“We need to talk,” he said again.
“Not now,” I told him. I just wanted to get away. Quickly.
I didn’t look at him but I could feel his eyes on me and I squirmed.
He sighed. “Fine. We’ll do this your way.” He paused for a minute and then said, almost as an afterthought, “Do me a favor when school lets out. Don’t talk to Leo. Whatever you do.”
Chapter 21
I spent my entire chemistry class tuning out Mr. Hall’s lecture. All I could think about was Noel’s warning. Why should I avoid Leo? Was it simply because of his effect on me, his ability to turn me into a warm puddle of goo? Was Noel telling me this as a pointed reminder to remember my unmentioned goal of self-preservation? Or was Leo, his own brother, the one he was trying to protect me from? The stone made its presence known, fluctuating wildly between hot and cold, burning and freezing my leg in turn. It was the first time I’d felt it all day.
Class was almost over and I was nervous. No, terrified. What had Noel been trying to tell me? Was I actually in danger?
I watched the clock. Just a couple more minutes until class was over. I drummed my fingers on the laminate desk top as I looked back and forth from the door to the clock. The second-hand moved at a slower pace than my fingers, the slim red arm continuing its endless, repetitive journey around the clock face at a tortoise-like pace. Finally, the second-hand reached the twelve, the minute hand clicked into place and the bell sounded.
I leaped from my chair like a tightly sprung coil, hefting my backpack on my shoulder as I moved toward the door. I stepped into the hallway and made my way toward the entrance. I just had to make it to the Admin building. In two, maybe three minutes, I would be safe.
“Valerie.” A warm hand touched my arm.
Damn.
Leo steered me against the surging crowds, back into the building. His hand rested lightly on my arm, sending wave after wave of warm heat pulsating through my body. The fear and anxiety vanished, replaced by an indescribable sensation…of serenity and euphoria and desire.
“What do you want?” I murmured. My tongue felt thick but the words came out clear.
He was golden, sun-kissed, and so beautiful he stole my breath. He smiled, his perfect white teeth a sharp contrast to his rich, bronze skin. I leaned against the wall for support.
“To spend time with you,” he said. “Get to know you.” His hands moved up my arms and the heat from his touch wrapped around me like a warm blanket.
Liar, a tiny voice in my head said. “Why?” I managed to ask.
His hands traveled to my shoulders and then cradled my face. He caressed my cheeks, his fingers searing my skin with his heated touch.
“Come with me,” he said, his silken voice filled with warm invitation. “Come with me and find out.”
I knew I should say no. That same tiny voice shouted a protest but it was drowned quickly.
“OK,” I whispered, succumbing to temptation. As if I’d had a choice.
Leo smiled. “Good,” he said, letting his hands drop back to his side. “Tonight, then.” He turned to go.
“Wait,” I said weakly. I tried to clear my head, to shake the hold he’d had on me, the hold he continued to yield with his hypnotic brown eyes. “Where are we going? What are we going to do?”
A puzzled expression clouded his face. “Do?” he asked. He smoothed his features into a smile and said, “We’ll go to dinner. That’s what we’ll do.”
A thick fog still hung, suspended in my head. “Where are we going?”
“I’m not very good at this, am I?” Leo leaned against the wall next to me, his face only inches from mine and I found myself going under once again. He spoke softly, his breath blowing across my face, sweetening the air with an alluring combination of sweet cinnamon and warm vanilla, of sun-warmed lavender and island breezes. “I’ll pick you up at seven ’o-clock. We’ll eat wherever you want—you decide.”
He left then and I stood limply where I was, staring at his retreating back and his purposeful, confident stride. I tried to make sense of what had just transpired. Had I just agreed to go on a date with him?
I took a step forward, trying once again to make my way to the doors of the building. Another hand reached out to touch me. This time, it was a cool hand that gripped my elbow in an effort to stop me…or steady me.
“I told you to stay away from him.” Noel made no attempt to hide the irritation in his voice.
“I tried,” I said. But he’d ambushed me. I’d felt like a cobra watching a snake charmer, transfixed and completely mesmerized by him.
“What did he say?”
“I…I think I have a date with him.”
Noel shook his head and muttered something under his breath, a foreign-sounding word that, even to my untrained ears, sounded like an expletive.
I stood there, not trusting myself to walk. I felt weak, disoriented, as if I’d just spent hours baking on a beach in the hot summer sun.
“I’m coming with you,” he said flatly. Noel kept his hand on my arm and the fog began to lift.
“Where?”
He rolled his eyes. “Tonight, of course.”
“I’m not going,” I announced. I felt better, more like myself. “He doesn’t know where I live. He can’t pick me up.” I was confident in my logic.
He shook his head. “He knows where you live. I know where you live.”
“How?” I demanded.
“It doesn’t matter.” He paused as if trying to remember something.
“What?”
Noel closed his eyes. “Actually, I can’t go with you.”
For whatever reason, hearing this terrified me. “Why not?” I pressed back into the wall, wishing those cinder blocks would swallow me up.
He didn’t answer and I began to panic. “I shouldn’t be alone with him,” I said. “I can’t be alone with him.”
I still wasn’t sure about Noel but, compared to Leo, he felt like my own personal bodyguard.
“You didn’t let me finish. I can’t come unless you allow it. You have to invite me, or say yes to my invitation.”
“Yes, you can come.” I didn’t question the arbitrary rule; whose it was and why it existed. I didn’t care. I just knew that I didn’t want to be alone with Leo. Alone and vulnerable. “You will come, won’t you?”
He smiled, then, that smile that took my breath away. “Yes.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. I wouldn’t be alone with his seductive, golden-haired brother.
“I’ll be there with Leo tonight. And I’ll make sure he behaves.” He turned to go but stopped. “And Valerie?”
I waited, my backpack arrested halfway between the ground and my shoulder.
He hesitated.
“What?”
He took a deep breath and said, the words coming out in a rush, “Leave the stone at home.”
He walked away.
Chapter 22
Two questions had been answered. One, he had heard me mention the stone during my tirade on Tuesday. And Leo wanted it. But I had more unanswered questions, questions that were even more pressing. Why did he want it—and what would he do to get it? Why had I found it? Why had it beckoned to me with its eerie glow in the first place?
These thoughts hounded me as I raced to the car, convinced it had been hours since the school day had ended. I slipped into the front seat and checked the clock on the dash; only ten minutes had elapsed since the final bell.
“What took you so long?” Mom had noticed.
“I got delayed,” I said. This sounded so inadequate, even for me, that I added, “This project I’m involved in.”
Mom perked up. “You’re involved in something? What kind of project?”
“Something for history.”
She turned the radio down. “Are you working on it with other kids? Is this the same one Geoff is helping you with?”
“Yeah.” I didn’t elaborate.
She didn’t need to know that I was
only working with Geoff and that I tried to avoid the pretty, privileged kids at school the same way they avoided me.
But Mom wouldn’t give up. “What kind of project is it? How is Geoff involved?”
“It’s a project on Celtic…stuff. Geoff’s helping with research.” All true, I reminded myself.
“Celtic?” She furrowed her brow. “I thought you were studying World War II.”
I sighed impatiently. “We are. This is…extra credit. And Geoff is the only one helping me.”
“Oh.” This silenced her. She’d probably been hoping for a club or a sport or something that would up my—and her—social status in the school’s stratosphere.
Mom pulled into the driveway and left the car idling.
“What are you doing?”
She powered down the window. “Dropping you off,” she said. “I’m going to look at tile with Fiona.”
I let myself out of the car.
“We’ll probably grab something to eat when we’re done. Your dad has a meeting tonight, some settlement. You’re on your own for dinner.”
I was on my own in more ways than she could know.
Once inside, I grabbed a Coke from the fridge before picking up my phone to call Geoff. I scrolled to his number but then stopped. Not because I’d changed my mind about talking to him and telling him my latest predicament…but because I’d just realized I hadn’t told either one of my parents about my evening plans. For whatever reason, the topic of dating had never come up in my house. I knew Dad hoped that if we didn’t talk about it, it wouldn’t happen. And, Mom…well, she was still waiting for her ugly duckling to turn into a beautiful swan.
I toyed briefly with the idea of not asking. After all, I couldn’t go if my parents didn’t give permission. That would solve everything, I thought. But then I realized I had no one to cancel to, no way to get ahold of either Leo or Noel. They would still come to my house tonight, where I would be waiting. Alone.
No, it would be far better to go, to be with them some place public. Safety in numbers. I needed a crowded restaurant with quick service.
I turned my attention back to the phone and the dilemma I currently faced. Who to call.
Dad. The chances were good that I’d be leaving a message with his secretary, especially if he was involved in afternoon meetings. But if I did manage to talk to him, a distracted “yes” might be easy to wrangle out of him. However, if he said no, his answer stood, no questions asked.
Mom. What would she do? After recovering from shock, she’d probably cancel her plans with Fiona and hurry home to ready me for the big night. And then she’d want to meet Noel and Leo, and watch what I did, how I acted. She’d probably invite herself along on the date. I shuddered.
I made my choice. Molly’s smooth, professional voice answered. “Donnelly, Marks and Ramsey, how may I direct your call?”
“Hi, Molly, it’s Valerie,” I said. “Is my dad available?”
“Hey, Val.” Her voice softened with recognition. “I think he’s with a client. Let me check.” The phone clicked over to jazzy Muzak while I waited.
“I’ve got two minutes, kiddo. What’s up?”
I swallowed hard and forged ahead. “A friend invited me to dinner tonight. Mom said you’ll be at a meeting and she’s out with Fiona. Is it alright if I go?”
Silence. “Who is it?” he asked finally.
“A new kid at school,” I said. Probably less information was better. “Noel.”
There was the sound of shuffling papers and approaching voices. His meeting was about to start. “Noelle?” Dad repeated absently, mispronouncing the name.
I didn’t bother correcting him.
The voices grew louder. “OK, fine. There’s a twenty in the hall table, in the drawer. Use that, OK? Gotta run, Val. Be home by ten, you hear?” The phone clicked and the line went dead.
I breathed a sigh of relief. One problem down, a million more to go. I called Geoff.
“So, was today another no-show?”
I’d texted him about their MIA status.
“No. It wasn’t.”
“Really?” His voice grew louder, clearer. “So how did it go? You manage to keep a low profile?”
“I tried.” I didn’t want to tell him. I really didn’t. I rinsed the can in the sink.
“And…?” he prompted.
“I have a date with Leo tonight. With both of them, actually.” I cringed as I spoke, bracing myself for his reaction.
“What?”
My words spilled out in a rush. “I know, it was a stupid thing to do but it really wasn’t my fault. Leo does this…thing and when he touches me or looks at me it’s as if there’s a spell…or something. I couldn’t say no. I don’t know what it is,” I finished lamely. It sounded completely ridiculous, even to me.
“So you made plans to spend even more time with him?” His voice was laced with sarcasm.
I was irritated. “It’s not as if I could say no,” I repeated. “Believe me, I would have. I don’t want to go.”
“And the other guy is going, too?” He was eating something now. “Can he do the same thing? The magic thing?”
My face warmed just thinking of Noel. “No. He asked if he could come along. To protect me.”
“He said that?”
“Pretty much.” I sipped my drink. “He also told me to leave the stone at home.”
“Val.” Geoff’s voice was urgent. “You need to see my friend. She can help. Cancel tonight and we’ll go first thing in the morning.”
I shook my head, mostly for my benefit. “I can’t. I have to go tonight…”
“But--”
“You don’t understand. I have to go,” I told him. “I have no way to get in touch with them. Besides, I don’t want to be hanging out by myself alone here at home. I need to go. Get it over with. And I’ll talk to your friend tomorrow.”
“I have a bad feeling about this,” he warned.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Where are you going?”
“I don’t know. House of Dynasty, I think.” It would be my second time there in a week but I didn’t care. I knew the service was quick which translated to less time with Leo. If we ate fast, we could be done in under an hour.
“I’ll meet you there.”
“What?”
“I’m going out, anyway. A concert. I’ll just swing by and have dinner first.”
“But--”
“You shouldn’t be alone with them. All of this—the rock, the way that guy operates—is just way too weird. I’m going.” His voice was firm.
So Geoff would be there, too, protecting me.
“OK,” I said. “I’ll see you there. And, hey—thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Chapter 23
I did nothing for the rest of the afternoon, thinking this would somehow slow the ticking of the clock. It didn’t. I waited for some monumental event that might thwart my evening plans, some sign from above that would send a clear signal that tonight was not meant to be—a small fire, perhaps, or some natural disaster like a tornado or an earthquake—but the skies were maddeningly clear and the ground remained frustratingly stable.
It was six-thirty and I could no longer put off the inevitable. I had to get ready. I dragged myself to my closet and was suddenly grateful for the hangers loaded with outfits from my mother.
After a few minutes of searching, I grabbed a long gray sweater and black leggings. The sweater brushed the middle of my thighs. I remembered opening the box at Christmas and commenting on its ridiculously long length, with Mom assuring me long sweaters were all the rage. She’d been right; all of the girls at St. John’s sported the same look after the holiday break. I pulled on a pair of black leather boots, another gift from Mom. I zipped them up and grimaced as the leather cut into my feet, pinching my toes. I knew I’d have monstrous blisters by evening’s end. I brushed my hair and left it down and then quickly applied make-up from my sparse supply of cosmetics.
I was ready.
The doorbell rang and I hurried downstairs. Noel was there, looking devastatingly handsome in black pants and a white and black paisley print shirt. He looked like he’d just stepped out of an ad in one of my mom’s magazines.
“You look beautiful,” he said. “Too beautiful.”
What did I hear in his voice? Awe? Regret? I dismissed it. I was no more beautiful than he was ugly. I thought about this. Did I tell him that he looked beautiful, too? That he was like the paintings in the museums that left me wordless, with a dry ache in my throat as I longed to express the beauty and perfection that they embodied? That he embodied?
I settled for a quick, “Thank you.”
“Are you ready?” He looked around, making an attempt to peer into the house. “Should I be meeting your dad or something?”
I didn’t want him to know I was alone. “He’s on the phone with a client.” I figured I stood a pretty good chance of that statement being true. “He’s a lawyer.”
“We can wait.”
I shook my head. “It’s really not necessary.” When he started to protest again I said, “Maybe you can meet him after.”
Noel still didn’t look convinced so I changed the subject. “Is it just you?” I asked hopefully as I spied the car sitting in the driveway. Maybe Leo had decided to stay home. I could handle an evening with just Noel, I thought.
“I wish,” he said and my heart fluttered, not from nerves this time. “Leo’s waiting in the car.”
My hope died a quick death. I found my purse and we stepped outside. The night had cooled and I was grateful for the sweater I was wearing. Misty mauves and deep purples painted the sky as the sun made its final bow on the horizon.
Noel reached out his hand to stop me before I closed the door. “Did you leave it?”
I nodded. Tucked inside a sock and pushed to the very back of my underwear drawer, the stone was hidden and, hopefully, protected. It was the first time it had been out of my possession since I’d found it.
“Good.” Noel smiled. “It will be easier—around Leo—without it.”
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