He stole looks at me as he drove. “Are you saying you were there, at Hale’s house after school? I feel like I’m missing something. You didn’t say if he was flirting with you in the library either.”
I bit my lip as Justin shifted the Jeep into park outside the stables. I didn’t want to hurt Justin’s feelings. He’d hinted at wanting more from our relationship. Telling him too much could hurt us both, especially if nothing came of my blooming infatuation with Liam. I’d hurt Justin for nothing. Even if I wasn’t interested in dating Justin, preserving his trust and respect were paramount.
My door popped open and Justin reached for my hand. He pulled me down to him and shut the door.
“On my way home from swim, Liam was at his mailbox on the sidewalk. I stopped as I passed by. We were talking when Kirk pulled up.”
Justin shook his head. “Man, this kid has some bad luck, drawing Kirk’s attention already. I hope he can fight because I can see Kirk dragging this mess out all year, especially since Hale lives next door to you now.”
“Liam’s a boxer.” I smiled, a little proud of something that had nothing to do with me.
Justin’s smiled faded. I could almost read his mind. How much time did she spend with Liam to learn something private about him? Not enough.
“He told me in detention,” I hedged.
“What else did he tell you?” Justin crossed wide muscled arms over his chest.
For a moment, I worried Liam had another enemy.
“He said he wouldn’t let Kirk talk to me the way he did in the library and he wasn’t upset about detention because he liked being the protector for a change.”
Justin’s shoulders fell. “He was flirting.” A statement.
“I don’t think so.” I didn’t. Liam seemed far too intense for something as lighthearted as flirting.
“You like him.” Another statement.
“Yeah.” I couldn’t lie. Lying served no one. Justin saw through me too easily. I hated myself instantly.
His jaw worked side to side. I waited as he mulled over my admission. Without comment, he took my hand and led me down a footpath through the field. Twilight lingered over the grasses, casting a purple haze across the sky like a bruise on heaven. A few fingers of smoke rose in the distance, peppering the air with burning leaves. We sat on a pile of hay bales outside the work shed at the bottom of the field, the way we had for years.
“It was a weird day.” I sighed.
Justin tipped my shoulder into his and left one arm around me. He tugged playfully at my hair flying in the wind. “When do you have to be at work?”
“Seven to nine then straight home for me. Mom works ten to six. I’ll have to study after she leaves.” Right after I researched Norse runes.
“You didn’t study in detention?” His fingers stilled. Long strands of brown hair whipped against them.
“Not enough.” Meaning, not at all, so not a total lie.
“You want to go inside? Are you cold?” Justin’s body radiated heat. I snuggled into my coat, enjoying the familiar after a day of bewildering and new.
“Nah.” My eyelids slid shut and my mouth popped open in a wide yawn.
“You’re going to miss this next year.” Justin pulled me closer. “Is it hard, knowing you’re leaving?”
“A little.” I’d given this years of thought. My friends had only believed me after I sent out the applications a few months ago, but I’d always known. I couldn’t stay. “You know how you know you’re meant to grow roots here, ride bulls, and raise horses? That’s how I feel about the water and it’s how I feel about leaving. I can’t explain it right, but I’ve always sensed my time here had an expiration date. Like someone turned over an hourglass when I was born. Stupid, right?”
“It’s weird you said hourglass, but no. I guess I’ve always known you were too good to be true. Too much to expect you’d stay here forever.”
“I’ll miss you.” I twisted in his arms for a better look at his face. “You’re my best friend. That doesn’t change. I don’t care if I don’t see you for months at a time. It won’t change. Plus, I’ll come home for holidays and summer breaks. Let’s do this every time I come home. Sit under the stars, hang out, and tell each other everything we missed.”
“Done. Have you heard back on any of the scholarships?”
“Not yet.” I twirled a loose thread around my fingertip. My GPA was strong. My swim times solid. The knot in my gut twisted. “I don’t want Dad’s help on this.”
“I know you don’t.” Justin sighed. “But don’t be so stubborn you miss your dream because those scholarships go to other students and you’re too proud to let your dad help. He owes you that. He’s your dad.”
“He’s a dick.”
“Still your dad. Still loves you. Won’t prove anything to anyone if you miss out because you’re hardheaded.”
I hated when he was reasonable and I wanted to be childish. “Bleh.”
He chuckled. “I’m having a bonfire Friday night. My folks are headed to Wheeling for the weekend. You want to come over?”
“Yeah.” Cocooned in my coat and Justin’s arm, every muscle relaxed. I hoped I’d make a good friend at college in the fall, wherever I ended up attending. Images from the Internet of campuses down the East Coast came to mind.
My eyes opened with a start. I’d dozed off. Worst. Feeling. Ever. Sometimes it happened in class and my head dropped forward, scaring me senseless.
“You okay?” Justin sounded alarmed.
“Yeah.” I smiled. I guessed a party invitation meant he wasn’t upset with me and that was all I needed.
“What about Friday night?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t miss your party.”
“Really? Cause falling asleep after I mention it seems like the opposite of enthusiasm.” He jostled me with his quiet laughter. “Can I pick you up?”
“Yes, please.” I blinked through a haze of dream-like images until reality swooped back in. I needed better sleep.
“You drinking?” Justin turned his head away as he asked. I wasn’t sure what to make of the action. He was normally an in-the-eyes kind of guy.
I usually carried the same bottle or cup all night for pretense. Dating a horny football player had kept me on guard, but I no longer had that problem and Justin knew it.
“Can I sleep over?”
“Ha!” Justin dragged me to his chest in a bear hug and laughed. “Sexy thing, you’re welcome in my room anytime.”
I pressed my cold nose to his neck and he put me back. “Then, yes. I’m drinking.”
“Damn.” He rubbed his neck, still smiling. “You’re cold. Let’s get you to work.” He wound an arm around my waist and turned me back toward the Jeep. We walked in slow companionable silence over the sloping hill and waving grasses. Justin held the door as I climbed inside. “You need coffee, too. It’s not like you to fall asleep at six. We’ll go in early and have a cup together.”
“Okay. I’ll tell my mom I’m staying at Allison’s on Friday. Did you invite her yet?”
“Not yet.” He climbed behind the wheel. “Is she working with you tonight?”
“Yep.”
“Well, alright. Things are working out all over the place.” He gave me a sly look. “Don’t get any ideas about drinking too much and having your way with me. I’m a gentleman.”
My cheeks scorched. Three days ago, I’d have reacted much differently to sleeping over at Justin’s. I’d have made plans to kiss him and hash out our feelings over a couple beers. I peeked at him, appreciating the view, but no longer anxious to know if he kissed like a cowboy or a rock star. Now I wanted to thank him for the chance to get my head right, maybe invite Liam to the party and see if he’d open up to me a little more.
Whatever happened to Liam before he’d moved to America couldn’t be worse than what Kirk had put me through. Could it?
Chapter 6
The seven-to-nine shif
t at Roll With It was extreme. Some days we were swarmed with little leaguers after games or practices. Sometimes two dozen women came in for their book club and we had to practically shove them out the door at closing time. Other nights were silent. Thank heavens for those. I leaned on the counter, listening to Allison flirt with our only two customers since Justin left.
Some friends of hers from Wells Community College had bought coffees and were calling her Allie. It was strange and kind of fun to see her so at ease, talking with college guys. They made private jokes about other students I didn’t know and professors I’d never meet. Both guys were good-looking in a mature kind of way: tall, with athletic builds in jeans and long-sleeved button-downs rolled up from wrist to elbow. I liked the way they wore their hair, longer than the guys at my school, like they spent time arranging it in messy spikes. Liam had a similar style. His hair covered the back of his neck. It wasn’t shorn like the meatheads for sports or the Goths for statement. His hair always looked touchable and soft. When it was wet, the blond turned dark brown like mine.
Buddy swept the floor around my feet and the register. “Have you met your new neighbors, yet? Heard any strange noises?”
I nodded. The scream I’d heard from inside the house pierced my foggy mind. “They’re nice. The sons go to my school.”
“Yeah?” Buddy set the broom aside and unhooked a gadget from his belt. “Have you spoken with them? How close did they stand?”
“What?” I stepped back as Buddy ran a blinking handheld device through the air between us. “What’s that?”
“This is an EMF meter. Top of the line. It measures electromagnetic energy. Spirits send this baby into the red.” He pointed to a series of tiny red lights.
“Ew. Stop.” I swatted the gadget away and turned for the register.
Buddy headed to the kitchen muttering about closed minds.
One of the two guys from the table with Allison approached me for a refill. I assumed this was meant to give his friend a minute alone with mine. “Are you always so quiet?”
“Sometimes.” I refilled his cup and set it before him.
“I’m Tony.”
“Callie.”
Tony’s pearly white smile split his handsome face. Up close, it was easy to imagine he had Greek or Italian heritage. He looked like half the guys at Mom’s family reunion. Sunshine was only partially responsible for the pretty color of his skin. A natural olive tone enhanced his tan from the inside out. His dark brown eyes crinkled at the sides, smiling in their own way.
“Nice to meet you, Callie. Where do you go to school?” Tony rested a hip against the counter across from me.
“I’m a senior at Zoar High.” I tensed with my answer. Would he ridicule me for being in high school?
“Have you thought about where you’ll go next year?” A slight accent lifted his words.
For some reason, which escaped me, he looked interested in my future plans.
“Penn State? Maybe University of Virginia or Tennessee.”
He nodded, eyebrows scrunched together. “State schools on the East Coast. So, you want to leave Ohio, but you like the crappy weather too much to abandon us completely?”
I smiled at his insertion of the word “us” as if he’d take my move personally. “State schools because they’re less expensive and closer to home. I like Ohio. What can I say? I chose those particular schools because they have excellent swim teams with generous scholarship opportunities.”
“You swim?” He straightened up to his full height.
I tipped my chin to take him in. Liam was taller.
“I do. Do you?” I appraised his upper body. His broad shoulders were common for a swimmer, but for other sports, too. His clothes hid the rest of him. A few white lines extended from beneath the rolled cuffs of his sleeves, reminding me of Liam’s scars. I pulled my phone from my apron.
“I adore the water. There’s no place I’d rather be…normally. I only swim for fun these days. I haven’t competed in ages.”
Sad. My mind rejected the idea of going years without the release of endless laps in chlorinated water and a racer-back one piece. I typed Norse runes into the search engine on my phone and tucked it back into my apron.
“How many years?” I examined his face again, guilty for dividing my attention when he looked so intent. His age didn’t matter to me, but… I watched Allison, giggling with Tony’s friend. How old were the guys she talked to and flirted with every day? At a state school, she’d be more limited than she was at Wells. Underclassmen were twenty-two or younger at universities, generally speaking. Grad students were another year or two older. At community college, though, everyone was welcome. Our teachers sometimes took courses at Wells and talked about the experiences during lectures.
“Many.”
I dragged my gaze back to Tony.
“I can be quite competitive. It’s best I remember that. What are you doing this weekend? My birthday’s on Friday.”
“How old will you be?”
He raised one eyebrow in a challenge. “How old do I look?”
“Twenty-one.” His friend looked pointedly at Tony. I hadn’t realized he and Allison were listening.
“Twenty-one,” Tony repeated with a chuckle.
Relief washed over me. They were twenty for now. Twenty wasn’t too much older than eighteen.
Tony leaned his forearms on the counter, matching my stance and bringing his face much closer to mine. The little bell over the door chimed and the four of us looked up. Liam walked in, stopping for a half second before approaching the counter. Tony stepped back so I could take Liam’s order. The guys exchanged careful looks, each measuring the situation, maybe wondering how I knew the other.
“I didn’t know you worked here.” Liam narrowed his eyes. “Oliver brought me here last night for sandwiches. It’s all I could think about while we ate pizza for dinner.” Liam’s smile was tight. Polite. Generic.
“I work a couple nights a week, seven to nine. I was off last night. With swim and school, it’s hard to get hours.”
The room around us was silent. Not even the hum of the heater stirred the air. The silence was deafening.
“I didn’t know you lived next door either.” His expression wavered. He looked pleased or at least amused for a moment, but something squashed his smile. My heart fell. Was he so disappointed we were neighbors? Did he go inside and watch me walk home?
“I guess you have a lot to learn.” I bristled.
“Indeed.”
My blood boiled with irritation. Realizing I’d let him under my skin again so easily irked me further. “What would you like?”
Liam pursed his lips, seeming to gather his thoughts. His clear green eyes bore into mine, making it impossible to think clearly. His words never matched his expression. I needed a secret decoder ring to figure out when he was happy and when he wasn’t. So far it was a crap shoot.
“I make you angry.” His voice was low, apologetic almost. “I’m sorry. I’ll take ham and cheese on sour dough and a bottle of water.” He extracted a money clip from his pocket.
I laughed, shocking the room out of its stupor.
“You know most high school guys just stuff loose bills into their pockets, right?”
Liam looked surprised and smiled. “I guess I’m not most high school boys. Which means you have plenty to learn.” He unfolded a stack of well-ordered bills and handed me a ten.
I waved him off. “On the house.”
He looked at our audience and back to me. “I don’t understand.”
“For defending my honor.”
He shook his head and pushed the bill into our empty tip jar without saying a word. He patted the counter before walking away. The smile on my face hurt my cheeks. Liam took a seat at one of the ancient computers in the back before looking my way. The smile on his face matched mine, captivated me, and left me speechless. For the first time all week, faced with the over-the-
top reaction I had to Liam, I didn’t care. It felt good and I missed feeling good.
“How old are you?” Tony resumed his place at the counter. Any interest he’d held five minutes before washed away under the tidal wave of Liam.
“Eighteen.” My answer came automatically as I walked to the service window to hand off the order. Buddy gave me a weird two-finger salute.
“Nice.” Tony smiled and nodded in approval. Harmless as he seemed, I didn’t like the way he looked at me now. Something had changed.
Allison and Tony’s friend stood and walked to the door. The guy lifted his chin at Tony.
“Looks like it’s time to roll.” Tony’s wry smile said this was a joke. I rolled my eyes and he laughed. “It was nice meeting you, Callie.” He gave a small wave as he joined his friend at the door. They looked at Liam.
Buddy hit the little bell at the pickup window, announcing Liam’s ham and cheese. Excitement buzzed through me. “You too.” I hurried to get the order.
Liam sat stock still as I approached, engrossed in the screen before him. His lips moved with his eyes, reading with utter intensity.
“No Internet at your place?” I set the tray on the table beside the giant bulbous old monitor.
He snapped the window shut with a quick exhale. “Not yet. Soon.”
“Your phone?”
“Slow and small.”
“Gotcha. I have Internet at my house.” I forced a confident look on my face, very casual. “It’s available to friends as needed.”
“Friends then?” A mischievous glimmer entered his eye. “I didn’t offend you earlier?”
“A little, but I’m getting used to you.” I made a show of looking him over, head to toe, unimpressed. “And your volatile, brooding ways.”
Prophecy Page 8
