I bent over, clutching my waist, as Nina ran, screaming that she was being attacked.
Ferris started to run as well. “Sorry, Montana, but a girl screaming rape doesn’t bode well for me.”
I stilled for a second until I could get air back in my lungs.
“Hold on, young lady,” a man’s voice said from the mouth of the alley.
My heart raced. Please don’t let it be the cops.
In New York when we’d gotten caught, we ran, but in that alley, the only way out was the street. “Never tag in alleys,” the leader of my crew had said. “No way to run.”
I didn’t have to run, though. I was innocent, and I had to take my chances that the man would believe me. So I puffed out my chest and headed for the street. As I got closer, the man’s tall stature became clearer and clearer. Train’s look-alike, dressed in an expensive suit, materialized. Mr. Everly had Nina and Ferris blocked.
“She did it,” Nina cried as she stabbed a finger at me.
The lights of the city streets sprayed a brighter light on Nina’s blue hair. I snickered quietly. This type of paint wasn’t water-based, so she would have a rough time washing the color out.
Shock and disappointment coated Mr. Everly’s face when he laid eyes on me. I didn’t know why I felt small under his scrutiny. He wasn’t my father. But he is your boyfriend’s. That was up for debate.
Mr. Everly glanced at the paint can in my hand. “Montana, did you paint my building?”
“Yes, she did.” The words rushed out of Nina’s mouth.
“No, she didn’t,” Ferris said.
I gave Ferris a quick nod as my muscles loosened for the first time since that morning.
Mr. Everly rubbed his jaw. “Let’s go into my office.”
Whether or not I was innocent, my mom was going to throw a royal fit. She’d warned me before I left the house that night not to tag or do something stupid. I hadn’t tagged the building, but painting Nina might be considered stupid in her eyes.
I trailed behind Mr. Everly and the other two. When I rounded the corner, I came to an abrupt halt while several cuss words went off in my head. I blinked to orient my vision and determine whether the woman in the black cocktail dress with her blond hair on top of her head and her stunning face made up was my mom. I couldn’t decide if I was more shocked to see Mom or to see her dressed as if she was going on a date.
An imaginary set of brakes screeched to a halt more at the idea that she was on a date with Mr. Everly, and certainly not at the fury shooting out of her eyes.
“Montana Smith.” Mom’s harsh tone brought me out of my stupor. “I’m very disappointed in you. You promised me.”
“That’s your mom?” Ferris asked in a very low tone. “Hot.”
With the paint can in my hand, I appeared guilty. So her tone and words weren’t a surprise. However, I couldn’t shake the idea of her and Mr. Everly. “Are you and Mr. Everly dating?” She’d never told me she had a thing for him, at least not that I could remember. No, I would’ve remembered that.
Mr. Everly cupped her elbow in a gentlemanly sort of way. “Georgia, I’m sorry about our dinner, but this will take a few minutes.” Mr. Everly ushered us into the building, holding open the glass door.
My mom pursed her lips. I knew she was trying to keep from shouting at me.
“It’s not what you think,” I said as I passed her on my way in.
Once we were all inside, Mr. Everly flicked on a switch. Lights sprayed down from the high rafters above. Architecture-style desks dotted the room with a glass-enclosed office in the back.
Nina shuffled to a leather chair in a small waiting area adjacent to the door. Ferris did as well. Now that I could see much better, Nina’s knees had a little blood on them, and paint not only covered her hair, but specs of blue dotted her face. Ferris, on the other hand, was wearing a pissed-off expression that could have scared a bear. As for me, I stood not far from the entrance, still trying to wrap my head around my mom and Mr. Everly.
My mom, smelling like Christian Dior, came up beside me. “Is this Nina?”
“Yes,” I said. “And this is Ferris, my old tutor.”
Mr. Everly unbuttoned his suit jacket as he leaned against a reception desk. “Someone start talking, or I’m calling the cops.”
The squeak of the front door announced a visitor. Train sauntered in along with a gust of warm air. He honed in on me. His gaze was probing, deep, soft, and apologetic, until he took inventory of the room. Then confusion washed over him. “What’s going on?”
“How did you know we were here?” I pushed down the butterflies in my stomach. The guy got me all mushy even when I was mad at him.
He flanked my right side. “I came down to see if I could catch you at work. But then as I was driving by, I saw you come in here.” His eyebrows squished together. “Blue is a good color on you, Nina.”
I stifled a laugh.
“Son,” his dad warned before he stuck a glare at Nina, Ferris, then me. “The charges for vandalizing in this historic city can be quite steep. So I would suggest someone start talking.”
Ferris cleared his throat, the sound echoing in the swanky office. “Montana is innocent.” Defeat and regret swam in his dark eyes.
Again, he was absolving me of any wrongdoing, which was great, and I wasn’t complaining. But if he’d conspired with Nina to hurt me, then I was curious why he didn’t start by saying that Nina had paid him off.
“Then why do you have a paint can in your hand?” Mom asked. “And why were you in that alley?” Her voice held steady.
“I was walking to my car when I heard them arguing. And the paint is Ferris’s. I picked it up to make sure my name wasn’t on it.” She didn’t need to know that I’d wanted to spray over what Ferris had done.
Train chuckled. Nina gave him the middle finger.
“Watch yourself, young lady,” Mr. Everly said.
“So you didn’t tag private property?” Mom asked.
“I’ve been telling you I haven’t,” I said.
“She attacked me,” Nina whined. “See? I’m bleeding.” She touched her knees. “And for that, I’m going to press charges.”
Ferris rose, hiking his bag over his shoulder. “I tagged your building. Nina tagged the school’s locker room door and the wall. We used Montana’s artwork, wanting people to believe it was her who was vandalizing property. Nina paid me a thousand dollars to get information on Montana while I was tutoring her. Then she doubled the money if I helped her tag your building. The money helped, but frankly, your son pisses me off. So I was glad to do it.”
Train lunged, but his father pushed off the counter and caught him. “No you don’t.”
Train struggled for a second until I snagged his hand. I might have still been angry with him, but I didn’t want him to ruin his college career, and Ferris could have done just that by pressing charges for assault.
Train spun around, his sea-green eyes riveted on me. “We need to talk.” His voice was strangled.
“Later,” I said.
“If all that is true,” Mom said, “then I suggest both of you get your butts into Mr. Flynn’s office first thing in the morning and confess.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ferris said.
“Can I go?” Nina asked.
Mr. Everly wagged his finger at Nina. “Answer, Ms. Smith.”
Her face reddened. “Fine.”
“Both of you will do as Ms. Smith asked,” Mr. Everly said. “You will also meet me here on Saturday morning and paint that entire side of the building. In the meantime, I will decide if I’m going to press charges. Is that understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Ferris blurted out.
Nina didn’t answer. Instead, she grimaced at me.
A muscle jumped along Train’s strong jaw. “Nina, answer my father.”
The girl was downright stubborn.
She flattened her painted blue lips together. “Fine.”
“Good,” Mr. Everly said. �
��Both of you may go.”
They both rushed out as though the building were on fire.
A collective sigh bounced between Mr. Everly and my mom.
Then, as though nothing had happened, Train asked, “Are you two dating?”
Mr. Everly checked his watch. “We were going to have dinner.”
“Can I take a rain check?” Mom asked. “I would like to take Montana home.”
“Sure,” Mr. Everly said. “Train, let’s grab a bite.”
Train gave me a weak smile. “I want to talk to Montana first.”
“You’ll have plenty of time tomorrow,” Mom answered for me.
I wondered if she was reading my mind. I wanted some time to think. I’d been through a lot today. Hell, I’d been through more than my fair share of drama in the last seven weeks of school than I had all of last year. Sure, I’d gotten into trouble, but graffiti wasn’t drama. I’d kept mostly to myself, and no one had ever tried to accuse me of something I didn’t do.
Train pleaded with me, a puppy dog expression on his face.
I almost jumped into his arms, but my mom was nudging me. “Let’s go, honey. Lawrence, call me tomorrow?”
Mr. Everly escorted us to the door. I barely glimpsed at Train as Mom and I walked out and into the balmy October night.
Mom hooked her arm in mine. “You had me worried for a minute. And while I’m proud that you stuck to your promise to me, I am disappointed that you ventured down that alley. You could’ve gotten hurt. And I don’t care if you know them. People in this country die more by the hands of people they know. You need to make better decisions, Montana. Not only that, spraying Nina wasn’t the answer, either. Bullying someone who is bullying you isn’t how to deal with the situation.”
“But she needed to be taken down a notch,” I said.
“Montana”—her voice morphed into mom mode—“if Mr. Everly didn’t hear Nina scream, then what would’ve happened? Things could’ve gotten way out of control. And that is my point. You got lucky that no one was hurt badly and that paint and a few scrapes were the worst of it.”
“Mom, do you think that Mr. Everly will press charges against Nina and Ferris?”
“If I were in his shoes, I would.”
The tables had turned. Seeing Nina and Ferris going through a similar situation like I had at my last school when I’d gotten caught tagging made me realize how bad I’d really been.
Chapter Twenty-Four
TRAIN
I sat in my dad’s office with my head in a daze. The day had been fucked up from the beginning. That morning on my way to school, I had taken a detour to my beach house. I wanted to confirm Drew’s story that he’d been in the neighborhood the previous Sunday to ask Melanie to the debutante ball. She confirmed that he had. When I got back into my car, I was ready to call Montana to tell her I was running late, but I couldn’t find my phone. So I retraced my steps, returning home. When I entered, I heard my mom crying. I bolted into the kitchen and found her on the floor. My phone and everything else became the least of my worries.
After a long trip to the emergency room, we discovered she’d sprained her arm. By the time we got back to the house, it was time for football practice. I’d planned to skip practice to take care of my mom, but she insisted I go.
No sooner had I undressed in the locker room than Nina stormed in. I lost my shit. I wanted nothing more than to tell her to fuck off. The problem was she’d never taken no for an answer and would have made a scene. She always had an uncanny way of disrupting the team’s mojo, and mine, for that matter. More importantly, she’d given me the perfect opportunity to confront her about the graffiti.
Dad snapped his fingers. “Son, I’ve been calling you all day. How come you haven’t answered? We need to sign the scholarship papers.”
“I lost my phone.” I still couldn’t find the sucker. “And Mom sprained her arm, in case you want to know. She fell out of her wheelchair as she was trying to get out of it this morning, but she’s fine.”
They had a good relationship for two people who were divorced.
“Is she not taking her arthritis medicine?” he asked.
“She is. She was having a tough morning, I guess.” My mom had more trouble in the mornings with her rheumatoid arthritis.
My dad shrugged out of his suit jacket then folded his bulk into the leather chair beside me.
We sat in silence for a good minute or two.
“Train.” He said my name in his fatherly voice.
I fisted my hands in my lap. “If you so much as tell me who I can and cannot date, I seriously will freak out.”
He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “Chill. I like Montana.”
“And her mom,” I said. “What’s up with that? Are you dating her?” It was weird to see them both dressed up, and the thought of him dating my girlfriend’s mom was even weirder.
“We were going to have dinner. Nothing else. Son, I got a glimpse of your rage when you wanted to punch Ferris’s lights out. That cannot happen, son. You can’t throw down every time a guy you don’t like pisses you off. And before you get all worked up, hear me out.” He scrubbed a hand over the stubble on his jaw. “I’m not telling you this because of your football scholarship. I’m telling you this because I don’t want to see you get hurt. I’m sure Montana doesn’t, either. Please think before you lash out at anyone.”
Cracking my knuckles, I blew out a breath. “I know you worry about me and my future. But let me find my own way. If I get hurt or screw up, then it’s on me to deal with the consequences.”
“That might be hard to do as your father. Something you might not understand until you have kids of your own.”
“True, but I’ll promise to not use my fists to settle things if you promise to cut me some slack.” I wouldn’t mind having a relationship with my father that included conversations other than football.
“Deal,” he said as he let out a sigh. “Let’s go check on your mom.” He collected his suit jacket. “Oh, and we have a meeting this weekend with the coach at USC.”
After he locked up and we were walking to our cars, he asked, “Do you love Montana?”
“Montana is different,” I said. “She’s talented, she’s beautiful, and she makes my heart race every time I think about her or when she walks into a room. She makes me laugh, and she makes me do things I never thought I would do, and not illegal things, either. So if you call that love, then yes.”
He grinned. “Glad to hear that.”
I gave him a sidelong glance. “Really?”
He draped an arm over my shoulders. “Yes, son. I just want you to be happy. And I can tell she does it for you by the way your face lit up when you looked at Montana earlier.”
I crossed my fingers that I could fix things with her.
The next morning, I leaned against my truck outside Montana’s house. The air had a slight chill to it, which helped keep the sweat at bay, unlike last night when I’d tossed and turned and couldn’t get Montana off my brain, waking up every minute in a heap of sweat. I prayed she would hear my side of things.
The front door opened.
I lifted my head and locked eyes with the girl who’d stolen my breath on the first day of school. Her beautiful face was blank, as if she didn’t even see me. Suddenly, I didn’t know what to say. I’d planned a whole speech last night.
Montana, I am an idiot. What you witnessed yesterday wasn’t what it looked like.
But as I watched her long bare legs eat up the distance between us, I again lost my breath—not only because of her legs, or the waves and waves of blond hair that felt soft between my fingers, or those pinkish lips that had turned blue when I saved her in the ocean, or the way her body felt against mine when we’d danced in my room. I lost my breath because I knew without a doubt that she had my heart in the palm of her hand. Sure, I’d told my dad and Austin I loved her, but at that moment, the realization became even clearer.
“You’re a litt
le early,” she said. “The trash man doesn’t come until next week.” She hiked her bag higher on her shoulder and breezed past me in cute shorts and wedge sandals.
I hurried up to her. “I deserved that. But can we talk?”
She kept her head down. “Nah. You showed me enough yesterday.”
“Yeah, about that…”
She stopped and peered up at me. “I’m mad at you.”
Man, I wanted to kiss the pout off her face. “I’m a moron. What you saw yesterday was me trying to control a bad situation. When Nina came into the locker room, I saw red. She wouldn’t get out, and she wouldn’t leave me alone, and she was making a scene. So I brought her into the weight room to talk to her. And I thought it was a perfect opportunity to try to get her to confess.” I had threatened her by telling her the school could press charges for vandalizing. That part had gone over her head. “But all she tried to do was kiss me and get me to touch her. I tried every angle I could without hurting her. The only thing I could do was corner her to make her listen. I know what you saw looked bad, but I promise on my grandfather’s grave that I did not engage in any physical actions with her other than breathing on her.”
Montana let out a wild laugh. “Looked to me like you were trying to hump her. And why were you in your underwear?”
“I wasn’t thinking. You’ve got to believe me.” I would have gotten down on my knees and begged if Montana wanted me to.
She puckered her plump lips. “Why weren’t you in school yesterday? And how come you didn’t answer your phone?”
I backed away slightly, when all I wanted to do was pull her to me and hold her. “Things got crazy yesterday. I went over to Melanie’s house because I wanted to confirm Drew’s story, but then I lost my phone, and my mom fell. I had to take her to the emergency room.”
Several emotions flickered across Montana’s rosy cheeks. The one that resonated the most was regret. “I’m sorry about your mom. Is she okay?” Her voice was soft, but that hard glint in her eyes hadn’t gone away.
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