Stunned, Trista flicked a quick look over her shoulder. It was enough time for me to run headlong into Trista, knocking the gun out her hands. But I didn’t stop there. As Trista tried to recover the gun, I grabbed her hair and yanked her head back, then forward, smacking it hard against the railing of the bed. While Trista groped her injured head, crying in pain, I scrambled for the gun and found it. Only it was Kenzie that snatched it up, sprouting a victorious grin on my face.
“No!” I screamed, but Kenzie had full control now.
She aimed the gun at Trista and cocked it. Then, without blinking an eye, she pulled the trigger.
“No, no, no!” I screamed.
I couldn’t believe it. Kenzie shot Trista.
Kenzie scoffed. “Relax, I only shot her in the shoulder.”
Trista wriggled in pain. But Kenzie wasn’t finished. She pressed my bleeding knee to Trista’s wounded shoulder. Instantly, I could feel something happening. Something leaking from me, leaving my body.
“Your body is”—Kenzie started to say the sentence though my voice, but finished it in Trista’s, as the last three words came from Trista’s mouth instead of mine—“all yours again.”
Trista smiled, though it was no longer Trista. Kenzie was now in her body.
“Ethan might come back looking for me, you never know,” Kenzie said. “He has his ways. But he’ll never think to look for me in this body—all he knows about Trista is that I hate her—my snooty cousin.” She moaned in pain, then went on. “Trista knifed my body because she didn’t want me to be able to tell Jeremy she got rid of you—that was her plan. She’s a dog.”
“Ow,” she moaned. “This really hurts. I’m losing blood, fast. I’m going to call 9-1-1.” She glanced up at me. “What are you still doing here?”
I shook my head in disbelief. I was really free? I won?
Whoa. Love really, truly conquers all. I’d learned that twice today.
“I don’t know,” I said, smiling.
Then I ran for the door.
Free.
CHAPTER 50
“Kenzie really believed there were bugs in Mr. Daniels class? She bought that?” Micah sounded incredulous as we tried catching him up on our victory—the release of Kenzie.
“Yeah,” Zack said with a grin. He tapped his forehead. “Not the sharpest bulb on the Christmas tree.” He laughed at his mixing of sayings, but he’d done it on purpose. He was in a good mood. We all were.
It was nice.
We were sitting in The Pancake House—me and The Clutch. It was like old times. Only better. No Kenzie. We were free to talk. Say anything we wanted. The band didn’t have to be cryptic, trying to get me to understand things they couldn’t explain in front of Kenzie. She was gone.
Sawyer, Jeremy and I just arrived home from New York. Micah and Zack picked us up at the airport, and somehow we ended up here. We always ended up here.
I didn’t tell Micah about Trista though. I couldn’t. It would have hurt him too much; I couldn’t bear to do it. “I’ll tell him later,” Sawyer had whispered to me. “But I’ll tell him a different story. One less painful.”
I nodded, for once glad Sawyer was an awesome liar.
“But, so,” Zack said again as we sat in the booth waiting for our order, “the bugs and Grey’s note were to get Kenzie to willingly go to New York. That’s it.”
“Yeah,” Micah said. “I didn’t figure the you-guys-flinging-a-gun-at-her plan was going to work—especially because Jeremy kept being nice to Jodi—not following the plan.” He flicked me a look. “He was supposed to be mean to you.”
Jeremy tried to hold back a guilty grin. “Well, it was hard. Jodi kept looking all sad. It was breaking my heart.”
I kept my gaze away from Jeremy, afraid I’d stare. But I had an overpowering pull towards him now, a draw. He had saved me in that shadow. I had been so lost. But he saved me. And he didn’t even know. Only where did we stand now? I wasn’t sure. Did he only give me his sweet confession of love because I “looked so sad” it was “breaking his heart”?
Despite my best efforts, Jeremy’s eyes locked on mine. My breath caught. I couldn’t look away. I don’t know how long we stared like that—in a trance—but the waitress came to see if I wanted anything else and I jumped with a yelp. The guys laughed and went on with their reminiscing, but Sawyer pulled me aside. “I want to talk to you for a second.”
I gazed at him, uncertain. He looked so serious. I braced myself, waiting for the axe. “You know how Hanna looks at me? That’s how you look at Jeremy.” Sawyer was silent a moment, letting that sink in. “But the way Hanna looks at me, I like it.” He gazed up at the ceiling, then exhaled. “What I’m saying is—it’s okay. You getting back together with Jeremy. It’s okay. I’ll survive.”
I clutched my stomach. “I’m not …” I took a deep breath. “I don’t think we’re getting back together.”
“Jodi, you love Jeremy. You always have. And he loves you. He never liked Kenzie. He put up with her and took care of her, because she was you. And then he had to act like he liked her better than you so she would trust him. Jodi, he was helping you get rid of her. That’s all.”
Sawyer took my hand in his a moment, but then he let it go. “Look, go talk to Jeremy. He’s waiting for you.”
My eyes filled with tears, watching Sawyer leave the restaurant—meeting up with Hanna.
Then I turned to find Jeremy.
My heart sped up, did a strange jig. ‘Cause he was sitting in our booth.
Quietly, though not at all calmly, I sat down across from him, but he didn’t look up at me. Instead, he spoke while looking at his folded hands. “I love you Jodi. I’ve always loved you. But I don’t know how to prove it to you.” He finally looked up into my eyes, melting my heart. “How can I prove it to you?”
I shook my head. It seemed he had. Proved it over and over. His love had saved my life—saved me from the shadows, and from a twisted, demented girl with a gun. What more could I ask? What else could he possibly do?
Trying to find the right words, I looked across the restaurant. Then my heart jumped. I saw the lady from The Read Palm. She was sitting at a booth by the window. It kind of seemed like fate.
Sort of.
I stood and held out my hand to Jeremy. He looked up at me, tilting his head, his warm, sultry eyes full of question. But without a word, he took my hand and followed me over to Miss Read Palm.
“Hi,” I said.
The lady looked up at us. She gave me a withering look, but not a scared one. “I did what you asked. I told the police you got your palm read. You said you would leave me alone.”
“No, I said I wouldn’t go back to The Read Palm.”
I handed her my necklace, now holding the “J” and my dad’s ring. “What do you see?”
She looked reluctant, weary. But she took my necklace and held it tight in her hands, closing her eyes. A smile crept over her face and she sighed. A happy, easy sigh. “I see … love. Deep love.”
I looked up at Jeremy, into his soulful brown eyes. “Me too.”
NOVELS by Melanie Marks:
The Dating Deal
A Demon’s Kiss
His Kiss
When Kyle Came Back
More coming summer 2012
Note: If you would like to read more about the characters Hanna and Kyle from THE STRANGER INSIDE they are in Melanie’s novel, WHEN KYLE CAME BACK.
Author Bio:
Melanie Marks was born and raised in California. She is married to a naval nuclear submarine officer and blessed with three amazingly terrific kids.
Melanie has had over sixty short stories published in magazines such as Highlights and Teen Magazine as well as in various anthologies, many being Chicken Soup for the Soul books. She’s had six children’s books published and five teen novels, THE DATING DEAL; WHEN KYLE CAME BACK; HIS KISS; A DEMON’S KISS; and THE STRANGER INSIDE. More teen novels are forthcoming this summer, 2012.
Melanie e
njoys reading in the bathtub, writing in bed, and living in a house longer than two years. Visit her website at http://www.byMelanieMarks.com or email her: [email protected].
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