Betrayed (2 page)

"I got this for you." Marcus pulled a long velvet box out of his football jacket and thrust it at her. "It's to say I'm
sorry-for what a jerk I was when you were in the hospital. I know it really hurt you. Me getting together with Dori
without telling you and everything."

"You didn't have to." Rae didn't open the box. "You already apologized, and-"

"It's not just for that," Marcus interrupted. He clicked his teeth together nervously. "It's to show you that, you know,
I really care about you. No matter what. Whether you ever end up wanting to be with me or not."

Rae stared down at the box, trying to decide what to say. There were too many emotions rushing around inside
her, anger and affection and sadness.

"Open it," Marcus said softly.

Slowly Rae raised the lid and saw a tennis bracelet cradled on the box's satin lining. The sunlight caught on the
diamonds, turning them into white fire. Diamonds. What was she supposed to do?

Rae. The moment Anthony saw her, it was like his body had a flashback. He could feel her lips against his. He
could feel her arms around his neck. Instantly he was moving toward her. It took three steps for his brain to register
what she was holding in her hand. It was that bracelet, that freaking diamond bracelet, the one Salkow had bought
for her.

Anthony forced his eyes away from Rae, and, yeah, there was Salkow standing next to her with a crazy grin on his
face. Why wouldn't he look happy after handing Rae a present like that? Salkow had acted all worried about
whether or not she'd like it-he'd even shown it to Anthony to see what Anthony thought. As if there was any
question that any girl anywhere wouldn't get all ecstatic at the sight of it.

He turned away and started back up to the main doors. What in the hell had he been thinking kissing Rae when he
knew for a fact Salkow was getting back together with her? She deserved a guy like that, a guy who could10

"Anthony, wait a minute." Anthony's heart shot up into his throat, and his stomach lurched up into the empty
space in his chest. Rae'd come after him. He turned to face her-but saw Jackie Kane standing there. His organs
slithered back into place.

"You're out of the hospital," he said. A total moron comment.

"My parents wanted me to stay home for a few days, but I wanted to come back right away. Less gossip time,"

Jackie explained. "If I'm here, no one can say I died from my aspirin OD or that I'm in a designer straitjacket
somewhere."

Anthony nodded. Is this girl-this quiet, all-buttoned-up girl-the real Jackie? he wondered. She was nothing like the
girl who'd been chugging vodka at McHugh's party last week. Absolutely nothing like the girl who'd shoved him
against the wall and kissed him until he could hardly stay on his feet.

"I wanted you to know-" Jackie took a quick glance over her shoulder. "My parents and I have our first family
counseling meeting on Wednesday. In a few weeks my brother, Phillip, is going to come to one of the meetings,
too."

Good, Anthony thought. From what Jackie had told him, make that what he'd pried out of her, Phillip was a big part
of the problem in her family. "Was it hard to get them to say they'd do it?"

Anthony asked.

"The… my suicide attempt scared them more than I thought it would. When the doctor told them I'd said I wanted
family counseling, they fell all over themselves getting out a credit card and signing us up." Jackie gave a small
smile. "I think they decided counseling would be a lot less embarrassing than whatever I'd do next. And all the best
people see therapists," she added, more than a little sarcasm creeping into her voice.

"If you ever want to talk about any of it, you know, with a nonprofessional, I'm around," Anthony said. He noticed
one of the laces on his sneakers was loose, and he bent down to retie it. "Thanks," Jackie said.

Anthony retied the lace of his other shoe, even though it wasn't loose, then shoved himself to his feet. "I should go
hit my locker."

"Okay," Jackie said quickly. She smoothed a stray section of her blond hair into her ponytail. "But first let me
apologize for-" She hesitated. "For what I did to you at the party. I was-"

"In a vodka haze," Anthony finished for her, wanting to get this conversation done with.

"Well, yeah," Jackie admitted. "I was doing every stupid thing I could think of, like you said in the hospital, to get
my parents to notice me. God,you saw me shoplifting and driving drunk-" Jackie stopped abruptly. Her cheeks
turned pink. "I didn't mean kissing you was like those things."

Anthony knew kissing him was definitely on the list of stupid crap she'd done, but he didn't call her on it.

"It's just not something I'd usually do," Jackie rushed on. "At least not so fast," she added, speaking so quickly,
the words came out jumbled together.

Message received, Anthony thought. I get that there's no chance in hell anything's going to happen between us.

The first bell rang. "I gotta go," Anthony said, for once actually happy classes were about to start. "See you." He
hurried to the main doors.

"Bye," Jackie called after him. "And thanks again."

Anthony gave a little hand flip, not wanting to turn back and be forced to look at her, then he pushed his way
through the doors and strode down the hall. He got smiles and "hi's" from a couple of girls-more than a couple. But
that's because he was good on the football field. That's the only reason they'd let him into Sanderson Prep in the
first place.

None of the smiles meant anything more than "that's the guy who won us the game." They weren't invitations or
anything. So is it finally through yourthick head? he asked himself. Jackie made out with you because she wanted
to be a bad girl. Rae kissed you because you saved her life. It didn't mean anything. Rae-make that Rae, Jackie, and
every girl in this friggin' school-wants to end up with a guy like Salkow. A guy who belongs.

Rae hurried out the back doors and immediately scanned the parking lot for Anthony's mom's Hyundai. She knew
he always dropped his mom off at work so he could have the car until it was time to pick her up.

Good, it's still there, she thought. It should be. She'd sprinted out here-well, the Rae version of sprinting, which
wasn't all that fast-after the last bell. She couldn't go the rest of the day without seeing him.

Was he avoiding her? Was that why he hadn't shown up in the caf? If he is, it's because of that bracelet. He saw
Marcus give it to me. I know it. And he went inside before he could see me give it back. God, who knew what was
going on in Anthony's head right now?

Rae decided to stake out his car. It was the only way she'd be absolutely sure he wouldn't slip by her. She started
across the lot and spotted Yana Savari's bright yellow VW Bug. Perfect. She andYana could keep watch for Anthony
together while Rae told Yana about the bracelet and how Anthony'd stayed out of sight all day. Yana'd help her
analyze the sitch. It was part of bestfriend duty.

Before Rae could reach the car, Yana climbed out. One look at Yana's face and all thoughts of Anthony slid out of
Rae's head. She rushed over to her friend. "What's wrong?" she exclaimed. "Did the guys from the motel come after
you again? Did-"

"You know exactly what's wrong," Yana snapped. "Don't pretend you don't." Her blue eyes were bright with anger,
and her face was flushed. "What?" Rae cried.

"What?" Yana repeated, her lips curling into a sneer. "I can't believe you're asking me what. Are you going to try
and pretend that you didn't know what I told you in the motel was a secret?"

"What?" Rae hadn't meant to say the word again, but she had no idea what Yana was talking about. "Of course I
knew," she added quickly.

"You knew, but it didn't mean a thing to you. You had to be Little Miss Do-good and try to fix things. Just like you
did when you went looking for Anthony's dad. Didn't that smack any sense into your head? You don't know
anything about his life. And you absolutely don't know anything about mine," Yana spat out.

Rae forced herself to meet Yana's gaze, even though the fury radiating out of her light blue eyes was so powerful
that Rae could almost feel her skin singeing. "Back up, okay? Just tell me-"

Yana shook her head, her bleached blond hair flying around her face. "Oh, I get it. You're going to pretend that you
don't know anything about the letter." She moved closer, going almost nose to nose with Rae. "Did you think
because you didn't sign it, I'd be too stupid to figure out who it was from? I only told one person about my seventh
birthday and the ballet-you."

Rae stayed exactly where she was, fighting the urge to back away. "I still don't know what you're talking about,"

she said, forcing herself to speak the words softly and calmly. "What letter?"

"The letter to my dad. The one that told him how much his-what was the word you used?-oh, yeah, indifference,
you said how much his indifference had hurt me. Then you told the whole ballet story. Not that I wouldn't have
figured out it was you who sent it, anyway. It was so you, Rae."

Yana started to turn away. Rae reached out and caught her arm. "I didn't do it. You have to believe me. We thought
we might be being monitored in the motel, remember?" "Oh, right. And one of the men who kidnappedus felt so
sorry for me that he decided to write a letter to my father." Yana jerked her arm free. "Just stay out of my life from
now on." "You don't-" "Get away from me," Yana yelled. "Now!"

Rae felt tears sting her eyes, and she was suddenly aware that she and Yana were drawing a crowd. "Fine," Rae
answered. Clearly it wouldn't help to talk to Yana right now. If it would, Rae wouldn't care how many people were
watching. But it was pointless.

She turned and walked into the school building, then headed for the closest bathroom. Once inside she locked
herself in a stall. The moment the metal bar slid into place, the tears started streaking down her face, hot against her
skin. Rae pressed the heels of her hands against her mouth, pushing her lips hard against her teeth. She couldn't
keep herself from crying, but she wasn't going to let anyone else hear her.

Yana was her best friend. How could she believe Rae would lie to her face? Rae yanked a handful of toilet paper
squares out of the metal dispenser, then wiped her eyes viciously.

Enough, she thought. Crying isn't going to fix things with Yana. I need to prove to her that I didn't send the letter.

And that means showing her exactlywho did.

The only ones it could be were the men who had held her and Yana in the motel. She'd thought they might be
listening to her and Yana, even though they'd been left alone in the room. Now she'd just have to prove it.

Rae threw the soggy toilet paper into the toilet and flushed. They-the men-had to have sent the letter to Yana as a
way to get to Rae. Had they figured out how Yana would react? Had they been trying to make Yana think Rae had
betrayed her?

It made sense in a twisted way, Rae thought. They knew Yana had gone to the motel to help Rae. So they'd torn
Yana away from her. They want me alone. That's what it is, she decided. They want me helpless. Well, that's not
going to happen.

Anthony hurled himself at the tackle dummy, sending it lurching backward. He retreated a few steps and flung
himself at it again. "Save something for the game, Fascinelli," Coach Mosier yelled. Anthony nodded-then rammed
his body into the dummy as hard as he could. He didn't want to save anything. He wanted the sweat. The crunch.

The pain. It was the only thing that kept his mind off-the only thing that kept his mind where it should be.

Anthony battered the dummy, grunting as he charged it again and again. "Whoo-hoo! Go, Anthony," someone
called from the stands. Anthony wiped the sweat out of his eyes and glanced in the direction the voice had come
from. Yana. He felt like he'd justtaken a hit to the belly. If Yana was here, that had to mean Rae was, too. He'd spent
lunch pumping iron so he wouldn't have to deal with her, and now she was here. He pulled in a gulp of the grass-scented air and scanned the stands. He couldn't stop himself. No Rae.

Okay, good, good. Anthony lowered his shoulder and slammed the dummy again, welcoming the spike of pain
stabbing into his arm. Focus on that, he thought. "Showers," the coach yelled.

Anthony wasn't ready to stop. Do some laps, he ordered himself, and immediately started around the field. Yeah,
he'd run until he collapsed somewhere. Because that's what it would take to stop thinking about her. And he had to
stop thinking about her or he'd go nuts. Diamond bracelet, remember? he asked himself.

Why had he kissed her? If he hadn't, it would be so much easier "Fascinelli, what are you doing?" Coach Mosier
called.

"Just some laps," he shouted back without breaking stride.

"I say when you do laps," the coach answered. "And I say when you shower. Locker room-now!" Anthony
reluctantly slowed to a walk, the musclesin his thighs and calves on fire, and turned toward the gym. A moment later
he felt someone tap his shoulder. "No time for your adoring public?" Yana asked as she fell into step beside him.