yet seeing him touch another woman made my blood boil.

I was losing it. Why was I jealous?

"Oh, shit. What happened?" Aiden fell into step with me as I walked toward the gate. "It can't be worse than sand."

"Thanks again for helping me." I looped my arm through his. "I never knew sand was so intrusive."

"We could have just left it and your mom would have a nice surprise waiting for her this afternoon. It could have been payback for not responding to your calls and for taking your money." We got to my locker and I shoved the stuff I didn't need until later into it.

"What if she isn't back when I get home?" My mom was supposed to be back in the early afternoon, but I had been brushing off the idea that she wouldn't be home. Now that I had read her letter, I was leaning more toward her not returning.

"The police said you have to wait twenty-four hours, yeah?" I nodded, and we walked toward English. "Then we deal