by Minard, Tori
Hell, yes. It would be worth it. Worth anything to see Trent squirm.
“Last one,” she said. “This is for all and everything, the final outcome.”
She flipped over the card and I stared at the image, baffled. It was a Medieval tomb with a carved stone knight lying still and silent on top of it, a nobleman’s tomb, the kind you would see if you visited an ancient European cathedral.
“Reversed Four of Swords. Your days of cold isolation are over. You are waking up, coming out of your trance. You are rejoining the living.”
Marie took a deep breath and met my gaze. “You need to get in touch with Carter and find out exactly what he has to tell you. There’s an important truth about your past that you need to know. Only when you find it will you have peace and freedom.”
She wanted me to face the little boy I’d killed. I rubbed the back of my neck. “I don’t know if I can do it, Marie.”
“I know. Nobody said it would be easy.” She tapped the Four of Swords. “But, Max, this is good. This is so hopeful. It’s a wonderful sign of healing.”
“Is it?” I wasn’t so sure.
“Marie knows what she’s talking about,” Brad murmured.
“I’m not questioning her ability. It’s just hard to look at that card and see healing.”
“Well, that’s why it’s reversed,” he said. “Instead of being a sign of unhealthy withdrawal, it’s indicating that you’re going to open up more.”
“Get in touch with my feelings?” I tried to keep the smirk out of my voice, but it did creep in a little around the edges.
“There’s nothing wrong with feelings,” he said. “Everyone has them. Either you deal with them or they deal with you.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that ignoring them doesn’t make them go away. They just move underground, so to speak, where they influence everything you do, only you’re not aware of how they’re affecting you. And if you’re not aware of a problem, you can’t do anything to solve it.”
I blew out a huge breath full of the tension that had accumulated during the reading. “I suppose I can see that.”
“Grudgingly.” Brad’s eyes were crinkled at the corners. His eyes were smiling, although his mouth remained serious.
I nodded. “Grudgingly.”
Marie gathered her cards and put them back in her box. She wrapped the box in a scrap of indigo silk and set it on the table again. “Well,” she said, “who wants oatmeal cookies?”
Chapter 11
Caroline
The music was so loud I could feel it in the soles of my feet. I could feel it in my belly. Bass notes seemed to thunder through the floorboards, making me suspect it was playing somewhere in the basement of the frat house. It was a last blowout before Dead Week began and everyone had to bury their heads in their notes. We wouldn’t come up for air until after finals.
“What would you like to drink?” Trent said.
“Beer.” Not my favorite, but less likely to give me a headache than the sweet garbage they were serving in those ever-present red plastic cups.
“The bar is over here.” He led me toward the kitchen.
People already packed the fraternity house and the conversation alone was deafening. I’d promised to go to this party with Trent, although I wasn’t much of a partier. He wanted to go. It was important, and I was his girlfriend so I had to accompany him. So, here I was.
The theme for the party was Las Vegas—don’t ask me why—and I’d dressed the part in a black satin cocktail dress and skyscraper black heels that were already killing my feet. Maybe if I practiced wearing heels, they wouldn’t be so difficult for me to handle, right? But that would mean I’d have to wear them, and as I said before, I hated wearing heels.
But, hey, at least tonight I didn’t feel under-dressed.
They’d set up gaming tables in the living and dining rooms, so I figured the dancing was probably downstairs, where the music seemed to be located.
“Let’s dance,” I shouted at Trent.
“Maybe later. I want to talk to some people first.”
I followed him as he wound his way between clumps of partiers, looking for whomever he wanted to meet. He paused and spoke to Greg Talbot, although I couldn’t hear a word they said because of all the other noise. Then it was on to the next group, and the next.
I tipped back my beer. It was a cheap, mass-produced lager, but it was cold and wet and it helped take my mind off the boredom of tagging along after Trent.
Too bad Paige hadn’t been able to come tonight, but she’d had a dinner date with some guy named Dan. While I hoped she had a good time with him, I was selfish enough to miss her company. She would have made this party bearable.
So would Max, except I couldn’t picture him in this setting. Unless he were fighting with Trent, maybe.
My feet really were killing me. I tugged on Trent’s sleeve. “I need to sit down.”
He looked slightly annoyed. “Okay. Find a spot. I’ll get back to you.”
Right. I shrugged and moved off, looking for a chair. I wandered through the dining room, where all chairs were taken, and into the living room. People sprawled on the couches and the floor, and every other available surface. Everyone seemed to already know each other, whereas I was the stranger.
How had I managed to pledge a sorority while being such a sorry introvert?
I located a tiny plot of floorspace under a window and lowered myself into it, moving awkwardly because of the heels. My beer was almost gone and I was starting to feel pretty buzzed. Yeah, I’m a lightweight.
I should have picked up another one before I found my resting spot, but I was here now. I didn’t want to get up and lose my place.
“Hey, you.”
I looked up to see Greg Talbot standing over me with a beer in one hand and a red plastic cup in the other.
“Hi, Greg.”
“Looking for company?”
“Sure.”
He plopped himself down in front of me and held out the cup. “You look lonely.”
“Yeah.” I took the cup from him. Really I was only bored. But this was his fraternity, so I wasn’t going to actually say that.
I tossed back a gulp of the mixed drink. Gag. It was cheap sugary drink mix in red flavor with some kind of hard liquor—probably vodka—in it.
“I can’t believe Trent left you alone,” Greg said.
“He’s busy, I guess.” I tossed back another gulp of the drink. It didn’t taste so bad on the second try.
“Dumbass. He should be with you.”
That’s what I thought, but I wasn’t going to admit that to Greg. Instead of replying, I took another swig. Yep, it was definitely improving in flavor.
Also, my head seemed to be floating pleasantly about three inches above the end of my neck. Weird.
A warm weight settled on my upper thigh, right where my skirt had pulled up and my bare skin began. I rotated my head lazily and looked at Greg. He was staring at his own hand where it rested on my leg. His thumb began to stroke my skin, back and forth, back and forth.
“You have beautiful legs,” he said.
“Greg, I’m taken.”
“Yeah, but he’s not here.” He moved his hand a couple inches higher.
“You need to stop doing that.” I would have slapped him, but I was too floaty and relaxed to care enough to lift my hand. It didn’t seem especially important at the moment to stop him.
“If he doesn’t want to share you, he should spend more time looking out for you,” Greg continued.
That was true. But it didn’t mean I wanted Greg Talbot fondling my legs.
“No, really. You need to stop.”
“Aw, come on, Caroline. You know you like it.” He leaned down and planted a sloppy kiss on my thigh. “There are empty rooms upstairs. Let’s go find one.”
The alcohol haze enveloping my brain retreated enough for me to shove his hand off me. “Knock it off. Now.”
&nbs
p; I scooted away from him and got my feet under me. He reached for me, but I stood up, swaying, and walked away from him. He didn’t follow. With a glance over my shoulder, I saw him sitting against the wall and staring with unfocused gaze at the crowd of people in the room.
I guess he wasn’t that serious about wanting me.
Where was Trent? It was time for me to go home.
I pushed my way through the packed rooms, craning my neck to see him and trying at the same time not to fall over and sprain my ankle. Being drunk made walking in the crazy shoes I’d chosen ten times more difficult.
I was about to give up on finding him when I caught the sound of his voice coming from somewhere to my right. I turned. And there he was, with his face buried in the cleavage of some skinny yet stacked brunette. The girl moved her head and I recognized her. My very own sorority sister, Tiffani.
Was I really seeing this? It was definitely Trent, definitely Tiffani. How cute. Their names started with the same letter. She had her hands buried in his blond hair, her head tipped back as her mouth opened. It looked like they were having foreplay in the middle of the fraternity living room.
His hands clutched her ass. He was touching Tiffani’s ass. I took another step toward them, only half aware I was even moving. What should I do? Should I break it up? Tear the cow’s hair out?
Maybe I should find a pair of scissors and cut off his balls.
But there were so many people here. Too many witnesses. If I made a big scene, it would be all over campus by the morning. Everyone would know.
Besides, cutting off men’s balls was illegal and I didn’t want to go to jail.
I’d go home without him. He’d abandoned me at this stupid party and that was bad enough, without taking into account the cheap little slut he was currently feeling up. Yeah, that’s what I’d do. Go home without him.
Turning on my heel, I teetered back through the living room and into the hallway. In this part of the house was a game room, a study and bathrooms. There was also a side entrance I’d noticed on an earlier visit.
I found the door. A guy I didn’t recognize had a girl up against the wall right next to the exit, his hand inside her pants. They didn’t seem to notice me as I opened the door and walked outside.
A mist hung in the air and I had no jacket. My little black dress was sleeveless and the mist felt cold on my bare arms. Humidity always made my hair go crazy, so by the time I got home it was going to be completely out of control.
I didn’t care. At least I was away from the party.
The bass notes of the music thumped monotonously. Pulling my phone out of my mini purse, I tried to activate it so I could call a cab. Nothing happened. After another three tries, it dawned on me that the battery was dead. Great. I never left home without my phone, yet somehow I’d forgotten to charge the battery.
Now what? I could either walk home or go back into the party and use the house phone. I really, really didn’t want to face that crowd again, especially with Greg Talbot hitting on me. And I didn’t want to see Trent. That left walking.
The lawn on the side of the house had no walkway leading to the sidewalk. When I stepped onto the grass, the heels of my shoes sank deep into the moist ground and trapped me. I hadn’t reckoned on the wetness of the ground in fall.
“Shit.” I slipped out of them and bent down to pull them from the soil.
Behind me, the house still roared with party mayhem. I straightened, my head spinning. It wasn’t too far from the fraternity house to the campus, even in high heels. I could do this.
I kept my shoes in my hand and walked across the squishy lawn barefoot to keep from getting stuck again. At the sidewalk, I put them back on my feet. How long would it take Trent to notice I wasn’t there anymore? Maybe he never would.
He’d never done anything like this to me before. Or maybe I’d simply never caught him at it. After all, we’d been apart for the three months of summer vacay, and he could have been cheating the whole time for all I knew. Until now, it had never occurred to me to wonder.
I ground my teeth as I pictured them together. Tiffani was the perfect sorority girl, always dressed for the occasion, always perky and friendly, even if she did seem like she was made out of plastic.
My angry thoughts plus the alcohol in my bloodstream made me unsteady as I minced carefully along the dark sidewalk. There were a lot of huge, old trees in this neighborhood, and even semi-bare their canopies blocked much of the light from the streetlights. Thick roots buckled the pavement in places, so I had to look carefully where I stepped. This slowed my progress even more. It was going to take me a lot longer to get back to the dorms than I’d thought.
The thrumming of an engine came around the corner behind me, headlights casting a blinding glare over the street. The car approached slowly. My heart rate picked up. I kept my gaze forward as I walked, pretending I didn’t know the car was there.
It kept pace with me for about a block as sweat began to trickle down my sides. What did they want? I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Then a window rolled down. I glanced at it from the corner of my eye. A guy I’d never seen before was leaning out of the passenger side window.
“Hey, want a ride?” he said.
“No, thanks.” I kept walking.
“We’d be happy to let you ride with us.”
“I said no thanks.”
The righteous anger brought on by liquor and witnessing Trent’s cheating had left me, chased away by an adrenalin rush of fear. It was possible these guys were just being friendly, although in a really inappropriate way. It was also possible they were thinking of dragging me into their car if I refused to get in voluntarily. After that, anything could happen.
My toe caught on a crack in the sidewalk and I stumbled. After an awkward lurch, I caught myself in time to prevent a fall. My hands were shaking.
“You should ride with us,” the guy said. “A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be out here walking.”
“Thank you, but I don’t want a ride.”
The car stopped. I picked up my pace, focusing on a giant spruce tree growing on the upcoming corner. Maybe I could lose them if I could get into the shadows under that tree. I could cut through the overgrown garden it anchored. But I could only move so fast in these abominable heels. Why, oh why had I worn such stupid shoes? The car door opened. I heard the guy’s footsteps on the pavement.
He was definitely not taking no for an answer.
His hand clamped around my upper arm just as Max stepped from beneath the shadowy branches of the spruce tree. He wore a black leather jacket and in the darkness I hardly recognized him. Yet somehow I knew who it was. There was a kind of energy in him that I knew, like the jolt that had traveled up my arm the first time we’d touched.
“Let her go,” he barked.
The nameless guy released my arm. I stumbled toward Max. He might be creepy, but I knew him. Trent knew him. If he did anything bad to me, my boyfriend would beat him to a pulp.
“We were just trying to help,” the guy said.
Max caught me with an arm around my shoulders, and I could have kissed him with relief. “She didn’t want your help.”
I looked at my pursuer. He was watching us with a sneer on his face.
“How would you know?”
“I heard.”
The guy gestured to his friend in the car. “There’s two of us and only one of you. How do you think this is going to go down?”
Max drew himself up, and even though his arm was still around me he seemed to grow taller and broader, his form filled with menace. There was something almost eerie in the way he radiated threat without even holding a weapon. The other two men shrank back as they exchanged an uncertain glance.
“Leave,” Max said. Even his voice seemed deeper and sharper. “Get in your car and drive away.”
“Okay,” the first guy muttered. “Yeah, sure.”
They turned tail and ran back to their car. The doors slammed and the car peeled away
with a screech of rubber. I slumped against Max’s body.
His arm tightened around me. “Are you all right?”
“Uh huh. How did you do that? Was it a Jedi mind trick?”
“Not exactly. They didn’t hurt you?”
“No. They didn’t have time.” I looked up at him and frowned. Why was he walking around alone at night in this neighborhood? There was almost nothing but frat and sorority houses here. “Wait a minute. What are you doing here?”
“Just good luck, I guess.”
I pulled back a little. “You just happened to be walking in the neighborhood?”
“Yeah,” he said in a careful tone, apparently seeing I was getting angry.
“No way. Too much of a coincidence. I don’t buy it.”
He pursed his lips. “I had a feeling something bad was going to happen. That’s all.”
“A feeling. About me?”
His eyes grew wary. “Yes.”
I shoved at his chest. “You are following me.”
“No, Caroline, I’m not.”
“Yes, you are. How else would you just happen to be in the right place at the right time? You’re stalking me.” And now I was alone with the stalker. My confidence that he wouldn’t dare hurt me evaporated. We were standing in the dark in the middle of the night and he could probably do anything he wanted. No-one would notice. Maybe he’d use that mind trick on me to keep me from yelling for help.
Who would help me, anyway? The guys in the car? I was better off on my own.
“Stalking you?” he said angrily. “What kind of person do you think I am?”
The kind who would shoot his little brother. “Do you know those guys? Is that how you were able to chase them off so easily?” I shoved him again, harder this time, and he let me go.
“I never saw them before tonight.”
“When tonight?”
“Just now.” He extended a hand toward me. “Caroline, you’ve got it wrong. I’m not stalking you. I had a hunch I needed to be out here tonight and I followed it. Why can’t you believe that?”
“Because it’s bullshit, that’s why.” God, I couldn’t believe I’d almost kissed him. I’d almost thrown my arms around him and kissed him. What an idiot.