Love You to Death

by Bebe Faas Rice

  A sudden gust of wind blew her long hair against his face.

  And then he kissed her. He drew her close against him and kissed her again. And again.

  He released her and ran his hands down her arms.

  Julie was shocked at her physical response to his kiss, his touch.

  He cleared his throat.

  “Look . . . Julie,” he began. He seemed to linger over her name. “This probably sounds crazy, but—”

  Other footsteps on the gravel. Other shadows between them and the moon. Julie was suddenly aware that they were not alone.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Two figures materialized in the darkness beside them.

  A prickle of fear ran down Julie’s back. There was something menacing, threatening, about the way they stood, shoulder to shoulder.

  Julie could see their faces in the moonlight. Strangers, both of them. No one she had ever seen at Jefferson High. They were older, too, and certainly not the type Tara would invite to one of her parties.

  Maybe they’re only harmless party crashers, she told herself as she waited for them to speak. But Julie knew they were more than that. There was nothing harmless about these two.

  Quinn seemed to sense it, too.

  “What do you guys want?” he asked. His voice was mild, but Julie could feel his body grow tense, his muscles tighten. He took his arm from her shoulder and moved away from her, a step to the side, as he spoke.

  “Now what do you think we want?” sneered the bigger of the two. “What would little rich kids who like to party have that some poor guy like me would want?”

  “Please,” Julie said. “If it’s money you’re after . . .” She held her handbag out to them.

  “I’ll take care of this, Julie,” Quinn said.

  “Oooh, so it’s Julie,” the other stranger said. Then, in a mocking falsetto, “Isn’t that sweet, Norm? Her name is Julie. Can I have her when you’re done with Mr. Wonderful here?”

  “Sure, Frankie, she’s just your type. I think she’s got the hots for you already,” Norm replied. “Isn’t that right, Julie?” He made kissing noises at her.

  Then, before Julie had time to realize what was happening, Quinn moved. His foot lashed out, catching Norm in the groin. As Norm doubled over, grunting and clutching at his stomach, Quinn, his fists joined, hit him hard on the back of his neck.

  Norm fell to the ground, moaning, and Quinn turned to Frankie, who’d been watching, too startled to move.

  “Now it’s your turn,” he said in a low, harsh voice.

  He grabbed Frankie by the wrist, spinning him around to twist his arm up behind him at an unnatural angle. Then he kneed him sharply in the back, yanking his arm up even higher as Frankie’s back arched in pain.

  Julie heard a loud snap followed by a muffled scream from Frankie. Muffled because Quinn had thrown his other arm around Frankie’s throat, throttling him.

  That snap! Was it a bone breaking?

  Julie gasped. Oh, God, this was terrible. Quinn was going to kill him!

  “Please, Quinn! That’s enough!” she whispered.

  On the ground Norm began to move, to crawl sideways, like a crab.

  Without releasing his hold on Frankie, Quinn pivoted slightly and kicked Norm in the ribs. Then he kicked him again, harder this time.

  Norm sprawled out full length, sobbing.

  Quinn laughed softly. He seemed to be enjoying what he was doing. Julie almost didn’t recognize his face in the moonlight. It was twisted. Cruel.

  He raised his foot to kick Norm again.

  Terrified now, Julie lunged at Quinn and grabbed him. “Stop it! Stop it, Quinn! Please!” she sobbed.

  Quinn turned and looked at her. The expression on his face cleared. He looked almost puzzled.

  “And what do you think they would have done to you, Julie, if I hadn’t been here?”

  Frankie was crying now, silently. Tears of pain streamed down his cheeks. His nose ran, as if someone had turned on a spigot. He bent over, writhing in Quinn’s grasp.

  Quinn looked down at him in disgust. Then he released him, pushing him away with a quick, violent motion.

  “You’re not so tough now, are you, creep?” he snarled.

  Frankie stumbled and nearly fell, but managed to catch himself before he did. His arm—even his shoulder—was hanging oddly.

  “Quinn, I’m going to run back to the house and call the police.”

  “No!” he yelled. “No police.”

  “Please, girl, get the police,” Norm moaned, clutching his ribs. “This guy is trying to kill us.”

  “Do you hear me, Julie? No police,” Quinn told her. “I’d rather settle this myself.”

  Yanking the sobbing, trembling Norm to his feet, he demanded, “Where’s your car?”

  Norm didn’t reply. He shrank away from him in terror, as if afraid Quinn would hit him again.

  Quinn shook him. “Answer me. Where’s your car?”

  “Over there,” Norm moaned, pointing. “Just outside the gates.”

  Quinn roughly dragged Norm and Frankie toward the battered Ford Escort they said was their car. Frankie was sagging, clearly almost fainting from the pain in his shoulder, and Quinn had to bear him up with one arm as he pulled him and Norm along.

  Julie, following behind, marveled at his strength. Quinn was tall, but lean. He must be all muscle, she thought numbly.

  Before thrusting Frankie and Norm into the car, Quinn shoved them against the hood and barked: “Hand over your wallets!”

  “Sure, guy,” Norm said. “Take them. There’s not much money, but—”

  “I don’t want your money, just your driver’s licenses.”

  Quinn had to reach into Frankie’s pocket for him—Frankie’s shoulder was in pretty bad shape.

  Quinn quickly removed the licenses and tossed the wallets onto the backseat. And then, in a voice that frightened Julie even more, he said, “I know who you are now.”

  He slapped their licenses against his open palm. “I know who you are now,” he repeated. “And no matter where you go, I have ways of finding you if I need to. So I don’t want you to give me any reason for tracking you down, okay?”

  “Okay, okay, man!”

  “What I’m saying is, I don’t want to see either of you again, or hear of you, or have any reason to even suspect you’re still alive, stinking up the world. Do you understand? Do you know what I’m saying?”

  “We get you, man. Hey, we’re out of here. For good. That’s a promise, man!” said Norm.

  “Yeah! That’s right!” put in Frankie.

  Quinn’s voice became even more deadly. More menacing.

  “And if either one of you ever comes near Julie again,” he said between clenched teeth, “comes anywhere near her . . . I’ll kill you.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Julie was still trembling long after Norm and Frankie peeled off down the street, laying a strip of rubber in their haste to escape.

  All she knew was that she had to get away from that place, away from what had just happened.

  “Are you okay, Julie?”

  “I’ll be all right in a minute.”

  Wordlessly, Quinn put her in her car and slipped into the driver’s seat beside her.

  “But what about your car?” Julie protested. “You can’t just leave it here overnight.”

  “I’ll walk back later and get it, after I take you home. It’s not that far.”

  “You . . . you know where I live?”

  “I know a lot of things about you, Julie.”

  Quinn started the engine and drove out through Maywood’s massive gates. Then he turned left and headed down the hill past the luxurious homes of Hunter Valley.

  He drove quickly and directly to Julie’s house and pulled into the driveway.

  He’s been here before, she told herself silently. Did he come here at night, watching me the way he did at school? The thought unsettled Julie for a moment. He probably only came by to check out my add
ress, she decided.

  Besides, that wasn’t important now. All that mattered was that he was here, sitting next to her, his face only inches from hers. He kissed her gently, lingeringly, savoring her lips.

  She loved the shape of his face, the sharp, clean line of his jaw and chin.

  “I found out where you lived that very first day,” Quinn confessed.

  “You did? How?”

  “That girl in the office, Karen Slack. She gave me your address.”

  “That’s weird, Quinn. Karen’s really boy crazy. I can’t imagine her doing a Cupid act for someone else.”

  “Oh, it was definitely not a Cupid act,” Quinn said, laughing. “I told her I found a dent in the side of my car and I was sure you were the one who did it. I said I wanted to come by your house and bring you to justice.”

  “But I didn’t drive to school that day!”

  “Well, she didn’t know that,” Quinn said. “But enough about Karen Slack.” He moved closer to Julie, murmuring something about how beautiful she was and touching her hair—he seemed fascinated by her hair—twining a long strand around his finger and tenderly tucking a stray curl behind her ear.

  “I love your hair,” he said. “I’ve always loved your hair.”

  “Always?” Julie asked. “Like forever? Quinn, do you have the feeling we’ve known each other before . . . somewhere else . . . in another time? I’m beginning to think I do.”

  Quinn pulled away from her, his blue eyes darkening and his mouth tightening.

  “No, Julie, don’t say that,” he commanded. “We’re starting out new, you and I. It’s like getting a second chance at life.”

  Julie was a little surprised at his reaction. And yet, there were so many surprising things about Quinn.

  She was amazed by the depth of feeling he seemed to have for her. She’d never inspired such powerful feelings before in any of the boys she’d been involved with. Was it because he was more experienced and mature than other guys his age? And what made him that way?

  There was so much she wanted to learn about him.

  “We could go inside,” she suggested.

  “No,” he said, reaching for her again. “I like it here. I like looking at you in the moonlight. But what will your folks think, you parked out here with a stranger?”

  “They’re at a country-club dance. They won’t be home for hours.”

  Julie’s voice quivered a bit at that last word. The thought of staying here for hours with Quinn, touching him, kissing him, took her breath away.

  He smiled, as if he could guess what she was thinking.

  To cover her embarrassment, she said as matter-of-factly as she could, “You know, Quinn, I don’t know anything about you. Nobody does.”

  “There’s not much to know,” he said, turning slightly and laying his head back on the headrest.

  “Your folks,” Julie prompted. “Someone said you’re an orphan.”

  “My mother left my father and me when I was a baby.”

  “Oh, Quinn, that’s terrible!”

  “I can’t say I blame her, Julie. My father was a drunk and a bully. When I was little, though, and Dad was beating on me, I used to hate her for not loving me enough to stick around and protect me.”

  “My God, Quinn, your father used to beat you?”

  Quinn nodded. His eyes seemed cold. Distant. “It happens all the time, child abuse. Now they’re trying to do something about it. Telling kids what to do, who to tell about it. Nobody told me what to do when I was little, though. I thought I was supposed to take it and not say anything.”

  “What about your father now?” Julie asked. “Is he . . . is he sorry for what he did?”

  “I hope he’s paying for it this very minute,” Quinn said fiercely.

  Then, glancing at Julie’s shocked expression, he said, “He died on Tuesday. Fell down a flight of stairs when he’d been drinking and broke his neck.”

  Quinn didn’t seem at all sorry, and Julie didn’t blame him. Still, she couldn’t help being surprised.

  “This past Tuesday?” she asked. “Then that was why you were absent from school?”

  “Actually, no. I had the flu Tuesday and Wednesday. The police came and told me about Dad on Thursday. That’s why I didn’t come to school that day, although I was okay by then. It’s a good thing, too. I had to go to Middledale—that’s where my father lived—and . . . and claim his body.”

  “And you haven’t said a word, not one word, about it to anyone?” Julie was aghast. So much had happened to Quinn, her own darling Quinn, and yet he didn’t go around complaining or looking for pity. She couldn’t understand him.

  “Besides making arrangements for what they call the ‘disposition of the remains,’” Quinn said, “I talked to a realtor about selling Dad’s house. It’s the only thing he left me. It’s not much, but the land is being zoned for a mall. I think I can get enough out of it to live comfortably for a while. And now I can quit my pizza delivery job. It’s been a real drag.”

  “I didn’t know you delivered pizza,” Julie exclaimed. “I wish I’d known. I would have ordered one every night.”

  Quinn laughed. “I come by here all the time. I’ve seen you through your front window a couple of times. I’d pull over and watch you.”

  He stopped, sat up, and pulled her to him.

  “Julie, if you only knew how I’d sit there, looking at you, wanting to do this.”

  Julie felt groggy when she emerged from his embrace. That was the only word for it. Groggy.

  Quinn released her guiltily, hastily, as if he’d gone too far.

  There was an old-fashioned streak about him, Julie decided fondly from the depth of her daze. A cavalier, that’s what he was. Or maybe a knight in shining armor?

  She shook her head slightly, to fight off the delicious, sinking sensation she seemed to feel now that she was—at long last!—in Quinn’s arms.

  Quinn turned again, his hands on the steering wheel, his breathing calm.

  “Well, anyway, I’d take Grady with me on my deliveries. Old Grady would paw at me when we parked too long, looking in your window.”

  “Grady? Who’s he?”

  “My cat.”

  There was an unmistakable tone of pride in Quinn’s voice when he said that.

  “You have a cat?” Julie asked.

  Now here was a facet of Quinn’s life Julie would never have guessed at. Quinn, a cat person?

  “Yeah, he’s kind of old and crotchety, but we belong together,” Quinn said.

  He went on to tell Julie how he’d found Grady wet, muddy, and furiously angry, in a ditch.

  “He’d obviously been abandoned,” Quinn said. “Probably thrown from a car. I couldn’t help admiring Grady for the way he was taking it.”

  “Oh?” Julie said, amused by Quinn’s obvious love for his pet.

  “Yeah,” Quinn said. “Grady was spitting mad. I got a few scratches and bites trying to get him out of the ditch. But now we’re best friends.” Quinn smiled at Julie.

  “People say cats are independent and unfeeling,” he continued. “But that’s not true. They really get attached to you.”

  It had started to rain—a thin, cold drizzle that clouded the windows. Julie felt cut off, isolated from the rest of the world, and she wished they could stay that way forever.

  Quinn reached out and drew two entwined hearts on the misty window. He added an arrow and their initials, and smiled sheepishly at her.

  “I’ve been waiting to do that,” he said. “That makes us official, okay?”

  Julie ran her finger gently along the thin scar that bisected his upper lip. “Somebody said you were in an accident and lost a year of school. Is that where you got this?”

  “It wasn’t an accident exactly,” he said brusquely. “But I have been away. And I did lose a year of school. My past three years were . . . well . . . kind of private tutoring, you might say.”

  There were so many things Julie wanted to ask Quinn about
himself. So many questions.

  But when he drew her to him again and their lips met, she forgot everything else.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  I kissed her, he thought joyfully. I held her and kissed her and I know, by the way she responded, the way she clung to me and kissed me back, that she loves me too.

  She loves me as much as I love her. No . . . maybe not as much as that. Not yet. She couldn’t possibly love me that much already. But she will. In time. I’ll teach her to make me her whole world, just as she is mine.

  He picked up Grady, who was rubbing against his ankles, nuzzled him lovingly, and carried him into the small alcove that served as a bedroom.

  He tossed the cat onto the bed, threw off his clothes, and crawled between the sheets.

  She loves me.

  Alison loves me.

  No . . . wait a minute. It’s Julie, not Alison.

  Alison is . . . gone. Gone forever. I saw her lying there, white and bloodless. Mustn’t think of Alison.

  Julie’s the one I love. And isn’t she beautiful? That long, silken hair, just like Alison’s. No! Not like Alison’s! Forget Alison. Think only of Julie. I love Julie. Julie! Julie is sweet and lovely and good. She’d never try to trick me and make a fool of me the way . . .

  No, Julie would never betray me. She loves me and I love her. It’s different this time.

  And tonight I saved her. I was there for her and I saved Julie from those two. I know what they wanted. It wasn’t her purse, her money. No. They wanted to do terrible things to her, to throw her down on the ground and . . . but I was there. And I knew what to do.

  Yes, I knew what to do. I learned how to fight in The Place. I was a dumb kid when I went in there, but I learned fast. I had to.

  But those two. That Norm and Frankie. Yes, they said they wouldn’t come back, but I know their type. They would never come back again for me, but they’ll want revenge. Revenge for what I did to them. The shame I inflicted on them.

  And so they’ll get revenge on me by hurting Julie. They’ll find her and trail her, and then . . . No. I will never allow that to happen.

  Those two are scum.

  They shouldn’t be allowed to live.

  CHAPTER TWELVE