The Wrong Path_Smashwords (22 page)

He smiled coldly. “I thought you might say that.”

To her disbelief he suddenly headed to the window, almost half out of it before she was able to grab a hold of him. “Wait, Will!” She yanked him back into the room as hard as she could, her heart pounding frantically in her chest as she gaped up at him. “Stop!” She panted for air, suddenly out of breath as she looked up into his dark eyes. “What do you want me to do?” she demanded helplessly. “Call him after not talking to him for days and break up with him right after he…” she let her sentence trail off as she realized what she’d been about to say, swallowing hard against her own insensitivity.

He laughed coldly. “Lost his mother?” he finished for her flatly.

She tried to reach for his hands, but he pulled them roughly from her grasp. “What’s wrong?” she pleaded desperately.

He glared at her. “I’m just a little tired of being my brother’s substitute. Your on-call boy you keep holed up in your room so you have someone who understands you while you reap the benefits of dating the quarterback in public.”

She swallowed hard against the hurt and anger that built up inside of her at his words. “You’re not being fair,” she warned quietly.

“
I’m
not being fair? Go take a long hard look in the mirror and tell me who’s not being fair, sweetheart.”

She tried not to cringe. A part of her understood what he was saying, but he didn’t get it. He didn’t know how much he meant to her. He
couldn’t
know. He couldn’t know how much he had changed her—how much he had changed her entire life. How could she possibly begin to tell him how important he was to her when she couldn’t even express it properly to herself?

“You don’t understand—“ she started slowly, trying to formulate the words in her head.

“Oh, I understand perfectly, Annabelle. I get it. And I want
out
. Go date your preppy jock boyfriend, hang out with your backstabbing plastic friends, and party at all the coolest clubs until you black out. Just don’t come looking for me at the end of the night.”

His harsh words delivered, Will reached through the window. Annabelle stared in disbelief at his back, her mind whirling with his cruel words and the realization that Will was leaving. For good. Will was angry because he didn’t understand—he didn’t
know
—and he was leaving. He was writing Annabelle out of his life. He wanted nothing more to do with her. And it wasn’t even fair.

He was hurting from his mom’s death, and Trevor showing up, and it was too much for Will to take. She could understand that. But he wasn’t even giving her a chance to explain. He just went on the attack, like he always did, and ran away.

Not this time.

Her hand shot out and gripped his arm, yanking him back into the room so forcefully that he staggered back several steps. He stared down at her threateningly, his mouth open to spew more hateful words.

She slapped him.

She had never slapped anyone before, but she hit him with as much force as she could muster. There was a loud crack and then he stilled, his face turned to the right. Her hand stung and throbbed as she stared at his profile, a red palm print already forming on his light skin.

For a moment, neither of them moved.

And then Will’s head slowly turned to face her, his dark eyes locking onto hers. “Are you,” she began quietly, “finished now?”

She was satisfied at the brief flash of confusion that flickered across his face before it was quickly repressed under a smoldering gaze.

She released her tight clamp on his arm and stepped into him, willing him to understand everything she didn’t say as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “I won’t let you go that easily.”

When he didn’t move, she briefly feared he would push her away—that she had crossed a line. But her anxiety was put to rest a few seconds later when his arms slowly closed around her, drawing her to him. “Stalker,” he said softly.

She smiled slightly, her heart aching in relief as she snuggled deeper into his arms.

***

When she woke up the next morning, Will was gone.

Chapter Seventeen

“Annabelle!”

She listlessly finished placing her books in her locker, giving herself a moment before turning to face the person calling her name. She mentally went over her list of excuses about why she couldn’t be wherever Claire or Claudia or whoever-it-was wanted her to be, but after the last few days of dodging her friends, the list was running dry. She was starting to toy with the idea of just telling them she didn’t want to go. That would definitely get her kicked out of her group. And out, she realized numbly, was exactly where she wanted to be.

But to her surprise, it wasn’t Claire or Claudia hurrying toward her in the hallway. It was Ebony, concern etched all over her normally cheerful face. Annabelle straightened, her heart skipping a beat at the sight.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, her mouth feeling strangely dry.

“Have you seen Will?” Ebony asked. The usual brightness in Ebony’s voice had been replaced with a heavy, almost urgent tone that scared Annabelle.

Suddenly the reason she hadn’t seen Will for so many days took on a completely different light. Annabelle felt her heart plummet into her stomach. “Not since Monday night. Why? What’s wrong?”

Ebony swore softly. “Will went home on Tuesday, and I guess he and Trevor got into it. Trevor said Will hasn’t been seen since.” Ebony sank back against the locker, looking frustrated and defeated. “And if Will doesn’t want to be found, he won’t be.”

Annabelle’s mind raced. Will had been missing since Tuesday? That was why she hadn’t seen him anywhere? That was why he hadn’t come into her room, even though she’d left her window open despite the sudden turn in weather? Will had been missing all this time, and she hadn’t known about it?

But why would she know? No one knew they were friends. No one would even think to tell her except for Ebony. And Ebony had probably been out trying to find Will.

It was already Friday. Will had been missing for almost four days. He hadn’t come to find her. He hadn’t tried to get in touch with her. He had just vanished.

They needed to find him.

She
needed to find him.

“Can you give me a ride home?” Annabelle asked her, slamming her locker shut.

Ebony straightened, her eyes brightening with hope. “You know where he is?”

She thought of all the places Will had shown her. “Not for sure. But maybe.”

Ebony whipped out a pair of car keys. “Let’s go,” she agreed immediately.

They started down the hall, Annabelle turning sharply when a hand grabbed her arm. She tried to yank her arm free, stopping short when she recognized Trevor staring back at her, his eyes wide.

“Annabelle?” he asked, looking between her and Ebony in bewilderment. “What are you doing? What’s going on?”

She couldn’t find it in her to not scowl at him; to hold onto her mask for him. She had seen Trevor every day since Tuesday, and even if she had carefully tried to extract herself from his company every time he approached, he could have mentioned that Will was gone in at least one of their conversations.

“Why didn’t you say Will went missing?” she snapped at him.

Trevor looked startled. “I didn’t think it would matter…”

Annabelle glared at him. “It matters, Trevor.
Will
matters. To a lot of people. Just like he mattered to your mother. And even if you can’t see it, it’s still true.”

Trevor gaped at her, but she just spun away from him, leading the way down the hallway to the parking lot. She barely felt the rain that pelted down on them as Ebony silently fell into step with her, finally stopping outside of a dark red sedan. Annabelle climbed in, her fear and her anger at Trevor nearly making her shake. Ebony blared the heat as she pulled out of the parking spot, both girls soaked from the rain.

“You know,” Ebony began slowly, after several minutes of silence, “Will was really surprised when you showed up on the steps that day.”

Annabelle looked over at her, startled out of her musing. “What?” she asked. She thought back to that day, which seemed so long ago, and remembered her fear as she stepped through the back door. She had been astonished at her own courage, so to hear that Will had been surprised wasn’t a big shock. It was just strange to hear Ebony suddenly bring it up out of nowhere.

Ebony deliberately kept her eyes fastened on the road. “I had a feeling you would show up, so I sat on his lap and waited for you.” She laughed. “Will was so annoyed. He kept trying to push me off. But as soon as you showed up and I saw your face, I knew.” She looked over at Annabelle. “He’s been in love with you for years, you know.”

Annabelle stared at her, floored. “What?” she asked again, sure she had heard Ebony incorrectly.

Ebony smiled slightly and turned back to the road. “I think he figured you were in two different worlds, so he just kind of watched from afar.” Ebony shook her head. “But then you showed up on those steps. You crossed that invisible barrier.”

She didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing, merely gaping at Ebony in disbelief. Ebony glanced at her and laughed.

“You know I’ve never been to Will’s spots?” Ebony asked. Annabelle wordlessly shook her head. Ebony nodded. “We’ve been friends for nearly ten years and I’ve never been to any of them.” She cast a look over at Annabelle. “But you have, haven’t you?”

She nodded guiltily.

Ebony laughed, pulling the car up to Annabelle’s house and putting it into park. “Do you know why I’m telling you all this, Annabelle?”

“No,” Annabelle admitted, her voice hoarse.

“Because I just watched you tell off Trevor on Will’s behalf, and I know that means something big to you. Probably bigger than I can understand. And I want you to think about that and everything I just told you when you find Will.” Ebony nodded at Annabelle’s house. “Good luck.”

Annabelle stared at her for another second, until she remembered that Will was still missing. Then she nodded and jumped out of the car, hurrying up to her house. She ran inside and scrawled a quick note to her parents, letting them know she was borrowing the car. Then she swiped the keys from the key rack and ran out to the garage.

The red sports car convertible was her mother’s fiftieth birthday present to her father, and he almost never took it out of the garage. He only drove it once or twice per year, and it was generally just for a leisurely drive on a perfectly clear, sunny day. He would be furious when he came home and discovered that not only had she taken the car, but she had taken it out on a rainy day.

She hopped into the convertible and gunned the engine.

She tried to remain calm as she drove, staying as close to the speed limit as she could, but her anxiety and unfamiliarity with driving made it difficult. Her mind kept going over Ebony’s words in her head, repeating endlessly. Could it be true? Could Will really have been in love with her for years?

She thought of their first real interaction together—of the nickname he had given her with a familiarity that had surprised her. At the time it had seemed just like Will to be casual and flippant, but now that she knew him better, it seemed so much more than that. Will had been telling her, in his own way, that he knew her. And she hadn’t seen it.

The windshield wipers worked rapidly across the windshield, clearing water off of the glass. She could still barely see, leaning forward against the wheel, clutching it fiercely.

She almost cried with relief when she finally spied the barn, then felt her heart sink in despair when she saw the deserted lot. Will wasn’t there. He wasn’t at the barn.

But this had to be it. This had to be where he would come.

She climbed out of the car, the rain battering down on her with an almost bruising force. She dashed for the barn, relieved to see the lock was not closed. She lifted it out of the latch and opened the door just enough to let herself in, finding sanctuary from the rain.

It was dark inside, the dull gray light from the heavy storm clouds outside barely lighting the room. She looked around uneasily, trying to locate some sort of light source. She finally spied a lantern on one of the work tables by the door and picked it up, turning the dial until it cast a hazy yellow glow around the room.

To her dismay, there were no indications Will had been at the barn since he had brought her. The place looked the exact same as it had the last time he had brought her. She had hoped for some sign—clothes or blankets in the corner on the couch, maybe—but there was none.

She headed to the couch anyway, setting the lantern down on the coffee table in front of it before curling up in the corner of the couch. She tugged one of the blankets from the back of the couch over her, shivering as her body temperature started to rise. How could Will stand to stay here? The rain on the outside of the barn was impossibly loud. Every sound she heard outside she was sure was someone coming to murder her.

She tried to picture Will staying here, as frightened as she was, but she couldn’t imagine it. Will probably just flopped back on that very couch, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep. He wouldn’t let strange noises frighten him. And if he did hear one, he would probably just get up and go investigate it.