Chapter 3
Summer Roberts wiggled in her seat, inching the top of her low cut dress down until her cleavage resembled a mountain gorge. She slicked on her lipstick, luscious ruby, and smacked her lips; certain that the glistening makeup made her look ripe and ready. She knew he wouldn't be able to keep his eyes off her and that's exactly what she needed right now; mindless groveling from a rich and handsome guy.
*Anything to take your mind off Seth Cohen and that blonde bitch, Anna. How could he leave me for her? I'll show him! *
The broad smile on her face faltered slightly as she remembered the looks on their betraying faces. And Anna! She played a good game, pretending to be a friend and then taking the first opportunity to stab Summer in the back. That betraying wench made it sound like she was leaving the New Year's Eve party to crawl home and cry into her comic books. Instead she skipped right over and seduced Cohen!
*I'll show her too. Stepmonster let slip a rumor she heard in the day spa that Anna's parents are running back to Philadelphia. Ew! But it's all good for me! I'll show her. Rose is gonna stand up and take back that man. But not tonight. Tonight it's all about me. I need to scratch this itch and prove I've still got men whipped and tied.*
And tonight was part of the plan.
A date. A date with someone that pushed all of the buttons of Seth's insecurities would make him see what he was missing.
*They had the nerve to ask me to still hang out. I'll hang out. Right between them. Let 'em try to get it on with me in the middle. Idiots.*
She slid a glance at the dark haired man behind the wheel. Summer always kept a backup man--just in case.
"Are you okay, honey?" he said in a voice raspy from cigarettes.
She smiled brilliantly. "Of course, Grant. I'm here with you, aren't I? Why wouldn't I be okay?"
"You just, looked a little flushed there for a second. And I said your name three times." He tossed his head in that cute way that she fell for the second she saw him chatting up Marissa's mom at Caleb's birthday party. His dark eyes had lit up with fire the instant he saw her over Julie's shoulder.
*He was mine from that moment on, a grape ripe for the plucking whenever I was ready. Hell, I'm ready now!*
"Oh." She laughed coquettishly. "I was just.admiring this old Mustang and thinking of.how hard it must be to keep track of all the banks you own and oversee. All those people. All those buildings. All that money. Do you have to visit each branch often?"
He smiled and his suave face transformed into rakish charm.
His smile broadened to show straight white teeth. A banker's teeth. Teeth you had to pay for. "Not often. I have employees to do that. Delegation is the key. Don't do anything you can get someone else to do for you, that's my motto."
"Ah. So." She shifted on the bench seat and crossed her legs, hitching her dress up to the top of her thigh. From the corner of her eye she saw him staring at her creamy flesh and one corner of her lips twitched in a grin.
*Hook. Line and sinker, baby.*
But the rush of triumph was strangely missing.
"What have you been doing since Caleb's birthday party? I haven't seen or heard from you in months."
He shrugged, searched the road for something and signaled to turn left. "Earning money. Having fun. Traveling. Say, isn't tonight a school night?"
"Yes. Isn't tonight a work night?"
"Touché. But I'm the boss. No one will miss me if I'm late."
Her mouth filled with a gush of sourness. She turned to glare out the passenger window so that he wouldn't see the anger on her face. "Yeah, well, no one'll miss me either." She turned back, forcing a sweet smile on her face. "Daddy's in Munich for the beauty of the Christmas lights and the old feel of the country. More likely it's the beauty and feel of some young frau though. My stepmom's dancing with oxycontin and Beam these days. She'd sleep through a nuclear blast. I take care of myself, you know?" She pursed her lips and tried to look older, sophisticated.
A frown turned down his full lips, drew his dark brows together. "Too bad. I hate it when no one knows where I am."
"I know where you are." She reached over and stroked her fingernails lightly down his bare arm beneath the rolled up white shirtsleeves.
Summer gave him the smile she knew deepened her dimples, the one that made her irresistible; a girl-woman. But inside, there was no spark. That perplexed her. She should be ecstatic, hungry, charged with the thrill of the hunt for a rich and handsome man. Instead her body rang with emptiness. She should want this rich banker. She DID want him, dammit. She did want Seth. Wait. Grant. The rich guy.with the dark hair that looked so familiar.
She grinned, peering sideways into his brown eyes. Soft eyes. Wide eyes. Brown like Cohen's. Seth's smile. Suddenly she shivered.
*Seth. It's the day before freakin' Valentine's Day and I'm not with him. He'll spend that day with HER. Flowers, candy, dinner, sex. All for her and none for me.*
She blinked back hot tears that brimmed her eyes and stretched languidly, confident in the knowledge that it made her look irresistibly sexy.
Oh, yeah, she needed a good bout of sex to wipe the memory of Seth's dewy eyes and goofy wonderful grin from her heart--at least until she could regroup and form a solid plan. She turned away from Grant, and watched the scenery go by without seeing it, lost in burning memories.
She didn't see the way Grant licked his lips as he craned his neck to see down her dress. She vaguely noticed the streetlights come on, but didn't see that he turned a corner, that the car sped further away from the densely populated area of Newport, that the neighborhood grew seedier and more deserted by the minute.
She twirled a stray lock of hair and imagined Seth's soft hands on her body, her flesh growing warmer with anticipation of chasing away this particular ghost.
**
"What the hell do you mean they can't find him?" Seth demanded incredulously.
"Seth, while I agree with the sentiments, cursing will just upset your mother more."
Kirsten paced with the phone. She snapped it off and tossed it onto the couch with a disgusted look. Father and son stared expectantly.
She raked her fingers through her hair and sniffed as if trying not to cry. "They don't know what happened. They got him on a bed in the ER. Did an initial evaluation. Then the inured started pouring in from the pileup and the nurse got called away because some of the patients had major trauma."
"Did they say what his injuries were?"
"Scrapes, bruises, a knot of the head. A possible concussion. He was fuzzy on the answers to some of their questions. Didn't know why he was in the hospital." Her look turned pleading at their confusion as if she were begging them not to make her explain. "Apparently, a knock on the head can make a person forget the accident, short term memory loss."
"And?"
"And that 's it. A possible concussion. They were going to send him up for a Cat Scan and admit him, but the other accident victims started pouring in so quickly that they didn't have enough staff to handle them all at once. The nurse swore she only left him alone for a few minutes to help give CPR to a patient."
"So? What? So they just let him walk away? He just got up and left the ER and nobody noticed him?"
"There were dozens of patients, confusion, noise.I don't know what all, Seth. It may not have been that hard for him to slip out."
"But...but," he sputtered incoherently. She tugged him into her arms, holding him tightly and stroking the back of his head to comfort him.
"Why didn't he come home, Mom?"
"I didn't know baby. Maybe he's just walking home?"
He squeezed out a few tears, hearing the doubt in his mother's voice. She didn't believe Ryan was walking home. If he still knew where home was, if he had only mild symptoms, Ryan would have called them from the hospital. Seth's arms clutched her convulsively. Something was terribly wrong with Ryan. He could feel it in his bones.
TBC.
Summer Roberts wiggled in her seat, inching the top of her low cut dress down until her cleavage resembled a mountain gorge. She slicked on her lipstick, luscious ruby, and smacked her lips; certain that the glistening makeup made her look ripe and ready. She knew he wouldn't be able to keep his eyes off her and that's exactly what she needed right now; mindless groveling from a rich and handsome guy.
*Anything to take your mind off Seth Cohen and that blonde bitch, Anna. How could he leave me for her? I'll show him! *
The broad smile on her face faltered slightly as she remembered the looks on their betraying faces. And Anna! She played a good game, pretending to be a friend and then taking the first opportunity to stab Summer in the back. That betraying wench made it sound like she was leaving the New Year's Eve party to crawl home and cry into her comic books. Instead she skipped right over and seduced Cohen!
*I'll show her too. Stepmonster let slip a rumor she heard in the day spa that Anna's parents are running back to Philadelphia. Ew! But it's all good for me! I'll show her. Rose is gonna stand up and take back that man. But not tonight. Tonight it's all about me. I need to scratch this itch and prove I've still got men whipped and tied.*
And tonight was part of the plan.
A date. A date with someone that pushed all of the buttons of Seth's insecurities would make him see what he was missing.
*They had the nerve to ask me to still hang out. I'll hang out. Right between them. Let 'em try to get it on with me in the middle. Idiots.*
She slid a glance at the dark haired man behind the wheel. Summer always kept a backup man--just in case.
"Are you okay, honey?" he said in a voice raspy from cigarettes.
She smiled brilliantly. "Of course, Grant. I'm here with you, aren't I? Why wouldn't I be okay?"
"You just, looked a little flushed there for a second. And I said your name three times." He tossed his head in that cute way that she fell for the second she saw him chatting up Marissa's mom at Caleb's birthday party. His dark eyes had lit up with fire the instant he saw her over Julie's shoulder.
*He was mine from that moment on, a grape ripe for the plucking whenever I was ready. Hell, I'm ready now!*
"Oh." She laughed coquettishly. "I was just.admiring this old Mustang and thinking of.how hard it must be to keep track of all the banks you own and oversee. All those people. All those buildings. All that money. Do you have to visit each branch often?"
He smiled and his suave face transformed into rakish charm.
His smile broadened to show straight white teeth. A banker's teeth. Teeth you had to pay for. "Not often. I have employees to do that. Delegation is the key. Don't do anything you can get someone else to do for you, that's my motto."
"Ah. So." She shifted on the bench seat and crossed her legs, hitching her dress up to the top of her thigh. From the corner of her eye she saw him staring at her creamy flesh and one corner of her lips twitched in a grin.
*Hook. Line and sinker, baby.*
But the rush of triumph was strangely missing.
"What have you been doing since Caleb's birthday party? I haven't seen or heard from you in months."
He shrugged, searched the road for something and signaled to turn left. "Earning money. Having fun. Traveling. Say, isn't tonight a school night?"
"Yes. Isn't tonight a work night?"
"Touché. But I'm the boss. No one will miss me if I'm late."
Her mouth filled with a gush of sourness. She turned to glare out the passenger window so that he wouldn't see the anger on her face. "Yeah, well, no one'll miss me either." She turned back, forcing a sweet smile on her face. "Daddy's in Munich for the beauty of the Christmas lights and the old feel of the country. More likely it's the beauty and feel of some young frau though. My stepmom's dancing with oxycontin and Beam these days. She'd sleep through a nuclear blast. I take care of myself, you know?" She pursed her lips and tried to look older, sophisticated.
A frown turned down his full lips, drew his dark brows together. "Too bad. I hate it when no one knows where I am."
"I know where you are." She reached over and stroked her fingernails lightly down his bare arm beneath the rolled up white shirtsleeves.
Summer gave him the smile she knew deepened her dimples, the one that made her irresistible; a girl-woman. But inside, there was no spark. That perplexed her. She should be ecstatic, hungry, charged with the thrill of the hunt for a rich and handsome man. Instead her body rang with emptiness. She should want this rich banker. She DID want him, dammit. She did want Seth. Wait. Grant. The rich guy.with the dark hair that looked so familiar.
She grinned, peering sideways into his brown eyes. Soft eyes. Wide eyes. Brown like Cohen's. Seth's smile. Suddenly she shivered.
*Seth. It's the day before freakin' Valentine's Day and I'm not with him. He'll spend that day with HER. Flowers, candy, dinner, sex. All for her and none for me.*
She blinked back hot tears that brimmed her eyes and stretched languidly, confident in the knowledge that it made her look irresistibly sexy.
Oh, yeah, she needed a good bout of sex to wipe the memory of Seth's dewy eyes and goofy wonderful grin from her heart--at least until she could regroup and form a solid plan. She turned away from Grant, and watched the scenery go by without seeing it, lost in burning memories.
She didn't see the way Grant licked his lips as he craned his neck to see down her dress. She vaguely noticed the streetlights come on, but didn't see that he turned a corner, that the car sped further away from the densely populated area of Newport, that the neighborhood grew seedier and more deserted by the minute.
She twirled a stray lock of hair and imagined Seth's soft hands on her body, her flesh growing warmer with anticipation of chasing away this particular ghost.
**
"What the hell do you mean they can't find him?" Seth demanded incredulously.
"Seth, while I agree with the sentiments, cursing will just upset your mother more."
Kirsten paced with the phone. She snapped it off and tossed it onto the couch with a disgusted look. Father and son stared expectantly.
She raked her fingers through her hair and sniffed as if trying not to cry. "They don't know what happened. They got him on a bed in the ER. Did an initial evaluation. Then the inured started pouring in from the pileup and the nurse got called away because some of the patients had major trauma."
"Did they say what his injuries were?"
"Scrapes, bruises, a knot of the head. A possible concussion. He was fuzzy on the answers to some of their questions. Didn't know why he was in the hospital." Her look turned pleading at their confusion as if she were begging them not to make her explain. "Apparently, a knock on the head can make a person forget the accident, short term memory loss."
"And?"
"And that 's it. A possible concussion. They were going to send him up for a Cat Scan and admit him, but the other accident victims started pouring in so quickly that they didn't have enough staff to handle them all at once. The nurse swore she only left him alone for a few minutes to help give CPR to a patient."
"So? What? So they just let him walk away? He just got up and left the ER and nobody noticed him?"
"There were dozens of patients, confusion, noise.I don't know what all, Seth. It may not have been that hard for him to slip out."
"But...but," he sputtered incoherently. She tugged him into her arms, holding him tightly and stroking the back of his head to comfort him.
"Why didn't he come home, Mom?"
"I didn't know baby. Maybe he's just walking home?"
He squeezed out a few tears, hearing the doubt in his mother's voice. She didn't believe Ryan was walking home. If he still knew where home was, if he had only mild symptoms, Ryan would have called them from the hospital. Seth's arms clutched her convulsively. Something was terribly wrong with Ryan. He could feel it in his bones.
TBC.