“Are you cold?” Jason ran his hand up and down her arm.
“No.” Laney snapped, relieved to finally let him have it. That wasn’t completely true, but she wanted him to know that it was more than the evening chill that made her shake. Even her cool temperament had its limits. She pushed her shoulder out from under his arm. “Just take me back to my dorm room.” Laney walked away, but then glanced over her shoulder. “You better be careful or Jennifer will forbid us from seeing each other.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Jason pushed at a wrapper on the floor with his foot. His familiar smile vanished and he corners of his mouth fell with his sudden confession. “We just broke up.”
Her jaw dropped. “You broke up?”
It surprised Laney that Jennifer could let go of him. Although Jimmy’s dad had really annoyed Laney at the lacrosse game, he was right about Jason being a catch. He was the undisputed king at the high school prom; a fact that Laney read in the school newspaper, not because she had been there.
“I broke up with her.” His eyes met hers again. “Jennifer’s not right for me.”
“I’m sorry.” Elation shot through her as the possibilities ran through her head. She knew he still had lacrosse and school, but with Jennifer off his list, a big chunk of time magically appeared. On the other hand, he’d cancelled on her tonight to spend his time with two other girls. Her heart sank.
“What’s going on? Did somebody hurt you?” Jason moved toward her again, but wisely kept his hands to himself. He looked her in the eyes.
Laney wished she could just tell him that he hurt her and to get out of her life, but that wouldn’t be the whole truth. Her eyes trailed to the floor, unable to look him in the face.
“You’re scaring me.” Jason touched her arm.
Now the tears streamed down her cheeks. She lifted her face, but kept her eyes averted. Jason had a hand on both of her arms.
She sighed, pulling the blanket tighter around her. “I think you have some friends waiting for you in the other room.” Laney turned and walked toward the lighted section of the building.
“Laney?” Jason chased after her, reaching for her hand before she could go any further. “Hey. It’s me. I’m your friend, remember?” He lifted her sleeve, his fingertips brushing the friendship bracelet. “We’ve been friends for a long time.”
He didn’t lift his eyes and Laney didn’t say a word, hoping her silence made him extremely uncomfortable.
“Come with me. We need to talk.” He tugged at her hand.
Jason led her down a darkened hallway where college offices were vacated for the weekend. He sat down on a leather bench, tapping the empty space next to him. Laney was thankful for the darkness that hid his features.
“I think . . . well, I guess you and I both know things have always been special between us. I thought so, anyway. And I’m not sure what happened to you tonight, but I’m here as a friend. And right now, that’s probably good for me, since I just broke up with Jen. I could use a friend for a while, too.”
She swallowed hard, forcing down the lump in her throat. “What are you talking about? We’re friends and like you said . . .” Laney blinked, trying to will the tears to stay put. “We’ve been friends for a long time.”
The lump in her throat sank into her chest and swamped her body, crushing her from the inside. “I know for some unfathomable reason Jennifer was jealous of me, but we both know it was just her jealousy, nothing else.” Her shoulders slumped as the words faded into the dark hallway. The noise from the rec room, where people were having fun, seemed such a distant world from this one. She held her breath, awaiting his acknowledgement so she could slip away and cry.
“Do we?”
Her heart stopped. She raised her eyes, viewing his silhouette against the lights on the far wall.
Her eyes adjusted to the darkness. She could make out his features — the ones she had hoped she could avoid, and not have them push her thoughts to places where she didn’t want them to go. Although she cared about Jason, her feelings for William far outweighed her beginning-of-the-school year crush.
“Jason . . .” The look in his eyes made her stop. He knew what he wanted and she didn’t have a chance to think. He raised a hand to her cheek, letting his warm fingertips caress her soft skin. She swallowed hard. His other hand left hers and cradled her face and shiver went through her. He leaned forward and kissed her lips. It started out slow, but soon he was crushing his lips against hers. She couldn’t catch a breath.
Laney shoved him away, gasping. “Stop, Jason.”
His eyebrows furrowed and he stared at his feet. He tapped his right foot on the cement. “Does this have to do with William?”
“No.” Laney placed her hand on his arm and he flinched like a wounded animal. “I needed a friend tonight and you ditched me.” After investing all this time into building their friendship again, she felt betrayed.
Jason stood up and leaned against the wall across from her. “You’ve got to tell me what happened tonight.”
She sighed, leaning her head into her hands. “When I went running . . .”
“You went running alone?”
Laney raised an eyebrow at him.
Jason averted his eyes again.
“When I went running, I ran out by the ropes course that’s used by the outdoor education class.” She reached into the pocket of her running shorts and removed Jonas’ note. Her hand trembled as she stood up to pass the note to Jason. “He’s going to start coming after my friends.”
After reading it, Jason folded the note in half before ripping it into pieces that drifted to the floor. “Don’t worry. I’ll just beat the crap out of him for real this time.”
“What if something happens to Missy, or William, or you?” She drew the blanket closer around herself again. “I don’t think I could ever forgive myself.”
“We’re in this together. I know for some reason you think you created this nut job, but whoever he is, he’s going down.”
Their conversation was interrupted by footsteps at the entrance of the hall.
“Jason? Are you down here?” A girl’s voice echoed through the corridor. Her voice held all her intentions. “Are you hiding from me?”
Jason leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. Laney sighed, but didn’t say a word. She dropped the blanket and headed for the nearest exit. Jason didn’t try to stop her this time. As soon as she rounded the corner, she broke into a run in the direction of her dorm. The darkness and the footsteps in the woods had nothing on this yo-yo relationship with Jason Harrison. When she reached her room, she crawled into bed and pushed all thoughts of him out of her head.
Chapter 12
On Monday morning, Laney was in a grumpy mood walking to her literature class. When she’d opened the curtains that morning, the rain was coming down in sheets, forming huge puddles on the mini quad outside her window. For some reason, the cook had burned all the toast at breakfast, forcing her to eat rubbery eggs. And to her great disappointment, she couldn’t get Jonas’ note or Jason’s kiss out of her mind.
The lecture hall for Laney’s literature class held at least two hundred people. She found a seat about halfway down on the left side before leaning her head against the wall and letting out a heavy sigh. Professor Aiken gathered her materials from her briefcase, glanced up at the clock, and wrote the date on the chalkboard. Laney’s literature notebook lay on the desk in front of her, ready for the day’s lecture. She was opening and closing the cover, still trying to keep her mind off Jason, when she saw Natalie’s sheet of paper in the front of the notebook.
Laney read the information again, but stopped at the date. Professor Aiken finished writing October 26th on the board. The Recluse meeting was tonight in Saugus, about a fifteen-minute drive from campus. Laney skimmed through Natalie’s other notes, wondering how to get to the address by seven, hoping the Recluse might give her more clues about Jonas now that he was threatening her friends.
She stuffed the note back in her bag and tried to focus on Shakespeare. Her mind had wandered back to Jason when the professor called on someone near the back of the room.
“What do you believe is Hamlet’s tragic flaw?” A male voice asked the question. William leaned forward, intent on the professor’s answer. His intensity gave Laney a purpose for active listening.
“Well, he had several. But his failure to act played a key role in his demise. Thank you . . .?” The professor paused, raising her eyebrows.
“William Miller.”
She looked down at her podium and made a mark on a piece of paper.
Shifting in her seat, Laney stared at William long after the interaction. He sat alone, taking notes at a rapid pace. His hair was tied back, and he wore a pale green t-shirt that brought out his eyes, even from her vantage point. Then he glanced up, his eyes meeting hers, and smiled.
Laney turned back around and slouched in her seat, hoping he didn’t think she had come to Madison to pick up guys like the girls who wore too much makeup and too little clothes. Something about William captivated her, beyond the possibility that he could be the William of her dreams. She couldn’t put her finger on it.
After class, Laney gathered her things and climbed the stairs toward the exit. When she reached the double doors to the hallway, someone touched her arm. Turning, she expected to look up at William, but found him standing close, his face inches away from hers. She recoiled, but only slightly — from the shock of being so close, not from the closeness itself.
“I didn’t know you were in this class.” The color of his hair brought out the even tan of his skin and the green of his eyes, which blazed all the brighter standing this close. Their time together on the lacrosse field seemed like eons ago, with all that happened with Jonas and Jason the night before.
“I think all freshmen have to take it.” She tried not to make a fool of herself. Was their flirting from the other day real, or a self-induced fantasy?
“Oh, right. I have to take it for my literature major, but I find it interesting. Mankind’s thoughts about Shakespeare haven’t changed much in the past two hundred years.”
Laney bit her lip, resisting the urge to reply. A conversation about Shakespeare would definitely end in incoherent babbling on her part.
William walked with her up the stairs and outside to the main quad. Crowds of students passed, heading to their next class. Laney had to get to Calculus, but she wasn’t ready to leave him.
“I was wondering.” William stopped when they reached the library. “Would you like to go out to dinner tonight?”
The unexpected question made Laney stop in her tracks. “Tonight? Dinner?” The trouble her brain had when William was around seriously hindered her glowing personality’s ability to compensate for her lack of beauty.
“Yes, dinner tonight.” He grinned. “Am I being too forward?”
Laney remembered Natalie’s note and the need the Weavers. Her stomach churned, but only for a few seconds. She didn’t have a choice. “No, not at all. It’s just that I have to go to a meeting tonight.”
His smile vanished. A guy of his caliber wasn’t used to being rejected. “Well, maybe another time. I had fun the other day at the soccer game.” He lifted his bag to his shoulder and headed toward his next class.
“William?”
He hesitated, turning around with his hand on his heart and a huge grin on his face. “Did you change your mind?”
“Do you have a car?” Upperclassman always had ways to get around. Missy had a date with Brian to see a new movie at the little theater down the road and she didn’t even want to think about asking Jason for a ride.
“A car? Sorry, no.”
Her shoulders slumped. “Oh.”
“I have a motorcycle, though.” He smiled. “And an extra helmet.”
The rain let up by the time William met Laney outside her dorm at six-thirty. He wore jeans and a brown leather jacket over a white shirt. Every time she saw him, she wondered if he had walked off some photo shoot. His hair was down and held a slight wave in the humidity.
“Thanks for doing this.” Laney took the helmet from his hand. “This meeting is important, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to get there.”
“Not a problem. I’ll find something to do until you’re done. Is it a Bible study or something?”
She’d known he would ask, but she still hadn’t worked out what to tell him. “Yeah, something like that.”
Some of the black paint was scraped off William’s motorcycle and it had a few dents, but it appeared to be in working order. Laney touched the handlebar. “I’m a little nervous.”
“About the meeting?”
“No, about riding on a motorcycle.” She hoped he’d understand. Laney’s father had outlawed anything without a seatbelt and a five-star safety rating.
“Then you better hold on extra tight.”
She climbed on behind him. He started the engine and she wrapped her arms around his waist. Laney’s heart wouldn’t let her get over the fact that this was the closest she’d ever been to him.
They rode through the back roads from Madison to Saugus. Laney’s nerves settled and she soon felt safe and comfortable behind William. When they came to a stop, she followed his lead and took off her helmet, letting her hair fall down her back. She didn’t know when she could go on a real date with William, so she’d worn her hair down, pretending they were going out on the town. He got off the bike and took her helmet, smiling.
“What?” Laney touched her hair wondering if she had helmet head.
“You look nice with your hair down.” He strapped her helmet to the side of the motorcycle.
She turned to the storefront as heat warmed her face. “Wow, are we here already? I’ll just go . . . over here. Where it’s less . . . hot. The building. I mean. Not . . . here with you.” Laney covered her face with her hand. “I’m just going to stop talking now.”
“Be careful.” William held his hand up to his mouth to mask his smirk. “It might be too cold over there.”
The storefront appeared abandoned with its dusty gold curtains closed over the display windows. Once cheerful red paint had chipped onto the sidewalk, which lay littered with glass and weeds. William looked again at the address she had given him and nodded.
“I’m not sure I want to leave you here.” He walked along the sidewalk.
The small neighborhood consisted of mostly abandoned buildings. The storefront across the street held a biker bar with a couple of neon beer signs illuminating the pavement. Four teenagers watched them from the sidewalk in front of the bar.
A lanky boy with slick black hair snickered. “Nice bike.” His friends laughed. Taking a long drag on his cigarette, he blew a long stream of smoke toward Laney and William.
William seemed too preoccupied to notice, trying the doorknob only to find it locked. He peered into the window through a crack in the curtain, but then stumbled backwards. Another set of eyes peered back at him. Laney knocked on the door, knowing they’d found the place.
Natalie hurried her in, but Laney stopped. “I’ll meet you here in a couple of hours.” She got the words out before Natalie could shut the door in William’s face.
The room reminded Laney of the VFW hall her aunt had used for her wedding reception. The tile on the floor was standard 1970s beige and the walls were yellow. A window to the right opened onto a darkened kitchen. Two beds lined the far wall of the room; one was a bunk bed and the other a shabby-looking full-size with a large patchwork quilt and a lavender teddy bear lay on the pillow.
Voices came from the back of the building. Natalie brought Laney through a door that led to a smaller room. The two people on the couch stopped talking and stood up when they came in.
“Hey, guys, this is Laney.” Natalie pointed to the older of the two men. “This is Mark.”
Mark shook Laney’s hand. His curly brown hair stuck out in several directions and he wore black-rimmed glasses over his haz
el eyes, which were somewhat glazed over. “Nice to meet you.” He avoided eye contact. He left the girls and paced across the room muttering obscenities, rolling up the sleeves of his green and black flannel jacket.
“And this is David.” Natalie let a wide grin cross her mouth.
Like Natalie, David appeared to be in his mid-teens, quite a bit younger than Mark. David’s black eyes looked straight through Laney, sending a shiver up her spine. He hobbled over on a heavy white cast and held out his hand.
“How did you hurt your leg?” Laney tried to ease the unspoken tension in the room.
David shot a sideways glance at Natalie and frowned. Apparently, she’d touched a nerve. “Long story.” He still had his eyes at Natalie. “I hope this isn’t a mistake.”
Laney’s comfort level plummeted even more.
“I thought we already discussed this,” Natalie hissed. “She needs us.”
Natalie grabbed a chair and placed it next to Laney, who continued to stand, not sure what to do.
“It’s her destiny,” Mark growled. “She bears the symbol.” He stepped within Laney’s comfort zone bubble.
She shuddered and stepped back.
He stepped in her direction again and stopped, his face just inches from hers. “Show us the spider.”
Laney glanced at Natalie. The teen’s eyes went from Mark to Laney, ending in a nod.
Laney swallowed hard and held her breath before removing her chain from under her shirt and holding the pendant in her hand for the others to see. Mark lifted his left hand and displayed his ring.
“The golden spider, the symbol of a Weaver.” David pointed to the etching on her necklace.
“What’s a Weaver, exactly?” Laney searched for answers from the three strangers. Cloth and rugs instantly came to her mind, even though she suspected it had something to do with her writing.
“A Weaver is a storyteller. A writer whose very being is driven by the stories they have to tell. But unlike normal authors, writing for a Weaver is a dangerous occupation.” Mark moved back to his seat on the battered couch. “What’s the worst thing that can happen to an ordinary writer? A paper cut? Writer’s block?”
The Weaver Page 10
