CHAPTER 16
Nudge was leaning against my locker, doodling on her cast with a purple marker.
"Hi," she said when there was nothing of the hallway left between us. "Where've you been? I checked the eZine lab and the library."
"I had a meeting with Miss Dwyer, the new school psych." I said it very matter of factly, but on the inside, I had a hollow, trembly feeling. I couldn't stop thinking about Dylan breaking into my house.
What was stopping him from doing it again? Or from doing something worse?
"What happened?" Nudge asked.
I spun my locker combination and traded out books. "Do you know how much a good alarm system costs?"
"No offense, babe, but nobody's going to steal your car."
I pinned Nudge with a black look. "For my house. I want to make sure Dylan can't get inside again."
She grinned. "It's free…and she's standing in front of me." I smiled at her.
Nudge glanced around and cleared her throat.
"What?" I said.
Nudge did a hands up. "Nothing. Nothing at all. If you're still bent on nailing this to Dylan…that's your prerogative. It's a crazy prerogative, but hey, it's yours."
I shoved my locker door closed, and the rattle echoed down the hall. I bit back an accusatory response that she of all people should believe me and instead said, "I'm on my way to the library, and I'm sort of in a hurry." We exited the building and crossed the grounds to the parking lot, and I came up short. I looked around for the Fiat, but that's when I remembered my mom had dropped me off on her way to work this morning. And with Nudge's arm broken, she wasn't driving.
"Crap," Nudge said, reading my thoughts, "we're carless."
Shielding my eyes from the sun, I squinted down the street. "Guess this means we'll have to walk."
"Not we. You. I'd come with, but once a week is my library limit."
"You haven't been to the library this week," I pointed out.
"Yeah, but I might have to go tomorrow."
"Tomorrow's Thursday. In all your life, have you ever studied on a Thursday?"
Nudge tapped a fingernail to her lip and adopted a thoughtful expression. "Have I ever studied on a Wednesday?"
"Not that I recall."
"There you have it. I can't go. It would be anti -tradition."
Thirty minutes later, I hiked up the steps leading to the library's main doors. Once inside, I put homework on the back burner and went directly to the media lab, where I combed the Internet trying to find more information on the "Kinghorn Hanging." I didn't find much. Originally there had been a lot of hype, but after the suicide note was discovered and Dylan was released, the news moved on.
It was time to take a trip to Portland. I wasn't going to learn much more sifting through archived news articles, but maybe I'd have better luck doing legwork there.
I logged off and called my mom.
"Do I need to be home by nine tonight?"
"Yes, why?"
"I was thinking of taking a bus out to Portland."
She gave me one of her You must think I'm crazy laughs.
"I need to interview some students at Kinghorn Prep," I said. "It's for a project I've been researching."
It wasn't a lie. Not really. Of course, it would have been much easier to justify if I weren't burdened by the guilt of keeping the break- in and ensuing police visit from her. I'd thought about telling her, but every time I opened my mouth to say the words, they slipped away. We were struggling to survive. We needed my mom's income. If I told her about Dylan, she'd quit immediately.
"You can't go to the city alone. It's a school night and it will be dark soon. Besides, by the time you get there, the students will have left."
I heaved a sigh. "Okay, I'll be home soon."
"I know I promised you a ride, but I'm stuck at my office." I heard her shuffling papers in the background, and I imagined she had the phone cradled under her chin and the phone cord wrapped around her body several times. "Is it too much to ask you to walk?"
The weather was just this side of cool, I had my jean jacket, and I had two legs. I could walk.
I was almost through the library doors when I heard my name called. Turning around, I found Lissa closing the distance between us. I got my game face on.
"I heard about Nudge," she said. "It's really sad. I mean, who would attack her? Unless, you know, they couldn't help it."
"Gosh, it was nice talking to you, but I've got a lot of things I'd rather be doing. Like sticking my hand in the garbage disposal." I continued toward the exit.
"I hope she was attended nicely, not that nothing is wrong with her…only her skin color," Lissa said, keeping at my heels.
I spun around. "That's it. One more word, and I'll kick your ass, whore."
"Geek."
"Slut."
"At least I don't have a friend that isn't supposed to be alive."
That's it. I grabbed the collar of her shirt, and punched her square in the nose, I heard her bones crack. She fell on the floor, clutching her nose. I spit on her, before stalking out. The officer stopped me from walking out.
"Hurry out before I get you in trouble," he smiled. I know him. He knows me. We both hate Lissa. Then he left to attend Lissa. I smile and wiped away the blood on my hand. The librarian, shook her head at me.
I turned around and headed back into the library. At the elevators, I stepped into the metal cage and punched the button for the basement level. Unfortunately, the building didn't include a parking lot, so an underground tunnel had been dug to connect the library to the underground parking garage of the courthouse across the street. The garage now served both buildings.
The elevator clanked to a stop and I stepped off. The tunnel was lit with fluorescent lights that flickered pale purple. It took me a moment to force my feet to walk. I was struck by the sudden thought of my dad the night he was killed. I wondered if he'd been on a street as remote and dark as the tunnel ahead.
Pull it together, I told myself. It was a random act of violence. You've spent the last year paranoid about every dark alley, dark room, dark closet. You can't live the rest of your life terrified of having a gun pulled on you.
Determined to prove my fear was all in my head, I headed down the tunnel, hearing the soft tap of my shoes on concrete. Shifting my backpack to my left shoulder, I calculated how long it would take to walk home, and whether or not I was up for taking a shortcut across the railroad tracks now that it was dusk. I hoped that if I kept my thoughts upbeat and busy, I wouldn't have time to concentrate on my growing sense of alarm. My hands curled into fists.
The tunnel ended, and a dark form stood straight ahead.
I stopped midstride, and my heart dropped a few beats. Fang was wearing a black T -shirt, loose jeans, steel toed boots. His eyes looked like they didn't play by the rules. His smile was a little too cunning for comfort. My eyes turned into a death glare, and my jaw clenched.
"What are you doing here?" I snarled, pushing a handful of hair off my face and glancing past him to the car exit leading above ground. I knew it was straight ahead, but several of the overhead fluorescent lights were out of service, making it difficult to see clearly. If rape, murder, or any other miscreant activities were on Fang's mind, he'd cornered me in the perfect place. Then again, I wasn't ordinary. I can fight.
As Fang moved toward me, I stayed put. I noticed there was a car behind me, so I walked backwards and stood behind it. If he tried to attack me, then I could fight him and push him down on it, trapping him.
He didn't know that, so he lifted eyebrows.
"I have questions," I said in deadly calm. "A lot of them."
"About?"
"About everything."
His mouth twitched, and I was pretty sure he was fighting a smile. "And if my answers don't make the cut, you're going to make a break for it?" He gave a nod in the direction of the garage's exit.
Nope. Does this guy know me at all?
"Let's hear those questions," he said.
"How did you know I'd be at the library tonight?"
"Didn't have to guess. I bet everyone at school knows you spend most of your days there." Sometimes I do, but not most of them.
"Where were you Sunday afternoon?" I asked. "Did you follow me when I was forced shopping with Nudge?"
He may not have been the guy in the ski mask, but that didn't mean he hadn't been involved in the chain of recent disturbing events. He was keeping something from me. He'd been keeping something from me since the day we met. Was it a coincidence that the last normal day in my life had been right before that fateful day? I didn't think so.
"No. How did that go, by the way? Buy anything?"
I crossed my arms over my chest in response. He smirked.
"Well?" I demanded. "Do you have anything to say?"
"No."
"You have no idea what happened to Nudge?"
"Again, no."
"I don't believe you."
"That's because you have trust issues." He splayed both hands on the car, leaning across the hood. "We've been over this."
I felt my temper spark. Fang had flipped the conversation again. Instead of shining on him, the spotlight was directed back on me. I especially didn't like being reminded that he knew all sorts of things about me. Private things. Like my trust issues.
He lunged to the right, trying to stand close to me, but I lunged to my side, where we stood facing from each other again, my back facing the exit. I smirked mentally.
"What happened on the Archangel? Did you save me?" I asked.
"If I'd saved you, we wouldn't be standing here having this conversation."
"You mean if you hadn't saved me we wouldn't be here. I'd be dead."
"That's not what I said."
I had no idea what he meant. "Why wouldn't we be standing here?"
"You'd still be here." He hesitated. "I probably wouldn't."
Before I could figure out what he was talking about, he darted for me again, this time attacking from the right. Momentarily confused, I gave up some of the distance between us. Instead of stopping, Fang skirted around the car. I made a break for it, running down the straightaway of the garage.
I made it three cars before he caught hold of my arm. He spun me around and backed me against a cement beam.
"So much for talking without running away," he said.
I glared at him. If he walked a few more steps then he would get it. He flashed a grin brimming with dark intent, confirming that I had every reason to sweat freely.
"What's going on?" I said. "How come I swear I can hear your voice in my head? And why did you say you came to school for me?"
"I was tired of admiring your legs from a distance." Just a bit more…
"I want the truth." I swallowed hard. "I deserve full disclosure."
"Full disclosure," he repeated with a sly grin. "Does this have anything to do with the promise you made to expose me? What exactly are we talking about here?"
I couldn't remember what we were talking about. All I knew was that Fang's gaze felt especially hot. I had to break eye contact, so I trained my eyes on my hands. They were in tight fists, and I slid them behind my back.
"I have to go," I said. "I have homework." I lied. I finished it earlier.
"What happened in there?" He tilted his chin back at the elevators.
"Nothing."
Before I could stop him, he had my palm pressed to his and laced his fingers through mine. "Your knuckles are white," he said, planting a kiss on them. I blushed, and ignored my stupid beating heart. "And you came out looking worked up."
"Let go. And I'm not worked up. Not real—"
"Max." Fang spoke my name softly.
"I fought with Lissa," I said, equally softly. But I didn't know where the confession came from.
"Lissa?"
"You don't know who she is? Seriously, she makes every damn guy know who she is and is a whore."
"Tell me about the fight," he smiled.
"She was being racist with my best friend," I responded.
"And?"
"And what do you care? I just punched her, probably breaking her nose…"
"That's it? I expected you to kick her ass."
"I almost did…if we weren't at the library." He laughed softly, sending shivers throughout my whole body.
"Funny. I thought when you beat up people you did it in front of a crowd…"
"It's the library…" If it did turn out into a major fight, then I wouldn't be able to come back to the library for a while and I love the library.
"Show me some of your moves," he said, pulling away and standing in front of me his arms wide open. I smiled and punched his jaw. He stumbled back and gripped it. I gave a round house kick to his side, but he caught my leg. I froze.
Fang gripped my waist and slid his hand upward, gripping my thigh. My heart began racing.
"Mmm." It came out from the bottom of his throat. Fang gripped my hip and leaned in, still gripping my thigh. Instead of kissing me, he slanted his head sideways and kissed my neck once…before pulling away. He still hadn't moved his hands, and I don't think he would. Not that it bothered me. I blushed and he kissed my forehead.
"Let me give you a ride," he whispered. Then he pulled away his hands, but caught my hand, intertwining his fingers with mine and pulling me along with him. I stopped.
"I'll walk," I said, pulling my hand away.
"It's dark and late," he said. Damn it. He had a point. He extended his hand once again. I smiled and took it. He pulled me to him, and wrapped and arm around my waist pulling me along with him. We walked toward his motorcycle.
He swung his leg over the motorcycle, and I did the same, then wrapped my arms around his waist. He sped away, then a ten minutes later…we reached my house. He swung off, then I did.
"Thanks for the ride," I said.
"You busy Saturday night?" he asked.
"I have a date."
He made questioning sound at the bottom of his throat. "With?"
"Homework." We both laughed.
"Take a Raincheck."
I was feeling a lot more relaxed. Fang was warm and solid, and he smelled fantastic. Like mint and rich, dark earth. Nobody had jumped out at us on the ride home, and all the windows on the lower level of the farmhouse glowed with light. For the first time all day I felt safe.
Except that Patch had cornered me in a dark tunnel and was possibly stalking me. Maybe not so safe.
"I don't go out with strangers," I said.
"Good thing I do. I'll pick you up at five." Before he left, I gripped the collar of his shirt and kissed him on the cheek, before heading inside, biting my lip to keep from smiling. I went inside, closed the door and looked through the peep hole. His hand went up to his cheek where I kissed him. Fang smiled and left.