From over his shoulder, her gaze was caught by Bull-Guy. He sneered, but just as quickly, his face softened into a smile, transforming him into a good-looking guy. He slanted a glance over the crowd watching him and his group.
“Honest mistake,” he said, putting his hands up. “We thought she was someone we knew. No harm done.”
“You still need to go.” Roy folded his arms over his chest.
Bull-Guy inclined his head. “Right you are! Come on, boys.”
While the others shuffled around him, turning to leave, his gaze shifted to Sophie again. The dark promise in them had her pressing closer to Spencer, who shifted himself completely in front of her, drawing Bull-Guy’s attention to him.
Bull-Guy smirked. “We’ll meet again … soon.” With a wink for Sophie, he turned and followed his friends through the hall and out the door.
Sophie didn’t recall her knees buckling until she found herself snatched up in Spencer’s arms and carried to a barstool. He set her down gently, keeping one arm around her and letting her lean into him.
Her entire body convulsed, shuddering with chills that refused to subside even though she was drenched in sweat. Her stomach heaved and someone pressed a bucket into her hand.
“It’s all right,” someone was murmuring softly while rubbing her back. “It’s over.”
Fighting hard not bawl like a baby, Sophie accepted the Kleenex offered to her and wiped at the snot and tears and sickness from her face. A choked sound left her.
“Hey.” Spencer took the bucket from her and set it down on the floor. He framed her face with his warm hands, forcing her to look at him. “It’s going to be okay. I won’t let them touch you.”
“I was so scared,” she croaked. “I thought you would let them take me.”
He shook his head. “Never.”
She clutched at him, refusing to let him leave when she was sure he was the only reason she was still semi in one piece. He didn’t seem to mind. He cradled her close, smoothing back her hair and rubbing her back. He was murmuring something into the top of her head, but she couldn’t understand him.
“Is she all right?” Roy’s voice filtered through from somewhere in the background.
“Yeah,” Spencer answered. “But we need to phone the police—”
“No!” Sophie raised her face to peer up at him. “My parents can’t find out I snuck out of the house to come here. They’ll be so angry and Lauren and Jessie will get into trouble.”
Spencer looked uncertain. “Sophie, those guys need to be arrested—”
“Please!” she said, holding his shirt front in a white knuckle grip.
“What’s the verdict?” Roy glanced from her to Spencer. “Am I calling the cops or not, because I need to clear everyone out first.”
Spencer searched her face. “Are you sure?” he asked her.
Sophie nodded.
“I got her.” Spencer said to Roy.
The other guy nodded, slipping back into the crowd as seamlessly as he’d appeared.
Spencer smoothed Sophie’s hair off her face and brushed away tears. “Did they hurt you?”
Her bottom lip wobbled. Tears burned hot and spilt down her cheeks when she shook her head.
He exhaled, the relief washing over her upturned face with a hint of peppermint. His arms tightened around her.
“But I lost the keys,” she stammered, teeth chattering as shock sunk its claws into her. “I had them. I need to find them … I need to—”
“Easy,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder when she tried to stumble off the stool. “You’re in shock. Just sit still.”
She shook her head. “I need to find the keys. Jessie … I had them. I had … they were …” She looked down at her splayed hands. They shook uncontrollably. The smear of blood blurred slightly behind the curtain of tears. “I had them …” Her voice broke.
“I’m going to take you home,” he decided at once. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you out of my sight! I knew you coming here was a bad idea, especially when you look like that.”
Sophie sniffled. “What’s wrong with the way I look?”
He barked a laugh. “Where do I begin? I mean, you can’t just show up to a party like this looking so damn …”
Sophie stilled, her shock momentarily forgotten by the hunger behind his eyes as they settled on her lips. “What?”
“Doesn’t matter!” he growled, a tick twitching in his jaw. “But I knew from the second I laid eyes on you that you would be trouble and I was right. Every time I turn around, you’re doing something to drive me insane! You clearly can’t function safely on your own. This is a perfect example. If those guys had gotten you … if they had …” With a deep growl, he thrust both hands back through his hair. “I’m this close,” he raised his hand, putting a millimeter of space between his index and thumb. “To handcuffing you to me, do you understand me?”
He was scared, she noticed with shock. It was wild and untamed behind his eyes. It was in the way he was trying not to show how badly his hands were shaking as they kept running over her arms, back and forth like he couldn’t trust his eyes.
“I’m sorry.” It was a knee-jerk reflex.
He barked a laugh. “For what exactly? I bet you have no idea what a danger you are. You’re like a walking disaster waiting to happen.”
“Hey!” Temper stole the cold fist paralyzing her. “I was doing fine before you showed up!”
His eyebrows reached up into his hairline. “Are you blaming me?”
“Yes!” She staggered off the stool, ignoring the hands he stretched out to catch her when she swayed.
He folded his arms over his chest. “And how is anything that’s happened my fault?”
“Because you distract me!” she snarled, infuriated by him. “You’re always there and I can’t think because all I see and feel is you and it drives me crazy! And if I’m stupid about anything, it’s letting you get under my skin like this when you can’t stand the sight of me and I can’t stop thinking about you …” She slapped a hand over her mouth, horrified by the amount of ammunition she’d just freely handed him. Her wide eyes swung up to his face, certain she would see smug amusement or worse, disgust.
Instead, he looked pained, like her words were knives cutting into him. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Her hands dropped unsteadily from her face. “I need to find Lauren. I want to go home.” But she couldn’t seem to move. The power behind his eyes had rooted her feet to the hardwood. It squeezed the air in her lungs until she couldn’t breathe. Nimbly, he shoved the barstool away, removing the only barricade separating them. His free hand reached up, grazed the side of her face with such tenderness, she forgot all about being angry with him. Shivers stole through her. Goosebumps erupted along her arms and her spine tingled.
His forehead dropped forward, coming dangerously close to touching hers. “You are so bad for me.”
She almost choked on the weak laugh bubbling in her throat. “I think that’s my line.”
A ghost of a smile softened the anguish darkening his eyes. “Why can’t I stay away from you?”
“I think you’re doing a pretty good job of that.”
He gave a slow shake of his head, his gaze remaining fixated on her as he swallowed audibly. “I failed the moment I saw you in my mom’s kitchen.”
Her heart galloped in her chest, fierce and feral. Her fingers lifted, reaching for him as her mouth opened to tell him … what?
“Sophie!” Lauren charged at her, somehow managing it in her towering heels without breaking an ankle. Roy and Brian were right behind her and Sophie guessed Roy had gone searching for her friend. “Oh my God, what happened?”
The moment was broken between her and Spencer. He was drawing away, not just physically. She could all but feel the iron bars slamming back into place between them and the silent boom sucked the remaining ounce of strength keeping her together.
“I want to go home.”
His anger boiled, hot and uncharted with the violent force of a hurricane. He felt it claim his body, his desire to breathe. It swallowed every moment of his sanity until the madness was a red hot curtain draped over his vision, obscuring the sight of his Sophie in the arms of Spencer Rowth. Rage pulsed, a steady heartbeat at his temples.
She never should have gone to the party. She should have stayed home where she belonged! How could she possibly convince herself now that she had any right to decide anything for herself? She was weak. She needed him more than ever.
Chapter Nine
The following weeks that passed, lingered with a suffocating tension that seemed to ripple hot every time Sophie was in the same room as Spencer. It was the only reminder that the single moment she’d had with him at the party had ever truly happened. Otherwise, she would have begun to question if she’d imagined that heart fluttering side of Spencer Rowth.
Spencer spent the majority of his time pretending she didn’t exist, which was both impressive and frustrating considering they sat at the same table during lunch and shared three classes together. But even then, even in those moments when she sat there wondering how the hell he could be so blasé about something that kept her up at night, the real kicker was the way this whole thing was toying with her head. More than once, she could have sworn she felt him watching her. She could feel the heat of his gaze caressing her from head to toe. But that was never the case when she would turn her head towards him and he would be looking at something else. The whole thing infuriated the life out of her and she blamed Brian.
The expansion of their group at lunch had been a sudden thing. Brian just up and moved tables one day and that was it. The following day, all his friends were sitting at their table, talking and laughing like nothing had changed. No one seemed to care, except Tiffany’s friends, who continued to give Sophie sneers that wished her a slow and agonizing death.
The queen of Westwood High, Tiffany Palmer remained at the abandoned table with her small cluster of friends. She never glanced in Sophie’s direction, never gave her the stink-eye in the hall like her friends. The entire table seemed to cease to exist in her mind. She sat with her back to them, eating delicately from her pink lunchbox. Sophie marveled at her control. If Brian had been her boyfriend, she would have been crying her eyes out to have him abandon her like that.
“Sophie?”
Sophie blinked, jolting at the hand waving rapidly two inches from her nose. She focused on Lauren’s excited face. “What?”
“Brian wants to know if you want to chill at his cabin after school Friday.”
Sophie frowned, trying to remember what she was supposed to be doing that Friday. “I can’t,” she said, remembering. “I promised Mom I’d help clean out the garage.”
Jessie, Joe and Lauren exchanged glances.
“Joe?” Lauren said.
Setting down the tuna fish sandwich Sophie had brought him, Joe shook his head, chewing. “Busy,” was all he said.
Joe hadn’t bothered keeping his dislike of the new table arrangements a secret. He said very little and Sophie wasn’t sure she had it in her to tell Brian to return to his table. He had become a very good friend since the party and she was secretly hoping Joe would accept the changes and open up to the new group. It hadn’t happened and with the way he kept giving Brian death glares, she doubted that it ever would.
Across from her, Spencer picked idly at a basket of grease-soaked fries, lost in some deep thought that shielded him from the soft hum of conversation. She wasn’t sure if he’d answered to the cabin invitation, but realized she didn’t really want to know. The last thing her exhausted brain needed was the thought of him spending more quality time with the cheerleaders, especially Maggie Chow. The Asian beauty was all but straddling his lap, not that he seemed to notice. Sophie did and she had never wanted to smack anyone in the face with her tray more than she did the girl blinking big brown eyes up at him.
When Sophie got home, her mother was waiting for her with a casserole dish in hand. She shoved it into Sophie’s and told her to go over to Jackie’s and give it to her.
Sophie hadn’t been back to the Rowth residence since the afternoon they’d moved into the neighborhood, which had been a relief of sorts since Spencer and Suzy lived there, but now her mother was sending her into the lion’s den, armed with broccoli and cheese casserole. The only thing missing was spraying her down with pig’s blood for extra aroma.
Jackie answered the door with her bright smile, but it was forced and her eyes were red and swollen. “Sophia! Hi!”
Sophie was grabbed and forcibly dragged into the foyer. Gone were the bare walls, cold floors and empty rooms. Warm toned furniture sat precisely in the sitting area, draped in soft beige covers. The walls were brightened with pastel paintings, pictures of Spencer and Suzy and scenic portraits. It was such a drastic change to what Sophie had seen the last time she’d been there, she couldn’t help staring.
“Come in! I was just emptying the last box,” Jackie said, motioning for Sophie to follow her into the kitchen.
Carefully, Sophie closed the door behind her and followed. The boxes were gone and she was surprised by the amount of space left behind by their absence. Gingerly, she set the casserole down on the oak table, next to a pile of photo albums. One was open, displaying four neatly placed pictures. Each picture held a smiling Jackie, Suzy and Spencer with an older boy kneeling on a red and white blanket. The sun was bright and they were squinting at the person taking the picture. Sophie marveled at how much the picture-Spencer looked nothing like the now-Spencer. Picture-Spencer wore pale jeans and a polo shirt in soft yellow that flattered his pale hair. There were no tattoos on his arms, no hoop in his ear. But most shocking of all, he looked happy. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes bright and the sound of his laughter seemed to echo off the glossy pages.
“These are nice,” she said, motioning to the album. “Who’s this?”
“Oh!” Jackie appeared at her side. “That’s Jamie, my eldest.”
Sophie stared at the boy who looked nothing like Spencer to mark them as siblings. He was as dark as Spencer was light, with chocolate colored hair, brown eyes and golden skin. His smile was Spencer’s though. It was dazzling, handsome, like some toothpaste commercial.
The soft sniffle had Sophie glancing up. “Are you okay?”
Jackie nodded, but there was no masking the swell of tears in her blue eyes, or the slight tremor in her lip. “Yes!” She chuckled, sniffing again. “I’m such a sentimental fool. These were so long ago.” The smile faded and a look of wistfulness passed over her eyes.
“Were you guys having a picnic?” Sophie asked quietly.
Jackie nodded. “Spencer was fifteen, Jaime eighteen and Suzy ten. We went to this park Spencer used to love as a little boy. It’s not very far from here. Huston Park, down on … on …” She gestured toward the front of the house vaguely.
“I know where that is,” Sophie said kindly.
Jackie inhaled shakily. “It was a lovely day.” She closed the album slowly. “We spent the whole day feeding the ducks and playing games and …” The words shattered in her mouth.
Sophie had never been one to know what to do in situations like this. Usually panic won out and she was making some kind of weird joke that was never really funny. This was probably not the time for that. She wished her mother had brought the casserole over. She would have known what to do. The only thing Sophie knew at that point was that she couldn’t leave.
“Can I see?”
Jackie’s eyes blinked in surprise. “You want to see my albums?”
Heat crept into Sophie’s cheeks. “Sure … if you want? If it’s okay?”
Jackie sniffled, smiled. “Of course it’s okay! It’s just no one has ever asked …” She waved a hand towards one of the four chairs circling the table. “Sit!”
Sophie took the seat next to the stack of albums. She wiggled in close to see as Jackie regained her chair and flipped
open the first book.
“This is Spencer’s first year.”
It was unclear how many hours sifted by as the two sat, laughing over the pictures. There were so many. Seventeen years’ worth of memories, all neatly organized with such tender care. In each, Spencer grew, becoming tall, more sullen, more like the boy Sophie knew now and less like the boy with the polo shirts and free smiles. Then there was Suzy, a cute, chubby toddler with gummy smiles and pudgy cheeks. As the pages flipped, she too became withdrawn, surly. There weren’t very many pictures of Jamie, and Sophie didn’t ask why.
“Who’s that?” Sophie pointed to a picture of Spencer standing next to a gorgeous blonde with enormous green eyes and a smile so dazzling it belonged on a magazine cover. She wore a stunning, strapless gown of peach with glittering gems cascading from the bodice to the hem where it split up a toned thigh. Her skin was golden, the skin of a beach bunny. Diamonds draped from her throat, ears and wrists. There were even diamonds on the top of her sandals.
But for all her glamor, it was Spencer who stole Sophie’s breath. He was … wow. Dashing was a tame word to describe the form-fitting black tux hugging every incredible inch of him. His hair was shorter then, the front swept back from his face, leaving bare the heart stopping smile softening his usual scowl.
Beside her, oblivious to how very little Sophie was breathing, Jackie sighed. “That’s Aimee. She was Spencer’s girlfriend.” The disapproval and annoyance in her tone made Sophie feel a little better about the fact that Spencer used to date a supermodel.
“They broke up because you guys moved?” she asked, going for casual and not satisfied or nosy.
Jackie shook her head. “This was taken two years ago at some school function. She broke Spencer's heart about a month later. Between that and everything else, he hasn’t been the same since. None of us have.”
“I’m sorry,” Sophie said.
Games of Fire Page 10