Riley's Secret (A Moon's Glow Novel # 1)

by Smith, Christina

  I sighed. “I don’t know. Both of them are so selfish and irresponsible, they drive me crazy.”

  “Then why do you hang out with them?” I raised my eyebrows at him. “Okay, let me rephrase. Why do you hang out with Jenny?”

  I leaned my head back, staring up at the star-filled sky. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see him gaze at me, waiting for my answer. “Mandy likes her. God knows why. And Mandy’s my best friend, so I put up with Jenny’s crap. Barely,” I added when he laughed.

  Looking away from the twinkling stars, I turned my head to face him. “Why do you hang out with him? You’re not as obnoxious as he is.”

  He laughed. “As obnoxious? Was that a compliment?” he asked. I nodded with a grin. “The three of us have been friends since grade school. Shane started acting like this our second year of high school after his parents’ divorce. Chris and I have been friends with him for so long it seems habit now. We just ignore him when he acts like an ass.”

  I knew they had been friends since they were young, but I never understood the dynamic. As I leaned my head back, staring at the stars again, I felt him lean against me. I pulled away and heard him sigh.

  “Where are you going in the fall?” he asked, setting his beer on the bench beside him.

  “Actually I’m taking a year off. I don’t know what I want to do with my life and I didn’t want to waste my parents’ money going to school with no major. What about you, what are you taking?”

  “Pre-law. I’m going to be a lawyer, whether I like it or not. Just like my dad and his dad.” His father was a partner in my dad’s firm. My father was his boss.

  Watching Brandon, I wondered why I couldn’t like him the way he wanted. He was very cute, with his wavy chestnut hair and deep brown eyes, his face filled with sharp lines and a strong jaw. He was always nice to me, but I just felt like there was something missing in my life and I knew it wasn’t him.

  “If you don’t want to be a lawyer, don’t be. You shouldn’t let your father dictate your life.”

  He sighed, leaning his elbows on the bench behind him. “Well, he says he won’t pay for school if I don’t follow in the family business. But I don’t know what else to take, so I’m okay with it.” He took a frustrated drink from his beer, downed it and then threw the empty bottle on the grass. It rolled a few feet, stopping inches from someone’s discarded backpack. Standing up, he turned to me. “You sure you don’t want one?” When I only nodded, he stepped down the bleachers and pulled another beer from the cooler.

  Mandy and Chris headed towards us, hand in hand, giggling to one another.

  “Hey, I’ll have one,” Chris called out to Brandon. Brandon took two more out and tossed them one at a time to Chris. He caught one, handed it to Mandy and then caught the second one. The bottle clinked against his class ring.

  Chapter Two

  Hero

  A couple of hours later I was ready to leave. It had been a boring night of watching them get wasted and the more Brandon drank, the more handsy he became. He sat beside me with his arm wrapped around my shoulder. I’d get up to move to another bench. He’d get the hint and go hang out with the guys, only to try again a few minutes later.

  Mandy sat down on the bleacher beside me during one of the rare moments I was alone. “Isn’t this fun?” she slurred. She was working on her fourth, which was a lot for her.

  “Yeah, I’m having a blast,” I mumbled, rolling my eyes.

  “Well, you could try to have more fun, you know. Sooner or later Brandon’s going to give up and move on.”

  “Good. I told you a million times I don’t like him that way. You always do this to me.”

  “Do what?” she asked, blinking innocently at me.

  “Get me into these situations. I thought there would be more people here. You know I don’t like Brandon and yet I always seem to be paired up with him.”

  “Well, he likes you, okay. I told you the rest of the team would be here because I knew you wouldn’t want to come if it was just us. I’m just trying to help.”

  “I’m your friend. You should try to help me.” I sighed, tired of fighting with her over the same thing. I stood up and stared down at her. “I’m tired, I want to go.”

  “Come on, it’s just getting fun. They’re about to get out the fireworks.”

  Just as she spoke, I saw something fly into the sky from where the three guys were huddled in the middle of the field.

  “They thought we could use something to celebrate the fact that we only have two more months of high school. Isn’t it awesome?” Her head was tipped up, watching as red and blue erupted in hundreds of lights with a loud bang. The smell of sulfur hovered in the air.

  I had to admit, they were pretty. Maybe the evening would take a turn for the better. I have always loved fireworks. One of the times my parents paid attention to me when I was a child was on the Fourth of July. They had annual barbeques for my father’s office and he would spare no expense with the fireworks. My parents would gather around me and make a big deal of making sure I was comfortable enough. And together we’d watch the pretty lights. It wasn’t until I was older that I noticed that as the last of our guests left, all the attention I received from my parents disappeared as well.

  Even though the memory stung a little, it didn’t take away my love for fireworks. One of my favorite things to do is watch the stars at night. So adding multiple colors just made me happier.

  I sat down and watched the beautiful designs in the sky. I was so enthralled with the show; I didn’t even notice Brandon take the seat next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

  Shane lit another one that shot up, leaving a trail of smoke. Everyone looked into the sky, waiting. But nothing happened.

  “Damn, it’s a dud,” Chris muttered, taking the lighter from Shane. “I’ll do it.” He took another one and lit it. This time the rocket shot up into the sky with a loud buzzing sound, then a loud boom that seemed to echo. I was sure I heard the firecracker go off twice.

  Above us were thousands of clear lights shaped as a snowflake. It was so beautiful that I almost didn’t notice a loud bang to the right and a bright red glowing light. I looked closer and realized why. The “dud” had landed on a roof and now that roof was on fire.

  “Oh my God, that house is on fire,” I yelled.

  Brandon yanked his arm off my shoulder and stood up. I followed suit, starting to panic. “Oh shit. Guys, look.” He pointed to the house that now had smoke and flames rising above it.

  Without thought, I took off running to my car.

  “Megan, what are you doing?” Brandon yelled from way behind me.

  “I’m going to get my phone to call nine-one-one.” I reached my car and opened the door. Taking my phone off of the dash where I had left it, I called with the location of the house before anybody else reached the parking lot. I was just getting in the driver’s seat when they ran toward me. Shane was carrying the cooler. A house was on fire, but he couldn’t forget his beer.

  I turned the ignition and was about to lift my foot off the brake to pull out of the lot when Brandon pounded on the hood. I stopped to look at him.

  “Where are you going?” he asked, a frightened expression on his face.

  “To the house. I have to see if there’s anyone home, someone could get hurt.” I let up on the brake again, but Brandon grabbed my shoulder through the window.

  “No, you’ll get in trouble.”

  “Are you serious?” I gasped, gaping at them. Why were they just standing around the parking lot staring at me?

  “Megan, come on, it’ll be fine. You called nine-one-one, let’s go,” Mandy pleaded.

  I stared at her and then at the others. No one moved and none of them looked me in the eye either. It was obvious that they didn’t care about the possibility of somebody getting hurt. All that mattered to them was their own skin. “I hope all of you sleep well tonight,” I said coolly, stepping on the gas and pulling out of the lot, flinging g
ravel from under my tires.

  I stopped in front of the red brick two-story house. There were two cars parked in front of the garage, which meant someone must be home. All the lights were out so I assumed that the family was asleep. Smoke and flames were still at the back of the house where the rocket hit the roof, but it was slowly moving forward.

  I ran up to the front door and tried to open it, but of course it was locked. Looking around, I saw a large bay window on the first floor. I rushed over, hoping it was open, but again I couldn’t budge it.

  I ran back to the door and pressed the doorbell continuously, hoping that I might wake them. When that didn’t work, I started banging my fists in frustration, yelling and screaming until my throat hurt. I wanted to help more, I just didn’t know how.

  “What’s going on? What are you doing?”

  I turned around at the sound of a deep voice and saw Nate Green standing behind me on the porch. We went to the same school, but I didn’t know him very well.

  “The roof is on fire.” I pointed up at the flames that were starting to spread to the front of the house. He rushed over and tried to turn the doorknob. “It’s locked and since there are cars in the driveway I think someone’s home.” My voice was filled with the panic that was bubbling inside me.

  We heard crying from upstairs and looked up to see a little girl leaning out of her window.

  Nate shoved me aside and kicked the door down with his foot. He was about to run in when he noticed me following him. He spun around. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m coming, this is my fault. I want to help,” I cried, trying to shove past him.

  He stared at me in surprise and then blocked my way with his arm. “You’re not going in there,” he said with a low growl. Something in the way he looked at me stopped me in my tracks. His bright blue eyes turned wild and for a split second I felt a chill.

  The chill was enough to keep me in my place. “Fine, I’ll wait down here, but hurry up.”

  He took off up the stairs faster than I thought possible.

  I waited for what seemed like hours, until I finally heard the sound of whimpering. Nate was coming down the stairs carrying two kids, a boy and a girl, both in pajamas. They were holding on to him for dear life. He had to pry their hands off of his arms when he set them down in front of me.

  “Take them to your car, get away from the house. I’m going back for their parents,” he yelled. Before I could argue that the fire was getting out of control, he ran back up the stairs.

  I picked up the little girl, who looked about three and held her older brother’s hand, leading them to my car.

  Once in the car, I turned on the interior light so the kids wouldn’t be so frightened. My eyes were locked on the scene before me, waiting for Nate with a knot of panic in my stomach.

  The fire had now spread to the front of the house. Smoke and violent red flames poured out of broken windows. The black smoke rolled out and covered the top part of the house. I was starting to worry about Nate and the parents. Just as I was about to get out and run after them, a shadow emerged from the front door. Once it moved away from the house and the smoke, I saw that it was Nate. A man and a woman was with him. He was guiding them away from the flames. The woman looked close to unconsciousness.

  He led them to a bench in front of the house. They sat down as we heard sirens coming down the street.

  “Fire truck,” the little girl called out, pointing to the first shiny red rig that stopped on the lawn. Three more pulled up behind it.

  “That’s right, a fire truck. They’re going to put out the fire.” I patted her on the head, wishing I could do more to give her comfort. She smiled up at me with big brown eyes that were filled with a mix of fear and excitement. She had coffee-colored curly hair that came to her shoulders and she was wearing a pink flowered nightgown.

  “What’s your name?” she asked me, touching the heart pendant on my necklace.

  “My name is Megan. What’s yours?”

  “Kara.” Her voice was a soft whisper.

  “That’s a pretty name. What’s yours, little guy?” I asked the boy, who appeared to be about four. He was wearing pajamas covered in soccer balls, baseballs and footballs. His hair was the same color as his sister’s, but his eyes were blue.

  “Billy,” he said shyly. His gaze never moved from the fire truck as the firefighters jumped out and started to pull out the hose.

  I heard another siren and saw an ambulance pulling up behind the fire truck. I watched all the chaos unfold as the three of us sat safely huddled inside my car. There were about twenty firefighters running around, pulling out the hoses and ladders.

  Paramedics were checking the parents. Bystanders, who had started to watch, were being pushed back to a safe distance by police officers. There were two cruisers parked behind my car.

  Nate stayed close to the parents, watching the paramedics take care of them. They were now sitting up on the bench, looking much better. Nate suddenly glanced over at us, as if remembering we were still here and then jogged over to stand beside the car.

  I rolled the window down. “Are they okay?” he asked, nodding to the kids.

  “Yes, they’re fine. What about the parents?”

  “They’ll be okay,” he snapped. Even though he was covered in black soot, I could see the disapproval on his face. He glared at me coldly before walking away.

  What was his problem? Nate was not a guy anyone could figure out. He started at our school three years ago and all the girls fell for him. Who could blame them? He was tall with broad shoulders and muscular arms. He had thick wavy sand-colored hair and deep blue eyes, a strong jaw and slight dimples that popped out on the rare occasion when he smiled. He had the kind of looks that girls daydreamed about. But it was soon obvious that he wasn’t interested in dating anyone from school.

  He kept to himself except for the kids he tutored. He was picky about that as well. A few girls thought they could use his tutoring to get to know him. But they soon realized that wouldn’t work. He told them flat out that he didn’t tutor for rich families, only those who couldn’t afford one. I laughed when he turned Jenny down. She was so sure she would be the one to finally date the hottest guy in school. She made up a rumor about him being gay after he turned her down. It didn’t seem to bother him though. If anyone said anything to him, he just kept walking with a blank expression on his face.

  The guy intimidated the heck out of me. Not that I knew him very well, but there was just something about him that made you feel inferior. He was so good, you could never compete morally.

  I did know something about him that no one else did though. One day about a year ago, I was running late for school. The halls were empty and everyone had already started class. I was leaving my locker when I heard voices around the corner.

  “What are you doing? I told you not to talk to me at school.” The voice was deep and I didn’t recognize it.

  “No one is in the halls, Nate, I just said hi. What’s the big deal?” I couldn’t tell who the girl was, but she did sound familiar. I slowed down, not wanting to interrupt. It was rare that anyone got a chance to hear Nate speak.

  “She’s coming,” he said softly. That was strange. Who was he talking about? I rounded the corner and only saw Lauren Riley. Nate was nowhere to be seen. She looked flustered at seeing me.

  “Hi, Lauren,” I called, walking up to stand in front of her. “Was that Nate Green I heard you talking to?”

  “No, I was alone. You must be hearing things,” she stammered, stepping quickly to my left before I could block her. I heard her shoes clicking hurriedly down the hall as I stood in a daze in the middle of the empty corridor, wondering what had just happened.

  “Fire truck!” Billy yelled, bringing me back to the present.

  “That’s right, Billy, fire truck. Look at the firemen; they’re putting the fire out.” I jumped at the sound of a bang on the driver’s side window. A paramedic was standing outside, waiting for
me to roll it down.

  “Excuse me, miss. I would like to check out the children now.” He opened the door before I could respond. He was about the same age as my dad, maybe in his forties. His hair was receding and the little hair he had was mostly gray.

  I climbed out and then turned around to help the kids.

  While they were being checked out, I stood back and waited.

  “The parents are fine, just smoke inhalation. How are the kids?” Nate asked, suddenly appearing next to me.

  “He hasn’t said anything yet, but I think they’re all right.”

  “And how would you know that, are you a doctor?”

  “No, but I have been sitting in here with them all this time. What’s your problem?” I asked, sick of his attitude.

  “Nothing. The police want to take your statement. I’ve already given mine.” He gave me a scowl as he walked away, heading in the direction of the four police officers. He said something to a woman and gestured to me. She glanced in my direction, her face serious. After a word to her partner, she headed over to where I was standing beside my car.

  “Megan Banks?” she asked as she approached. Her long brown hair was pulled into a ponytail and she was wearing a black dress suit. Her badge hung on a long chain around her neck.

  “Yes.”

  “My name is Detective Carver. I understand you were the first one on the scene. Can you tell me where you were and what you were doing?”

  I couldn’t tell her what really happened. I didn’t agree with what my friends did, but I wouldn’t rat them out either. “I was at the school, hoping I could get into my locker. I forgot my math book, but all the doors were locked. I was getting back in my car when I noticed smoke coming from this house. I raced over after I called nine-one-one.”

  She eyed me suspiciously for several seconds before responding. “And you were alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wait right here.” She walked back over to the two men in police uniforms and spoke to them briefly. After their talk, the men climbed into a police cruiser and drove away.