The Door Between Us

Jaxon

Secrets are like acid poured over steel.

You can think what you have is solid, strong, and indestructible. Then one lie starts silently eating through it until everything you trusted turns fragile enough to break.

My family built our life around one of those secrets. A life carried on the back of a lie.

Well, it may be their secret, but it’s my story.

Colter walked beside me as we headed toward school, kicking at loose gravel along the edge of the sidewalk, because apparently walking wasn’t enough movement. I was a senior that year. He was a freshman. He was my cousin, but since we moved to Snyder, Oklahoma three months earlier, he had become my best friend too.

“So Joseph started the police academy last week,” Colter said.

Joseph was Colter’s stepdad’s younger brother. Everyone used to say he was irresponsible, and yeah, I guess he was. But lately, he had been trying his hand at being an adult. Turns out, he wasn’t so bad at it.

“I still can’t believe he’s going to be a cop,” I said. “I mean, after all the stuff he was into.”

Colter laughed. “Trust me, no one is more shocked than I am. When he first came to stay with us, I was determined to prove he was trouble.”

I glanced over at him as we turned onto the first street toward school. “He was trouble.”

“I know.” Colter smiled. “But he was also pretty cool.”

That part was true. I got pulled in by Joseph’s charm way faster than I should have. The Camaro didn’t help. Neither did his history with street racing. He was like this cool older guy who acted more like an equal than an adult, and when you’re seventeen and everyone in your house keeps treating you like you need bubble wrap and supervision, that kind of adult feels too appealing.

“I understood the draw,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Trust me.”

I had gotten into a lot of trouble hanging out with Joseph. Probably didn’t help that I stole his Camaro one night and took it to a street race. Okay, it definitely didn’t help.

It was a crazy night, and I got grounded for six months. I still was. I was also banned from being around Joseph alone because my parents didn’t trust him. Which sucked, because he was the one adult I felt like I could actually talk to. He got me. He even said I reminded him of himself when he was my age.

“You still not allowed around him?” Colter asked.

“My dad’s starting to soften a little on that one. I think your mom telling him Joseph is doing better helped. Plus, the whole police academy thing makes him look less like a walking disaster.”

“So you think you’ll get to hang out with us this weekend?” Colter asked, looking way too hopeful.

I shook my head. “Doubt it. I’m still grounded for stealing Joseph’s Camaro.”

“That was three months ago.”

“Yeah, and Dad sentenced me to six months. Also banned me from driving until the six months are up.”

Colter kicked another rock into the street. “That’s brutal.”

“It’s prison with better furnishings.”

He snorted. Colter usually spent weekends over at Joseph and James’s apartment, so it kind of sucked that I couldn’t be part of that. Joseph lived with his older brother now, and James had this way of looking at people like he already knew what stupid thing they were about to do. Which, honestly, would probably make him useful around me.

I glanced over at Colter. “Did Joseph get his Camaro fixed?”

Guilt tightened in my stomach before Colter even answered.

“Yeah. He got it back the way it was. But he had to repair James’s car first. James was not about to let him off the hook for that night.”

I laughed because I had been there when James had to come bail us out. It was mostly my fault, but Joseph still caught heat for stealing James’s car to chase after me. Apparently, bad decisions were contagious.

We reached the school, and as we walked along the side of the building, I noticed a white truck parked along the curb. I slowed to a stop.

The windows were dark enough that I couldn’t see who was inside. There was nothing obviously wrong with it. It was just a truck. White. Work-worn. Parked where parents sometimes waited, except it was too early for pickup and too late for drop-off.

Then I saw the logo on the side. And I knew the truck instantly.

Sharpe Construction.

Colter made it a few steps before he realized I wasn’t beside him anymore. He turned back. “What’s wrong?”

I kept staring at the truck. “That truck.”

He looked toward the street. “Yeah. What about it?”

My mouth went dry. “It’s the same one.”

“The same one as what?”

“The truck those men got into back in Tulsa. Before we moved.”

Colter tipped his head and looked closer at it. He knew the story. He knew I had never believed the real reason we left Tulsa was because I was getting into trouble, even if I was. Everything changed the day those two men came to our house.

They looked at me as they left. Like they were hiding something. When I asked my parents about them, they dismissed it too quickly. The next day, they told me Dad had requested a transfer to a bank branch in Snyder, where his sister lived.

A fresh start, they called it. I called it bull.

“Why would they be here?” Colter asked.

We just stood there and watched it. The longer our attention held on it, the more nervous I felt, the truck’s engine started. A second later, it pulled away from the curb and rolled down the street. I stood there until it turned the corner and disappeared.

Colter looked at me. “You think they were watching you?”

“I don’t know.” The words slipped out just above a whisper. “But that was weird.”

“That was really weird.” He stepped closer to me. “Maybe you should tell your parents.”

The bell rang inside the school. I looked toward the corner where the truck had vanished. “Yeah. Maybe they’ll finally tell me the truth.”

We headed inside and started our academic day, but I didn’t really hear much after that. By the time school let out, the truck was gone. I still looked for it the second we walked outside. I checked the curb. The parking lot. The side street.

Nothing. Not seeing didn’t make the fear disappear. It just made me hunt for it with every step, and ever turn we made.

The whole walk home, my mind kept circling the same thought. What if my brother Dayton was mixed up in something bad? What if that was what my parents were hiding? What if those men had followed us from Tulsa? What if my family moved here because they thought we were safe, and now we weren’t?

By the time I got home, I had decided Colter was right. I needed to tell them.

Mom and Dad were in the living room when I walked in. Dad was home early because the bank had some kind of power outage and they couldn’t work. He was sitting with a folder open in his lap, probably some investment portfolio or work document I didn’t care enough to understand.

Mom looked up from the couch. “How was your day?”

I dropped my backpack near the chair and sat across from them. “Odd.”

Dad looked over the edge of the folder before slowly lowering it. “Define odd.”

“Something strange or unusual. Out of the ordinary.” I smiled.

Dad didn’t look impressed. “I wasn’t asking for the definition. I was asking for the explanation.”

I shrugged. “You remember before we left Tulsa? Those two guys who came by the house? The ones you won’t tell me the truth about?”

Mom’s brow creased. She didn’t like me bringing that up again.

Dad’s expression didn’t change much. “They were no one you need to worry about.”

“Oh. Okay.” I stood. “Then I guess this doesn’t matter.”

Dad sat up straighter. “Wait. What are you talking about?”

I turned back around. “Today at school, I saw that same truck parked by the curb. It took off when Colter and I started watching it.”

Dad’s posture changed went straighter. The folder closed. He set it on the coffee table like it no longer held his interest in the least.

“Did anyone approach you?” he asked.

There was something in his voice now. More alert and if not a little sharp.

“No.” I narrowed my eyes. “Why?”

“No reason.”

“That was not a no-reason tone.”

Mom leaned forward. “Jaxon, we just don’t like the idea of unfamiliar people hanging around your school.”

“Why would they be hanging around my school?”

Dad didn’t answer fast enough. My pulse kicked up.

“This has to do with Dayton, doesn’t it?” I asked. “He’s mixed up with someone dangerous.”

Mom shook her head quickly. “No. This is not about Dayton.”

“Then who’s it about? You?” I looked at Dad. “Did you get mixed up with someone through work?”

“Jaxon, no. It’s nothing like that.”

“Great.” I threw my hands out. “So I’m totally safe, and next time I see them I can just walk up and say hello.”

I knew the sarcasm wasn’t appreciated. Dad hated it when I fought back with sarcasm. He thought it was disrespectful. And yeah, it was. But they had been lying to me for months, so maybe they had earned a little disrespect.

“You will not go near them.” Dad’s voice rose, sharper than before. “Do you hear me?”

That cut through my sarcasm. “Why?”

“Because we don’t know anything about these people, and I don’t want you going near someone I don’t know and have no reason to trust.”

“But you do know them,” I said. “They were in our house.”

Mom’s eyes flicked to Dad. There it was again. A tiny crack in their lie.

Dad stood. “Until we know they’re no longer an issue, you’re not walking to school anymore. Dayton will take you and pick you up.”

I stared at him. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“That’s not fair. I don’t want to be delivered to school like some child. I’m a senior. I should be driving myself. It’s bad enough I have to walk, but having my big brother drop me off? That’s not going to impress anyone.”

“This is not about impressing anyone,” Dad said. “And I will not put your safety on the line to protect your image.”

My safety. They want to keep me safe they might try the truth.

Mom’s voice softened, but that only made the lie feel bigger. “Honey, if you see that truck again, or if anyone you don’t know approaches you, you go back inside the school immediately. Find a teacher, the principal, anyone. Then call us.”

I stared at her. This was not grounding. This was not about the Camaro. This was not about bad choices or fresh starts or keeping me away from the wrong crowd. This was fear.

“You think I’m in danger,” I said.

“No,” Dad said quickly. Too quickly which only meant yes.

Mom reached for my hand, but I pulled back before she could touch me. “You’re lying again.”

“Jaxon,” Dad warned.

“No. Don’t do that.” My voice raised, but I didn’t care. “Don’t act like I’m the problem because I noticed everyone in this family keeps changing the story.”

Dad’s jaw tightened. “That’s enough Jaxon.”

I stood there, looking between them, waiting for one of them to say something that made sense. Neither one did. The secret was still sitting in the room with us. Bigger now. Carrying a darkness over us.

They kept saying I was safe, but they were giving me rules like someone was coming for me. And maybe someone was.

Maybe those men were dangerous. Maybe they wanted something from my dad. Or to hurt Dayton. Maybe they followed us here because whatever my family ran from in Tulsa had found us anyway.

My life could be in danger, and whatever this secret was, it was still big enough that they wouldn’t let me know.

Fine.

If they wouldn’t tell me, I’d find out another way.