Yeah, because she felt terrible. She sat down on the carpet and put her head in her hands. “It’s the worst headache I’ve ever had.”
“Do you get migraines?”
“I never have before.”
“Did you see flashing lights before the headache?”
“I didn’t see anything. I woke up with the headache.”
He reached over and flipped the lights off. “Does that feel better?”
The room wasn’t completely dark. Light still filtered down the stairs, but surprisingly her head did feel a tiny bit better. “Yeah, actually.”
He knelt on the floor beside her. “Do you feel sick to your stomach?”
The apple wasn’t sitting too well. “Yeah.”
“I think it’s a migraine. My mom used to get them. They can be killer. Have you taken anything?”
“Just two ibuprofen.”
“When?”
“Seven this morning.”
“All right. Stay here. I’ll go get you something.” He ran up the stairs and Jessica closed her eyes. It seemed like he was only gone a second before he was back, pressing a cold glass of water into her hands. “Take these,” he said, shaking out two pills from a bottle.
She froze. Christian was giving her drugs? She was in pain, but she wasn’t that desperate. She tried to push them away, but he gently guided them back to her.
“It’s just Excedrin. See?” He held up a small, white bottle.
She squinted. He was right. Excedrin Migraine. That should be okay to take, right? She took the pills and chased them down with the water.
“You should lie down. Come with me.”
“No, I’m fine,” she said, but her mouth felt like it was full of marbles and it came out all mumbled.
He lifted her off the floor like she weighed nothing and carried her through a door. She hadn’t been in this part of the basement before. It was dark and cool in the room. She should have been worried. He could do anything to her. But for some reason, she trusted him.
He laid her down on someone’s bed. She snuggled into the pillow and realized it smelled like Christian. This was his room. Before she could protest, he pulled a blanket over her shoulders and tucked it around her. “Try to relax.”
And then he was gone and she was alone. She took in a deep breath and let it out. The cool, dark room felt good on her head. And his bed was comfortable. She drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 4
Christian sat on the bench press, mindlessly playing a game on his phone. Jessica had been asleep for two hours. What if he’d done the wrong thing? What if it wasn’t a migraine? Should he have taken her to the hospital? She’d looked like she wanted to die. What if she were having an aneurism or something?
He stood and took a step toward his bedroom door. Maybe he should check on her. He hesitated, then turned and sat back down. No. She could freak out if she woke up in his bed with him hovering over her. That was the last thing he needed. To be falsely accused of some kind of assault.
A few minutes later, his bedroom door opened and Jessica peeked out. “What time is it?” She had purple bed head, which was quite humorous, and the color was back in her cheeks.
“One o’clock. You feeling any better?”
She nodded. “Yeah. A lot.”
Relief coursed through him and he stood. “Good. You scared me.”
She hugged herself. “Can I have another glass of water?”
“Of course.” He ran upstairs and pulled another glass from the cupboard. Molly entered the kitchen, her Moana doll tucked under her arm. “What are you doing?”
“Getting water for Jessica. Remember, I told you she had a headache?”
Molly nodded. “Is she better?”
“Yes.”
Molly’s face lit up. “Can I go talk to her now?”
“Sure.”
Molly ran down the stairs before he had a chance to add ice to the glass. He smiled and shook his head. Hopefully Jessica was feeling well enough to handle a precocious four-year-old. He turned on the faucet and let the water run into the glass. Then he headed down.
Molly was sitting on Jessica’s lap on the rowing machine when he entered the room. Molly had Jessica’s face in her hands. “And if I practice all my letters at home, I can get a lollipop from the prize jar.”
Jessica smiled. “Really?”
“Yes. And they have my favorite in there. Root beer.”
“That’s always the best one.”
Christian handed Jessica the glass of water. “Let her breathe, Munchy.”
Molly exhaled and folded her arms. “I am.”
He held back a smile. Molly was so dramatic. It always made him laugh.
Jessica drained the glass and handed it back to him. “Thanks.” A growling noise came from her stomach.
He raised an eyebrow. “Do you want something to eat?”
She blushed. “I am hungry.”
“Let’s go find you something. I already fed Munchy here while you were sleeping.”
Molly jumped down. “But I want more food, too.”
He rolled his eyes at her. “You always say that.”
“I do not.” She ran up the stairs. “I want a Popsicle.”
“That’s not food!” he called up the stairs. Her giggles echoed through the house.
He turned back to Jessica. “Come on. Let’s go get her before she raids the freezer and finds the ice cream bars.”
Jessica’s expression was difficult to read, though she smiled and whatever apprehension he saw vanished. “Okay.”
After she was seated at the small kitchen table, he pulled out the sandwich bread. “We have ham or turkey.” He eyed her. “Or would you rather eat a salad?”
She stared at him. “I usually eat salad for lunch. How did you know?”
He shrugged and turned back to the fridge. “You tend to notice the girl with the ever-changing hair color.”
He dug out his mother’s bag of fresh spinach, the cherry tomatoes, and the salad dressing she liked. After he put it together in a bowl, he handed it to Jessica with a fork.
Her blue eyes held something behind them. Something he couldn’t read, but he itched to know.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
She stabbed at the spinach and dropped her gaze. “You’re just different.”
“Different than what?”
She shrugged but didn’t answer. “Why do you call your sister Munchy?”
He laughed. “Just an old nick-name. She’s always snacking on something.”
Jessica’s phone made a noise and she looked at the screen. Her face paled.
“What is it?”
“My father. He wants to know where I am.”
Christian grabbed a chair, flipped it around, and sat with his arms resting on the back. “Why is that a problem?”
She texted her father back, then swallowed and raised her gaze. “My father is Justin Sharp, the deputy county attorney.”
The name sent a stabbing pain through his gut and he clenched his jaw. Sharp. He should have made the connection. He’d never forget that man. The one who sent him to juvenile detention. The one who wouldn’t listen to him about the danger Molly was in, living in this house with that monster. He struggled to gain his composure as the memories surfaced. Memories he buried on purpose.
Jessica stared at his hands, and he realized he was gripping the chair so tightly, small rips were forming in the vinyl. He relaxed his grip.
She cleared her throat. “I told him I was jogging with a friend.”
She’d lied to her father. Of course. Because she probably knew all about what had happened. No wonder she’d shot him down last night when he asked her out. She didn’t want anything to do with him. His back and neck grew hot and he hopped up from the chair. “Right.”
“We should get going on our project, so I can get back home. I told him my friend and I got to talking and hadn’t done our running yet. He’s bought it for now, but he will
get suspicious if I don’t get home soon.”
He stared at her. “You still want to exercise? I don’t think that’s wise after a migraine.”
She slowly nodded. “All right. You exercise, then. I’ll record your stats.”
“Bring your salad down. You can eat while I get started.”
She nodded and followed him down, her bowl in hand. He sat on the bench press. “Are we playing music today?”
“Yeah.” She pulled her speaker out of her gym bag. A second later, she pulled out her phone and swiped her finger on the screen. Violins played and she turned up the volume.
He made a face. “What’s that?” He pointed to her phone. “I thought I would be working out to rock music.”
“We’ll get to the rock. We’re starting with classical.”
The music reminded him of old, stuffy people. “Why can’t we start with the rock?”
Her eyes flashed at him. “Why do you have to be so difficult?”
“I was born difficult, blondie.” He hadn’t meant to say the nickname he’d bestowed on her. It just slipped out.
She made a face, but then she picked up her phone, and soon “Carry on Wayward Son” came through the speaker.
He hadn’t expected her to change it to classic rock. She was always doing the opposite of what he thought she’d do. “Much better,” he said, laying down and grabbing the bar.
She ate her salad while he lifted weights and counted sets. When she was done eating, she sat beside him and kept track of all his numbers, writing everything down. As he worked out, one thing kept plaguing his mind. Why was Jessica even around him if she knew what had happened? Why wasn’t she afraid of him, like everyone else?
After he finished his last set, Jessica picked up the notebook to record the stats. He could feel a trickle of sweat run down his back. He stood up and crossed the room to get his workout towel. “How many more of these do we need before we can compile the data?”
She looked at the numbers. “We should try to get at least ten workouts each.”
“Each? Like, each genre of music?”
“Yes. And don’t forget the ten without music.”
This girl was crazy. How was she going to manage coming over that often without her father finding out? “Are you serious?”
She thrust out her chin in that defiant way she always did. He kind of liked it. “Yes. If we’re going to do this, there’s no point in doing a pathetic job.”
He shrugged. “All right.” He’d keep up his end of the bargain. He just had to keep his hands off her. He couldn’t risk another six months in juvie. Not while Michael was still living under his roof. “We’ll need to do this every day, then.”
She rubbed the palm of her hand and nodded. Was that apprehension or fear? He hadn’t seen any of that before, but now he wondered if maybe he just didn’t know how to read her. He stepped closer to her to see what she’d do. “You okay with that?”
She raised her gaze to meet his. “Yes.”
“How are you going to keep your dad from finding out?”
She swallowed and lowered her gaze. “I don’t know.”
Chapter 5
Jessica crossed her fingers that her father was out getting gas in the car, or at the grocery store, and opened the garage door. No such luck. His car was there. Oh, well. Maybe he was taking a nap. But when she opened the door and he was sitting at the kitchen table with that look on his face, she knew she was in trouble.
“Where have you been? And before you say you were with Trudy, you should guess who I saw walking out of the movie theater as I drove by.”
Crap. She was in so much trouble. Her mind raced as she tried to think of a plausible excuse for not being with whom she said she was with. She made a face. “I was with Allison. I mean, Trudy, Allison, and I are all trying to get into better shape, so we’re doing workout stuff together. Trudy was there this morning but had to go. I guess now I know it was to the movies.”
She could feel the weight of her father’s stare on her as sweat beaded up on her forehead. She held her breath until he slowly nodded. “Okay.”
He believed her? She ran a nervous hand over her hair and tried not to look too excited. “We’re going to be working out after school until we feel like we’re in better shape.” She was on a roll. Might as well go for the gold.
“Just be sure to answer your phone if I call.”
She smiled at him. “Of course, Dad. I’m all sweaty…so I’m going to go shower now.” She lamely pointed in the direction of the stairs, hoping he didn’t notice the total lack of sweat on her clothes.
“Go ahead.”
She ducked out of the kitchen and practically ran up to her bedroom. She’d done it. She’d successfully lied to him, and he believed her. Dang, that had to be the first in the history of forever. He was a master at catching her in whatever lie she was telling. She breathed out her relief and started up the shower.
The hot water felt good on her back and shoulders. Her headache had subsided into a quiet throb, but the shower helped soothe it. She closed her eyes and let her mind wander.
Christian had been so tender with her. He wasn’t at all like she thought he’d be. He came across as such a tough guy. But he had a soft side to him. She’d witnessed it when he was with his little sister, and today, with her.
His actions were in such contrast to what she’d read about him in the newspaper that it left her head spinning. Who was he, really? It was almost like he had two sides of him. They were in complete opposition to each other.
Christian, the dangerous, and Christian, the sweet. But which one was he really?
She thought about it as she got dressed and dried her hair, but she didn’t have an answer. She didn’t know enough about his past to know him. But the more she spent time with him, the more she found herself wanting to know.
She pulled her hair up into a messy bun. She was tired of the purple. Maybe next weekend she would do something different. Teal, maybe.
A knock sounded on her door and her father’s voice came through. “There’s someone here to see you.”
Her heart jumped. Christian had come by her house? Didn’t he know he couldn’t do that? She crossed the room and opened her bedroom door. Her dad didn’t look upset. “Who’s here?”
“Destiny.”
Disappointment came at the same time relief flooded her. It was just her cousin. Her backstabbing cousin. “Oh.”
“Go down. She wants to talk.” Her father gave her that look. The one that said she didn’t really have a choice.
“Okay.” Jessica trudged down the stairs and entered the living room. Her cousin was sitting on the love seat. Destiny was the kind of girl who wouldn’t leave her house if she wasn’t looking perfect. Makeup, a trendy outfit, silky soft platinum blonde hair, and shoes that matched her purse. She was a junior at Rockford High, so they didn’t have any classes together, and they had been ignoring each other during school lunch. This was the first time she’d spoken to her face to face in over nine months.
Destiny shot up off the seat when she saw Jessica walk in. “Jess. I’m sorry for just coming over, but you weren’t answering my texts.”
“Hmm. I wonder why.”
Destiny wrung her hands, her perfect red fingernails in contrast to her pale skin. “I’m sorry. For all of it.” She approached Jessica. It surprised her to see tears in Destiny’s eyes.
“What you did…” Jessica couldn’t finish. All the anger surged in her again.
“I know.” Destiny looked down at the carpet. “I was awful. I should never have agreed to go out with Jack when I knew you liked him.”
“I didn’t just like him, Des. We were dating.” She had been so blind. Jack was a charmer, and she’d fallen for him. But as soon as Destiny came walking in, his eyes followed her around instead.
Destiny blinked, and a tear fell down her cheek. “I know. I’m a terrible person.”
“Yeah, well, glad you see it.”
Destiny dug a tissue out of her purse and dabbed at her nose. “Please forgive me, Jess. I—I hate it that we’re like this. Not talking. It’s killing me.”
A tad dramatic, although Destiny was always the drama queen. “Killing you?” Jessica raised one eyebrow.
“Come on. We had some good times. Remember five years ago when we stayed up all night and ate so much ice cream, we both got sick?”
Jessica hid a smile. She did remember. They’d played Super Mario Kart and laughed until their sides hurt. “Yeah.”
“We’re cousins. You can’t hate me forever, can you? Jack and I are through. I swear I’ll never flirt with another boyfriend of yours. Cross my heart.” She made the motion. “I’ve learned my lesson.”
Jessica wavered. She had to admit they were good friends at one point. Destiny did have her good qualities. She was kind-hearted. Last year she found an abandoned baby bird and took it in, nursing it back to health. The wildlife preserve people wouldn’t even help. They said it would most likely die. But Destiny researched what to do and saved its life.
And she was right. They were family. Jessica couldn’t be mad at Destiny forever. It was petty to hold onto her grudge, and she hated petty people. She let out a breath. “All right. I forgive you.”
Destiny threw her arms around Jessica. “Thank you! I will make it up to you. We’ll burn all of Jack’s photos together. We’ll have a hate Jack party.”
That did make Jessica feel better. She hugged her cousin back. “What did he do, exactly?”
“He’s been lying to me.” Destiny crumbled onto the nearest chair and dissolved into more tears. “I think he’s seeing someone else.”
Jessica wanted to say something like, “Yeah, if he’s willing to flirt with you while still going out with me, what did you expect?” But instead, she just said, “Sorry.”
Destiny sniffled and wiped at her eyes with the tips of her fingers so she didn’t smudge any makeup. “I don’t know what to do.”
Kick his sorry butt to the curb? Wasn’t that what she’d said just two seconds ago? “What happened to burning his picture and dancing on the ashes?”
A Young Adult Romance Collection Page 19