The Wrong Path_Smashwords

by du Paris, Vivian Marie Aubin

  She frowned and leaned back slightly. “Are you patronizing me?” she asked, then turned and looked back for Mark, who she knew wouldn’t patronize her. But Mark had already vanished into the crowd, abandoning her with Will. She shrugged and returned her attention to Will, standing in front of her.

  “No.” To her surprise, he was clad in only his white t-shirt, his button-down in his hands, which he held out for her to step into. She dutifully slid her arms into the arms of the shirt, shocked at the astonishingly soft material that enveloped her. A warm, heady cologne invaded her senses and she nearly swooned, the scent addictive and almost painfully delicious. As she stepped back she laughed, holding up her arms to show how large it was on her, falling almost to her knees. He nodded approvingly, smiling, and held out his hand. “Dance?”

  She laughed again and threw herself into his arms. Will might have been a year younger, but he was strong and protective, and she felt completely relaxed in his arms as they danced. He was a good dancer, too, graceful and in-step with the beat. He held her a few inches away from himself, not like the other guys she had danced with, who couldn’t seem to get close enough. Irritated at the distance between them, she squirmed in his arms, trying to get closer. Will spun her by her hand away from him, then returned her to his strong embrace, at the same distance as before. She tried again and he repeated the movement, keeping her away from him.

  It was frustrating and almost heart-breaking.

  “Do you think I’m pretty?” she demanded, stopping short.

  An aggravated look marred his attractive features as he ran a hand through his hair again, apparently a habit of his. He opened his mouth to answer when she felt something take her arm. Will’s dark eyes flashed, glaring up at something beside her. She followed his gaze up to her left, recognition flooding her.

  “Grey!” she greeted enthusiastically, hugging him. “How are you?”

  He grinned widely. “Great. How are you? Are you having fun?”

  “Absolutely! I’m having the best time of my life!”

  Grey held out his hand to her. “Would you like to dance?”

  Before she could accept, she was suddenly yanked into Will’s arms, which he wrapped tightly around her. “Show a little class, Grey. She’s with me.”

  Startled, Annabelle turned in his arms to look up at him. “I thought you hated me,” she said again.

  To her utter disbelief, he touched his forehead down to hers and let out a soft sigh. “I don’t hate you, Belle.”

  She smiled happily. “I don’t hate you, either. I think you’re amazing.”

  Will smiled, almost painfully, and pulled back. “Everyone’s probably pretty amazing, huh?”

  She let out a laugh and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Yup! Everyone is amazing. Especially you! I’m having such a good time. Are you having fun?”

  He was tense when he answered, but a flirtatious smile curled up his lips. “Of course. I’m with the most beautiful girl at the party. The guys can’t take their eyes off of you.”

  She clasped her hands behind his neck and swung back, letting her knees go weak. He braced himself quickly, wrapping his arms tightly around her to keep her from falling and pulling them both down. “You think I’m pretty?” she asked, laughing.

  “Everyone thinks you’re pretty, Belle.” He lifted her back up to her feet, returning her weight to her legs, barely an inch between them—the closest he’d allowed her to be to him all night. He was warm in the cool night air, the heat between them flushing her already-hot skin. Still, a shiver ran through her as she gazed into his eyes, which were fixed on hers, just inches away.

  He started to say something, a troubled look in his eyes, when a startled, bewildered voice interrupted him. “What’s going on?”

  Her head snapped to the right, causing her vision to swim, and she had to blink to clear it. “Can’t you tell, bro?” Will asked mockingly, and suddenly she was tugged against him in a hug.

  Bro? Trevor! Trevor was there! Trevor, who she had loved since she was a little girl!

  “Trevor!” Annabelle squealed in delight, breaking away from Will to throw her arms around him. “Hi!”

  Trevor was tense, but his arms automatically held her back. “What’s going on?” he asked again, slower this time.

  Annabelle pulled away far enough to look up into his face. “Will and I were dancing!” she declared giddily, thrilled that he had appeared after so long. His embrace was warm and gentle, just like Trevor, and she was so happy to be there she could have stayed in his arms all night.

  Something seemed to alarm Trevor, because he suddenly looked down at her with wide, confused eyes. Then he looked over at Will, who crossed his arms and returned the look coldly. The boys stared at each other for several moments before Trevor sighed and broke the glare.

  “Do you want to go home?” he asked her gently.

  “Home?” she repeated distastefully, thinking of sitting in bed with her abundance of energy and nothing to do with it. “No. I want to dance.” She peered up at him, feeling all of the love she had for him pour out of her as if it were tangible. “I want to dance with you.”

  Trevor smiled weakly. “I, ah, I don’t really dance…”

  “Will danced with me,” she protested, frowning. “And he’s really good. You come from the same gene pool. Surely you can manage.”

  Trevor’s smile was tight. “Will’s had a lot of practice,” he told her, almost shortly. She watched as he looked over at his younger brother—who Annabelle suddenly noticed was the same height as him. “Do you need a ride home?”

  Will shook his head, even as Annabelle released her grip on Trevor and took Will’s hand as inspiration struck her. “You should come with us!” she insisted, not wanting to miss out on Will’s company, which she was thoroughly enjoying. “We can sing at the top of our lungs!”

  Will’s hand lightly squeezed hers before letting go, looking up at Trevor with a cold smile. “You should stay. Get her some much-needed water.”

  Trevor tensed, but Annabelle looked up at him pleadingly. “Can we?” she begged.

  Trevor looked down at her, his expression torn. It was Will who spoke up, his voice low. “Unless you can guarantee her parents are already asleep, you probably shouldn’t take her home yet if you ever want to take her out again.”

  Annabelle looked over at his cold glare, then up at Trevor, wrapping her arms around the older Scarlett. She fit so well against him, and strength just exuded from him. She relished in the sensation. “Do you want to take me out again?” she asked coyly.

  He smiled weakly. “I’d like it if I could, yeah… If you’d want to.”

  A large grin spread over her features. “I would love to!” she declared happily.

  “You two should go park somewhere,” Will suggested behind her.

  “Will—“ Trevor began angrily. He interrupted himself, looking disgusted, and stared out at the crowd. He sighed, then let out an aggravated, “What are you doing here, anyway?”

  Will arched an eyebrow. “What do you think? A friend of mine was asked to bring some…” he paused, his eyes meeting Annabelle’s, “party favors.” He looked back up at Trevor. “She wanted some backup.”

  “Party favors?” Annabelle repeated, frowning. It was like someone had tossed cold water on her. Everything was still brighter than normal, but somehow she felt sobered up. She looked up at Trevor, then over at Will, who was staring at her. “You mean…” She stumbled quickly out of Trevor’s arms, a cold sweat breaking out over her body. “Oh. Oh god.” She wrapped Will’s shirt around herself tightly, feeling violated and terrified. “Am I…?”

  “Yup,” Will confirmed cheerfully. “How’s it feel?”

  She looked over at him in horror. “You knew?” she demanded helplessly, feeling tears well up in her eyes.

  He rolled his eyes. “Of course I did. You’re not really the type to let a guy practically undress her in front of a crowd of people.”

  Her st
omach churned. Her face flushed in humiliation. And then, unable to speak, she broke away from both of them and ran toward the trees she had escaped to earlier, her heart racing. She tried to throw up, but nothing came out. Exhausted, she collapsed to her knees on the dirt, using her hands to keep herself braced as she tried to control her breathing. She could feel the dirt under her hands, moist and rich, thick unlike anything she had ever felt before. And yet some part of her knew that it was just dirt.

  Oh god, how had this happened to her?

  She heard a noise behind her and whirled around, the trees spinning slightly with the movement. Trevor stood there, a look of concern on his face. “Are you okay?” he asked her worriedly.

  She tried not to cry. Why did she have to realize what was happening in front of Trevor, of all people? “Yeah,” she assured him, trying to control herself. If she burst into tears, she would never live down her humiliation.

  “Do you want to go home?”

  She shook her head. She could never, ever let her parents see her like this. “I-I’ll stay at Claire’s tonight.”

  He nodded. She still felt adrenaline pumping through her system, making her restless. Her body wanted to move, but now that she knew why, she felt like she could control it. Or at least what she did about it. “Do you want to get some coffee or something?”

  Again, she shook her head. She just wanted to curl up in a ball and stay there until everything faded out of her system. “I’m okay. Thank you, though.”

  He nodded and smiled encouragingly. “At least nothing bad happened.”

  She thought about the hands she had let travel her body and hung her head, feeling dirty and ashamed. She had never known what it meant to want to crawl out of her own skin until that moment, but she wished she could; could just claw it all off. She had embarrassed and humiliated herself in front of the entire school. How could she ever live that down?

  There was a clattering in the trees from the direction of the lake house. She quickly turned away as they were joined by a panting, half-panicked boy. “Trev. Dude. Trev. You gotta help me. Zach and Cody are about to kill each other.”

  There was a hesitation. “I-I—“

  “Go,” Annabelle said quickly, turning back to offer a smile. “I’ll go back to the party, too. Find Claire and the others.”

  Trevor looked torn, but he finally took her arm through the fabric of Will’s shirt and led her back to the group, following Marcus to a circle that had gathered. Trevor released her hesitantly and cut through the group, disappearing into the middle. Annabelle stood on the edge, clapping her hands together to try and get the dirt off. It was a futile effort, so after a moment, she turned and headed to the lake. She didn’t really want to be around anyone right now, anyway. Especially Trevor. Not until she was able to forget about everything that had happened.

  She scrubbed her hands together in the water and was trying to shake them dry when the music suddenly stopped. She looked up, startled at the silence.

  All at once, everyone seemed to hear the noise in the distance. Sirens. The crowd immediately broke up, people fleeing to their cars. Annabelle looked around wildly for her friends or for Trevor as she rushed back up, but in the flurry of activity, she could see nothing.

  A hand grabbed her wet one, dragging her through the stampeding students. “Will?” she asked, bewildered, recognizing the white t-shirt clad back.

  He unlocked the doors to his black convertible with his keyless entry and yanked the passenger door open. “Get in,” he urged quickly.

  She did, feeling lost, even as he hurried to the driver’s side and jumped in behind the wheel. He gunned the engine and to her horror, cut through the cars all trying to get out on the small road at once. She screamed as he barely slid in-between two cars, covering her face with her hands even as she was tossed around the tiny two-door car. She reached quickly for the seat belt and snapped it on, a mixture of drug-induced and real adrenaline and fear coursing through her veins.

  Once they were out on the open road, and the sound of sirens could no longer be heard, he reached into the backseat and produced an unopened bottle of water. “Drink this,” he said, handing it to her.

  She looked down at it, frowning. “Why?” she asked, the idea of water making her stomach turn.

  He glanced over at her. “And drink about five or six more before you go to bed. You need to rehydrate yourself.”

  He didn’t need to say anymore. She flushed and dutifully twisted the top off of the bottle, forcing herself to drink it down even when her stomach protested.

  He pulled up to a stoplight and slid his cell phone out of his pocket, texting someone. She waited until he was done before she finally spoke again. “Thank you for getting me out of there,” she said, feeling strangely shy. It seemed like such a trivial thing to say, but she couldn’t figure out any other words that would convey her gratitude.

  He looked over at her, offering her a gentle smile. “You’re welcome.”

  He turned the music up, and they drove without speaking. Annabelle closed her eyes as she leaned back against the seat, the cool air from the open window a relief against her hot skin. She didn’t know how long they drove, but suddenly the music quieted and the car stopped. She opened her eyes and sat up, surprised to see they were in the parking lot of a diner. She looked over at Will in confusion, gasping when her door was suddenly yanked open and a relieved-looking Trevor crouched in the open doorway.

  “Thank god you got out of there okay,” he said, relieved. “I was so scared you’d been caught.”

  Annabelle gaped at him, then turned to Will, who arched an eyebrow at her. “Will’s taxi service ends here,” he told her, then grinned wickedly. “Unless you’d like to go somewhere private…?”

  Annabelle flushed and quickly clamored for her seat belt, all-but falling out of the car in her haste to get away. She hesitated outside the car, then leaned down to look in at him. A mischievous smile curled his lips, a dark look in his eyes. “Thank you again for finding me and getting me out of there,” she said. She started to close the door, but as her mind whirled with the night’s events, she realized Will had done a lot more than saved her from getting caught by the police. She leaned back into the car and looked at him. His smile was gone, his eyes flashing as he looked back at her. “And for protecting me,” she said hesitantly. “When you figured out that I was… Not me.”

  An impish grin curled up his lips. “Anytime you need protecting, you come find me, Belle,” he told her, winking. “I’ll take care of you.”

  She closed the door on her blush, turning to look up at Trevor, who had concern etched all over his features.

  “You didn’t need to come get me,” she told him, feeling self-conscious after everything that had happened that night. “I could have called Claire and asked her to come get me.”

  He smiled lopsidedly. “I like to make sure my dates get to their final destination safely,” he told her, looking embarrassed. “So, do you want a ride to Claire’s?”

  She nodded gratefully, and followed him to his car, climbing in carefully. She was still wearing Will’s shirt, so she wasn’t very worried about flashing Trevor as she got in, but the last thing she needed was to catch her heels on the edge of the door and fall back on the cement.

  “How’s Zach?” she asked quietly, through the stillness in the air as he drove.

  He sighed. “He’s okay. Few bruises and a few cuts, but he’ll live. I guess he and Cody were fighting over Claudia.”

  She would love that. Annabelle tried not to sigh. As far as she knew, Claudia wasn’t interested in either one of them. She had her eye on some college boy, at least for the moment. “That’s too bad,” she murmured. “Tell him I hope he gets better soon?”

  He smiled over at her as he stopped at a red light. “Sure. Thanks.”

  She nodded, twisting her hands in her lap to try and contain the restlessness in her muscles. She just wanted to throw out her arms and shake them. Oddly enough, she m
issed Will’s furious and frantic whirlwind driving. It seemed to calm her tense muscles.

  As he pulled up to Claire’s house, Trevor suddenly killed the lights. She looked over at him with a pounding heart. “Annabelle,” he started slowly, looking adorably nervous. “I… I know now might not be the best time, but… if you wanted to go out sometime… Maybe to a movie or something… I’d really like to take you.”

  She felt like her heart had fallen into her stomach as she stared at him in disbelief. After everything that had happened that night, he still wanted to take her out on a date? Trevor had to be the nicest guy in the entire world. Possibly the most perfect guy in the entire universe. And he wanted to take her out on a date!

  Realizing his nervousness, she quickly blurted out, “I’d love to!”

  A relieved grin spread across his face. “Great,” he said. “Maybe I could stop by tomorrow and we could talk about when and where?”

  “Yes,” she agreed immediately, hardly able to contain her excitement. She bit her lip on her smile, reluctantly bidding him goodnight. She knocked on Claire’s front door and waited anxiously for her friend to open it. Just as she pulled out her cell phone to give Claire a call, the door swung open. Claire stared at her blankly for a moment, and then stepped back, allowing Annabelle access to the house. Annabelle waved goodbye to Trevor, still waiting in the car. He waved back and pulled away from the curb, driving off.

  Annabelle braced herself for Claire’s anger, but the blonde’s features had shifted into a satisfied smirk. “Take it things went well?” she asked impishly.

  She knew what Claire meant, but she tried to play dumb. “He asked if he could take me to see a movie sometime.”

  Claire grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Of course he did,” she confirmed. “He’d have to be an idiot not to see how amazing you are.”

  Annabelle flashed an embarrassed smile. “I’m glad you guys got out okay,” Annabelle told her. “I was worried. I couldn’t find you.”

  “Oh, we were fine,” Claire assured her. “Claudia and Zach are upstairs in one of the guest rooms. You can sleep in any of the open ones. I need to get back to… my guest.”