It Was You (26 page)

West wiped at the blood on his chin, seemed surprised to see it smeared on his hand when he pulled it away. He shrugged, then walked slowly over to us.

He looked at Tana, then at me, his eyes glassy. “You.,” he said, his voice coming out in a gasp. “Are not. A piece of meat.”

I was uncomfortable with all of the eyes on us.

Sirens pierced the quiet that had taken over the party.

West just stared at me.

“
We need to go,” I said. “Now.”

“
You don’t wanna stay and have another beer?” he asked, the bloody corner of his mouth flexing upward into a dry smile. He turned and looked at the four bodies laying on the ground, then turned back to me. “I don’t think they’ll bother us.”

“
I meant the sirens,” I said.

His expression was flat. “I don’t care.”

I took him by the hand and pushed Tana forward. “For some reason, I do.”

FORTY TWO

“He was like a ninja or something,” Tana whispered.

We were back in her room. West was in the shower. We’d driven back to the dorm in silence and the only words he’d uttered were when he asked if he could clean up.

I was stretched out on the end of her bed, my fingers rubbing my temples. “Yeah. Just like.”

“
I mean, he destroyed those guys, Abby. Is he some sort of MMA guy or something?”

“
I have no idea.”

“
What do you mean you have no idea?”

“
I mean I have no idea.” I closed my eyes. “I have no idea where he learned to fight like that. Or why he fights like that.”

“
You’ve seen it before?”

“
Yep.”

Tana shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like that. I thought he was gonna get his ass kicked and that he was being pig-headed. Next thing I know, there are guys lying all over the ground and he’s asking us if we want a beer.”

“Yeah. I was there, remember?”

“
He just destroyed them.”

Yes. He had. All because some guy had made a rude comment to me. Normally, you just shoved the guy, postured a little, and that was the end of it. At least that's what I'd experienced.

This time, though, it was like West needed the fight. He didn’t look for a way to walk away from it. He'd stayed there, like he wanted it. And then he’d gone through them methodically and easily, like they could’ve added four more guys and it wouldn’t have mattered.

That wasn’t normal.

“Why were you worried about the sirens?” Tana asked. “You were afraid they were going to come arrest him?”

“
I guess.”

“
They were probably just going to break up the party. Happens all the time. You know that.”

I did know that. But I also knew that something had happened with West in the past, something I didn't know about. I didn’t know what or why, but that much had been made clear to me. And the more I thought about everything, I realized the less I knew about West. Like there were all of these secrets that I’d only learned the bare bones about but seemed to matter a whole lot.

I didn’t feel like I knew anything.

“
So what happens now?” Tana asked, nodding at the bathroom door. “When he gets out?”

“
No clue, Tana. None.”

“
And why did he show up here? And how did he find us at the party?”

“
Tana. I don’t know. You’ve been with me the entire time he’s been here. I don’t have any answers. I’m just as confused as you are.”

And I was confused. I had the same questions she did, but I had more, too. But I wasn’t sure I really wanted the answers. I’d just wanted to get away from all of the turmoil back in San Diego and it had followed me up the coast.

And that irritated me.

The water shut off in the bathroom and the shower door creaked open, then closed.

“He’s going to be out here in a minute,” she said.

“
I know.”

“
So what are you going to do?”

“
I have no idea,” I said, totally annoyed. “No idea. I didn’t know he was coming. I don’t know what he wants. And I hate that he acted like some sort of…I don’t what to call it. But I hate that he just showed and knocked the crap out of all those guys. I hate that stuff.”

“
At least you know you’re safe when you’re with him.”

But was I? When I didn’t know what kind of secrets he was keeping from me? When I didn’t know  why he seemed to go off half-cocked at the drop of a hat? When I didn’t know seemingly anything about him?

I didn’t feel safe.

I sat up on the bed. “I don’t know what to do, Tana. And sorry if I’m being a bitch.”

She rolled her eyes. “Please. You’re not being a bitch. We’ve got a little bit of drama here.”

“
A little bit?”

“
You know what I mean,” she said. “And I don’t care what you do. You can stay here. He can stay here. Whatever. I’m just being nosy.”

I tried to smile. “You aren’t being nosy. You’re trying to help me. Thank you.”

“Well, I am being nosy,” she said, smiling. “But you’re welcome.”

The door to the bathroom opened and West stood there in his jeans and torn gray T-shirt. His wet hair was pushed back off his face and his skin was pink from the hot water of the shower. The cut near his eye looked like nothing more than a scratch, but his bottom lip was slightly swollen with the big cut in the middle.

He stood there for a moment, unsure of himself, looking around the room, then at me. “So.”

Tana stood from the floor. “I’m gonna go down to the vending machine. You guys want anything?”

“You don’t have to leave,” I said to her. “It’s your room.”

“
I’m thirsty,” she said. “And hungry. Anything?”

I shook my head. West did the same.

“Be back in a bit,” she said, throwing a glance in my direction before heading out of the room and closing the door behind her.

West finally moved, walking over and sitting down on the edge of Athena’s camouflage-covered bed. He glanced at the deer head on the wall. “This is where the hunter chick sleeps?”

“How’d you guess?”

“
Well, the deer head and then…” He stopped himself, realizing my question was rhetorical. “Yeah, guess it’s pretty obvious.”

“
Wanna know what’s not obvious?” I asked.

He looked at me.

“Why you’re here,” I said. “That’s not obvious to me in any way.”

He rubbed his hands on the thighs of his jeans. “Because I wanted to talk to you.”

“Really? Because it looked to me like it was because you were just looking for a fight. Like you were looking to kick someone’s ass.”

“
I don’t think it looked like that at all.”

“
You weren’t watching,” I shot back.  “You were…participating.”

“
It looked to me more like someone was being a dick to you and Tana and they wouldn’t stop.”

I sighed. “You know, the macho bullshit just doesn’t do a whole lot for me.”

“It wasn’t macho bullshit. It was a fight with a guy who was being an asshole.”

“
It didn’t have to be. You could’ve walked away when I asked you to. When I said don’t. When I said please. When I said let’s go.”

He looked away from me, staring back into the bathroom for a long moment. “Maybe.”

“Not maybe. You could’ve. You didn’t. And you don’t ever seem to.”

He turned back to me. “So if you’re so pissed off about it, why didn’t we just wait for the cops?”

It was my turn to look away because I didn’t have a good answer.

“
Not everything’s as simple as you’d like it to be, Abby,” he said. “You don’t know everything.”

“
Clearly.”

“
And either do I.”

I knew exactly what he meant by that, but I was tired of playing word games. And I wasn't sure I was ready to share. “Why are you here, West?”

“Told you. I wanted to see you.”

“
I didn’t want to see you.”

“
Yeah, well. You didn’t tell me that and I’m a slow learner.”

I shifted on the bed. “How did you know where I was?”

He fingered his lip gingerly. “Went to your house. Talked to your dad.”

“
You talked to my dad?”

He nodded, pulled his hand away from his mouth. “Well, you wouldn’t answer your phone.”

“How did you know where I lived?”

He gazed at me. “Was it supposed to be a secret?”

I shifted again, uncomfortably. “No. I just meant you’d never been there.”

“
I used this thing called the Internet,” he said. “It can find addresses and stuff.”

It was the kind of statement I would’ve found funny a couple of days earlier. But now, I just thought it was arrogant and irritating.

“So, yeah. I went to your house,” he said. “I didn’t like the way you stormed out and didn’t give me a chance to even talk to you to figure out what the hell happened. I didn’t think it was fair.” He paused. “So I found your address, went to your house, introduced myself and your dad ended up telling me that you’d gone to visit a friend up north. I put two and two together.”

I kept waiting for Tana to come back and open the door, just to interrupt us. But the door stayed closed. She was probably out in the hall, listening.

“And how’d you find us at the party?” I asked because it was the only thing I could think to ask.

He shrugged. “I got here. Took me thirty minutes to find your car parked in the lot here at the dorm. So I figured this is where Tana lived. Got someone to let me in and found her name on the boxes downstairs. You guys weren’t here. So I started asking around. Couple of people mentioned the party. I went there and saw you with that asshole.”

“I wasn’t with him.”

“
Whatever. You know what I mean.”

I started to say something but the door opened and Tana came in.

With Athena and Gil.

“
Hey, guys,” Tana said, her face filled with tension. “Look who came back early from their camping trip.”

Athena waved at me. “Hey! You’re back! Awesomeness!”

Gil lifted his chin in my direction, then directed his attention toward West. “Who’s the dude?”

“
The dude can hear you and can actually answer for himself,” West said, standing from the bed. “I’m West. Friend of Abby’s.”

He walked over and shook both of their hands.

Athena looked at me and raised her eyebrows, wanting confirmation as to who West was and definitely approving of him.

I didn’t say anything, though.

“We came back early because the weather looked bad,” Gil said. “Didn’t think the critters would be out early tomorrow so we decided screw it and came home.”

“
Yes,” Tana said, looking nervously at me. “Good idea, I guess.”

I stood from the bed, a real headache starting to set in. “Well, cool. I was thinking I should get going, anyway.”

“It’s like midnight,” Tana said, shaking her head.

“
Yeah, you don’t need to leave on our account,” Athena said, glancing at West. “The more the merrier.”

West smiled politely, but didn’t say anything.

“What happened to your face?” Gil asked, clearly annoyed that Athena was taking a liking to West.

“
Fell down,” West said. “But I’m okay.”

I started to again announce that I was going to leave, but I was interrupted.

By the fire alarm.

FORTY THREE

“Are you sure?” Tana asked. “You don’t have to?”

We were standing in hall outside of her dorm room. After twenty minutes outside standing around, we were allowed back into the dorm, the alarm having been pulled as a prank. I was tired and my patience was gone. Nothing had gone the way I’d planned and I just felt like the best thing I could do was head back home, even if it was late.

“I’m sure and I know and thank you,” I said. “But I’m going to have go back and deal with all of this crap eventually. No time like the present, right?”

She looked at me, not necessarily believing. “I guess. Are you going to drive back with West?”

“He’s waiting downstairs,” I said. “But we’ve got our own cars. So not like we have to ride together.”

Tana hesitated for a moment, then leaned against the wall. “Abs, don’t take this the wrong way. But I don’t think he drove up here looking to get in a fight or cause trouble.” She paused. “He came up here for you.”