CHAPTER SEVEN
I overslept the next morning. I didn’t dream about the fight, but I did dream about the way Evan’s body looked as he stood next to me in just his jeans. I dreamed that I didn’t tell him no. I didn’t stop him before his mouth tried to meet mine. I told him, in my dream, that I was so very much in love with him. And then all I remember from the dream was his refusal to take me home. The way he looked at me as he buttoned his shirt. The last image I had was of his fist hurling toward the driver’s window, but this time smashing through it. I sat straight up in bed, gasping for air.
I glanced at the clock and it was almost ten. I moaned and rubbed my temples as if I could drive the tired cotton clouds out of my muddled brain.
“Hey, sleepy head,” Bev said, poking her face into my room. “I heard you rolling around so I figured it was okay to come in.”
“Yeah, sure that’s fine. I can’t believe I slept so late.”
She smiled and came into the room and sat on the edge of my bed. I drew up my knees and went to put my arms around them when I winced in pain. That was when I remembered how hard Evan had grabbed my right arm. Thank goodness my pajamas were long sleeved.
“So did you guys have fun?”
“It was alright. The movie was awful, though.” I said shaking my head. “We went out to West Beach for a little while afterward.” I added it so that she wouldn’t, hopefully, continue to ask questions.
“Evan seems like a sweet guy,” she grinned. “So do you think this is going to bloom into something serious?”
“Wow, didn’t expect that question, Bev,” I dodged.
“Well, he is really handsome.”
“Yeah,” I rolled my eyes. “He is definitely that. But…” I looked down, picking at my fingernails.
“What?”
“What if Mom says to come home? What then?”
“You could work that out, Leese. I’m sure you could still see each other, and…”
“On weekends? I won’t be here at school anymore. Senior year will be West Palm Beach—and,” I said, suddenly remembering one of the biggest factors. “He’ll know I lied about everything—everything other than my first name!”
Bev reached out touching my face lightly, “If he’s the right guy for you then that part won’t matter.” She got off the bed and headed to the door, then turned back.
“I’m going to the grocery store in about fifteen or twenty minutes. You want to come?”
“Sure,” I said, rolling out of bed. “Just give me a couple minutes to get dressed.”
I closed my doors and peeled off my pajamas, “Oh, crap!” I said a little too loudly.
“You okay?” Bev called from the living room.
“Yeah, I—uh—stepped on my—shoe and twisted my ankle a little, that’s all.” That was a load of baloney. I had just taken off my top and got a good look at my arm in the daylight. That was scary. It was deep purple and greenish with a yellowed rim—and it was big. I recalled the sound of the guy getting his elbow broken, and I swallowed as it occurred to me that he could have just as easily broken my arm.
I grabbed a pair of shorts and a tank top, then I slipped on a button up the front over-shirt, but left it unbuttoned. I pulled my hair into a pony-tail and put some lip gloss on my chapped lips.
We walked outside into a picture-perfect Florida Saturday morning. I buckled Matt Junior in the back seat beside Kimmy, then climbed into the front. Bev was backing down the driveway when I remembered that Evan’s car would be sitting out there in the road. I was trying to come up with a believable excuse for why it should be there, but my mind was a total blank. Bev was cutting her wheels to the right and I was afraid she might back into it.
“Bev, you need to be careful…” but as she backed out I was shocked to see the car was gone.
“Huh?”
“Oh, never mind. I—I thought I saw a car coming.”
We went around the grocery store collecting the items from her list and then we finally made it to check out. I had picked up a few things for myself, shampoo, a couple magazines and a vitamin-water. She checked out and then waited patiently for me to pay for my items.
“That will be twenty-three-ninety-five.”
I opened my purse and looked where my small wallet should have been. I moved my brush, phone, gum, keys, change purse, lip gloss. “Oh no,” I cried out in disbelief.
“What’s wrong, Leese? Don’t you have your wallet?”
I just stood there looking for what wasn’t in my purse. “No, no, no—oh, I’m such an idiot!”
“Leese, it’s okay,” She said, stepping up to the counter to pay for my items. “You can pay me back when you find it.”
“I must have dropped it in Evan’s car.” I pictured myself in the dark digging for my keys, dumping my purse. “Bev it’s got my card inside—my Visa card,” I said hoping she would understand the hundred thousand dollar problem.
“Oh,” she responded, finally catching my drift. “That’s okay, just call Evan and tell him to drop it by the house.”
What was I going to tell her? Hey, sorry, I can’t do that ‘cause the guy went crazy on me last night and tried to keep me prisoner. He tried to punch out the window of his car to get me as I was stealing it. I scraped the roof of a car that really doesn’t even belong to him on the garage doors at his house during my escape. Getting my Visa might not be so easy.
We loaded the groceries into her car and started the journey home. I was staring out the window, thinking about calling and canceling my card and having another reissued, as we passed a Pensacola police officer. I laughed to myself thinking about Ryan and his near ticket when I suddenly felt sick. My driver’s license—my real driver’s license was in my wallet. It had my Palm Beach address and the one thing that he was insistent to know, my real name. The last person I wanted to see today was Evan, but I had to get my wallet.
As soon as the groceries were put away, I told Bev I was going to take a ride over to his house. She smiled and told me to have fun. Kimmy begged to come, but I turned her down a little too gruffly and she went crying to her room.
I drove to the beach house. It looked really different in the daylight. It was a beautiful lot, right on the water with swaying palm trees and a manicured lawn. I still had his keys, keys to his car and house, but I didn’t have a garage door opener. I rounded the drive and I could see the garage door was up. My heart fluttered in panic, but then I noticed that his car was missing.
I parked not far from the garage and climbed out of my bug. I could see the slight damage to the garage door where black paint was smeared.
Maybe he was home. Perhaps his car had been towed and he was stuck here without a vehicle—I moved closer to my car. “Stop being an idiot, Leese,” I muttered. “Just ring the stupid doorbell!” I walked to the front of the house and rang the bell and then moved a few paces away. It was a strange mix of emotions rolling around inside me; I was scared to death, but I was also hungry to see his face. I wished last night had never happened and I wanted desperately to be near him with the assurance that he’d not go weird on me again.
Nothing happened. I rang the doorbell once more. I sighed, “He’s probably just out spending your money, Leese—like at the Nissan dealership picking out a replacement.”
The house key felt like hot lead in my hand. I could unlock the door and go inside. I could maybe find my wallet. I could go to his bedroom and find out what was in that dresser drawer that he kept fiddling with…
The sound of a vehicle shook me from my thoughts of larceny. I practically ran to my car, just in time for a red, Pontiac Solstice convertible to pull in behind me. The top was down and I could see a tousled head-full of dark brown, wavy hair behind a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses. Sheesh! He is out spending my money!
He climbed carefully out of the car, but he didn’t appear surprised to see me standing there. His face was lightly bruised, his lip still swollen, and the way he was moving told me his side was hurting. That
made last night suddenly real where only moments ago it seemed like some strange nightmare.
“New car already?” I said simply because I couldn’t think of anything else.
“Well, when your Porsche wasn’t in my driveway this morning, I figured I’d have to get something in the meantime.”
I didn’t hear even a hint of teasing in his voice and I couldn’t come up with a response.
“It’s a rental, Leese. My car is in the body shop—roof damage, you know.”
My anger flared to life. “Well, if it hadn’t been roof damage then it would have been in the shop for a new window!”
“What do you want?”
“I—I dropped my wallet in your car last night—I need it back.”
One eyebrow went up behind the sunglasses. “Maybe you didn’t drop it in my car.”
“Where did you get the money for the rental? And the new sunglasses?” I knew the glasses alone were over three-hundred dollars and who knew how much it would cost to get a sports car as a rental.
He looked mildly annoyed. “I have plenty of money… Did you think I was stealing from you?”
My emotions were getting out of check. I couldn’t start crying, I simply wouldn’t allow it. I bit my bottom lip—hard. “Were you?”
“I don’t need your money,” he growled, grabbing my arm as if to put me in my car.
“Aaah,” I cried out as the sharp pain shot through my bruised skin. The tears wouldn’t stay down. These were a mix of emotional and physical tears. I wasn’t sure right at the moment which hurt worse, my arm or the fact that he was angry with me. I turned my face so he wouldn’t see.
He let go of my arm immediately, evidently remembering it was the same arm he’d grabbed last night. He rubbed my shoulder warmly as he apologized. “I’m sorry, Leese, I forgot about your arm. Is it that bad?” The question was filled with sincerity, but I couldn’t turn to answer him. “Let me see it,” he said, trying to slip my over-shirt off my shoulder.
“Just forget it,” I snapped, still keeping my face turned away from his. “I just wanted my wallet back. I—I guess I’ll just…” My hand was squeezing the door handle to my Bug, but he pushed it back shut with his free hand.
“Let me see your arm.”
I stood there obstinately refusing to move. Once again he tried to lower my over-shirt, but this time I didn’t resist. I was wondering how much longer I’d be able to resist anything he asked of me. I kept my face turned away as he slid it down past the hideous bruise.
“Oh, Leese—I’m so, so sorry. I never meant to do that.” He pulled my over-shirt back up. “I have your wallet, it’s in the house. Would you…”
“Don’t ask me to come inside,” I said stifling a sob. “I may be stupid once, but not twice.”
“You aren’t stupid, Leese. I’ve never had to work so hard to…”
That got my attention. Worked so hard to do what? I looked up at him and he took the opportunity to wipe my tears with his thumbs. “How do you feel about me?” I said it on an impulse, like if I hadn’t let it out it would have ripped me apart like an alien. It took him completely off guard.
“You are very difficult for me,” he paused. “I don’t want to like you, but I’m finding that it gets more complicated every time I see you.” Then he let a little hint of a smile play with his mouth, “So, turn-about is fair play, how do you feel about me?”
“You are very difficult for me,” It was a mimic, but it was the truth. “I don’t want to like you,” I said, “but I’m finding that it gets more complicated every time I see you.”
He nodded. “Good answer.”
“What happened last night?”
“Well, let’s see; we went to the movies, the beach, a brawl, and we played doctor in my house.”
“You know that would be funny, if you didn’t do a Jekyll and Hyde after I bandaged you up.”
He nodded slowly. “I’m sorry. I was a little too pushy.”
“Pushy?” I stated in disbelief, “You were going to make me stay here.”
“I asked the first time,” he corrected.
“Wait a minute, if you ask a girl to spend the night with you and then, when she says no, you decide to keep her anyway, that’s okay?” His mouth opened, but I wasn’t finished. “If those guys last night had kicked the crap out of you and said, ‘Hey baby, wanna stay with us?’ and I said no, it would have been okay for them to do whatever they wanted because they asked first?”
I could see the anger boil up under his skin, his neck muscles starting to flex. “No. Of course not. I wasn’t going to let those guys get to you last night, and you practically offered yourself by walking right into the fight!”
“I wasn’t going to stand by and let them kill you!”
“Why not! I’m nothing to you, just some guy from school you’re stringing along.”
“You’re not just some guy. You’re the guy I’m crazy about! You’re the guy I think about before I go to sleep, you’re there in my dreams, and you’re the one I think about when I wake up. I didn’t want to come here today, but besides my wallet, I felt like I needed to—no, I take that back—I had to see your face. I had to know you were all right. I was wishing I wasn’t so stubborn, because all I could dream about last night was changing my answer when you asked me to stay.”
All his temper vanished, and his gaze softened. “You wanted to stay?”
“I still do, but if you’re the one, then I want you to be the only one. I’ve got to know you’re always going to be there for me, not just for the night. But none of this can happen, not until I know who you are. You’re just about as fake as me.” That was when things suddenly became so clear it was like waking up and realizing your whole life was just a dream. “Oh, my God,” I blurted, hating myself for bringing God into an exclamation, but it was so shocking—He wasn’t Evan Lewis. He was a fake just like me. My hand covered my mouth to literally keep myself from saying the word, “Micah.”
I could see the expression of bewilderment on his face as he wondered what I’d just concluded.
“I’ve gotta go.” I was clutching my stomach and feeling like I could hurl at any second.
“You’re shaking like a leaf,” he said, trying to block me once again from getting into my car. “What is it, Leese? Something just changed; I can see it in your face.”
“Please…” I wanted to say Evan, but the word just wouldn’t come out. I was afraid to say what I just realized. What would he do? I had to know the truth, at least about one thing. If I was wrong, he would think I was out of my mind. But, if I was right, I might never see the light of day again.
“You’re not getting ready to pass out on me again, are you?” He asked. “You almost ripped out your handy glue work when I had to keep you from smacking the floor, and I don’t think this concrete is any softer.”
“My mom was right, wasn’t she?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from quivering, but I was trembling so hard my teeth were about to chatter.
He still had the bewildered expression, but then something clicked and his eyes changed.
I had to ask. I had to know. “Did you come here to kill me?”
He just stared. The sunglasses were slowly removed. “You’re going to come inside. I think the sun is affecting your brain.” He wore only the faintest smile, but the humor was as void as his eyes.
I had hope, for just a moment. Now I knew how Mom must feel when dad looks at her like she’s off her rocker, the way I look at her, the way Bev and Matt must think of her. But he still hadn’t answered my question. “If I come inside, are you going to kill me?”
His hand reached for my arm automatically, and, as I braced for the pain, he changed and took hold of my left arm. Why? I wondered. It would be so much easier to make me do what he wanted if he’d just grab for the bruise, but he was trying not to hurt me. There was Evan in him somewhere. This was the guy who was falling for me; but the guy I was falling for was tucked away inside a killer. By now his grip h
ad tightened and he had me off balance enough that I had to step toward the house.
“Let go, Evan, Please.”
His grip lightened, but he still held on.
“If I’m going back in there with you, then I’ll walk in on my own.”
“Why don’t you fight me?” His voice was almost pleading. “My side is hurting pretty bad, I think you can get away—just like last night—just don’t come back this time.”
“Will you have to come after me?”
“Yes,” he whispered.
“Is my sister part of this, too?”
He reached down cupping my face to make certain I paid attention to his answer, “No—Kimmy was never in danger from me. For some reason, you’re the only target.”
It was strange to feel such complete relief in knowing the truth, and that I was the only one who was going to die.
“If you didn’t do—if you don’t do what you’re hired to do, what happens?”
His body leaned in front of me against the car, once again he was getting close to me, close enough that I could feel the warmth and smell the cologne. His face was serene, but his eyes were filled with anguish and indecision.
“Tell me,” I asked, and then did something I had never done. I slowly reached my trembling hand out to rest gently against his side, just below the bandage. I watched as he braced himself, thinking it was my ploy to get away. He was waiting for me to hit him, but I couldn’t. I just wanted to touch him and know he was still real and this wasn’t all just some dream that had gone terribly wrong.
“Someone else will take my place and you’ll be dead.” His voice was almost mournful.
“And you? Do they let you just walk away from a—a job?” Those words sounded so cold and calculated. It wasn’t murder for some people; it was simply a job.
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