I read it over and laughed. This was stupid. Still, it didn’t hurt anything except maybe my pride. I hit send and closed my phone.
I didn’t feel like visiting anyone in my contact list. I wanted to visit Aaron.
The idea was even stupider than sending a text message to a Latvian goddess. But it fueled me, emboldened me. “I’ve changed my mind, Dana,” I said out loud, even though she wasn’t with me. “I’m going to get Aaron back.” Now if I could just figure out how to change the future....
After I made myself irresistible, of course.
I ran through the scenario in my head. Put on a dress, go to Aaron’s house. Make out. Or rather, make up.
One good thing about cheerleading practice after school: at least I didn’t have to fight Beth for the bathroom.
I paused at the thought of my sister, wondering if Dana’s philosophies applied to Beth, as well. Should I just ignore the future and treasure the time I had with her?
Half an hour later, I was in my car again. I’d done my hair, leaving it down but with more defined curls instead of just massive waves. I rolled the windows up and cranked on the A/C, willing it to cool me off enough to keep me from sweating. I had my map with me that I’d printed from the internet address search.
As for where I got Aaron’s address?well, I was a journalist, after all. Now that I had his phone number again, it wasn’t too hard to find.
I wasn’t at all surprised when I pulled up to a large white-washed mansion, looking every bit like an English manor dropped on American soil. At least the guard had waved me through at the gate. Guess I didn’t look very suspicious.
A seed of uncertainty buried itself in my heart as I stared at the house. Why had I done my hair and put on this dress? He was going to think I was silly.
You came all the way here, Jayne. Just do it. I turned my car off and started up the drive, trying to appear confident and poised even while my heart beat like a rabid drummer in my chest.
The doorbell chimed when I touched it. It didn’t ring, it chimed. Who would answer, the butler?
The door opened, and Aaron stood there. The smell of musky leather permeated the air around him, and I instinctively averted my eyes. You can look up, I told myself, but I couldn’t bring myself to meet his light blue eyes. Instead I stared at the forest green t-shirt that stretched across his shoulders.
“Jayne,” he said, surprise evident in his voice. “What are you doing here?” His voice lilted upward, stressing the words musically.
No warm welcome yet. I could feel my courage slipping away. My gaze dropped to his cowhide slippers, a heat creeping up my cheeks. Chalk another one up to a stupid idea. “I just wanted to talk.”
His feet squirmed. “Now’s not the best time, Jayne,” he all but whispered. “I’ll call you tonight.”
Uh-uh. I wasn’t letting him dismiss me like that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I lifted my head, meeting Aaron's eyes with what I hoped was a forceful, inviting stare. “The game's in two hours, and I'm going to the pre-game set up. I thought maybe we could go together. We can talk. And I can explain. I'm sorry, Aaron.”
He pressed his lips together and swallowed. “Don’t, Jayne,” he murmured. “Not now.”
“Don’t what?” I furrowed my brow. Was that sweat beading on his hairline?
“Who is it, Aaron?”
My head jerked up at the sound of a female voice. I narrowed my eyes as Libby slid into view. She wore a long lavender dress with a deep v-neck. It clung to her slender body and suddenly my short, cutesy dress looked horribly cheesy.
Libby glanced from Aaron to me, and then her voice frosted over. “Well? Were you going to invite her in?”
“Uh, no.” This time it was Aaron avoiding my eyes. “Jayne just came by to... to....”
“Borrow a book for English,” I finished.
“And I just told her I’ll call her tonight because now’s not a good time.” Aaron turned to face Libby, peering into her light brown eyes.
“Good bye, then, Jayne,” Libby said, not even looking at me as she closed the door.
I felt like throwing myself in front of a car.
My phone rang three times on the way home, all from Dana. I ignored them. I couldn’t talk to anyone right now. She called two more times before I turned the phone to silent, ignoring the urge to hurl it across the street.
Arriving home, I pulled the shades and threw myself on my bed, burying myself beneath my blankets. I just wanted to sleep and forget everything else. Forget the game. Forget my phone. Forget Aaron and the images of him in my mind.
“Jayne?”
I lifted my head groggily from my pillow, damp from my own drool. It took me a few seconds to realize my mom was at my door, knocking. The hazy sub-light of dusk filled my room, making me want to roll over and go back to sleep.
“Yeah?” I croaked from the bed.
My mom took that as an invite and popped the door open. “Jayne, are you sick?”
Yes, I wanted to say. I’m dying. “I’m okay.”
“You’re not going to the game tonight?”
I sat up and looked at my watch. Five-fifty. Dang it! The game started in ten minutes! So much for getting to the pregame. “Yes, I’m going!” I jumped up, smoothing my dress and throwing my over-done hair into a ponytail. I kicked off my heels and slipped on a pair of flats. “Bye, Mom. See you later.” I hurried out the door.
I hoped we creamed the other team. That was just what I needed to vent my feelings of failure.
Dana was waiting for me in our usual spot, to the left of the baseball diamond. I slid in ten minutes after six and jerked out my tape recorder.
“Where’ve you been?” she hissed, her eyes scanning me from head to toe and taking in my appearance. “I’ve been calling for hours!”
“Which should let you know I didn’t feel like talking, or I would’ve answered,” I snapped.
She pulled her head back and blinked. “Sorry. Guess I didn’t get the hint.” Turning, she gave the players all of her attention.
“Dana.”
She held up a hand. “Shh. I’m concentrating.”
Just what I needed, for my best friend to be mad at me too. I jerked open my notepad and began jotting sentences, pressing so hard I thought the pen would break.
My phone emitted an unfamiliar ringtone, and I looked toward my bag. Curiosity got the better of me. Pulling it out, I saw that it was a calendar event. I frowned. I didn’t have anything scheduled for today. Did I?
I flipped it open and groaned. Police 6:30. How on earth had I forgotten that I was meeting with Lieutenant Bailey tonight? I was so screwed. I’d never make it across town in half an hour. I turned to Dana. “Danes, I have to go. Can you record the game for me?”
“Uh-uh,” she replied, never looking away from the field. “I don’t want to miss anything. If you get my meaning.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I got the hint.” I snatched up my bag and huffed away.
People were still arriving, and the dirt parking lot was pretty full. I had to wait a few minutes for cars to clear out of my path, but finally I peeled out of the lot, heading west.
A quick glance at my clock showed that it was twenty after six. I pressed my foot down on the gas pedal, going slightly past the maximum speed limit. I gritted my teeth, hoping I wouldn’t get a ticket on my way to meet with Lieutenant Bailey. That wouldn’t improve my credibility.
There weren’t likely to be cops out here, though. Mostly the only nuisance on this two-lane highway would be an old grandpa who couldn’t find the gas pedal.
The speed limit was fifty-five, but I was pushing sixty when all of the sudden, a loud bang sounded from outside. My car jerked sideways and then wobbled forward, a heavy thumping sound coming from my left tire.
“No!” I cried. “Not now!”
I pulled the car over to the side of the road and climbed out. My front tire had blown. Like, blown up. I winced
as I examined the rim. I might have injured it slightly, as well.
“Not now!” I kicked the stupid tire as hard as I could, then cried out and grabbed my foot. “Great! I’m not at the game and I won’t make it to the police department, either!” I got back in and turned on my emergency lights. The sun dipped lower in the sky, spreading purple and orange fingers across the horizon. I should still have an hour before daylight disappeared, at least. I tried to wave down a car as it sped by on my right, but it ignored me.
“Jerk!” I shouted. I grabbed my cell phone and bit my lower lip, debating whether to call the police first or my emergency assistance number. I couldn’t believe this was happening. What more could go wrong?
I scrolled through my contacts and found Lieutenant Bailey’s number. I sighed. He was not going to believe me. My finger hovered over the send button. I willed myself to press it.
“Jayne! You all right?”
I gasped and dropped my phone. I’d been so intent on my call that I hadn’t even noticed the car pull around behind me. My face reddened when I saw Aaron. “What are you doing here?” I sputtered, my eyes darting to the paved road. “How did you find me?”
He jogged around to my side. “I was on my way to the game when I saw you standing here.”
I shoved him away from me, the horrifying memory of my embarrassing debut at his house churning my stomach. “Well, keep going. I’ve got help on the way.”
He grabbed my hand. “Jayne. Don’t be angry.”
Those were the wrong words to say. “Excuse me?” All my frustration and anger at the situation, at Dana, at him blew out of me. “Don’t be angry? You break up with me through a text message. And when I go over to your house to talk to you, who do I find but your ex girlfriend. The one you told me you didn’t like anymore. Remember?”
Aaron’s eyes narrowed. “The way I recall, you didn’t seem very interested. In fact, when you came over to my house, you were about to apologize.”
“That was before!”
“Before what?”
“Before I saw that you had already replaced me!” I succeeded in getting my hand out of his grip. I trembled with emotion. “It’s her you want anyway, not me! You always choose her in the end! Just get away from me!” I pushed his chest with both hands.
Aaron took two steps backward, his brows pulling together. “Jayne.”
“I mean it! Go!” I closed my hands into fists, blinking hard to keep the tears at bay. Aaron still stood there, a pitiful expression on his face.
I didn’t want his pity and I didn’t need his help. I climbed back into my car and locked all the doors. Then I pressed my hands over my ears and sobbed. I coughed and took several breaths. Where was my phone? I needed to talk to Dana. I reached over to the passenger seat, groping for it.
Not there. I stared at the vacant seat for a moment before remembering I’d dropped the phone on the street. Had I called the police? I couldn’t be certain if I’d actually hit send or not before tossing my phone on a one-way flight.
I took a deep breath and exhaled, closing my eyes. Then I hit the unlock switch and grabbed the handle just as there was a soft tap on my window.
The tears started again and I bit my lip. “Aaron, I don’t want to talk,” I said, opening the door and stepping into the street. “You’re just delaying—” I stopped.
The man in front of me wasn’t Aaron. The jagged scar cutting across his neck gave him away, and I caught my breath. It was him. The murderer. The expression on his face was so familiar, as if I knew him. My heart did a staccato dance in my chest. I opened my mouth to scream, but he darted behind me and pressed his hand against my lips.
“Hush, Jayne,” he whispered. “Don’t make this any harder than it is.” He chuckled, a harsh, grating noise next to my ear. “What were you about to say? Something about delaying the inevitable?”
He had found me.
The blood pumped so hard in my chest I thought I would faint. Where was Aaron? Had he gotten away? My eyes swiveled from side to side, searching the deserted road for his car. I could only hope he’d listened to me and left.
The killer kept one hand pressed to my mouth while he fiddled with something, and then he gagged me with a piece of cloth. “There now, Jayne, I know you’ll keep quiet.”
That voice. My mystery caller.
He clasped my hands together and tied them up. “I hate to have to do this to you, but after all, I don’t trust you. Let’s walk.” He moved me around my car. I stumbled under his hands, nearly falling into the ditch. We cleared it and walked into the pasture, ripe with strands of wheat. I breathed rapidly through my nose, feeling as though I couldn’t get enough oxygen.
“Hush, Jayne,” he soothed, one hand on my neck, pushing me forward. “You’ll get your chance. I’m dying to know how you found me. Well, not really dying. Figure of speech.”
The grains of wheat reached up to my armpits. Stopping, my stalker pushed on my shoulder until I sat. Then he sat down next to me. The prominent scar on his neck jumped out at me like a neon light. The grass trembled and my captor froze, eyes narrowing as he searched the field. I was shaking so hard I thought my teeth would rattle out of my mouth.
Another man stepped into the corner of our corn shelter. “You got her.” The baseball cap pulled low over his face didn’t mask the familiar voice. I stiffened, the fear flying right out of me as surprise and disbelief took over.
“Mr. Livingston!” I tried to scream the words through my gag, but they came out in muffled grunts. “Help me!” I flailed about the best I could.
My Spanish teacher did not look at me, and my captor kicked me in the ribs. “Shut up.” He turned back to Mr. Livingston, and I realized then why he looked familiar: they had the same light blue eyes, the same high forehead and light brown hair. They had to be brothers.
The knowledge hit me harder than the kick to the ribs had. My hope sank like a lead ball in the ocean, and a feeling very much like despair flooded my limbs. I began to sob in earnest, tears flowing down my face and into my gag.
“I got her,” my captor agreed. “Thanks to you. Say your goodbyes and then watch the road. She’ll be dead when you see her again.”
“I’m sorry, Jayne. I told you to stay out of it.” Still, Mr. Livingston didn’t look at me.
“I trusted you!” I tried to shout. Instead I just coughed and sputtered.
“Your silencer on?” the murderer asked.
Mr. Livingston held up a black pistol with a gloved hand.
“Keep guard, then.” My captor turned back to me as Mr. Livingston strode off. “So, you’ve met my brother. He wasn’t exactly thrilled when I decided to move home, but he’s been obliging. Lucky for me, he’s been keeping an eye out for anyone acting suspicious.”
I’d been betrayed. Dots flashed before my vision, but I couldn’t pass out now. I struggled for breath, sucking around the cloth, trying to get air. I leaned my head over, the weight of it carrying my body sideways into the dirt.
“Now, Jayne, I have a few questions for you,” he said softly. He squatted next to me, his elbows level with the black boots. The last remaining sunlight glinted off the point of a knife in his hand. “If you scream, I will cut your throat. Even if someone finds you, it will be too late. Got it?”
I did. I couldn’t take my eyes off the knife. How long would it take to die from a cut throat? In my vision of Hannah, it happened very quickly. Did it really happen like that? Or did the mind speed up the process to spare the victim?
He grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. “Got it?” he whispered.
I forced my head to move up and down.
“All right.” He lowered my gag to my chin, then pushed me back to a sitting position. “How did you find me?”
My head swam. Salt and pepper spots floated in front of my eyes. I cleared my throat. “You won’t believe me.”
“Try me.” He ran his fingers over the knife, the smooth edge glinting in the dying sunlight.
I
knew I wouldn’t live to see tomorrow. I hoped it didn’t hurt too bad. I hated paper cuts. “I met Hannah.”
“Hannah?”
“Short, brown hair. Black leather jacket.”
“Ah, yes. So? She never met me before that night.”
“I have a sort of psychic gift. And when I met her, I saw that you would kill her.” How would my mother react when she found my body? Was this why Beth turned to drugs? To forget my death?
Was this why Aaron got back together with Libby? Because I was dead?
“Really.” His dry, unemotional response indicated that he didn’t believe me.
In spite of the situation, irritation spiked through me. What more did he want from me? “Fine. What’s your explanation?”
He remained silent a moment. The grasses around us rustled as a breeze blew through, pausing to tickle the hairs on my neck as well. “No, I suppose that is the only way it makes sense. Well, that being the case, I’m sorry to have to kill such a unique talent. But you are a threat. Who else did you tell?”
Dana. My throat constricted. She was in danger. “Just the police,” I whispered, trying to sound calm. As calm as I could be for this situation.
“Are you sure? Not even your pretty blond friend?”
I trembled. “No. I didn’t tell her.”
He leaned over and pushed me back against the corn stalks. “Any questions for me, Jayne?”
I wanted to ask how he’d found me, but it seemed so obvious now. Everything I’d told Mr. Livingston, he’d told his brother. “How did you catch me?”
“I’ve been following you for days. I put too much air into your tire a few days ago. I knew it was just a matter of time before it blew. You were zooming along the road back there and the tire overheated. Good fortune for me that you chose a secluded area. Anything else?”
I felt a helpless, numb feeling pervading my mind and heart, similar to the one I’d experienced during my vision of Hannah. I had plenty of questions, but suddenly they didn’t really seem to matter. “Don’t hurt me.”
“I don’t have time for games, Jayne, and I promised my brother I’d be quick. Good-bye.”
Inevitable Page 21