He was acting pained. There was something he wasn’t telling me—something bad. It made my stomach knot.
“Jeremy?”
He turned back to me, watching me a moment. He bit his lip, giving me a sad smile. “I’ll see ya, Jodi.” Then he was gone, closing the door behind him.
Something was wrong. So wrong.
I jumped out of bed and haphazardly dressed, then jog-walked to Sawyer’s. Jeremy’s car was parked out front when I got there. He must have come directly from my house.
My stomach lurched. What was going on? I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans, then entered Sawyer’s house without knocking. Jeremy and Sawyer were at the kitchen table in the midst of a tense conversation, talking in grim, hushed tones. When I came in they stopped abruptly, quickly straightening as though I’d caught them doing something—something they didn’t want me to know about.
My stomach twisted, my eyes darting from Jeremy to Sawyer.
Jeremy laid his head on the table, looking sick, but Riley flashed me a weak smile. “Hey Jodi.”
“Hey.” I tried to sound as though everything was “normal,” though I could see it wasn’t. Something horrible had happened. Something so horrible, they didn’t want to tell me. I swallowed. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” Sawyer eyed me with concern. “You okay?”
“I don’t know. Should I not be? What’s going on?”
Sawyer and Jeremy looked at each other.
“I’m going to go crash for a while,” Jeremy said, getting up. He put his warm hand on my shoulder as he passed. Just held it there. It would have been comforting under normal circumstances—Jeremy touching me in support. It would have filled me with warmth—but now it made me uneasy.
Still, despite my alarm, I should have let Jeremy go. I knew that. Since Thanksgiving he’d been distant. Watchful, but … from a distance. As though he had made a decision—apparently, not an easy one—but he had made it. He was letting me go. He’d chosen Kenzie.
I should have let him simply give me his hand of comfort and let him go. But I didn’t. I grabbed on to it, frightened. “What’s going on Jeremy?” My voice was shrill. “Just tell me, please.”
He stared at me a second, then back at Sawyer. “Jodi,” he paused. “I don’t even know. I’m not sure. I guess you should talk to … your boyfriend.”
I snatched my hand away.
Jeremy stared into my eyes, only for a second, then back at Sawyer. “I’m gonna …” He gestured toward the living room.
Feeling as though I’d been slugged in the stomach, I watched Jeremy leave the kitchen—leave me—then I fell into the nearest chair at the table. “Okay,” I held my head in my hands. “What’s going on?”
Sawyer bit his lip. “What do you remember about last night?”
“Last night?” I shook my head. “Nothing, I was Kenzie.”
“Yeah,” Sawyer bit his lip again. “Kenzie—she’s kind of out of control.”
I waited for him to go on—elaborate. Explain. Why didn’t he just spit it out?
When he stayed silent, I stared up at him, then noticed the deep, bloody gouges on his neck and gasped. “Sawyer!” I pulled his shirt collar down to get a better look. “What happened?”
He freed my hands of his shirt, looking weary. “Kenzie did it. Last night.”
That was a seriously deep wound. I felt sort of sick. “She scratched you? Why?”
Sawyer set his jaw. He shook his head. “I wouldn’t let her drink.”
I winced. I was the one that asked him to “baby sit” Kenzie, keep her out of trouble, away from Jeremy. “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay.” He gave me a strained smile, changing the subject. “Do you want pancakes? I’ll make some pancakes.”
I shook my head, feeling sick. “So, that’s what was going on? What you and Jeremy were talking about? You and Kenzie got in a fight?”
“Yeah. Pretty much. Only … Kenzie fought with the whole band.” Sawyer rubbed his eyes, seeming worn out.
I bit my lip, close to tears. Kenzie was a menace. I already knew that. But it seemed Sawyer was getting fed up with her. The whole band was. Zack especially. I remembered what he said on Thanksgiving. He wanted her gone.
I leaned my head on the table, figuring that’s what the guys had been talking about this morning. “So, what are you going to do?”
“Get rid of Kenzie.”
He had the same goal as me—and now he sounded as determined as me.
“How?”
Sawyer ran his hands through his hair. “I’m not sure. But she has to go.”
The way he said that made me glance up at him. It was as though he and the band had made a decision. They didn’t want Kenzie around anymore.
Duh.
But … unfortunately, at the moment getting rid of Kenzie meant getting rid of me. We couldn’t be separated—yet.
“Can I use your computer?” I asked. I needed to look up the New York City hospital—do a little research. Actually get a plan. While I was at it, I decided to look up cemeteries and evil spirits too.
I wasn’t messing around anymore. I was going to get me a plan.
***
In the early afternoon, I fell asleep at Sawyer’s computer. I felt him lift me in his arms and lay me on his bed, covering me with his warm rumpled blankets.
My sleep was fitful, to say the least. I kept dreaming the band came into the room while I slept, kept hearing Zack say, “Just tell her. Get it over with—tell her.”
When I woke, I was covered in sweat. I could feel a dark cloud over me, hovering. It seemed I was becoming too much of a liability to the band. Too much of a problem.
Apparently Kenzie had gone on the rampage last night, even getting Sawyer frustrated. And Sawyer never gets frustrated.
Finally, I decided to get up and make dinner for the guys—a peace offering for all the trouble Kenzie was causing. While I cooked, I could hear the guys practicing in the basement. But when I had dinner ready and finally went downstairs, I was surprised to find they weren’t practicing. They were huddled at the card table, talking grimly in hushed tones. Seeing them so somber and secretive sent jolt of fear through me.
“Hey,” I choked out. “Dinner’s ready.”
They all rose to their feet and scrambled upstairs, quickly becoming their usual rowdy selves. Sawyer took my hand as we went up, kissing the back of my neck.
Maybe things are okay, I told myself. And they seemed to be as we gathered around the table. Maybe I just imagined their odd behavior, felt insecure. I started to think that was it.
But then I noticed Zack had another scratch across his cheek. Had he and Eve gotten back together—again? Man. I missed a lot last night.
“Geez,” I said, “Eve’s really going to scratch you to death, isn’t she?”
The table fell silent.
Zack paled, looking at me confused for a second, then he seemed to understand. He put his hand to the wound, covering it. “Yeah,” he said uncertainly. “The wench is going to bleed me dry.”
A tense, heavy silence stayed in the room, the guys looking down at their plates, focusing on their food. No one saying anything. My stomach knotted. What was I missing? Then I blanched as realization washed over me. Eve hadn’t scratched Zack. Kenzie had. She clawed them both—Sawyer and Zack. And now Zack was covering for me, sparing my feelings.
I felt sick. What exactly happened last night? Why had Kenzie done that? “You know what? I’m going to go home,” I said, rising from the table. “I don’t feel so good.”
“No, stay,” Zack said. “All this crap, it’s Kenzie—not you.” Zack looked into my eyes. “I like you, Jodi. I like you a lot.”
Yeah. The way he said that, it didn’t really make me feel much better. Zack scared me.
CHAPTER 36
I took my laptop to the cemetery. It was a long walk. But I didn’t mind. I was glad for the exercise and the chance to get away from the house and Mom and Craig’s clo
sed study doors—and Sawyer’s insistent calling. I knew he was worried about me. But I just needed answers. Not the band’s protective silence.
But I figured they were right. It seemed Kenzie could listen in on any conversation she felt like. She seemed to be getting stronger, since she was now able to communicate with me in my thoughts.
I decided to do my research and plot my freedom from her at the cemetery, where it seemed most likely Kenzie couldn’t spy on me. I sat at the grave of a young girl named Lucy. I picked it because I used to have a cat named Lucy. She died when I was ten. But she was a sweet cat that always gave me comfort when Mom and Dad fought at night. I needed comfort now—so bad. I pretended the headstone was Lucy’s—my cat’s. First thing I did was emailed Grey and ask him about his girlfriend Darcy, the nurse. He texted me back, almost immediately. Now this was information I could use.
***
An hour later, it was getting dark and the peaceful cemetery turned all kinds of spooky. When I finally noticed the darkness, my heart jumped to my throat. Definitely time to leave. Should have bolted a while ago—obviously—only I’d been really engrossed in my research and plotting online with Grey, I didn’t notice how dark it was … until I heard a noise.
I clicked my laptop shut, dreading my long, dark, spooky walk home. I sighed, totally anxious, then looked up, and there was Jeremy only a few feet away. He was leaning against the stone maintenance building, watching me.
Seeing him made my heart leap to my throat, not because I was scared, but totally rattled. How long had he been there? Watching me?
A small smile crept on his lips. “You get really engrossed in your work.”
Obviously, he had been here a while. “H—how’d you know I was here?”
He touched his forehead. “I’ve been getting these feelings—like that girl, Hanna.”
I blinked, the hairs on my arms standing on end. “Seriously?”
His eyes flashed in that teasing way he has, getting me all panting. But his smile was tender. “No. Grey texted me. Said you were here.”
Hearing Grey’s name come out of Jeremy’s mouth made me feel funny for some reason. My two different worlds colliding—life with Jeremy crashing into my life without him. It gave me a weird, loopy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I rose to my feet, assuming Jeremy was here to give me a ride home. “You two are communicating?” I asked, trying to sound undisturbed about it.
“Little bit,” he said. “He’s worried about you.” Then he added softly, “Like everyone else—me.”
He blocked my way as I tried to walk past him, closing the space between us. His long lashed eyes weren’t teasing now. He brushed my hair back behind my shoulders, his sultry gaze full of want. It kicked my heartbeat up a notch, made the breath whoosh out of me.
Jeremy’s lips parted slightly, his eyes drinking me in. Slowly he backed me up against the wall of the maintenance building. A fire burned inside me, smoldered. Knowing he was going to take me in his arms, I was finally going to feel his soft, gentle lips press against mine again, taste his sweet, tender kisses that I had missed so much. It had me shaking.
Jeremy’s hot hands slid down the sides of my shivering arms. His lips brushed my ear. “You okay?”
I swallowed and nodded, though being this close to him, feeling his warm breath on my neck, made me tremble. So did the hunger I saw in his eyes. It filled me with a longing, aching desire, making my heart yearn so bad I couldn’t breathe.
He made a soft groaning sound, drawing closer, breathing my name. Tenderly, he cupped my chin in his warm hand and now it was my turn to moan, my breath catching as his soft, tantalizing lips slowly pressed against mine, first lightly—sweet, so sweet—then hungrily, his velvet tongue searching, entwining with mine, sending tingles through my body, making me light-headed and dizzy, ready to explode.
He leaned into me deeper still, his lips insistent, his hot hands tangling in my hair. The passion and intensity had me breathless, so weak he had to hold me up, but still his kisses went on. On and on. His hungry, hot tongue tantalizing my mouth, ravenous.
But all too soon, he pulled away. For an instant there was just our flushed faces, our exploding hearts. Us panting as we tried to catch our breath. Us. Only us.
But then the world came crashing back on me—the real world—Sawyer, my adoring boyfriend. And Jeremy, kissing every girl in sight. Reality.
Jeremy brought his fingers up to his lips. He winced, then flashed me a weak smile. “Okay, maybe you do need the rubber bands.”
CHAPTER 37
I had Sawyer drive me to the cemetery before school. All night I’d thought about how I could trick Kenzie in to going to New York—that is when I wasn’t thinking about Jeremy’s kiss. I’d floated into the house last night after Jeremy drove me home, not quite sure the last few moments were real. Jeremy had kissed me. He’d kissed me. I’d lightly traced my lips with my index finger, still feeling his hot mouth against mine, still feeling his warm hands pressed against my waist and running through my hair. It had me dreaming of things I knew could never be. But Jeremy was like that to me—a drug—an addiction. And fatal to my heart.
Guilt set in. I’d basically cheated on Sawyer. Even though I hadn’t started that kiss. Jeremy had. But still.
Sawyer and I sat at Lucy’s grave, guilt twisting my heart as I caught him up on the plans I’d been making with Grey yesterday at the cemetery— to have Grey’s nurse girlfriend, Darcy, have Kenzie’s body moved to the new medical clinic in Cornallis, about 40 minutes from New York City. Grey had messaged that the building was being remodeled, but that Darcy could fudge up some paperwork and get the body moved there.
Sawyer raised his eyebrows. “Great.” He sounded surprised with the plan, but happy to hear it. “Did you come up with a way to trick Kenzie into going to New York?”
“I was thinking about that all last night,” I mused, pushing my wind-tossed hair out of my face. “I was thinking, Jeremy said Kenzie was really poor. He said she hated that.”
Sawyer nodded, cocking his head, seeming to get where I was going with this information. “Money could be a motivating factor for her.”
“Yeah, like if something happened here to make me lose any financial support. And I had to go to New York to get money.” I bit my lip. “And it would have to be a lot of money for her to agree to go there—crazy amounts.”
“Like,” Sawyer shrugged, not seeming too in love with the idea but throwing it out there anyway, “Grey won the lottery, and he wants you to move in with him.” Then he flashed a weak smile, adding wanly, “And he wants Jeremy to come too.”
I frowned, agreeing. Kenzie wouldn’t buy the lottery idea, no way, but Sawyer was right about the Jeremy thing. “That’s true,” I sighed. “Whatever we come up with—and it can’t be anything like the lottery, it has to be totally believable—but, yeah, Jeremy would have to come too. She won’t go anywhere without him.”
Unfortunately.
Ugh. My heart started to sink. “There’s no way to get her to go to New York—she won’t believe a windfall just fell there.”
“Look, the money may not be an issue,” Sawyer said.
“What?” I looked up at him, surprised. “What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think I should tell you—Kenzie can probably read your feelings too, not just your thoughts—I mean, not right now, here, but later, when you’re not surrounded by dead bodies. So, I can’t tell you … it has to be believable.”
I blinked up at him. “What are you talking about?”
He shook his head, helping me to my feet. “Come on, we’re going to be late for school.”
***
“What’s that?” Sawyer asked, skirting his eyes from the road for a moment as he pulled out of the cemetery on our way to school. He eyed the small blanket I took out of my backpack and placed on my lap.
“This is a blanket,” I said, unfolding it.
It was small, maybe the size of a large towel.
But the thing was, it was from Kenzie’s car. Dad had wrapped it around me the night of the accident, the night we came upon Kenzie and Ethan, their car smashed into a tree.
That night had been freezing. Dad found the blanket in Kenzie’s mangled car and wrapped it around me to keep me warm once the ambulance came, while we were talking to the police about the accident.
“What are you going to do with it?” Sawyer asked.
“I want you to give it to Hanna. Would you? She doesn’t run from you.”
Sawyer gave me a sidelong look. “What are you going to have her do with it?”
“I’m not sure. I thought maybe she could link to it. Find out something more.”
Sawyer furrowed his brow. “Didn’t you find out enough? Wasn’t that gruesome enough for you? Jodi, the guy chopped up your dad. And your dad, he cut out—”
“No! Don’t say it. I know what my dad did.”
Sawyer’s eyes grew tender. “Okay. I know,” he said. “So, why do you need to know more? He did it for you. What else is there?”
“I don’t know, that’s just it—we’re missing something.”
“But you’re scaring Hanna. Do you really need to put her through any more of this?”
I glanced up at him in surprise. He was being protective of Hanna. It was sweet.
Ugh.
I bit my lip. “Should I not? Look, would you just ask her? She doesn’t have to do it. Just ask her.”
“Jodi, if I ask her, she’s going to do it.”
“I know.”
When we got to Roosevelt , there was a huge commotion. Police cars were parked all along the front of the school. “What’s going on?” Sawyer asked some girl I’d never seen before.
“Oh Sawyer, you didn’t hear?” Her brown hair bounced all shiny in the sun. “Lindsey Martin was murdered over the weekend. Some freak-oid made off with her body.”
The Stranger Inside Page 25
