Lie to Me (A Touched Trilogy) (14 page)

Finally, his hand slid over mine, linking our fingers
together. The next time I had to cover my eyes, his hand helped block my view.
Occasionally he’d squeeze my hand and set my stomach to swirling, but in
between those times, I just felt...happy. Lame word to describe it, but it
seemed better than content or comfortable, which I definitely wasn’t.

We sat through the credits. Not something I normally did,
but Nathan made no move to get up. Once we were alone, he lifted my hand and
kissed the back of it. I looked up at him and sucked in a sharp breath. In the
dim light, his grey eyes resembled the slate Nanna had carried over from
England when she immigrated.

He let go of my hand and cupped my face, then pressed his
lips to mine. The background music faded until all I could hear was our
breathing. In and out. A rhythm that picked up pace with each cycle. It was
almost hypnotic, lulling me deeper into the kiss.

The sudden flare of lights pulled us apart just in time to
avoid the humiliation of discovery. Dylan ambled around the corner and up the
stairs with his broom, his hand wrapped in a soft cast, and I giggled. Getting
caught making out in the movie theater by my sister’s boyfriend was not how I
imagined ending our night.

“Hey, man,” Nathan said, nodding to Dylan. Dylan ignored the
greeting, and gave me a nasty look. He was still pissed with me for making him
walk home. Well tough, because I was still pissed at him for, well, for being
him.

“Come on. Let’s go before we get banned from this place or
something.” Nathan stood and tugged me up from my seat.

“Or something?”

“Yeah, like they call my dad.” We walked down the stairs and
through the dark hall to the lobby.

“They wouldn’t do that,” I said doubtfully.

“Wanna bet? Maybe if I were just some other kid in town, but
the sheriff’s kid? I get ragged on by everyone.”

“Seriously?” I’d never thought what it would be like having
a cop for a parent. Maybe it was similar to having a lawyer for a dad. The
constant nagging about being a model citizen and our rights and
responsibilities, blah, blah, blah.

“I already got in trouble over the fight,” he said.

“Which fight?”

“Uh, hello? The one between you and Vivian.”

“What!? Why would
you
get in trouble for that? You
stayed completely out of it,” I said.

“Yeah, well apparently it got back to my dad that you guys
were fighting over me.”

So much for avoiding utter humiliation. “Oh, my God. Please
tell me your dad won’t be calling mine.”

“Nah. I think you’re safe. According to my dad I was the one
at fault for playing two girls at once.”

“Were you? Playing two girls at once?” I tried to make the
question sound light, but the stillness that came over him told me I hadn’t
quite succeeded.

“Phoebe, I swear I wasn’t trying to do anything like that.
My thing with Vivian was over a long time ago, I just didn’t know how to get
loose of her. Writing that note was an act of desperation.”

I laughed as I remembered his expression when I’d grabbed
the note. There was no way I ever wanted to forget it.

We wove our way through the crowd toward the arcade games. I
wasn’t much for video games, but I did love the claw machines. The only one
working was filled with stuffed animals on one side and a candy bin on the
other. I loved that no matter what, you came out a winner, because if you
didn’t get a toy it gave you chance after chance to get a piece of candy.

“Let’s play this one,” I said and chose to ignore his ‘are
you crazy’ look. I pulled a dollar from my purse and fed it to the machine.
Music and lights roared to live and I grabbed the stick and directed the claw
over a Stewie doll jammed into the corner. I jumped up and down when it pulled
Stewie from the pile, only to groan as it slipped from the claw’s grasp inches
from the hole. I did manage to grab a piece of candy on my first try, and
tossed it in my purse. It was one of those toffees that stuck to your teeth
forever. No way was I going to eat it on a date.

“Amateur,” Nathan said and gently bumped me out of the way
with his hip. He stuck in his dollar and positioned the claw, grabbing the
stuffed doll that I’d lost. This time though, Stewie hung in and fell into the
bin. Nathan reached in and pulled the stuffed doll out.

“Wow, just what I always wanted.” He cuddled the doll like a
little girl, smiling gloatingly at me.

“You’re a cheat. No way would you have won that if I hadn’t
pulled him from the corner.”

A loud, angry voice coming from the corner of the lobby
broke into our conversation and both of us glanced in that direction. I started
to dismiss it until I spotted a familiar face at the center of it.

Tonya stood, her back pressed to the wall with Trevor only
inches away. Neither of them looked very happy, and I was tempted to go over,
but I knew she’d be pissed. Was it really my place to get into their business?

“You wanna go over?” Nathan asked.

“I don’t think so. It looks like they’re arguing.”

I kept watching them. Everything about Tonya’s posture
seemed off. Her arms crossed over her chest and her head dipped down trying to
evade Trevor as he thrust his face toward hers. Maybe I should have gone over,
but even as the thought entered my mind, the two of them moved toward the door.

“You okay?” Nathan’s voice eventually penetrated the fog in
my head.

“Yeah. Sorry, it was just weird to see Tonya like that. I’ve
never known her to take crap from anyone. Usually she’s one of those in your
face fighters.”

“We can catch up to them, if you want.”

“Nah, I’m sure she’s fine. Besides, you promised me some ice
cream.”

“Didn’t you just polish off a huge ass bucket of popcorn?”

“What can I say, you make me so hungry.” I wriggled my
brows. He threw an arm around my shoulder, while keeping his grip on the Stewie
doll with the other.

An hour later, I was on the front porch savoring the fact
that I hadn’t foregone the ice cream as he gave me a chocolate flavored kiss
goodnight. Even without the lingering taste of chocolate, he would have been
delicious. How Chloe could be so sure that sex was not in my near future was
beyond me.

“Chloe must be wrong,” I said, pulling back just an inch.

“About what?” His words made me realize I was talking aloud.

“Oh, nothing important,” I said sure that I blushed at even
the idea of telling him my thoughts.

“Some kind of psychic stuff, huh?”

“Yeah.”

The porch light flicked on, totally dousing the mood. Nathan
stepped back and we both instinctively looked toward the door. Heat filled my
cheeks when I found my dad standing in the doorway.

“Hey, Mr. Matlin.”

“Nathan.” Dad nodded. “It’s getting a bit late.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll talk to you later, Phoebs. Night.”

“Night,” I said, giving a half wave as he headed to his car.
Dad disappeared from the door, but I waited until Nathan backed out of the
drive before going inside. Dad sat on the couch, his feet propped up on the old
sewing footstool his mom had left Lily when she died.

“Thanks, Dad.” I tried to control the sarcasm, but it was
hard. Having him watch over my shoulder was not the way I’d pictured ending my
first date with Nathan.

“You’re welcome.” His grin told me he understood all too
well the frustration I felt. “Next time tell Nathan there’s no necking on the
porch.”

“Dad!”

“Phoebe, there are some things I need to know and others
that I don’t. As long as you’re safe and happy, I don’t need to see things like
that.” His smile faded. “You’ll always be my little girl.”

“No way do you do this to Lily.”

“Not now, but trust me, Dylan went through the same thing
Nathan’s going to.”

I didn’t hear from Nathan the next day, but I knew he was
working so I hadn’t expected it. Tonya on the other hand was MIA as well and
that was totally not like her. I tried calling her cell, but she’d turned it
off and I gave up after a couple of tries, not wanting to seem stalkerish.

The absence of both of them did give me more time to
contemplate the way Tonya had acted the night before. She’d looked so meek. It
reminded me of how she acted every time she went to visit her mom. Maybe her
mom was back out, and she was just acting out in fear. Each time Shondra got
out of jail, Tonya was in a constant state of upheaval with her mom threatening
to take her to L.A. or San Diego.

I’d talk to her on Monday, I decided.

Monday morning the hallways were jam packed as I shouldered
my way through the throngs to get into the chemistry lab. Tonya was already at
our table and I plunked down in the chair next to her.

“Hey, I tried calling you yesterday,” I said and pulled out
my experiment notes.

“Oh, sorry. Trevor took me to the San Diego zoo.”

“Sweet. I haven’t been there in years.”

“It was awesome. He kept making these silly faces at the
otters and it was so cute. He is amazing. He said it was his favorite place to
go and that since I’m so special to him, he wanted to share it with me.” Her
eyes got a dreamy look in them.

My romantic gag reflex wasn’t as strong as it was before my
date with Nathan, but this Trevor was going down a pretty sappy road.

“Wow, sounds perfect,” I forced myself to say. It was hard
to keep the edge of mockery out of my voice. No reason to piss her off.

“He is. Phoebs, I really think I’m in love.” She sighed and
my eyes rolled. “Don’t give me that look. I’m serious this time. Trevor’s not
one of these high school boys that I can boss around. He’s strong and smart, I
feel like a little dumb girl sometimes when he’s talking about the courses he’s
going to be signing up for.”

Feeling dumb wasn’t what I would go for in a relationship,
but I could get what she was saying about bossing guys around. Nathan had been
bossing me around a bit, and it was kind of sexy, but I doubted I’d let it go
on too long. I liked being in control a bit too much. Besides, I did have a
mind of my own.

We began setting up our experiment. Luckily, it was a simple
lab all the chemistry teachers did at the beginning of the year, because Tonya
kept going on and on about Trevor. From what it seemed, he’d either been with
her, talking to her, or texting her every waking minute. A little creepy, but
she seemed overjoyed by the attention.

“What did you do this weekend?” she asked when she
eventually ran out of Trevor stories.

“Nathan and I went to the movies.”

“Please tell me he took you to that horror movie you wanted
to see, because there’s no way in hell I’m going to that with you,” she said.

“Yeah, and trust me there are benefits to watching a scary
movie on a date.”

“Gross, no details. I know you and just what you would do in
the dark with Nathan. You start drooling every time you even think of him,
which is pretty much all the time now.”

“Ha-ha. Anyways, it was nice to go see a decent movie for
once. Not those cheesy romances you always drag me to. We saw you and Trevor
afterwards.” I tried to fit the last bit in casually, and wondered if, okay
hoped, she would tell me what they’d been arguing about.

“Oh, I didn’t see you.” She averted her gaze back to Lily’s
notes from last semester. Any interest in her voice was completely gone. I took
it as her way of telling me to leave the subject alone.

“Let’s get started,” I said.

We pulled on our aprons, and I wished I’d been fast enough
to get one of the few lab coats. I hated to ruin good clothing by spilling the
science crap on me. Thank God, we hadn’t worked with anything actually
dangerous yet. I was hoping by next year, they’d have purchased more coats,
otherwise I was dropping all of my science classes.

Tonya tied my apron behind my back as I switched on a Bunsen
burner and moved to the first step in our procedure. I flipped through my
notes, struggling to decipher my writing, finally giving up and going to the
copy of Lily’s notes she’d done for her class. Lucky for Tonya and me, Lily
hadn’t decided to take physics instead. We would have been screwed without her.
Although I suppose we could have asked Karin for help, but in Tonya’s words,
she’d rather eat her own crap than ask Karin for help again.

“First we turn on the burner. Done,” I said and pointed to
it. “Then...Hey, grab another beaker.”

Tonya reached across the table to grab the breaker, her sleeve
barely missing the flame.

“Watch it,” I said, shoving her arm away from the little
blue flame. “Roll up your sleeves before you set yourself on fire.”

“You know I’m already too hot,” she joked and pushed up her
sleeves and then went back to work. “So, next we’re supposed to use the tongs
and put the beaker over the flame.”

Tonya lifted the beaker and put it in place. I watched her
hand steady it, but something further up her arm drew my eye. Her smooth brown
skin was marred by five round marks. Deep, angry bruises - the exact imprints
that would be left if someone had grabbed her. Grabbed her hard.

“What the hell happened to you?” I blurted the question out,
letting my fingers skim the marks.

“Nothing.” She pulled her sleeve down. I didn’t need the cramps
to tell me she was lying.

“It looks like someone grabbed you. Did Trevor do that?” I
grabbed her wrist with one hand while the other shoved the shirt up to
completely expose the purple marks.

“It’s nothing.” She tugged against my hold.

“That’s not nothing. Did he do this?”

She yanked her arm away and I let go easily not wanting to
hurt her anymore. Was that why she had flinched when I’d grabbed her arm
earlier?

“Drop it, Phoebe.” Her tone was flat and she refused to meet
my gaze.

“How can you tell me to drop it? If he did that...” I
couldn’t believe she would tell me to do that. That wasn’t the kind of thing I
could just forget seeing.