After Burn (High School Bully Romance) (Diamond Lake High School Book 1)

by K. L. Middleton

  “Hers, actually. She’s adamant that it wasn’t her.”

  He gave me a funny look. “You’re into her, aren’t you?”

  “No. I just want to find out who the hell is responsible for keying my car. I don’t want to go accusing Mackenzie if she’s innocent.”

  “Yeah. That’s all it is,” he said with a hint of sarcasm.

  “Well,” I grinned, “I admit, she’s hot. I mean you said so yourself.”

  “That was before I learned she was into Lancaster guys.”

  “She won’t be for long.”

  Sonny gave me a curious look. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  I wanted to tell him so badly. He was my best friend. But, I’d sworn an oath and was determined to keep my part of the bargain. Of course, I was going to be breaking a rule by seeing her tonight. But, it was business and not pleasure. I’d just have to make sure that Gus didn’t find out and to keep things cool between Mackenzie and myself.

  “I’m just saying that once she gets to know the real Gus, she’ll run the other way.”

  “If she’s smart she will. Hey,” his eyes widened. “Are you sure it wasn’t Gus, or one of those other Lancaster assholes, who keyed your car?”

  “I’ve been wondering that myself. I guess we’ll find out the truth tonight.”

  “Let me know what you see on the tape.”

  “I will.”

  I dropped Sonny off at his place and then drove to the studio. On the way home, I peeked into the store and greeted Mackenzie’s Grandma.

  She smiled at me from the register. “Chase, I’m glad you stopped in. I hate to do this, but I need to ask you a huge favor. I’ll give you gas money, too.”

  “Yeah, no problem.” I walked over to the counter. “What do you need?”

  “It’s not me. It’s Mackenzie. She needs a ride to work and I can’t get away. I have a shipment of supplies coming in and need to be here. If you’re not busy, could you drop her off at Herschel’s Diner? She works at four.”

  I nodded. “No problem. I can drop her off on my way to Lenny’s.”

  She looked relieved. “Oh, thank you, Chase.” She sighed. “I’m trying to buy her a car but there isn’t much out there.”

  “How much are you looking to spend? Lenny has some used ones for sale.”

  She gave me a ballpark figure.

  “He has a Colorado that’s just slightly over that amount. I bet you could talk him down to a lower price.”

  “That’s a pickup truck isn’t it?”

  “Yeah. It’s a 4x4. Great for the winter.”

  Rae nodded. “I might have to take a look at that.”

  “It’s in the parking lot. It was his uncle’s, but he just passed away, so Lenny inherited it. Anyway, I’ll let him know you might be interested in it.”

  “Thank you. I’d appreciate it.”

  “No problem. What time exactly should I pick up Mackenzie?”

  “I told her I’d have someone by the house at about three-forty. Do you know where my cabin is?”

  “No.”

  She gave me the address.

  “Thanks, Chase,” she said as a customer walked into the shop.

  “Of course.”

  I had a quick bite to eat, grabbed my coveralls, and then headed out toward Rae’s cabin. As I was turning down the dirt road, leading to her property, my cell phone rang. It was Bruce.

  “I’ve got some bad news, Chase. The cameras weren’t rolling last night. Not the ones in the parking lot at least. Apparently they’ve been broken for a while and my old man hasn’t gotten around to fixing them.”

  I swore.

  “I still think the new girl did it. I mean you two did have an argument right before it happened. Not to mention that Jack witnessed her do it. What more do you need?”

  It sounded so logical but the niggling in my gut told me that Mackenzie was innocent. “She insists she didn’t do it. Why would she demand to see the video if she was on it?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe she knew they weren’t on?”

  “How would she know?”

  “The lights are not on. Normally, there’s a small green light in the camera. She might have put two-and-two together and figured shit out.”

  I hadn’t thought about that. Still… I wasn’t totally convinced.

  “Well, thanks anyway for checking.”

  “No problem. What are you doing tonight?”

  “Working.”

  “Afterward?”

  I’d promised to pick up Mackenzie. Now that I knew she didn’t have a vehicle, I felt I needed to get her home. “I’ve got shit to do.”

  “Okay. Well, you’re still going to the party Friday night, right?”

  “Planning on it.”

  “Sweet. I’d say drive together but I’m hoping to get a piece and your backseat isn’t built for rocking and rolling.”

  I pulled up outside of Rae’s cabin. “Even if it was, you’re not getting any tail in my car.”

  “From the looks of things, neither are you,” he said with a chuckle. “I heard about you and Mattie. Is it really over?”

  “Yeah. It’s time to move on.”

  “She doesn’t seem to want to do that.”

  “I know. Hopefully she’ll realize it’s the best thing. All we do is argue anyway.”

  “I hear you.”

  “I gotta go. Talk to you later.”

  “Yep.”

  I hung up and was about to get out of my car, when the front door opened and out stepped Mackenzie carrying a pair of rollers skates. She was dressed in a teal checkered car-hop outfit. The top hugged her sexy curves and the short skirt showed off a pair of long legs.

  I rolled down my window. “Hey.”

  Mackenzie walked over to my car with a strange look on her face. “What are you doing here?”

  “Rae asked me to give you a ride to work. I take it she didn’t call you?”

  “No.”

  I gave her a little smile. “That’s not a problem is it?”

  “Not at all,” she said quickly. “And, thanks for driving me. I feel so bad that everyone has to chauffeur me around.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s on my way anyway.”

  “Yeah, but you had to go out of your way to pick me up here,” she replied.

  I shrugged. “It’s no big deal. I owe your grandma a lot for letting me rent the studio.”

  32

  Mackenzie

  Now I understood. He was doing it for my grandmother. Not that it wasn’t a nice gesture. Part of me had hoped he’d volunteered to do it for other reasons. I had to admit, even though Chase was moody, he had a sweet side to him. Not to mention that when he smiled, he had the cutest dimple on the lower right side of his face, which I hadn’t noticed before.

  Chase started the engine and backed out of the driveway.

  “I have some bad news,” he said, sounding irritated. “You’re not going to like it.”

  My stomach filled with dread. “What is it?”

  He told me about his conversation with Bruce.

  “So, now I can’t prove that I wasn’t the person who keyed your car?” I muttered angrily. “Great. Why does this not surprise me? I feel like everyone, and everything, is against me.””

  “Don’t worry about it. I believe you.”

  I was surprised and relieved. “You do?”

  He nodded.

  I relaxed. “Thank you.”

  He turned on some music and both of us were quiet as we headed away from the cabin. A few minutes later, we pulled into the parking lot of Herschel’s and drove to the main entrance.

  I picked up my skates. “Well, thanks again for driving me to work. I really appreciate it.”

  “No problem. What time are you done?”

  “Don’t worry about it. Since we’re not going to Sports Mania anyway, you don’t have pick me up. I’ll have my grandmother do it.”

  “You’re going to make your sweet, little grandma d
rive out here when she’d probably much rather be watching Downtown Abbey or Murder She Wrote?”

  I laughed. “How in the world did you know she loves those shows?”

  “She may have mentioned them to me once or twice,” he said, looking amused.

  Grandma Rae was quite the talker and it didn’t surprise me one bit. I wish I had her easy-going nature. Every time Chase and I were alone, I seemed to be tongue-tied. “I guess when you put it that way, it would make me seem rather insensitive,” I joked.

  “Exactly.”

  “I just don’t want to be a pain in the ass.”

  “It’s no problem. Really.”

  I looked at my phone. I had to be in the diner in four minutes. “I’d better get in there. Thanks again Chase.”

  “Anytime.”

  Before I got out, I asked him a question I’d been wondering about. “What exactly did the person key on your car?”

  Chase looked embarrassed. “Just some… bullshit.”

  It must have been pretty embarrassing. “Oh, okay. For the record - I’m truly sorry it happened. It was a really shitty thing for someone to do. I hope that one day you’ll catch the person and they’ll pay for the damages.”

  He smiled grimly. “Me too. Thanks.”

  I got out of the car.

  Chase nodded toward my skates. “Careful tonight.”

  I smiled. “It should be interesting. I haven’t roller-skated in years.”

  He chuckled. “Too bad I have to work. I’d love to see how this is going to play out.”

  I winked. “Hopefully, you won’t be driving me to the E.R. tonight.”

  “No doubt. See you later.”

  “See you. I’ll let you know when I’m off.”

  “Sounds good.”

  It turned out that my first night was spent shadowing other waitresses and helping with beverages. Although roller-skating came back to me fairly quickly, delivering food to tables was far from easy. Fortunately, most of the drinks were delivered with covers, so I didn’t make too much of a mess.

  At around seven-thirty, I was given a fifteen minute break, which included a free meal. As I was waiting for my cheeseburger, I sent Chase a text, telling him that I was off at ten. He replied back that he would definitely be there to pick me up and asked how I was doing.

  Me: Pretty good.

  Chase: No accidents?

  Me: Not yet.

  Chase: That’s a relief.

  Me: LOL. The night is still young.

  Chase: Don’t jinx yourself!

  Afterward, I went back out to the dining area and Linda, one of the other waitresses, asked if I could bring out an appetizer to one of her tables.

  “Sure. Of course.”

  “Awesome. It’s the order of cheese curds for table seven. Thanks, Mackenzie.”

  “No problem.” I grabbed the appetizer from the pickup station and was thinking I was getting good at this, when I noticed the group sitting at table seven.

  Mattzilla and her posse.

  Caught off guard, I somehow stumbled and crashed into a nearby wall, spilling the order of cheese curds everywhere. Laughter erupted at table seven. Swearing under my breath, I quickly got down on my knees and began cleaning up the mess.

  “Are you okay?” Linda asked, coming up behind me.

  I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The worst part about it was it happened in front of Mattie and her friends. “Yeah. Sorry about this.”

  She shrugged. “Shit happens. Don’t let it get to you.”

  “Excuse me, but do you know how much longer our cheese curds are going to be?” Mattie called out from the table. “It’s getting late and we don’t have a lot of time left.”

  I glanced over at her and our eyes met.

  “Oh, my God… Mackenzie! I thought that was you,” she said with a little smirk. “I take it you must have left ‘klutz’ off of your resume.”

  The other girls snickered.

  “It’s your friend’s first day,” Linda said lightheartedly, not realizing how far off she was in her assumption that we actually liked each other. “She’s off the hook. Now, tomorrow might be another story.”

  “I’m starting to think we’ll be here until tomorrow,” Audra said dryly.

  “I’m so sorry for the wait. I’ll get another order of cheese curds for you going right away. On the house,” Linda said.

  “Thank you,” Mattie replied sweetly.

  Linda raced away to put in the order.

  Gritting my teeth, I finished picking up the mess and then stood up.

  “Excuse me, waitress?” Mattie said to me, holding up a water glass. “This smells… fishy. Could you please let our server know?”

  Ignoring her, I turned and skated away.

  “Bait Girl,” the others mocked in unison and then giggled.

  It took every ounce of restraint not to go back there.

  I had to remind myself that she wasn’t worth it. None of them were. As much as I wanted to grab the glass and pour it over her head, or hit her in the face with the food tray, I needed the job.

  But, that didn’t mean I had to let it go completely.

  There were other ways.

  So, after Linda brought out their fresh plate of cheese curds, and they were three-quarters of the way done, I skated over to their table.

  “How are they?” I asked with a wide smile.

  “They’re… fine,” Mattie replied. Her eyes narrowed. “Why?”

  “I just wanted to make sure. See, I seasoned them myself. Oh, and the dipping sauce… it’s great, right? I helped with that, too.”

  The four girls suddenly all looked very uneasy.

  “Is there anything else you need? Maybe some fresh water? You did get the fishy stuff replaced, right?” I asked.

  Mattie dropped the cheese curd she was holding. “What the fuck did you do to our food?”

  My eyes widened innocently. “Do to it? I don’t know what you mean. I was just checking to make sure you’re enjoying your food.”

  She suddenly looked very pale.

  “You okay? You don’t look very good. I don’t know about you but cheese curds, being so greasy and all, sometimes upset my stomach. Maybe it’s just me. I might be lactose intolerant. Anyway, the bathrooms are in the back. Should any of you feel an intense need to use one,” I said and smiled again. “Enjoy the rest of your appetizer.”

  “I don’t feel so good,” muttered Audra.

  Oh, the power of suggestion…

  I hadn’t done anything to their food or dipping sauce, as much as I would have loved to.

  Amused, I turned around and skated away.

  The girls didn’t finish their curds and left Linda a shitty tip. Noticing, I slipped a few extra dollars onto the table, when she wasn’t looking. I didn’t want her to get stiffed because of the feud going on between me and Mattzilla.

  “Well, what do you know?” Linda mused, after grabbing the money. “They finally left a decent tip.”

  I raised my eyebrow. “They normally don’t?”

  “No, and they’re always here. I thought for sure they’d skip the tip today. After the cheese curd accident.”

  “Oh, yeah. Sorry about that again.”

  “No problem. It’s not easy rolling out food to tables. Anyway, you did very well today. Here.” She reached into her apron pocket and handed me some cash. “That’s your share of the tips from my tables.”

  “You don’t have to-”

  “Yes, I do. You were busting your ass helping me and deserve it. You working tomorrow?”

  “No. Not until Sunday.”

  “Okay, well, I’m sure you’ll be getting your own section. Sundays are pretty busy here. Especially after church service.”

  “Oh.”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll do fine. Sometimes you just have to dive right on in.”

  I smiled and nodded.”

  “By the way, we don’t season the cheese curds after they’re cooked. The batter is salty
enough.”

  I stared at her in confusion.

  She smiled. “I overheard you talking to the girls. I was on the other side of the booth, cleaning another table.”

  My cheeks turned red. “Oh.”

  “So, you’re not exactly friends, huh?”

  I sighed. “Not at all. They’re not very nice to people. Especially newbies.”

  “Some of the other waitresses have complained about them too.”

  That didn’t surprise me.

  “Anyway, they were pretty quiet when they left. I have a feeling they won’t be back for a while.”

  “If I could only be so lucky,” I replied.

  She laughed. “God, I’m glad I’m older. Girls like that seem to top-out in high school and end up miserable and bitter later. What grade are you in?”

  “I’m a senior.”

  “Just get through this year and don’t let them bother you.”

  I was already counting the days…

  33

  Chase

  I left work at eight-thirty and rushed home to shower before picking up Mackenzie. After locking up, I headed to my car and to my dismay, found Mattie parked next to my Mustang. At first I didn’t recognize the car, because it was her mom’s BMW. When I realized it was her, I groaned inwardly.

  She rolled down her window and smiled at me. “Hi.”

  I walked over to the Beemer. “What are you doing here?”

  Mattie’s smile faltered. “I just wanted to see you.”

  “You saw me at school. Look, I have things to do. I gotta go.” I knew it sounded rude but she just wasn’t taking the hint.

  “You mean you’ve got someone to meet,” she said coldly.

  So, she knew about Mackenzie.

  Was she stalking me?

  I sighed. “It’s not like that.”

  “Then what is it Chase?”

  “It’s exactly what we talked about. Us just being friends.”

  “So you can date other people,” she said bitterly.

  The sadness in her eyes made me feel like a dickhead. But, I didn’t feel the same way about her anymore. It wasn’t something I’d intended to happen, and I honestly felt bad about it. I tried explaining it to her, which ended up making Mattie even more upset.