Beautiful (17 page)

“You have every right to be there, and she is just a bitch. No one cares about what she says anymore, Sky. Look at the people who have started talking to you again.”

I turned my head and looked at him. “A handful of people, Mitch. That’s it. The notes have finally started to die down. The last thing I want is to draw attention to myself again.”

“So, you’re going to miss your senior prom and let people like Jenny win?”

Swallowing hard, I forced the tears to stay at bay. “You don’t understand.”

“No, Skylar, I don’t understand. You were so happy with Wyatt. Things were getting better, I thought. You know deep down inside that Jenny set up Wyatt with that kiss, yet you keep him at arm’s length. You are miserable without him. Why can’t you admit that you love him?”

“What?”

Mitch laughed as he pulled into the dealership and parked. Looking at me, he shook his head. “Please don’t act like that is a shock to hear. The two of you are head over heels in love with each other. Stop letting what other people do or say keep you from happiness, Sky.”

My chin quivered as I looked into my brother’s eyes. “I’m scared, Mitch.”

Taking my hand in his, he kissed the back of it. “I know, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I really believe with all my heart that Wyatt is the one. The way he looks at you, Skylar, anyone can see it.”

I chewed on my lower lip as I let his words sink in. “We’d better get going, or we’ll both be late.”

I couldn’t stop thinking about what Mitch had said earlier. Every class I sat in, I wouldn’t hear a damn thing the teacher said. Each time I closed my eyes, I’d only see Wyatt.

Am I in love with him
?

I already knew the answer was yes. I thought I had fallen in love with him the first time he smiled at me.

The bell rang, causing me to jump. Jacob walked by me and smiled. I returned it with a polite smile.

As I walked to my locker, I knew what I had to do—face my fears, open my heart, and trust that Wyatt would take care of it.

Standing at my locker, I took in a deep breath of air. Opening the door, a note fell to the floor. I hadn’t been reading them anymore, but for some reason, this one caught my eye. There was a photo in it. I looked around as I bent down to pick it up. Slowly unfolding it, I caught my breath when I saw a picture of Jenny leaning against a wall with Wyatt resting his hand on the wall above her head. He was laughing as she smiled up at him.

My heart fell to my stomach, but I wasn’t going to jump to conclusions, not this time.

“You’ve finally pushed him away.”

I looked up and saw Michelle staring at me. “What?”

“Sky, did you think he would sit around and wait for you? It’s been months since you’ve really talked to him. He probably got tired of waiting around for you to come to your damn senses.”

I glared at my best friend. She was frustrated with me. I knew that. She was like Mitch. Neither one of them understood why I’d been trying to keep Wyatt at arm’s length.

Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I replied, “Why are you saying that? You know why I’ve done what I’ve done. The talking and the hate notes will just get worse.”

She glanced down at the picture in my hands. “Because they have really stopped.”

I was about to respond when I saw Wyatt walking up to us. Quickly moving the picture behind me, I took in a deep breath.

“Hey, Sky. Can I talk to you for a minute?”

My eyes bounced over to Michelle. She raised her eyebrow and tilted her head.

Ugh.
Does she have any idea how hard it has been to ignore Wyatt?

No. She thought it was easy, but it had about killed me.

As much as I knew I needed to talk to Wyatt, this was not the place. If I told him I was leaving, maybe he would offer to walk me out to my car.

“Um…I was actually getting ready to leave. I have a dentist appointment.”

Wyatt smiled that drop-dead gorgeous smile of his, and my heart dropped to my stomach.

“May I walk you out?”

I looked around to see if anyone was watching us. “Um…sure.” Shutting my locker, I turned to Michelle. “I’ll call you later.”

She smiled and nodded her head. “You’d better believe you will. See ya around, Wyatt.”

“See ya,” Wyatt said while pushing his fingers through his hair and smiling.

Oh God, I’ve missed seeing him do that.
I felt an ache between my legs, but I pushed it aside.

As we walked outside, Wyatt tried his best to make me laugh, and I tried my best not to be charmed by him, but I felt myself smile even though I still needed to find out what had really happened in the picture.

Wyatt grabbed me by the arm and stopped walking. “Skylar, please. Please stop avoiding me. I can’t take it. All I do is think about you, and it’s killing me to see you walk through these halls every day. I miss you. I miss your laugh, your smile, your touch…the way your lips felt against mine.”

I wanted to fall into his arms. I wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay. But that familiar feeling of being scared crept up. “What about Jenny?” I asked, pulling my arm from him and walking again. For some reason, I felt the need to get away from here as soon as I could.

Wyatt let out a sigh as he walked next to me. “Jesus Christ, Skylar, will you stop with that? You know nothing is going on with her.”

He was right. I did know that. I stopped and turned to look at him.

I noticed someone standing at the top of the stairs, but Wyatt walked closer to me and blocked my view. He grabbed my face, bent down, and kissed me. His soft lips pressed against mine, and I found myself getting lost in the passion of his kiss. I slowly moved my hands up. Wrapping my arms around him to deepen the kiss, I felt as if I was finally letting go of my insecurities. I didn’t care who saw us kissing. All I knew was, I was in Wyatt’s arms again.

“She’s a damn good kisser, isn’t she?”

Fear filled my body as I pulled away from Wyatt and spun around. It was him—Charlie. My heart raced faster, and my head started spinning. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest. I couldn’t breathe.

“Yes, she is,” Wyatt softly said.

I turned and looked at him as he looked at me with such love in his eyes. He smiled. He had no idea who this was. Looking past Wyatt, I saw Jenny standing there. She looked pissed.

My attention was drawn back to Charlie when I heard him laugh. That wicked, evil laugh had been haunting my dreams for months.

Why is Charlie here? What is Jenny doing outside? Did she follow us? Is she meeting Charlie?

I couldn’t stand the thought of being so close to him. When he smiled at me, my whole body trembled.

“I have to go.” I pushed my way past Charlie and ran to my car.

Wyatt called out for me, but I needed to get away. Jumping into my car, I started it and drove off.

By the time I got to my house, I could hardly breathe. My phone buzzed with a text message. Figuring it was Wyatt wondering why I’d rushed off, I grabbed it and opened it.

It was from an unknown sender. The second I saw the picture, my whole world stopped.

“Oh. My. God. No…”

Wyatt

Fuck. Just when I get her to talk to me, she freaks again.

I watched as Skylar ran to her car and jumped in.

I looked back at the guy who was staring at her as she drove away. He turned and looked past me. He winked and smiled at someone. Spinning around, I saw Jenny standing on the steps.

Oh, great, just what I need.

“Take it from me, dude. She’s a good fuck, if you haven’t already figured that out.” The guy threw his head back and laughed.

What the hell?

“What did you say?” I asked while taking a step closer to him.

I felt someone touch my arm. I turned to see Jenny standing there.

She grabbed my arm and pulled me. “Wyatt, let’s go for a ride. I could really use something to eat and drink. Please?”

My eyes bounced between her and the guy. “What do you mean, she’s a good fuck? Who?”

He smiled a cocky-ass smile at me.

Holy shit. This is Charlie.

“Sky, of course. She’s probably the best lay I’ve ever had.” He looked at Jenny and winked. “No offense, Jen. You were good, too, babe.”

“Shut the hell up, Charlie. You’re such an asshole.”

My head was spinning.
What in the hell is happening
?

I felt my hands balling up into fists. I was going to kill this motherfucker. I moved toward him, only to have Mitch step in between us.

He put his hand on my chest and looked at me. “He’s not worth it, Wyatt. Let’s just go find Sky. I’m worried about her.”

I stopped and looked at him. “She went to the dentist…didn’t she?”

Mitch shook his head. “No. Michelle said she got another note. I think she took off somewhere.”

With a confused expression, I asked, “What do you mean, another note?”

Mitch glared at Jenny. “Let’s just go. I’ll tell you when we get to the truck.”

Jenny reached for my arm, but I jerked it away. “Wyatt, wait! I have to talk to you. You have to let me explain. Please.”

Shaking my head, I stared at her. I couldn’t even stand to be near her. All she ever tried to do was trap me into situations. “Why? So, you can fabricate another picture?”

A tear slipped from her eye. “Please just let me explain.”

“I need to find Skylar. You’re the least of my worries right now.”

Mitch and I jogged to his truck.

After we got in, he started to tell me everything, “Skylar has been getting notes ever since the thing with Charlie. Some of them were threats, but most were just downright mean and hateful. They slowed down until you moved here and started hanging with her. Then, they started back up.”

My heart was breaking as Mitch kept talking. Knowing that Skylar had been going through all of this alone gutted me.

“In her own weird way, she thought if she pushed you away, people would go back to ignoring her and leave you alone. It killed her to do it.”

“Shit,” I mumbled. “Why didn’t she tell me about the notes?”

Mitch shook his head. “She hasn’t even told our parents. Only Michelle and I know.”

“I want to kill that fucker. When he told me she was a good fuck, I wanted to kill him.”

“Imagine how Skip and I feel. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to stop myself from going after that asshole. Skip almost did kill him. Beat his ass so bad that he ended up in the hospital. Charlie was supposed to be his best friend, and he raped our sister. Every day of my life, I fight the urge to kill him.”

We drove around for over an hour, looking for Skylar.

I looked out the window, wondering where in the hell she had gone. “Mitch, where do you think she is?”

“I have no clue, Wyatt. She could be anywhere.”

Closing my eyes, I whispered, “Angel, where are you?” Then, it hit me. “Shit. The lake. Mitch, she’s at the lake.”

“The lake?”

Mitch turned his truck around, and we headed out toward Inks Lake State Park. I was willing his truck to drive faster. Something told me I needed to get to her fast.

Mitch’s phone went off with a text message. “See if that’s Sky.”

I opened the text message and instantly felt sick to my stomach. “Motherfucker. Pull over, Mitch. Pull over now!”

Mitch pulled over, and I threw his phone on the seat as I jumped out of the truck. Leaning over, I started throwing up.

The next thing I knew, Mitch was cursing like a sailor behind me. Then, I heard him on the phone.

Why? Why would anyone send that picture? Sick motherfuckers.

“Dad, someone is sending a picture of Skylar around. They’ve posted it everywhere! No, Dad. It’s Skylar…naked, and it looks like someone is…someone is…” Mitch started crying. “Why, Dad? Why would anyone post that picture? I don’t know where she is, Dad. Wyatt thought she might be out at the lake.”

I listened to Mitch talk to his father for a few minutes longer. I waited for him to finish before I walked back to his truck. I’d never in my life felt so angry yet so devastated at the same time.

My poor angel.

Dragging in a deep breath, I went to get into the truck when I noticed another truck driving by with the music blaring. When I looked at the driver, I saw it was Charlie.