Absolute Zero (7 page)

He turned into me again. “Doesn’t matter. Nothing else matters.”

A distant look haunted his eyes, but as quickly as it came he chased it away with a scorching kiss. His hand skimmed down the front of me, then curved around my butt.

He shifted his weight until he was fully between my legs. Oh the sweet pressure. The bubbling in my stomach morphed into a full-on boil, and I couldn’t stop from moving beneath him.

Zach let out a long breath, then nipped at my neck but kept an intoxicating rhythm that edged me toward oblivion. My lungs felt too small to catch enough breath.

I buried my hands in his hair as my world started spinning. Heat shot straight through my belly and right to my core. “Zach.”

He looked at me with heavy-lidded eyes.

“We could move to the bed,” I whispered. “If you want. I—”

“Mandy?” Georgia’s voice trickled in through the door. “Can you guys come here?”

Thankfully she didn’t barge in, considering I didn’t have a shirt on.

“Yeah. Be right out.”
Crap!

Talk about terrible timing.

Zach leaned over me and pressed his lips on mine.

“Okay. Maybe next time…” I smiled at him, then grabbed my shirt from the floor beside us.

He stood, then pulled me to my feet. “Hands up,” he said. With loving tenderness, he slid my little tank top over my head. Once it was over my still-tingling body, his bright eyes filled my vision.

He wove his arms around my waist and hoisted me up close. My feet dangled a few inches from the floor. I hooked my hands behind his neck and brought my lips to his. My heart was pounding so bad I didn’t think it’d ever settle down.

I didn’t really want it to settle down—felt kind of nice.

He kissed my cheek, then set me down and grabbed my hand.

We strolled through the doorway and found Georgia sitting on the couch with only the glow of the TV lighting the room.

“What’s up, G?”

She looked up and tossed her phone to me.

I snatched it mid-air, thankful I didn’t drop it. “Whoa. What’s going on?”

“Read the last text.”

I tapped her phone to life and navigated to her messages.

It was from Jess:
Found your mom. Come to Scott’s apartment now.

Chapter 9

“W
e’ll follow you, Zach. Be careful.” I planted a kiss on his cheek, then scampered across the dark lot to Georgia’s SUV.

So much for getting any sleep tonight. At least I was all unpacked. Poor Georgia had, like, fifty to go, plus now a text from Jess saying he finally found her mom—er—Lois.

“Minnesota? Why Minnesota?” I asked, as I slid into the passenger-side seat.

Georgia shoved the key into the ignition. The dashboard lights sprung to life and the radio blared. She turned the volume off, then sunk in to the seat. “I don’t know. We’ve never been to Minnesota before.”

“Family up there?”

Georgia shrugged. “Lois was an only child. Parents died before I was born—er—adopted.”

Zach’s Jeep passed behind us, then Georgia shifted the gear into reverse and backed the monster-SUV out. Glad she was driving. This machine was a massive pile of metal. I sucked at driving to begin with, but get me behind something this big, and I would be a lethal weapon.

“This makes no sense. He found her using her middle name as her first and her maiden name as her last.” Georgia pounded the steering wheel. “What does all this mean? Why would she go to so much trouble?”

“Can I ask you something? Like, not so easy to hear?”

She glanced at me and nodded.

“Did your dad ever hurt her? Like, um abuse or anything?”

“No!”

“Well, I mean, that maybe you didn’t know about? I’ve heard of women disappearing because they were beaten or something. I don’t know. I mean, you would have noticed something like that, right?”

“As much as they kept their thumbs pressed on me, keeping me home so much, yeah. I would have seen stuff.”

“Sorry. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“I know. Talk about a sucky birthday.”

“Ah, hell. You can celebrate on mine, since it’s your
real
one anyway. We’ll eat cake until we puke, okay?”

“Zach’ll want to be with you probably.”

“Oh, crap. He did say he had a surprise for me.” I shook my head. “Whatever. We’ll figure it out.”

Georgia glanced at me again. “So you two were all flushed when you came out of your room, what the heck were you doing in there?” She arched an eyebrow, and a crooked smile claimed her lips.

Heat steamed my face. Mental note to self: turn on the radio or something next time Zach and I were messing around. I did remember moaning a little.

“It’s almost completely dark in here, but I can totally tell you’re blushing.” She smacked my shoulder. “You didn’t do it, did you?”

“No!” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I wouldn’t tell you if we did, though.”

“I’d like to see you try and hide that massively huge, life-altering piece of information from your twin sister.”

A pair of headlights approached, fixed on bright. “Okay, buddy, we see you. Dim the lights, man.” Georgia must have taken her foot off the gas because the car slowed. The sign identifying Trifle as only ten miles away flashed as our headlights splashed against it.

The bright lights guy went by and we continued on.

“So…” Georgia said.

“No, we didn’t do the deed.”

“Oh you’re crass. The deed?”

“We didn’t have
sex
. Is that better?” I rubbed my thighs with my slimy hands. “I don’t know if I want to. You know? I mean—I want to, very much so—but should I? Heck, I don’t even know if he wants to.”

“He’s a guy. Of course he wants to.”

“Zip it romance-novel-reading-sister of mine. Zach isn’t like that.”

“You’re right. But still, he’s a guy, he’s probably thinking about it.”

“Well, I am, too. Mom and I didn’t really get to this part before she died. You know?” I pulled some hair forward and twirled it around my finger. It’d grown so much in the last couple of months. It was almost to my waist now. I loved that.

“Speaking of moms…Mine always preached that I should wait ‘til marriage.”

“Are you going to?”

“I guess.” She shrugged. “No one’s really challenged that decision. Dan hardly did anything more than kiss me.”

“So, you’ve never done it.”

“Nope.”

“Yeah. Me neither. Tonight was the closest I’d been, and we were still fully clothed.” I snuck a glance at her. “Well,
mostly
clothed.”

“Mandy!” She looked at me with wide eyes.

“Watch the road, Blaze!”

She snapped her attention forward again. “What do you think our mom would tell me?”

“To wait. All moms would say that, wouldn’t they?”

“I guess. I mean, what’s the big deal, anyway?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’m just so shy. And, well, I hear it’s a big deal with the whole seeing someone naked and all that.”

“True.” That was a big step.

“It’s a really big deal. Not something I want to just hand out freely.” She glanced at me again. “I’d wait if I were you.”

“Easier said than done.” I shook my head. “Hey, catch back up to Zach, slow poke.” His tail lights had vanished into the darkness a few minutes ago.

My phone whistled at me, Zach’s new ring tone since I took off that embarrassing teapot one. I clicked answer and said, “Hey.”

“A car’s pulled off the road up here. Looks like a girl, and she’s by herself. Want to stop and help?”

“Yeah. Pull over. We’ll be there in a sec. I think I see your tail lights again.”

“Where’d you guys go?”

“Georgia’s a slowpoke. Just pull over, we will, too.” I set my phone in my lap and gestured ahead to Georgia. “See Zach?”

“What’s going on?”

“He said he saw someone pulled over, might be a girl, and he wants to see if she needs help.”

“Aw, such a sweetie.”

The car slowed and Georgia maneuvered it in front of Zach’s Jeep. I pushed the door open and hopped out. Once again I was on a shoulder of a dark, creepy road. I was sure I’d gone
way
past the allotted times I should be in this situation.

Then again, we’re stopping to help a total stranger in the middle of the night. That made me beam with pride that Zach thought enough to want to help a girl in distress.

I hurried around the back end of my car and to his driver’s side.

“Mandy. I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize her car. I—”

“Zach! Oh my gosh, I’m so glad it’s you!” Samantha Jones’s voice rang like a gong in my ears.

No, it was more like fingernails down a chalkboard.

Rocks scattering nearby pulled my attention behind me, and I saw skinny, big-haired, Samantha Jones scurrying toward me. I glanced back to Zach and he mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.”

“Samantha?” Georgia said, as she neared Zach’s car. “What the heck?” She looked at me.

“You know what? I don’t even care that you two losers are here. I’m just glad someone drove by on this god-forsaken desolate road. You’re the first cars I’ve seen in almost forty-five minutes.”

“What happened?” Zach asked, as he pushed his car door open.

I stepped back, shocked into silence. I mean, what were the freaking chances of this happening right now? Didn’t she go to college somewhere up in Alaska or something? Or, was that maybe just in one of my better dreams?

“I don’t know. I hit something in the road. My tire’s flat.”

“What? No triple A?”

“Try no cell service right here, you blue-streaked, loser.”

“Hey, Sam, that’s enough,” Zach said. “Just show me and let’s see what I can figure out.”

My boyfriend the mechanic. Handy to have around. Not so handy to have Samantha Jones, who totally loved my boyfriend, around, though. She led him to the passenger side of her car, and I turned to Georgia.

“Can you believe this crap?”

I glanced around the darkness. Tall pine trees lined both sides of the single lane road. The moon, thankfully, was full and beamed over us like a Hollywood spotlight, but still. Samantha Jones?

“Didn’t she go away to college?” Georgia asked, as she leaned against Zach’s jeep, arms crossed over her chest.

“My luck, she decided to go to PCC and will be in every one of my classes. All two of them. And her assigned seat right next to mine.”

Georgia giggled.

“Hey, don’t laugh. It’ll probably happen. You watch.” I slapped her shoulder.

“We wanted to move into the bigger town to help people, right? Since Trifle is so freaking small.”

“But helping Samantha Jones?” I shoved my hands in my hair. “Ugh.”

“Hey, we’re not even settled into our apartment yet, let alone ready to start doing the super-hero thing.” She grinned. “Helping people won’t always look like this.”

“Come on, let’s see if we can help move things along so we can get to Jess and Scott.”

I navigated the front of Samantha’s car. Zach knelt beside the back tire, inspecting it. Samantha hovered behind him, her hand on his shoulder.

Why wasn’t he shrugging her off?

“So what’s the verdict?” I asked.

Samantha shot her sharp gaze in my direction. I glared at her hand, but she didn’t move it. Instead, she gave me a smug look as if daring me to object to her touching my boyfriend.

“Flat. Must have been a big hole you hit, Sam.”

She giggled. “Well, if they’d put a light out here every once in a while.”

“Or. You could, I don’t know, watch the road instead of texting?”

That earned me another glare.

I glanced in her back seat. Empty beer cans littered the floor. I stepped closer to her and took a big whiff. “Son of a bitch. You’re drunk!”

Zach darted to his feet. Samantha’s hand slid off his shoulder and fell lazily by her side. Her bottom jaw dropped. I’d had enough of drunk drivers.

“I am not!” She stomped her foot, as if that wasn’t a dead giveaway in itself. “Those are from earlier.”

“Like how much earlier. Ten minutes?” I looked at Zach. “She can’t drive home, even if you fix that stupid tire.”

“Zach can drive me. He lives almost right next to me.” A grin split her smug face.

He looked at me and slouched.

So
not
a great way to end the night. It started out rocky with Nate and Zach facing off. The middle part was fantastic since it involved me kissing him—a lot—then to end with stupid Samantha Jones in the picture.

Grrr.

“It’s true. She only lives a few blocks from my house. I was going there anyway.”

My turn to slouch. “What about her car?”

“Let her deal with it tomorrow.” Zach nodded toward Samantha.

The tiny girl swayed. I could probably sneeze hard and she’d topple over. Tempting.

“Oh, man,” Georgia said, from the other side of Samantha’s car. “She
is
going to PCC. Look there in the front seat.”

“What?” I glared at Samantha as I strode to the passenger side window. Sure enough. A welcome packet sat in the front seat. I almost stomped
my
foot that time.

Samantha looked at Zach, then nodded.

“Thought you were going to State?” Zach asked.

“Didn’t work out.”

“You must have heard Zach wasn’t going and switched, huh?” I snarked.

I was totally kidding, well, almost totally, but when her eyes shot wide just before she denied it, my gut churned. Had she done exactly that?

Zach shook his head, but said nothing. He tugged at his hair and looked at her, then to me. It was dark out, so I couldn’t really see all that well, but if I wasn’t mistaken, Zach’s cheeks flamed crimson, which looked almost black for how dark it was.

Okay, what was going on between him and Samantha?

Chapter 10

“S
o her married name is Lois Elizabeth Kelsey. I found her under Liz Jacoby,” Jess said, as he pushed away from Scott’s kitchen table, holding a can of Mountain Dew, of course.

“Why Minnesota?” Georgia asked.

He shrugged. “My computer found her, but it doesn’t find out why humans do what they do.”