Hunted (34 page)

Lanie sucked in a hard breath.  “I don’t have a sex life!” she bit out, now wanting to punch Johnna.

A look went around the group that plainly stated no one believed her.

“We have the Homecoming Parade coming up Friday.  When are we going to start the float?” Devyn asked, obliging the subject shift.

“We have tomorrow and half the day Friday, so we have to move our butts,” Johnna stated.

“We’ll get it finished,” Lanie stated, turning her focus back to looking up at the millions of stars peppering the sky.  “All we have to do is wire some stuff onto it and it’s done.”

The Spirit Squad float was kept in a garage building behind the school, along with some of the other floats used for town celebrations.  It was basically a big flat trailer that they just wired different decorations onto.  This year it was a Mardi Gras theme and all the necessary items were waiting there in the garage, masks, the purple and gold skirting, boxes of beaded necklaces to throw at people.  The Spirit Squad had hopefully picked all the stuff up from The Party Place that morning.  It would only take a few hours at most to finish it up.

“I hope there’s no way for the parents to mess up the parade,” Devyn grumped.  “But, I’m sure if they can, they will.”

“Eh, we should just let it go,” Chase said easily.  “Once all this is over things will go back to normal.”

Lanie truly doubted that things in Fells Pointe would ever go back to normal.

There was a sudden stuttering sound from the generator and the light spilling out from the concession stand dimmed for a few brief seconds.  A short instant later someone came to the door and poked their head out.

“The generator needs some gas!  Whoever has some…” the boy left that statement hanging and disappeared back inside.

“I have some!” Chase called out, his voice echoing over the darkened parking lot.  That announcement made, he disappeared around the vehicle, returning shortly with a red gas can.  “Wanna come help me, Lanie?”

Lanie sighed, debated for a minute, but then slid to the ground anyway.  She didn’t want to go with with Chase, but she didn’t want to sit and listen to her friends worrying over the unfinished float, either.  Honestly, she found that she didn’t care.

Chase took her hand in his and pulled her along through the maze of parked cars.  “So, tell me about this boy you’ve been sneaking around with.  Is he why you weren’t in school today?”

Lanie flushed, thankful it was too dark for Chase to notice.  “I’m not sneaking around.  And I’m no hooking up with anybody,” she avowed.

“But, he is the reason why you missed school today?” Chase persisted.

“You aren’t my father, so you’ll get no answers from me,” she said, jabbing him in the ribs with her elbow.

Chase chuckled.  “Well, look at Lanie Bancroft.  I’ve never known you to be interested in a guy enough to ditch school.”

Lanie withheld comment.  It was none of Chase Wylie’s business what she did or who she did or did not do it with!

“Are you coming to the game Friday night?” Chase asked her, changing the awkward subject.

Lanie shrugged.  “Probably.”  It really depended on whether she was alive or dead.

“Do you want to sit on the bench and watch?” he asked her.

Wow.  Sitting on the bench?  That was almost a commitment.  “Shouldn’t you ask Tawny?” she asked him with an air of innocence.

Chase looked slightly chagrined.  “I could, I guess.  But, I’d rather have you on the bench.”

Of course he would.  Boys always wanted what they couldn’t have.  “I’ll think about it,” she casually answered him.  

They had meandered through the parking lot and around the side of the building, which was where the generator was sitting, humming like a lawnmower motor and spitting out a hiccup now and then as it used up what fuel it had left.  There was enough light filtering out through the side window so that the area wasn’t pitch black, allowing Chase to refill the gas tank of the generator with speedy efficiency. 

Once the generator was filled and chugging smoothly along, Chase sat the gas can down and moved to lean against the side of the brick building, motioning for Lanie to join him.  After a moment’s hesitation, she walked over and stood next to him, resting her back against the building, finding the bricks cold through her clothes.  The wind was slightly bitter as it blew out of the woods looming just out of reach of the light, forcing Lanie to wrap her arms around herself to try and stave it off.   She didn’t see how Johnna and Devyn weren’t freezing wearing nothing but their sparkly scarves and tight tee shirts.

“Are you cold?” Chase wondered, raising his arm and putting it around her shoulders.  Lanie didn’t mind exactly.  It did keep some of the chill away.  “So, is it serious with you and this guy?  Should I just give up and slink off into the night, licking my wounds?”

Lanie lifted a shoulder.  “It’s not serious.  It’s not even a thing.  I don’t even know how long he’ll be in town,” she confessed, feeling her heart drop a fraction.

It dawned on her then that Kyle Vincent would not be in Fells Pointe once Frederik decided to move on.  He’d go after Frederik and then she would never see him again.

“Don’t tell me he’s going to hook up with you and then take off?” Chase asked, looking disgusted.

“I did not hook up with him,” she asserted and refrained from pointing out the fact that Chase Wylie himself had hooked up with a number of girls and had never spoken to them again, which was just as bad as leaving town, if not worse. 

Clearly, Chase did not believe her, but that was his problem.  “I have to say, I’ve never heard talk about you behaving like one of those girls, Lanie.  I’m a little shocked.”

Chase had never heard talk of it because what boy in town, and in his right mind, would brag about what he was doing with Sheriff Bancroft’s only daughter? 

“Well, I’ve heard talk of how you behave,” Lanie told him.  If the talk was to be believed, and it was, Chase Wylie was a busy young man.

“Eh, half of it is just vicious gossip and innuendo,” Chase grinned at her.

Yeah, of course it was.  “And I suppose what I saw you doing with Sarah Paige behind the bleachers last week was all just gossip and innuendo?”

“Well, I did say
half
of it was vicious gossip.  Not all of it,” Chase told her.

Lanie chuckled, feeling herself thaw out a little toward the boy.  Whatever else Chase Wylie was, he was kind of charming. 

“You know, we should have started hanging out ages ago,” he told her, moving closer to her and tightening his arm around her.  “Just think of all the fun we could have been missing.”

She thought about it.  She felt she’d made the right decision by
not
hanging out with him. 

“Believe it or not, a lot of people think you’re stuck up,” Chase told her sympathetically.

“Oh?” she said.  She absolutely did not give two cents about what people thought, and by people she assumed Chase meant the Spirit Squad.

“Yeah.  I mean, you know, you don’t party a lot, you hardly ever go out with any boys, you’re kind of…standoffish sometimes,” he pointed out.

Huh.  She didn’t feel standoffish.  She just didn’t like to be surrounded by people, most especially not cheerleaders, all the time.  She was not a sheep.  She did not need to travel in a herd.  Or was it a flock? 

“I’ve always thought you were pretty cool,” Chase said to her.  “And cute.”

“And that’s the most important thing, right?” Lanie said to him. 

Of course it was.  Chase Wylie had never been seen wasting time on a girl who could be considered less than attractive.

“It doesn’t hurt,” Chase said amicably.  “But, you know it’s about more than that with you.  You’re not like the rest of them.”

Was that because she wasn’t willing to lie down with him just because he’d winked at her?  “The rest of them aren’t so bad.  You can have any one of them, you know.”

“Yeah, but I don’t really want any of them,” he confessed to her.  “Not for more than a few minutes anyway.”

Lanie wasn’t sure how to take that statement.  “I’m not looking for anything right now, Chase.”  She didn’t want to lead him on.  That wouldn’t be fair, not even to Chase Wylie.

“Me either.  But, we can hang out, right?  We don’t have to date to have fun together,” he pointed out.

She completely agreed with him.  She hung out with Finn and Brady and had a blast and she hadn’t ever dated either of them.  “You’re right.  We don’t have to date to have fun,” she told him.

“Good,” Chase said and suddenly leaned over and pressed his mouth against hers.

Lanie went stiff, her mind stalling for a second.  Again?  What was Chase Wylie’s problem!  They were not dating!  Had they not just gone over that!

Lanie jerked away from him.  “Chase, didn’t we just say—“

Chase kissed her again, tightening his arm so that she couldn’t move away from him this time.  Something akin to rage flashed through Lanie and she brought her hands up to shove against his chest, forcing his mouth off of hers.

“Chase, are you nuts!” she hissed at him, trying to push him away from her enough so that she wasn’t trapped by his arm.  “Let go of me!”

“Come on, Lanie.  You said you wanted to have fun,” Chase said, his tone implying that she was joking with him.

“Yes!  Fun like seeing a movie!  Not fun like you sticking—“

Chase’s mouth was on hers again, cutting off her words, and in one quick move was around in front of her, his hands on either side of her, hemming her in so that she couldn’t get away.  His body was pressed up against hers, pushing her hard into the brick building and forcing some of the air out of her lungs.

Lanie’s seemed to go numb at that point, her mind not willing to believe what Chase Wylie was doing to her.  She honestly could not take in the fact that Chase Wylie was actually trying something like this.  With
her
, of all people!

Chase suddenly pulled his mouth from hers and dropped it down to the side of her neck, running his tongue along the flesh there, the feel of that sending a wave of repulsion crashing over her.

“Chase, stop it!” she growled at him, trying to shove him off of her, but she couldn’t budge him.  “Have you lost your mind!  Let me go!”

“It’s alright, Lanie,” Chase told her, his voice thick and his breathing ragged.  “You don’t have to pretend to put up a fight.  I won’t tell anyone about this.”

Anger surged up inside Lanie and she began to trying to wrestle her way out of Chase’s arms, memories of her self-defense classes streaking through her brain, but she was pushed so tight up against the building and Chase’s weight against her was so heavy that she couldn’t move, let alone land a blow that would get him off her!

“Calm down, Lanie,” Chase whispered in her ear, his body pushing harder against hers so that she could feel…something that she did not want to feel!  “Just give it a minute and you’ll warm up.”

No!  She would not warm up! 

Chase lifted his mouth from her neck and moved to kiss her again, but Lanie quickly turned her face away from him, still struggling to find a way to move him back enough so that she could put him on his ass.  All she needed was a second, just one second and then Chase Wylie would regret his decision to try something like this on her!

“Let me go, Chase!” she bit the words out, her awareness telling her that the more she struggled against him, the more he seemed to like it and the more she could…feel him, but she couldn’t stop herself. 

“Do you really want me to?” he asked, running his tongue along her cheek and then down to her neck.  “I don’t think you really want me to, do you?  I mean, you’re hooking up with some other guy.  Why not me?”

Lanie whipped her head back around so that she was looking up at Chase Wylie.  Fury ignited in her belly and the next instant her vision blurred as her forehead slammed into the bone and cartilage of the boy’s face.  It was a redundant move, but it was effective.

A pained growl erupted from him and Lanie felt his weight lift off her, which was the opportunity she needed.  As her vision cleared, she put both her hands on Chase’s chest and shoved with all her might, sending him stumbling backwards a couple of steps and putting enough space between them so that she could shoot out her right fist and crack it against Chase’s jaw.  Another growl erupted from him and before he could recover from either blow, Lanie drew back to hit him again, ignoring the pain reverberating down the length of her arm.