Do you love me? (Trinity Series Book 1)

by Regina Bartley

  Good point. “Hold on,” I told her.

  Outside the living room I was sitting in, I looked for someone who was alert. Everyone seemed to be passed out from what I could tell, but my vision was a bit blurry. Holding my eyes closed tightly, and then opening them quickly I thought that the view would change.

  No.

  It made it worse.

  I kept thinking that I needed to get outside.

  “Josh!” Lee yelled.

  “I’m here,” I squinted my eyes. “Just need to sit down. I’m feeling sick.”

  “Who were you with?” She asked.

  “Garrett,” I whispered. “I don’t feel good.”

  The floor came up to meet me, and my eyes felt heavy.

  Sleep. That was what I needed. I heard Lee call my name again, but all I wanted to do was close my eyes. I didn’t want to talk, because I was afraid I’d vomit. The darkness felt good, and so did the cold floor beneath me.

  Twenty-One

  Paislee

  “JOSH!” I yelled his name for the tenth time, but there was nothing. He must’ve passed out. If he hadn’t complained about being sick, then I would’ve left him where he was. But the idiot had me worried.

  I was still trying to pull on my tennis shoes as I was making my way out the door. I called Garrett’s number like six times, but I couldn’t get him to answer. I just needed to know where Josh was so that I could pick him up.

  Rushing to my car, I climbed inside. I wasn’t familiar with town much, at least not with the party houses. I had no clue where to start looking.

  I dialed Josh’s number hoping he’d pick up, but I got nothing. Just hearing that damn voicemail was making me angrier. Between Garrett’s phone and Josh’s, I was fighting a losing battle. I didn’t have any of their friends’ numbers. What the hell was I supposed to do?

  My car rolled to a stop at the intersection by the college. I sat there for a long time, not sure if I should go left or right. Town was dead. There wasn’t a car on any street near me. It was dark and silent. I had no choice for my next move. I had to call Jude.

  He was the only other person whose number I had, and I needed some help. As bad as I hated to, I had to call him.

  My stomach turned as I dialed his number. I used my hands-free to allow the phone to come through the speaker before I made a right turn at the light. After the third ring, he answered.

  His voice was husky and filled with sleep. “Hello,” he said. I wondered if noticed who was calling.

  “Jude,” I said hesitantly, scared that he might hang up once he heard my voice.

  “Yeah,” he replied.

  “It’s Paislee.”

  “I know.”

  Okay. Well, he hadn’t hung up yet. “I’m sorry to bother you.”

  I heard him moving around before he said, “That’s okay. What’s going on?”

  “Do you know where Garrett and Josh were going tonight? I got a call from Josh about fifteen minutes ago saying he needed a ride home. Then he said he was feeling sick before the phone went dead. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know if he’s sick or if he just passed out. I didn’t have anyone else to call,” I explained.

  He didn’t have to tell me anything, especially when it came to Josh. I was still surprised that he was even on the phone with me after the last conversation we had. I could still remember the look on his face. Just hearing his voice was hard.

  “I don’t know,” he answered quickly. “But let me call Obi. He might know. Where are you?”

  “I’m driving around. Not far from campus.”

  “I’ll call you back.”

  “Okay,” I said, hanging up the phone. He was helping me.

  One road led to another, and before I knew it I was back around to where I’d started. I was trying not to get too far from campus since I didn’t know my way around very well. I’d only been to a few places, and everything looked different in the late night hours.

  My phone rang and it was Jude calling me back. “Hello,” I answered quickly.

  “I know where they are. Do you know how to get to Winchester? It’s about five miles past the old bridge.”

  Ah hell, he was speaking Chinese now. I had now idea street names, and never saw an old bridge the whole time I’d been at Trinity.

  “You have no clue do you?” He asked.

  “No,” I answered defeated.

  “Go back to campus. I’ll go pick the guys up and bring them home.”

  “Really? You don’t have to do that. You can just text me the address. I’ll GPS it,” I told him.

  “It’s fine. I don’t mind. I have to get up with my dad at five o’clock anyway. I’ll go get them and take them back to the dorm. If I have any problems I’ll call you. ”

  “Thanks, Jude.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “Hey,” I said trying to keep him from hanging up the phone.

  “I should get going Paislee.”

  “Right.”

  “Bye,” he said hanging up the phone.

  Why did he have to be so nice? Why did his voice have to be the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard? Why did my heart still feel like it was breaking?

  Dammit, why?

  I needed to go back to bed, pretend this didn’t happen, and give Josh a serious cussing out tomorrow.

  Twenty-Two

  Josh

  Spring break had finally come. Lee and I were going home for the week, and I was pretty damn excited about it. I’d gone overboard with the drinking over the past few weeks, and I’d been feeling like shit because of it. After the late night incident with Garrett, where Jude had to pick us up, I’d been laying kind of low. Keeping myself mostly in my room or the library. It took me two days to recover, and with an overload of schoolwork, I was ready for a break.

  With my bags loaded into the car, I headed toward the girls’ dorm to get Lee. She was still trying to convince Letty to come home with us, but she wasn’t having much success. Letty couldn’t take off work for a week or something.

  Just as I was about to head inside, she walked out.

  “I couldn’t get her to come,” she said as she handed me one of her bags. “She was afraid she’d lose her job if she had to take off for a whole week.”

  I grabbed her other bag. “Well then, it’s just you and me, sweet cheeks.”

  “You’re way too chipper this morning. I’m going to need you to tone it down a bit for the sake of my sanity.”

  “Your sanity?” I questioned. “Maybe I’m going to need you to tone it up for mine. After all, I’m the one driving this taxi,” I pointed to my car.

  “Keep your panties on, Joshua! Thirty minutes in the car with me, and you’ll be wishing we had further to drive.”

  I laughed. This thirty-minute drive would be plenty long enough if she was going to be a grouch-o. “Just get in the car.”

  After an unscheduled stop for coffee, I drove us straight home. The ride was quiet for the most part. Lee was in a particularly weird mood for someone going home to see her parents. When I tried asking her about it, she wouldn’t explain. Just said she had a few things on her mind. Maybe it was schoolwork, or that Letty wasn’t coming home with her. I wasn’t sure, but I tried not to pry.

  We pulled into her driveway, and for the first time in a while, her eyes lit up. Despite what she says about her parents, she still loves them.

  I helped her remove her bags from the trunk before she wrapped her arms around my waist.

  “Thanks for the ride home,” she whispered into my shirt.

  “You’re welcome.”

  After a long hug, she pulled away. “Do you think maybe the two of us could go down to the lake tomorrow?” She asked.

  I nodded. “Sure, but I’m not swimming. You know that water is freezing.”

  “We don’t have to swim. I just want to go.”

  “Okay,” I kissed her cheek. “I’ll come get you tomorrow. Then maybe tomorrow night we can have ice cream and an Ice Age mara
thon.”

  She smiled. “YES!”

  There was a loud squeal as she made her way up the front porch steps.

  “I love you,” I called out to her.

  “Love you, too.”

  Once I was settled in at home, I took a long shower and ate a homemade meal that my Mom fixed. She didn’t know just how badly I’d been waiting for it. Both her and my Dad was at supper, but Dad had his laptop, so getting a word in with him was useless. I did tell Mom about Gwen though. She said I was too good-looking to go chasing after girls. At least we could agree on something.

  After supper, I got a phone call from Garrett while I was in the garage cleaning out my car. It seemed important since he’d called twice before that.

  Setting the used rag on the console, I dialed his number.

  “Damn you’re hard to get ahold of!” He answered. No hi or hello.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. It couldn’t have been that big of a deal.

  “I’ve been trying to call Paislee, too,” he said through a strangled breath.

  “GARRETT!” I screamed, and the phone went silent. “Tell me what the hell is going on?”

  “Tex’s house caught fire sometime this morning.”

  “What?”

  “I said…”

  “No,” I interrupted. “I know what you said. Is everyone okay? Was he there?”

  “I can’t get ahold of him, and no one here is telling me anything. I don’t if he was inside or if his parents were. I don’t know anything. I’m just standing here freaking out. The fucking house is gone, Man.”

  This was awful. Shit. “Just take a deep breath. Are your parents there?” I asked. He didn’t need to be dealing with that on his own. That was his family.

  “They’re on their way. I called them as soon as I found out. I wouldn’t have known if Obi hadn’t called me. He went over there to borrow something from Tex and called the fire department as soon as he got there. It was already up in flames.”

  I could hear the distress in his voice, and it was scaring the crap out of me.

  “Listen. I’m going to Lee’s now. I’ll pick her up and we will be on our way.”

  “Okay,” He said. “I’ll call you if I hear anymore.”

  “Alright.”

  I quickly hung up the phone and backed my car out of the garage. In my mind, I hoped that everyone was okay, but I was worried about telling Lee. Despite what she says, that girl really likes Tex. Maybe she’d spoken to him. I needed to know, and quickly.

  ***

  I ran through the front door of her house, and straight up the stairs to her bedroom. She was asleep on her bed, which was why she hadn’t received the call from Garrett.

  “Lee,” I said giving her a little shake, but she just groaned lightly. “Lee,” I called again.

  “What?” She grumbled, but she never opened her eyes.

  I pinched her shoulder. “Wake up.”

  “Ouch,” she grabbed her arm. “I’m awake.”

  “Get up, and get dressed. We have to go.” I urged her before stripping the covers off her bed. I was about to catch her wrath, but I didn’t care.

  “Joshua!”

  “Listen to me, Lee,” I stared into her eyes. “You need to get up and get dressed.”

  That look her face was finally something I could work with. She could see that I was concerned, and I needed her full attention. I grabbed her hands and helped her up.

  “You’re scaring me, Josh. What’s going on?” Her fingers gripped mine as she pulled me closer to her. Those big eyes of hers looked even bigger when she was worried.

  I tightened my grip on her hand. “Tex’s house caught fire this morning, and no one has been able to get in touch with him. Garrett called me, and said he’d been trying to call you. I guess he wanted to check and see if Tex had called you at any time. He’s really worried.”

  Her shoulders slacked and she sat back down on the bed. She shook her head no. “He hasn’t called me,” she said lightly.

  “Are you sure? Can you check again?”

  “I’m positive.” Her eyes started to fill up with tears. “The last time I talked to him was the night he picked you and Garrett up from that party.”

  Wait. That didn’t make sense. “I don’t understand.”

  She stood up quickly from the bed. “I lied, okay!” She yelled. “He’s still pissed off at me over what happened with you I guess. That night that I went to talk to him outside of the barbecue place, it didn’t go well. I tried to tell him the truth about what I was feeling, but he wouldn’t listen. So I kissed him.” She paced harder across the floor. “I freaking kissed him like a crazy person, and he told me to stop. He told me he didn’t want to hear what I had to say. He left me there, and we haven’t really spoken since.”

  Her tears were falling harder and faster now. “Why didn’t you tell me, Lee?”

  She looked up at me, furiously shaking her head. “Because you would punched him in the face again.”

  “You’re damn right I would.” I could feel my blood boiling beneath my skin. “You should’ve told me.”

  “I was fine.”

  “If you were so fine, then you wouldn’t be falling apart right now.”

  “You just told me he was missing, and that his house caught fire. How do you expect me to feel?” She yelled.

  “Come on,” I told her. “We’re going back. Garrett is worried sick.”

  “I shouldn’t.”

  “Yes, you should. You’re going. Come on.” I grabbed her purse from the floor. “If he’s okay, then I’m going to mess his face up for him.”

  “JOSH!” She screamed at me. “Don’t say that. What if…” She started to cry harder.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Come here.”

  I pulled her to my chest and held her. Gently I rubbed my hand down the back of her head. I wish she had told me what happened. It was crystal fucking clear how much he meant to her, and it tore me up to see her so upset.

  “I promise you that we will figure it all out. Let’s just go.”

  “Okay,” she replied. Her face was splotchy and red from crying and I hoped that nothing serious happened to Tex, even though I wanted to hurt him with my bare hands. I just couldn’t stand it if she had to go through much more. But if I found out he was okay, God help him.

  Twenty-Three

  Paislee

  The thick cloud of black and gray smoke could be seen from so far away. We’d just turned onto the long driveway and already I could spot the smoke from above a long line of trees in the distance.

  “I’m sure everyone is fine,” Josh said reassuringly as if he could read my thoughts. Normally he could.

  I didn’t reply, I just tightened my hands together and waited for the house to come into view.

  “Oh, Josh.” My hands flew up to my face and covered my nose and mouth. The sight was ghastly. The large farmhouse had two and a half walls standing. The entire top and center were gone. “Stop the car!” I yelled and threw open the door as we came to a screeching halt.

  Everything inside my stomach was coming up. Not that it was much, but I couldn’t hold it in. That beautiful house and everything in it was gone.

  I heaved several times until nothing more was inside me. My ears were ringing so loud that I couldn’t hear anything around me.

  I felt Josh’s hand rubbing small circles on my back, and it was comforting to me. In that moment I felt like the weakest person alive, so I was more than happy to have him close. There was no way I could explain what seeing that house meant to me. Maybe I was crazy for letting it affect me the way that it did, but I couldn’t help it. It gutted me. I had to know if Jude was okay.

  “You ready?” Josh asked as he slipped a napkin over my right shoulder.

  I wiped my face and blew my nose. “Yeah. I think so.”

  We walked together up to the row of cars that lined the fence, Josh spotted Garrett right away.

  “Hey, Man. How you hol
ding up? Is there any news?” Josh asked Garrett who gave him that one arm guy hug that they always do. You could tell that Garrett had been upset by the look on his face.

  “Nothing. The firefighters have combed the place over and they’ve found nothing except for Zeus, but he didn’t make it.”

  “Oh no,” I said. Jude loved that dog.

  “Who is Zeus?” Josh asked.

  “Jude’s dog, “ I answered quickly.

  Garrett gave me a sad pouty face, and I wanted to squeeze him but I didn’t. Otherwise, I’d be an even bigger mess.

  “His truck is in the barn, and so his Dad’s old car, but we haven’t seen or heard from them,” Garrett explained.

  It wasn’t adding up. The truck was there, but there was no sign of them. “Garrett,” I said getting his attention. “How much land do they have here? Could they be out somewhere, maybe on horseback or something?”

  “I checked the stalls already. The horses are still there.”

  I kicked the rocks beneath my feet.

  “Shit!” Garrett said, and he took off running.

  Josh and I didn’t waste time. We followed right on his heels. We ran through the loose gate of the white picket fence, and through the yard towards the big barn. Instead of stopping at the front where the doors met, we ran around to the backside. There were a couple of big machines parked behind the barn covered in with tarps. I could see some metal pieces poking out.

  Garrett stopped quickly just a few feet beyond that. He leaned over to catch his breath, and I looked to Josh for some kind of clarification. His face was as blank as mine.

  “The jeep,” Garrett spoke through his hard breaths. Big Bear was worn out, and me too for that matter. My heart was pounding in my throat instead of my chest. “The jeep is gone. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it.”

  “So he drove the jeep. Is that what you’re saying?” Josh asked, and thankfully he did. Garrett was all over the place. His arms were flailing around like he was a monkey begging for food. He was back and forth, and he looked down at the ground and then up toward us. I was about to see if he needed to sit down. All of his crazy movements were upsetting me, and I thought I might need to vomit again soon.