Pepper beamed, but Greer wanted to crawl away. The room had quieted down to whispers and if looks could kill they would be dead. The circle of cheerleaders all looked like they wanted to claw their eyes out. Greer trailed after Pepper with a red face. The cheerleaders reluctantly made a small opening. As Greer passed through, she stumbled at the hard knock her shoulder took from the quickly closing gap. She didn’t look back and quickly sat down at one of the two empty spots at the table. Her relieved breath stuck in her throat when she looked up and found Beckett studying her.
She quickly looked down and started eating her chicken sandwich, listening to the flirtatious, animated conversation Pepper was having with Mark. Greer could feel Beckett’s eyes on her and it made her appetite nonexistent, but she continued stuffing her mouth. She wasn’t sure what Beckett would do or say anymore, and this gave her an excuse to not look his way. She would eat, stay inconspicuous, and then find an escape as quickly as possible.
Jason ruined her plan as he shouted down the table at her, “Greer, you are coming to the game tonight, right?”
Before she could swallow to talk, Beckett answered for her. “She’s coming.”
The butterflies fluttering at being the center of attention slowed and halted. And the stirrings of irritation began. She did not need Beckett talking for her. Her head swung up to glare at him, and she was met with his cocky half grin.
“She’s meeting Pepper there,” Mark yelled down to Jason.
She turned her glare to Mark, who wasn’t even looking at her. The team yelled “Boo-Yah.” And that was it, the conversations resumed around her.
Her irritation needed an outlet and Beckett, who was smirking her way, got it. “I don’t need you to talk for me.” She hissed across the table.
He leaned across the table and she closed her eyes for one long blink to settle the sizzling firecracker along her skin. They snapped open at the low, deadly seriousness of Beckett’s response.
“You will be at every game this season, Greer.”
“No. I won’t.”
Greer was done. Beckett could not tell her what to do. They battled silently until Greer made a move to get up. Before she could blink, Beckett leaned across the table and gripped her hands. The sizzling firecracker went off and burst all along her arm. She was so stunned she broke her gaze and looked down where he had her hands engulfed in his.
“For whatever reason, the guys like you and think you are a good luck charm. Football players are very superstitious and if you are not there it will mess with us. You will be at every game.”
Without acknowledging his words, Greer pulled her hands out from under his and walked as calmly as she could out of the dining room.
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Chapter 15
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“We could have picked Lexi up.”
Greer was pretty sure her mom was more excited than her to see Lexi. Vivian and David picked her up at The Coffee Shack after work and now they were headed to the game.
“Why didn’t you just have her sleepover at our house?”
She had learned her lesson about inviting friends over. With Beckett on the field, this would be a safe get-together for her friend to get a taste of her new life and put some faces to names.
David was driving, but his darting eyes from the rear-view mirror to Vivian indicated his interest in the conversation between mom and daughter. Greer shrugged. “Just decided to stay at her place this time.” She tried to ignore the disappointment on her mom’s face.
David looked at her through the mirror. “You are welcome to have friends over any time Greer, you don’t need anyone’s approval.”
Was it her imagination or did David emphasize anyone? She knew David was sincere, but she also knew he didn’t realize how much of an asshole his son was. Vivian reached her arm across the council and squeezed David’s hand her face flooded with love.
Greer blinked back the tears. She was so happy for her mom. If anyone deserved a man like David Dawson, it was her. “I know. Thank you.”
David pulled up in front of the stadium. “I’ll drop you off here, Greer. Since you need to change and meet Lexi.”
Greer eagerly jumped to the door anxious to connect with Lexi. “Thanks, David!”
“See you tomorrow Greer, give Elaine a hug for me!”
Lexi’s mom, Elaine, and Vivian were as close as her and Lexi. “Will do, Mom! Love you!”
Greer spent a moment watching David drive away to park and then turned around to show her student ID to get into the stadium and walk to the bathroom.
She kept her skinny jeans and vans on but pulled the t-shirt with The Coffee Shack logo off. In its place was an orange and black Oak High hoodie sweatshirt. Coming out of the stall Greer was digging in her backpack for the brush she packed when someone grabbed the hood of her sweatshirt and whipped her toward the wall.
Her hands came up too late and her face smashed into the cold, cinder block wall. Vaguely she registered the dingy smell as she tried to bring her hands up to push herself off of the wall. When she realized her right hand was wrenched behind her back and someone was leaning their weight into her a boulder of fear sunk in her and repelled itself to every part of her body.
Instinctively her left hand came up to the wall to push herself away, but that made the person behind wretch her right arm up higher. Through the excruciating pain shooting up her arm she felt the hot breath on her ear and realized her assailant was talking to her.
“Drop your hand or I will break your arm.”
Dazedly, she heard herself whimper and drop her left hand from the wall. Greer gave a silent thank you when the pain shooting through her arm eased. There was no easing of the grip on her right wrist or the hand holding her head firmly against the wall.
The soft hiss right beside her ear cut through the throbbing pain in her head. “I’m disappointed you don’t remember our first conversation, so this time I’m going to make more of an impression.”
Immediately Greer was brought back to when she was in the bathroom stall at Oak High. Her heart stopped and her body locked up. It was the same cold, chilling tone. The hand behind her head ground her cheek into the cement and vaguely Greer heard her whimper of pain and fright and there was a cloud of fear surrounding her. She couldn’t think past it.
“This is minor to what you will experience if we have to meet again. When I told you to stay away from Beckett, I meant it. You are white trash and you are interfering with my plans to be with him.”
The mad whisper turned into a hiss, “MINE!”
Then the hands were gone. Greer’s body started to shake. The next moment the hands were back. Now they were digging into her shoulders like talons. Before she formulated that she could put her hands up her lack body was slammed into the unforgiving wall while “MINE!” was screeched into her ear.
Her body was like a rag doll as she sank to the ground when she was released. Through the ringing pain, she vaguely heard the door open. She pulled her knees into her chest and tried desperately to stop the tears that were running down her face all while trying to figure out what had just happened.
All Greer heard was the pounding in her head and the ringing in her ears. Slowly, she pushed herself off of the humidity laced, slimed, concrete floor to her hands and knees. Her first frenzied thoughts were to escape, to go home. Slowly her brain came back online and she remembered she was meeting Lexi. She couldn’t leave Lexi alone, but she didn’t want to have every eye in the stadium on her.
With wobbly legs, she crawled over to a stall and used the toilet to pull herself up. It took all of her concentration to slide the lever to lock the door. In slow motion, she sat down and stared at the toilet paper and slowly reached out a shaking hand to pull it toward her.
Dazedly she pulled it, but it wouldn’t tear. Swallowing her sob of frustration, she reached out with her other hand and searched for the spot the
paper was perforated. When the paper finally tore, she placed it under her eyes and wiped the mascara tracks from her face.
When that was done, Greer concentrated on the flaking silver hook on the back of the dungy, grey stall door trying to figure out what to do. The fear of leaving this enclosed, locked space was overwhelming and she kept trying to push back what happened. Instead, she concentrated on her throbbing cheek.
Shakily she put a hand up to it and then pulled it away to hold it in front of her face. It wasn’t bleeding. To be sure no one would see it she pulled her hair until it fell around her face.
She needed to pull herself together long enough to find Lexi and Pepper. Every breath was short and shaky. Greer blocked out every shadowy thought.
Greer put her hands on her knees and pushed herself to her feet. With one hand on the slide lock, she leaned her forehead on the scratched, dirt-encrusted, grey door working up the courage to leave. She mentally counted the steps until she reached the door to take her out of her own private hell to the safety of numbers. She opened her ears past the buzzing in her head and made a beeline for the door.
When she swung the door open, crowds of people greeted her. She shuffled to the wall beside the door and let the presence of people calm her.
“Hey, Chica, is Lexi here yet?”
Pepper’s enthusiastic voice reached her and she jumped as her head jerked up.
Greer saw Pepper’s eyebrows come together and heard a sharp inhale before she quickly looked at the ground again and rasped out. “Please don’t say anything right now.”
Pepper’s hand came to her shoulder and she took a step closer. “Are you okay?” There was a pause and then her voice hardened. “Did someone visit you again?”
Tears were bubbling up again and she nodded and sidestepped the concern. “As soon as Lexi gets here is it okay if we go?”
“Of course. Do you know where she is?”
A quick shake of her head is all she could manage. “Where’s your phone, Greer?”
Greer shakily took it out of her bag and Pepper eased it out of her hand. When Pepper started typing it slowly dawned on Greer that she was texting Lexi. She felt a haze tightening around her and she couldn’t stop the cold shock taking over. She trusted Pepper to get her out of here, so she used all of her energy to focus on her friend.
Through the fog, she felt Pepper grab her hand, and say, “Lexi just parked. She is going to meet us out front. Come on, Greer, just follow me.”
And that is what she did. Blindly she looked at where her hand was in Pepper’s and concentrated on the connection. The next thing she was aware of was Lexi’s arms around her and the best words she had ever heard. “Let’s get out of here.”
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Chapter 16
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Beckett walked out of the locker room and strode toward his dad. They shared the same jubilant smiles and David said. “Nice job, Son. Two touchdown passes and you ran one in. Was there another team out there?”
“They tried to make an appearance in the fourth quarter, luckily our defense shut that shit down.”
The final score was 38-0. He hadn’t come close to being touched. Last year the offense rocked, but the defense had been lacking. Not this year. It was shaping up to be a kick-ass year. Perfect for scouts.
David and Beckett went back and forth on the various plays and then Vivian joined them. “Nice job, Beckett. It was as much fun watching your Dad as it was you.”
David put his arm around Vivian’s waist and pulled her to his side. “You were yelling right beside me Vivian, you loved it.”
Vivian’s pink cheeks reminded him of Greer. Beckett glanced around and was surprised Greer wasn’t with them. “Did Greer decide not to come?”
He could have bitten his tongue off when his dad raised a questioning eyebrow. Beckett switched his focus to Vivian who was explaining, “We picked her up at work but we haven’t seen her since we dropped her off at the front. She was going to change and meet up with Lexi. I’m assuming they are at Lexi’s now. After the game, they were going over there for a sleepover.”
So, she had seen him play. Satisfaction slid through him even as he pushed away the disappointment that he wouldn’t be seeing her tonight. He tuned back in when he heard Greer’s name.
“I really wish Greer had invited Lexi to stay at our place.”
Guilt slithered through Beckett as he watched his dad turn Vivian’s worried face up to him. “I’ve talked to her and she knows anyone is welcome in our home.”
Vivian nodded but bit her lip. She looked far from convinced and when David’s eyes swung to him, he had a hard time not fidgeting. “You are watching out for Greer at school, right Beckett? Everything is going okay?”
Well, he didn’t have to lie about that. Whether he wanted to or not he found himself looking for her. “Yeah, she and Pepper Matthews are always together. I thought they were meeting up at the game tonight.”
Come to think of it, he hadn’t seen Pepper or Greer when he looked. He would ask Mark if he had seen them before they headed to the party.
Vivian turned and looked at him with hesitant eyes. “Thank you for being so gracious to both of us, Beckett.”
Well, shit, he hadn’t been. The need to squirm returned. He could feel his dad’s eyes boring into him, silently warning him to not upset Vivian. All he could do was nod as an acknowledgment.
He had to get out of here. “I’m headed to Law’s for the celebration. See you later.”
“Have fun but be safe, Son.” His dad’s eyes said more than his words. David had also been the quarterback back in his days at Oak High, so he knew the celebration would include girls and booze.
During the season, Beckett didn’t drink, but girls were still on the table. He grinned at his dad. “Will do, Dad. See you later.”
Jason was driving Beckett and Mark to Jordan Law’s house to commence the official celebrating. While Jason and Beckett were replaying the game, Mark was busy on his phone.
“You sexting over there, Bauers?”
Mark had been usually quiet and Beckett was curious what had grabbed his attention.
Jason snorted. “Just wait five minutes dude then you can convince her to give you a congratulatory kiss.”
Mark, his forehead creased in concentration, somberly told them, “I’m not positive but it sounds like Greer was hurt tonight.”
After dropping the bombshell Mark went back to typing. It was Jason who responded first. “What the hell are you talking about?”
The joviality of just seconds ago was gone as Beckett and Jason waited impatiently for Mark to produce answers. When Mark didn’t answer, Beckett demanded to know.
“Who are you texting?”
Without looking up Mark said, “Pepper, but it’s not very coherent.”
“What the hell does that mean? Why do you think Greer is hurt?”
Beckett had a million more questions, but he bit his tongue and tried to be patient. Jason looked over at him. “Text Greer find out what the hell is going on.”
Beckett eagerly reached for his phone and almost threw it in frustration. “I don’t have her number.” His frustration made the words come out without thought.
Mark raised his head and both him and Jason looked at him incredulously in stunned silence.
“What? Do you have her number?” He asked defensively.
“Well no, but she’s not my sister.” Was Jason’s comeback.
“Fuck off. She is NOT my sister.”
Not to be left out Mark said, “I don’t live with her.”
“Just find out where the fuck they are.” Beckett needed to see her, now. He couldn’t squash the urgency he was feeling.
“They’re at Pepper’s.”
Jason asked where she lived, and they did a U-turn when Mark responded with an address in the opposite direction. He wanted to know what the hell was going on.
“Pepper texted me and told me she wouldn’t be at the party tonight.”
Beckett was going to wring Mark’s neck if he didn’t give him a straight answer. “So, what the hell makes you think Greer is hurt?”
Mark’s cold eyes swept my way. “I thought you might be able to tell me. When I asked Pepper why she wasn’t coming, the response I got was, ‘Take care, Greer. No, tell Beckett.’”
“What the hell does that mean?” He exploded as his gut was wrenching. Greer was hurt and didn’t want him to know.
“Calm down, Dawson. I’ve been trying to figure it out. Every time I text Pepper, she is slow to respond or doesn’t respond at all.”
The first thing he was going to do when he saw Greer was demand an explanation and then get her number. He wanted to know what the hell was going on. Apparently, Jason felt the same way, the truck speeded up and silence descended.
««« »»»
Ahh…this was better. Greer was lying on Pepper’s plush, carpeted, bedroom floor and it felt like her body was floating. The paralyzing fear had finally left.
“You’re a good friend, Pepper,” Greer announced slowly. She was having a hard time concentrating on anything but her weightless body.
“You’rrrrrre welcome!”
Pepper’s head was next to hers on the floor and Greer winced at the volume.
“Shhhhhh! Too loud.” Lexi whispered on the other side of Greer.
Greer’s fingers were sinking into the white softness making handprints in the carpet, smoothing them out, and starting the process again. “You have the best carpet ever, Pepper. Where did you get it? I want some. I’m gonna ask my mom for some.”
Pepper’s only response was a giggle, which made Greer turn her head to chastise her for the loudness. She got distracted when she saw Pepper’s arms in the air above her head. She slowly followed Pepper’s arms and saw her typing on her phone.
Battling Beckett Page 10