Betraying Innocence

by Phoenix, Airicka

  Ana

  Ana was showered, dressed and ready when the doorbell chimed, signaling Rafe’s arrival. Her mother glanced up from the paper as Ana quickly tossed her empty yogurt cup and plastic spoon into the trash bin and darted for the door.

  “Who’s that?” her father asked as Ana scooped up her backpack from its slumped position against the doorframe.

  “Rafe,” Ana answered before her mother could. “He’s driving me to school.”

  She expected a lot of things, disapproval, annoyance and even anger, but there was deliberation crinkling her father’s brow as he rose to his feet.

  “I’ll walk with you.”

  Ana exchanged a baffled glance with her mother. “You don’t—”

  He moved past her into the corridor and headed for the door. Ana swung her pack on and darted after him just as he reached the front door.

  “Morning, Mr. French,” Rafe said politely, but there was tension in the greeting as he stared at the other man.

  Ana reached her father’s side. “Thanks, Dad. I’ll see you after school.”

  “How are things, Rafe?” her father asked, completely ignoring her.

  “Good, sir.”

  Her father nodded slowly. “Listen, if you or your mom ever need a place … you’re more than welcome here.”

  A faint pink crept up into Rafe’s cheeks, but his expression never changed. “Thank you, sir. I’ll let her know.”

  The tension continued as the two stared at each other. Then, very slowly, her father shifted aside to allow Ana through.

  “Drive carefully,” he told Rafe.

  Rafe nodded and motioned Ana towards the Firebird.

  “You should,” she murmured as they pulled out of the driveway and onto the road. “Stay with us, I mean.”

  He shook his head, eyes turned fixedly on the windshield. “I won’t leave my family and Mom will never leave.”

  “It still makes me so mad!” She hissed through her teeth, turning her head toward her window to watch as the trees zipped by.

  But rather than lessen and part the closer they drew into town, the trees thickened when he took a left off the path and down a separate road. Ana frowned as she tried to recall if they’d ever taken that route.

  “Where are we going?” she asked at last.

  The corner of his mouth quirked. “Afraid I’ll take you into the woods and seduce you?”

  Cheeks hot, Ana rolled her eyes. “Funny.”

  His teeth showed as he curled his lips back into a broader smile. “I want to talk and I want somewhere private to do that.”

  Surprised that he’d actually meant it when he said they’d talk, she could think of nothing to say as they bumped along the uneven road towards the unknown.

  After nearly ten minutes of driving under knotted branches, they came to a stop at the very end, which cut off abruptly to a wall of trees. Ana squinted through the windshield and tried to comprehend why a road would be made only to come to a dead end like that.

  “The town ran out of money,” Rafe said as though reading her mind. “They started the new development here years ago, trying to push all the forestry back and make room for new houses. But they only made it as far as the bridge before they stopped. This road was supposed to circle back around towards town. All this.” He gestured to the trees. “Was supposed to get cut down and replaced by homes.”

  Ana ah’d, nodding her head like it made sense, and it did. It explained why hers and Rafe’s houses, along with the other four were the only ones on that side of town.

  “But that’s not why I brought you here,” he went on.

  Ana’s cheeks flushed and she felt the burn of her discomfort up the back of her neck. She wished they wouldn’t have to talk about it in broad daylight like that. There was some comfort in being able to speak your mind in the dark. That was the only reason she’d found the nerve to do what she’d done the night before. She blamed hormones on continuing it that morning, but even then, it had still been reasonably dark. But there was no avoiding his gaze now, no hiding behind the shadows. She grimaced and bit her lip.

  The seat next to her squeaked as Rafe adjusted his weight and turned in her direction. He rested an elbow on the console between them and leaned in.

  “Ana.” His fingers lightly pushed back a strand of hair brushing her cheek. She wondered if he could feel how hot the skin beneath his touch was as she continued to stare tensely out her window. “Will you look at me?”

  Chewing on her lip, Ana forced her stiff neck to turn until her green eyes clashed with his soft gold ones. She swallowed audibly.

  He rolled a pink tongue over his bottom lip, but his amusement stayed locked behind his eyes. “We don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.”

  She didn’t. She didn’t want to pretend like the previous night had never happened, but she definitely didn’t want to talk about it, not when it could lead to the talk. The one where he told her it was fun but he needed to move on.

  “I do want to talk,” she murmured, her voice wavering only slightly. “I just … okay.”

  He lowered his gaze, breaking the iron grip he had on her and she expelled a breath. “I won’t lie to you, Ana.” His eyes locked with hers once more. “I’ve been with girls, lots of girls. Probably more than I can count or name. I never spent more than a few hours with any of them. It was always just sex and they knew never to ask for more because I didn’t have it in me to give more. No, listen.” He took her chin when she grimaced and tried to turn her head away. “Just … please. Hear me out.”

  She wanted to say no; she didn’t want to hear him break up with her, but that was insane since they were never going out. They were two people … two neighbors lumped together by an impossible circumstance who, in a moment of weakness, had had sex. Nothing about that smelled like a relationship.

  But she cared about him. As much as she had fought against it, he had wormed his way under her skin and the previous night may have been just physical for him, but it had felt like more to her and she hated herself for it.

  “Ana.” He touched her cheek, coercing her to face him against her will. “Will you please listen?”

  She forced a nod and scrambled like a madwoman to build the biggest steel wall around her heart before he landed the shattering blow.

  His lips bowed into a sad sort of grin. “Will you stop looking at me like I’m about to give you a timestamp on your life?” He leaned across and lightly brushed his lips to hers. “I’m not going anywhere, baby.”

  Ana searched the pools of warm brown peering back at her and found nothing but genuine honesty radiating back at her.

  “I don’t understand.”

  He curled a strand of her hair around his finger. “Are you going to let me finish?”

  Despite the hard hammering of her heart, Ana rolled her eyes in amusement.

  He tugged on the lock he held affectionately. “What I was trying to tell you was that despite that, I have never met anyone I’ve wanted more than I want you. You don’t make me feel like the others and I don’t see you like them. When I’m with you, I want to stay there. I want to be with you.”

  Maybe she was dreaming. Maybe she was still in his bed, wrapped in his arms, because what he was telling her made no sense to her.

  “Do you mean it?”

  He nodded. “I’m yours if you want me.”

  She kissed him, closing the sparse bit of space between them. The console bit into her abdomen, but she didn’t care. Her fingers slipped to the back of his head and closed into his hair. She felt him groan against her lips as he deepened the kiss only to break it a moment later.

  “We need to get you to school,” he rasped, the minty scent of his toothpaste washing over her wet and swollen lips.

  Ana opened her mouth to agree when a loud bang shook the car. It was followed by another, then another until it was as though they were under attack. They jerked apart, heads snapping towards the windshield just as a massive tree branch slammed
onto the hood.

  “What the…?” Rafe reached for his door as another small branch hit the roof and slid onto the hood.

  The woods around them had darkened as though approaching dusk. The trees bent and stooped under the vicious winds clawing through them. Leaves and branches rocketed from all directions, seemingly snatched up by invisible hands and pitched.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Ana said.

  Rafe hesitated, but slowly reached for the keys in the ignition and started to turn them when they both saw him.

  He stood at the front of the car, a pale figure against the darkness. His dark cloak flapped around his legs, but he seemed unaffected by the vicious breeze whipping around him. His blue eyes bore through the glass at them, narrowed with anger.

  “Rafe…”

  Rafe put up a hand, stilling her frightened words. “Stay here.”

  She opened her mouth to argue, but he had already thrown open his door and ducked out of the car.

  “Rafe, wait—” The door slammed shut on her protest.

  Ana quickly scrambled out of the car after him, leaving her door open in case they needed to make a quick getaway.

  “What do you want?” Rafe shouted over the howling winds.

  The boy glowered back at him, hands balled into fists at his sides. The branches on the car lashed out in all directions. The biggest piece narrowly missed slamming into Ana, and would have had her reflexes not kicked in.”

  “Hey!” Rafe took a wide step forward, his face twisted into a mask of fury. “What’s your problem?”

  A loud, piercing shriek filled the small clearing. It was the spine chilling screech of metal being carved by something sharp. Ana’s teeth clenched as the hairs along the back of her neck rose. Her hands shot up to clamp over her ears, deafening her to the sound. But it didn’t blind her to the jagged letters being etched into the hood of Rafe’s car.

  “What are you doing?” Rafe snarled, charging at the boy with his fist drawn.

  He never made it more than three feet before he was backhanded by an invisible force and sent flying backwards. He hit the dirt several feet from where he’d been and skidded to a halt nearly ten feet away from the car.

  Ana cried out as she abandoned her place and ran to him. Bits of gravel bit into her kneecaps as she dropped down at his side.

  “Rafe?”

  Groaning, he pushed up onto his elbows and rubbed a hand over his face where a thin trickle of blood stained his bottom lip.

  “Are you okay?” she asked, helping him get to his feet.

  He said nothing for a moment as he turned to face his car. His eyes narrowed. “He’s gone.”

  Ana spun around, her fingers still gripping tight to Rafe’s elbow. Sure enough, Johnny was gone, so was the looming darkness and lashing winds. The dead end was exactly as it had been before the mini tornado, except for the debris left behind.

  Carefully, they edged their way back to the car, gazes darting over the clearing in case Johnny decided to make a reappearance. He never did, but his message scrawled across the hood of Rafe’s car spoke volumes.

  Kill them or you’ll be next.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Ana

  “Ana!” Vinny smiled at her as she followed her parents into the lavish foyer of the Andrews residence. He shut the door behind her, all the while still beaming. “I’m really glad you came.”

  She had no choice, she wanted to tell him. But it cost her everything to keep the smile frozen on her face so she just kept doing that while he showed them through the wide expanse of hall into a sitting area. Everything was so blindingly white, Ana was almost too afraid to touch anything.

  “You made it!” Mayor Andrews strolled into the room, dressed in what he probably considered casual, but looked anything but. Black slacks and a crisp white dress shirt clothed his tall, well defined frame. His hair was swept to the side, leaving his features exposed so there was no missing his brilliant smile as he greeted them.

  Behind him, so quiet Ana almost missed her, stood a woman with an elegantly coiffed updo and hesitant smile. She wore cream colored slacks and a white silk top. A rope of pearls hung from her neck, matching the pearl studs in her ears. She smiled at them pleasantly with her hands clasped at her midsection.

  “This is my wife Krissie,” Mayor Andrews introduced, motioning her a step closer.

  There was something vaguely familiar about her. Maybe it was the eyes, or the curve of her mouth. Ana couldn’t put her finger on it, but she could have sworn she’d seen the woman somewhere before.

  “I’m Caroline. This is my husband, Richard, and our daughter, Ana,” her mother introduced.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” Krissie said quietly. “You’ve met my husband and son, I’m sure.” But she didn’t look sure. She looked very unsure, like she was afraid she might be wrong and offend someone.

  “I’ve met Mayor And—”

  “Please!” Mayor Andrews interrupted with a wave of his hand. “It’s Philip, and this.” He hooked Vinny’s neck with his arm and yanked him over. “Is our son, Vincent.”

  “We’ve met,” her mother said with a polite smile. “Vincent was kind enough to swing by to pick Ana up for school the other morning. Unfortunately, Ana had already made plans.”

  Mayor Andrews’ green eyes locked on Ana. “How are you, Ana?”

  Ana nodded. “Fine. Thank you.” She hesitated before adding, “You have a beautiful home.”

  This seemed to please Krissie. She beamed the first real smile since their arrival. “Thank you!”

  A moment of silence fell before the Mayor broke it with a loud crack of his palms clapping together.

  “Why are we just standing here? Please.”

  They were ushered deeper into the sitting room and asked to sit on the white sofas circling an iron and glass coffee table. They talked about politics and moving down from Toronto. They talked about work and living in Chipawaha Creek. The adults talked and laughed as Ana fought not to doze in her spot. The stiff cushions were nowhere near comfortable, but she hadn’t slept the previous night and even Rafe’s clever attempts to relax her had failed. She couldn’t stop thinking about Johnny’s message to her, the one that had vanished the moment Rafe had driven them to school, leaving no evidence at all of what had happened in the clearing. But the message continued to burn in her mind’s eye, a sick reminder that this game would never end if she didn’t stop it.

  Kill them or you’ll be next.

  Kill who? She had a feeling she knew he’d meant the four boys who had attacked him, but that had been twenty nine years ago. What were the odds those boys were still living in Chipawaha Creek? Even if they were, how was she supposed to find them, never mind kill them? And what did he mean you’ll be next? That these people would kill her? Why? What reason did they have? It made no sense and the longer she hammered at the question, the harder the pounding in her temples got.

  “Ana?”

  Ana blinked at the sound of her name being called. She turned her head away from the row of elegant French doors lining the one wall to peer at the five sets of eyes watching her, waiting.

  “Sorry?”

  “Philip asked how you like school,” her mother said, a hint of impatience in her tone.

  “Oh, fine,” she said. “Thank you.”

  “Are you making any friends?” the Mayor asked. “I like to think we raise some of the friendliest bunch of kids on the west coast, but I’m biased.”

  His comment earned a round of laughter from the group. Ana just smiled, her cheeks hurting from the force of maintaining the mask for so long.

  She hadn’t wanted to attend the BBQ. She had wanted to stay with Rafe and do more research. It had been Rafe’s idea for her to attend though.

  “If anyone knows anything about what happened, it’ll be the mayor,” he’d justified, and she couldn’t think of any reason to argue. He was right. The mayor would know about Johnny Baits. He would know about her house. If anyone co
uld shed some light on her phantom, it was the man sitting in the armchair at the head of the group. Now if she could just think of a way to slip it into the conversation.

  “Oh hey, you should tell my dad about your investigating,” Vinny said as though reading her mind.

  Mayor Andrews’ eyebrows lifted in intrigue. “Investigation, eh? Sounds ominous. What sort of investigation?”

  “I’ve been looking into the history of our house,” Ana said, careful about her wording. “I’ve been trying to learn more about the original owners, the Baits family.”

  Mayor Andrews leaned back in his chair, fingers steepling beneath his chin. “Is that so? And why is that?”

  “Curiosity, mostly,” she said evenly.

  “It was terrible,” Krissie murmured, her green eyes dark with the memory. “Johnny was such a wonderful person, so kind and funny.” A ghost of a smile curled her lips. “The town hasn’t been the same since he left.”

  Ana straightened. “Did you know him?”

  Krissie smiled. “Of course. We all went to school together, Philip, Johnny and I.”

  “But we weren’t in the same circles,” Philip said, chuckling. “He had his group of friends and I had mine, but of course in a town this small, you know each other pretty well.” His smile faded and he peered at her with mild curiosity once more. “So what’s your interest in him?”

  “I, uh, have a few hunches about what happened to him,” Ana said.

  The mayor’s eyes widened. “Hunches? Please share them with us. I love a good mystery.”

  Ana fidgeted as all eyes fixed on her, waiting. “Well, for one, I don’t think he ran away. I think he was murdered, in that house. I think in the basement.”

  Complete and utter silence dropped like a concrete slab over the room. All eyes burned into her, but she kept hers level with the Mayor’s. But unlike the others who stared at her with horror, his gaze was mildly amused. Then he burst out laughing.

  “I don’t know what the other kids have been telling you, but—”

  “No one has told me anything,” she interrupted, a hot tingle crawling up her spine. “But I know he didn’t run away and I think the boys who hurt him still live in this town.”