“Everything all right?” he asked, venturing deeper into the room.
Sophie nodded. “Yeah, just doing some homework.”
His gaze dropped to the unopened books. An eyebrow lifted. “Do you have some kind of superpower I don’t know about?”
A flush crept into her cheeks. “I guess I was daydreaming. What were you doing?”
He sat down at the foot of her bed. “Watching TV. Nothing on, by the way.”
Sophie chuckled. “Want to do homework with me?”
He glanced at the books again and gave a resigned sigh. “Why not.”
She watched him roll off the bed and disappear into his room. He returned a moment later with his bag. She slid backwards to give him room on the mattress.
With no other choice but to get started, she opened her books to their last page, hunted down her pen and was about to begin when the phone rang. Dropping her pen, she reached for the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey honey!” Her mother’s voice carried loudly through the receiver, barely audible over the howling wind. “Just wanted to check in. Everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine. Just doing homework.”
“Okay! We’ll be back in about an hour or so.”
“Okay!” With a farewell, she hung up and turned back to her books, only to find her notebook missing. “What … ”
Spencer had it, upside down in his hands and turning it clockwise while reading something on the page.
“Interesting,” he mused, amusement coloring his tone.
She couldn’t imagine what was so interesting until she realized he held her History notebook.
Shit!
She snatched it back from him, snapping it closed and hugging it to her chest. “I was bored!” she exclaimed, drowning in a pool of boiling water.
His smirk was devastatingly gorgeous and very smug. “I never took you for the name in hearts kind of girl.”
She glowered at him, almost positive her face was about to melt off. “There are no names in the hearts!”
His tongue rolled over his teeth. “I’m a little disappointed.”
“You weren’t supposed to see that!” she moaned, covering her face with the notebook.
He hooked a finger over the top of the book and nudged it down a notch to look into her eyes. “Why’s that?”
“Because I don’t normally do girly things like that,” she admitted.
The notebook was taken from her and tossed over the edge of the bed. His bag and her books quickly followed as he crawled towards her on all fours, forcing her onto her back. His hand rested lightly on her waist as he hovered over her.
“Well, I’ve never had a girl write my name in her notebook before.” She started to tell him she didn’t believe that, but he was kissing her and she didn’t want to talk anymore. “I think I kinda like it.”
They got very little work done before their parents arrived. Most of the time was spent kissing and some talking. They’d only just righted their clothes and hair and opened their books when the door opened and their parents walked in carrying paper bags of groceries. They were informed that the police had no leads and that they would be staying in the hotel a little longer.
Sophie was both excited to be spending more time with Spencer and disappointed by the fact that they hadn’t captured the people responsible.
“I talked to Roy,” she told Spencer much later, as they sat in his room watching television on his bed. The room held the lingering scent of tuna fish from their supper.
“About Lauren?”
She nodded. “He said she was the one that walked away. Do you think that’s true?”
The shoulder she was resting her head on jerked in a shrug. “I don’t really know either of them, but I know Roy’s a good guy.”
From her reclined position against his chest, Sophie tilted her head back to peer up into his face. “Why do you think she did it?” It was stupid to ask him. How would he know? But she couldn’t seem to formulate the answer on her own.
“You’d have to ask her.”
But would Lauren tell her? She seemed so upset that Jessie had told them about the kiss that Sophie doubted it. The whole situation made no sense. Lauren had been in love with Roy forever, so why would she turn him away?
“Hey.” Spencer tugged lightly on a curl. “You should talk to her.”
Sophie nodded. “But will she talk to me?”
“Why wouldn’t she? You’re her best friend.”
Somehow, this incident made her feel as disconnected from Lauren as humanly possible. It hurt to know there were things Lauren didn’t want to talk to her about when they used to share everything. There had never been a secret between them.
Gingerly, as if the phone might try and take a chunk out of her, Sophie pulled the device from her pocket and punched in Lauren’s number.
Behind her, Spencer kissed her jawline. “Want me to go?”
She started to say no, but it was a private matter. She didn’t think Lauren would want Spencer being there, listening. But at the same time … she hung up before it could finish dialing the numbers.
“I’ll talk to her tomorrow.” In person. Not over the phone. Then another thought occurred to her, which made her question if she should be put on ADHD medication. “Spencer?”
“Mm?”
She opened her mouth to answer when something stopped her. She shut her mouth. “Nothing.”
He poked her side, making her squeak and jump. “No, no, tell me.”
Threading her fingers through his, more to restrain him from more poking than anything else, Sophie sighed. “I was just thinking … ” She hesitated, not sure where this thought was going, or if she was ready to face the possibility.
“Hey.” Spencer tipped her face up gently with a nudge of his finger. “What is it?”
She dampened her lips. “What if the person goes to our school?”
She expected to see surprise or fear in his eyes, not a sadness that spoke of regret. His fingers ghosted the line of her jaw while he returned her gaze solemnly.
It dawned on her slowly. “You already thought of that! When you told me to keep texting you.”
He nodded, looking down. “I’m not ruling anything out.”
A cold chill swept through her. The very idea that someone she’d gone to school with possibly her entire life could do something so horrible had her stomach churning. Her mind choked on the very idea that every day she could be sitting beside, talking with, the person terrorizing her and her family.
“But why?” Her voice broke. “Why are they doing this?”
Spencer’s arms locked around her tightly, crushing her into his chest. He rested his brow on her shoulder. “I don’t know.”
A soft cough drew their attention to the adjoining doorway. Jackie smiled at them a little sadly.
“Sorry,” she said. “Time for bed.”
Sophie glanced at the clock on the nightstand, surprised to see it was already eleven. “Oh! I’m sorry! I didn’t realize—”
Jackie put up a hand, stopping Sophie’s apology. “We didn’t either.” She waved a hand towards Sophie’s room. “Time seems to have slipped past all of us.”
Sophie untangled herself from the rumpled sheets and Spencer, turning her torso to press a quick kiss to his lips. “Goodnight.”
His eyes met hers, dark and hot with promise. “Night.”
Fighting back the blush crawling up her neck, Sophie scrambled off the bed and hurried to where Jackie stood.
“Night,” she said to the older woman, ducking her head and hurrying into her room. The door closed softly behind her.
Her parents sat on their bed, talking quietly. They both looked up when Sophie stepped into the room.
“Hey,” she said, forcing a smile.
Her dad rose off the bed, stretching his tall frame. “Bedtime, kiddo. Go get ready.”
Sophie gathered her bathroom things and went through the motions.
The process seemed to take forever. First her, then her parents, then getting into bed and waiting for the soft sound of her mother’s breathing and her father’s traumatizing snores. It literally felt like hours before she heard the soft thump, thump, thump, thump on the door separating her from Spencer.
Without wasting a second, she threw off the covers and hurried to open the door. No words were spoken between them this time as Spencer scooped her up into his arms, shut the door and marched to the bed with her lips firmly fused to his.
“I should go … ” Sophie grumbled into the pillow an hour later, too lax and sleepy to actually move from her face down position on Spencer’s bed.
Spencer was on his elbow beside her, sweeping her hair off her back and neck and lightly peppering kisses along her shoulder blades. His fingers glided down the ridges of her spine, spraying goose bumps all along her skin. Her lungs hitched the lower he traveled, only to shudder out the breath when he reached the elastic of her briefs and drew back. A moan escaped her.
“I’m never going to leave if you keep that up,” she teased, cuddling deeper into his pillow.
“One day,” he said, touching the slope of her shoulder with his lips. “You won’t have to leave at all.”
She closed her eyes as the picture of them waking up together unfolded in her mind. A smile turned her lips and she sighed happily.
“Are you falling asleep?” His fingers drifted to her ribs, making her giggle and squirm away.
Forcing herself up, she tackled him onto his back and stretched over him, pinning him to the mattress. She dropped her lips and kissed his chin, his jaw, his neck and the little dip in his collarbone. Beneath her, his heart was wild in his chest, his breathing uneven. But he didn’t stop her as she followed the path of his chest, kissing the claw marks on his chest. Her fingers traced the tattoos, remembering the first time she’d seen them.
Spencer raised his head. “What?” he asked when she chuckled.
She shook her head. “Just thinking.”
In a single fluid motion, he twisted them over, pinning her beneath him with her arms above her head and every inch of them touching.
“Nu uh,” he said, following the path she’d taken on him, chin, jaw, neck and collarbone. “Talk or I’ll make you talk.”
Biting back a giggle, Sophie touched the side of his face, pulling his attention back to her and not the dangerous territory he was venturing to. “I was thinking about the first time I saw you. I thought you were the most gorgeous thing I’d ever seen, and then you opened your mouth.”
Against her neck, he snickered.
“Don’t laugh!” She punched him lightly on the arm. “Your mouth ruined the moment for me.”
“I had to.” He raised his head and peered down into her face. “I could feel you undressing me with your eyes and it took a lot of control to keep from throwing you over my shoulder and marching you upstairs to my room.”
“I think I would have preferred that to what happened instead.”
He groaned, kissing her. “God I was so tempted—”
A loud bang-bang had them bolting upright. There was a moment of pure terror as they both realized the banging was coming from the adjoining door.
“Spencer … !” Sophie scrambled up, rifling through the rumpled sheets and blankets for her t-shirt. Spencer found it. He hurriedly helped her into it just as the figure in the next bed groaned and rolled over.
The vicious pounding echoed again, sounding louder and harder, as if the person was using a mallet or a very large fist. The spit in Sophie’s mouth turned to ashes as she fumbled for Spencer’s hand, dispiritingly searching for a place to hide. But if her father was trying to knock the door down, he already knew she was there and hiding wouldn’t help.
Jackie took that moment to pull herself up into a sitting position and comb fingers through her hair. She yawned noisily, not bothering to cover her mouth as she threw back the blankets and got to her feet. She stretched and froze, spotting Sophie standing without breathing next to Spencer’s bed in nothing but a t-shirt and boy shorts, her hair a mess and her face wearing a very guilty, very scared expression.
“Sophia, what—?” The knock interrupted her. She darted glances between the door and the pair across the room. Realization widened her eyes. “Oh dear … ” She hurried to throw open the door. “Ben, I … what’s wrong?”
“There’s been a fire.”
Guilt forgotten, terror overpowered, Sophie gasped. Spencer went rigid next to her, but neither made any effort to move closer to the open doorway. From that angle they couldn’t see her father or he them. Both hoped it stayed that way.
“I’ll grab my coat!” Jackie ran to the closet in the hallway, leaving the doorway empty for the giant man to step through.
He seemed much larger, much more menacing at that moment. Her father’s dark eyes went instantly to where Sophie and Spencer stood. Disapproval and fury raged behind his eyes as he took them in. It was that moment Sophie realized her shirt was inside out and backwards. Her father seemed to notice at the same time. His nostrils flared.
The urge to vomit overcame her. “Dad—”
He put up a hand. “I will deal with you two when I get back!” He spun on his heels and marched back into the other room, slamming the door behind him with such force, Sophie felt it like a blow in the chest.
Jacket secured around her, Jackie stared at them a moment, a parade of emotions passing over her face, sympathy, anger, frustration, fear, sadness. But she said nothing as she opened the door to the hotel and slipped out. Her quiet exit was somehow worse.
“Sophie.” Spencer sat her down on the mattress and knelt at her feet. “Hey, it’s going to be okay.”
Hands she hadn’t realized she’d lifted, pressed into her mouth. “Spencer … oh this is so not okay.”
He touched her face lightly with the back of his fingers. He rubbed her arms, her legs. “Baby? Look at me.”
His features swam behind the tears, but she dropped her gaze to his face.
“I’ll handle it, okay? I’ll talk to your dad. I’ll make him see that I’m not going anywhere.” He smoothed the pad of his thumb over her cheek. “You’re stuck with me for a very long time.”
She sniffled, using the corner of her t-shirt to dab at the corners of her eyes. “He’s going to kill us.”
He took her hand and kissed her fingers. “No he won’t.”
She slipped her fingers through his. “What do you think he meant there’s a fire?” Suddenly, her personal problems seemed small and stupid compared to the much larger picture. “Do you think they set our houses on fire?”
He gripped her arms when she tried to leap to her feet. “We’ll know when they get back.”
She wasn’t listening. Her eyes were wide, her face ashen. Her nails sunk into his forearms as she stared at him. “Do you think they set our homes on fire?” she asked again, her voice high pitched and shrill.
“Hey!” He shook her lightly. “There’s nothing you can do right now. I’ll phone Mom in a little bit and see what’s going on.”
“Oh my God!” she cried, shaking all over.
He drew her into his arms. “Shh.”
“Who are these people?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
True to his promise, Spencer phoned his mom twenty minutes later. Sophie listened as they spoke, her stomach threatening to liquefy with every passing second.
“Someone set the garage on fire,” Spencer told her when he got off. He tossed his phone onto the nightstand and turned to her. “The fire department already had most of it out when our parents arrived. Aside from the smell and your mom’s car that was inside the garage, the house is fine.”
Sophie said nothing, too numb to string simple words together.
Spencer twisted his body, dragging her down with him as he reclined on the bed. He tugged the blankets around them, but mainly around her.
“It’s going to be okay,” he murmured, stroking the ha
ir at her temple.
“It’s not,” she whispered so low, even she had trouble hearing it. “We could have been home.”
“But we weren’t,” he tried to reason.
She met his gaze. “We can’t stay here forever. Eventually, we’ll have to go home and when we do—”
“Stop!” He pressed his fingers lightly to her lips. “Stop. The police will find them before that happens.”
Her laugh poured out in a weak sob. “No they won’t. You know they won’t. They’ll just keep coming and coming until—”
“No, I don’t believe they will,” he admitted solemnly. “I have no faith in the system whatsoever.” He rubbed a hand over his face and back into his hair. “But I do believe in your father. I do believe in karma. I do believe that we’ll make it through this, even if … ” He trailed off.
“What?”
His eyes were twin flakes of ember floating into the night from a roaring inferno. “I won’t let anything happen to you. No matter what I have to do, I will keep you safe.”
She knew he couldn’t promise that. He didn’t have the power to make such a claim. But the intensity behind his stare almost made her believe it. He really would do anything to keep her safe, even if it meant putting himself at risk, putting himself in danger. A sharp ribbon of ice sliced down the length of her spine, crystalizing the blood flowing through her veins. She would have gasped if it would have made a difference. Instead she was reaching, her fingers curling into the curve of his shoulder as she dragged herself into his chest.
He didn’t question her. His arms went around her waist, a natural motion by now. He crushed her into place against his heart. Had it been any other time, she would have laughed at how much things had changed between them. How much she had come to depend on him and how much he had changed in return because of her. She couldn’t even remember the two people that had met in his kitchen nearly two months prior. It made her wonder if their relationship had progressed so much, so fast, because it was bound to happen with their scalding chemistry, or was it because of everything that had happened? Was all the chaos and danger stitching them together? Would it last when it was all over or would those stitches fall away? Dissolve?
Games of Fire Page 32