Forks, Book Two Page 11

  “Why was he yelling at you?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged and averted my eyes. “You’d have to ask him.”

  “I did.”

  “What did he say?” I glanced up.

  “He said it was none of my damn business.” He made air quotes.

  “Oh.” Well that helped…not. But then again, what did I expect? The last person I should be asking about Viktor was Vincent but I couldn’t seem to help myself.

  “You like him, don’t you?” His voice was quiet as a breath of air.

  “Yeah, sure,” I said like it was no big deal but his brows still pulled together. “I like you too,” I covered quickly.

  “But not like him…right?”

  “Ah…” How was I supposed to respond to that? “You are both different so….”

  “Yeah, I’d say we are.” He made a face.

  “Well, you are.”

  “Good thing,” he muttered and took another drink.

  I took another drink too for something to do. When I lowered my bottle he was staring at me with that strange look again, like he was trying to read my mind or something. It was a bit unnerving to say the least.

  “So…” I picked at the label on my bottle. “I wanted to ask you about something.” I tried to carefully broach the subject about him and Glinda.

  “I’m all ears,” he said, smiling once more and my belly-flipped—I was all over the place.

  “Are you and Glinda, like dating?”

  He barked out a laugh and hit the table. His bottle wobbled on top. “Not even close.”

  “So, the other day, at school,” I hedged. “I saw you with her.”

  “What did you see…exactly?” His eyes flashed.

  An uneasy feeling spread over me but I plodded on, “You were together…like together, together.”

  “Together how?” He grabbed his bottle once more. The plastic made a popping sound.

  I started questioning my sanity. What was I doing? Apparently, I was a glutton for punishment. What could he say? I did see them together.

  “Did that little lying bitch say something to you?”

  “What? No!” I was shocked by the vehemence I heard in his voice.

  “What are you getting at then?” His expression turned. Now it was hard…unreadable.

  “Nothing. I mean, I was just wondering. You know because if you were, it’s okay. I mean, I don’t own you or anything.”

  He gave me a look of disbelief and let out a brittle laugh as he shook his head. “You know Amber, if you don’t like me it’s okay.”

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “Yeah, I see what you’re getting at. I’m not stupid.”

  “What?” I was suddenly very confused and rightly so. How did the conversation veer off course to me?

  “Do me a favor,” he said in a deadly calm voice. “Don’t make shit up just to pacify your guilt.”

  “I wasn’t… I didn’t,” I defended feeling guilty even though I didn’t have anything to feel guilty about…well, that wasn’t completely true now was it? My inner voice chided me. I did feel bad about kissing Viktor…kind-of. Fine. Not really. But I didn’t want him to be upset about it.

  “I better go.”

  “But you just got here.” I was suddenly freaking out. I felt like I ruined something and what that something was, I didn’t know. But something shifted. Gone was the easy camaraderie we usually shared and in its place was something stilted…something unholy different.

  His eyes glittered strangely in the candlelight as he stared at me and then he leaned forward. “Unless…” he whispered and the warmth from his breath wafted over my face.

  Feeling breathless and tingly all over, I stared back at him. It was just like every other time I looked at him. My heart started pounding uncontrollably. “Unless what?” I heard myself asking even though I knew it was a loaded question.

  His lips turned up at the corners into a slow knowing grin. “You want me to…”

  The air in the room became cloying, thick, it was hard to take a breath, and yet I couldn’t turn away from him like I knew I should. It was just like the last time, when I kissed him under the tree and when we were in the library together. I was being pulled towards him and somehow I couldn’t think. My mind was fuzzy like I had been drinking but I hadn’t drank anything. I felt my body moving forward. I wanted to get closer. I wanted him to kiss me again. He leaned closer and just when his lips were about to touch mine…

  The lights popped back on with Elvis blaring and the phone rang simultaneously.

  I jerked back, not meaning to.

  His jaw clenched and he angrily swiped his hand through his hair, mumbling something that I couldn’t hear over the music or the phone.

  “I should get that.” I stood and hurried over to the phone. Fumbling with the receiver, I lifted it to my ear. “Hello,” I mumbled.

  “Gotcha!” a small voice tittered out from the other end of the phone.

  “Glinda?” I pulled the phone away from my head looking at it like it was an alien life force.

  “Guilty as charged,” she giggled maniacally.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I was calling you, silly.” Once she said silly, a rush of irritation shot through me again. “Stop saying silly.”

  “I see whatever crawled up your butt still isn’t gone.”

  “No. It’s just...” I started to feel bad. “I was in the middle of something.”

  “Reeeally…,” she drew out the word. “What are you doing?”

  Vincent tossed on his jacket and started walking out of the kitchen.

  I made eyes at him, trying to get him to wait.

  He shook his head and kept walking.

  “I gotta call you back.” I quickly hung up the phone and chased after him.

  He was out the door before I caught up to him.

  “Vincent…wait…” The sound of the wind howling and the rain was deafening as I stepped out onto the porch.

  He stopped and turned towards me. His face was a hardened mask.

  My stomach clenched. “Do you have to go?”

  “What do you want from me?” Again that sad look I was growing used was back on his face.

  “I don’t know.” And I didn’t. I felt like I jumped on a roller coaster and couldn’t figure out how to get off again and the worst part was that I didn’t even know if I really wanted to.

  He took a deliberate step towards me. Lighting crackled in the sky and thunder shook the ground. I kept my gaze on his shirt, not moving.

  He placed his warm fingers under my chin and nudged it upward so I had to look at his face.

  “What do you want?” His breath whispered over me, pulling me in again.

  I placed my hand on his chest not able to help myself. I could feel the heat from his body seeping through his soft t-shirt. His heart was beating really fast or was that mine? I couldn’t tell. Maybe it was both of ours. “I don’t know,” I said honestly.

  He covered my hand and lifted it off his chest. “Let me know when you figure it out.” And without another word he turned and headed out into the storm.

  twenty two

  When I got up for school the following day, I was informed, per Mom, that there was a flood watch and school was actually delayed two hours. Then it inevitably closed due to all the power outages and road closings. I was antsy and didn’t want to stay home, but obviously, I couldn’t go anywhere. Mom was downstairs reading another one of her books. To occupy myself, I did all my homework that I could and I even cleaned out my closet not only due to boredom but also for something to keep my mind off everything, meaning, Viktor, Vincent, Ken, Jason, Kirk, Glinda—the list just kept getting bigger.

  It didn’t help.

  My mind still kept spinning scenarios that were filled with either Vincent or Viktor and sometimes both at the same time. Finally, I gave up and sat down on my bed. I lifted up Twilight, the book Glinda had given me and propped pillows up behind
my back. Once I was comfortable, I started reading. It was even better now that I had watched the movie.

  I barely made it to the scene where Bella was kicked to the curb by Edward (not really) and was now on the run from the bad vampires to save her Dad, with Alice and Jasper. My phone rang and scared the beejeebies out of me. With my head still in the book, it took me a moment to find my phone.

  Glinda’s number flashed up on the screen. Letting out a heavy sigh, I put my bookmark inside and shut the book.

  Holding the phone to my ear, I hit the talk button. “Hey,” I said, sitting up.

  “It’s about time,” Glinda screeched, which immediately rankled me.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You were supposed to call me back.” She sounded mad.

  “Sorry.” I rubbed my head. “I forgot.”

  “Well,” she sighed. “I guess I will let it slide this once.”

  “Gee, thanks,” I deadpanned.

  “What did you do last night?”

  “Nothing much, my power was off.” That wasn’t a complete lie. It was for a while.

  “Oh, well, I guess I’ll forgive you.”

  “Forgive me for what?” For some reason I felt like she was implying something, like she knew Vincent was here. My hand reflexively tightened on the phone.

  “Not calling me back.”

  “Oh.”

  She giggled. “So, did you hear the news?”

  “About?” I had no idea what she was talking about.

  “Jason is getting out of the psycho-ward.”

  “What?” My stomach dropped.

  “Yeah, they said he can go home on house detention as long as his dad agreed that he would take his meds.”

  “Why would they do that?” My heart started pounding.

  “I don’t know. You should ask Officer Warren. I bet he knows.”

  “He didn’t say anything to me.”

  “Aren’t you happy?”

  “Why would I be happy?” My voice came out all screechy.

  “I thought you liked him.”

  “I did until he tried to do me in.”

  “Oh, right.” She giggled again. “But he didn’t hurt you.”

  “Yeah, but he shot Ken.”

  “Yeah, well, he said he didn’t mean it.”

  “And they believed him?” My voice raised an octave.

  “You shouldn’t be so judgey. He’s apparently got some issues.”

  “Issues?” I tightened my grip on the phone to the point my fingers hurt. “He’s batshit crazy.”

  “Wow. That’s harsh.”

  “Harsh? Are you out of your ever-loving mind?”

  “Whoa, Tiger,” she said. “Where’s all the venom coming from?”

  “He had a knife.”

  “Oh right…” She giggled, again. “I forgot.” Her phone crackled and I could swear I heard a boy’s voice. Then water splashing.

  “Glinda, what are you doing?”

  “Oh, sorry,” she said. “I dropped my phone.”

  “In what? The toilet?”

  “You’re so funny, Amber, and not just looking.”

  I pulled my phone away and stared at it. That was the same thing Kirk said to me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Oh come on. I was just trying to lighten the mood.”

  “At my expense?”

  “Oh, fine,” she exhaled. “Sorry.”

  “I guess I’ll forgive you,” I said repeating her words back to her.

  “You better.” It sounded like a threat.

  “Amber!” Mom yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

  I covered the phone. “What?”

  “Come downstairs, I need you.”

  “Coming,” I called back.

  “Glinda, I gotta go, Mom needs me for something.”

  The phone crackled again and then Glinda yelled, “Stop it!”

  “Glinda, what’s wrong? Glinda?”

  “What?” she yelled so loud it hurt my ear.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine…” She was breathing heavy. “Why?”

  “Who are you yelling at?”

  “Oh, just my cat.”

  “Your cat?”

  “Yeah, he scratched me.”

  “Oh—kay. I gotta go, Mom wants me.”

  “Liar, liar, pants on fire.” The line went dead.

  “What the …”I stared at my phone.

  “Amber!”

  Mom screeched again.

  “Coming!” I threw my phone on the bed and went to see what Mom wanted.

  Mom and Ken were both waiting at the bottom of the stairs for me. I slowed my step when I saw the expressions on their faces. “What’s up?” I shoved my hands in my pockets.

  “We need to talk,” Ken said and turned to walk over to the sofa. He still had a slight limp from the Jason incident.

  Mom stayed where she was.

  I made eyes at her, trying to find out what was going on. She only shook her head and then headed off toward the kitchen.

  Well that helped. Not.

  Not having much choice in the matter, I walked over to the living room. Ken was already seated on the couch.

  I sat down at the opposite end of the couch and pulled my legs into a cross-legged position.

  Ken scrubbed his hands over his face and then dropped them down again. “Amber, I have some news.”

  “News?” I repeated. My stomach dropped and I had a horrible feeling suddenly.

  “I don’t know how to tell you this…” he began and then stopped.

  My heart started thumping in my chest. “What?”

  “Jason is out.”

  “Oh, that.” Relief washed over me.

  Ken did a double take. “Did you hear me?”

  “Yeah,” I waved my hand. “I already know.”

  “You do?” He looked surprised.

  “Yeah, Glinda told me.”

  “Glinda Reynolds?”

  “Yep.” I fidgeted with a string on the afghan.

  “How’d she know?”

  “Don’t know.” I shrugged.

  “Well,” he exhaled. “At least you know.” He sat forward like he was going to get up.

  “Why’d they let him out?”

  “His father knows quite a few people in town. He’s a good man,” he added. “Jason just has some issues.”

  “I’ll say.”

  Ken rubbed his bad leg. “I just thought you should know…”

  “Are you okay with that?”

  “I’m not an expert. They say he is doing better.”

  “But he shot you.” I couldn’t keep the sharp indignant edge from my voice.

  “It was an accident.”

  “But you shot him, too, though.”

  “Yes, but I shot to wound him, not kill him.”

  “I know that …he had a knife…” I was defending Ken.

  He shook his head. “It’s not my place to say,” he cut me off.

  “But…”

  “Amber…” He gave me a look that said the conversation was over.

  “He has to stay home…right?”

  “For now.”

  “What? You can’t mean…”

  “It’s all right. I am sure they know what they are doing.”

  “But…”

  “Listen. I don’t know much more than you. I am only relaying what I heard so you were prepared.”

  I felt like there was something he was leaving out, but I didn’t know what. Keeping my temper reigned in for Ken’s sake, I took a breath. “I appreciate you telling me.”

  “Sure.” He stood up.

  “Ken?”

  He turned and looked down at me.

  “Have you heard anything about Kirk?”

  He shook his head. “We haven’t had any leads on him yet.”

  “That’s just peachy.”

  “It’s going to be all right.”

  “Easy for you to say,” I mumbled dejectedl
y.

  “Just make sure you don’t go out alone, okay.”

  “Oh—kay,” I said slowly trying to read his face. His expression was guarded, and I couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He glanced over at the mantel at the pictures piled on top and his brow creased.

  “Do you miss having a dad around?” he asked suddenly.

  That was so out of left field from what we were talking about it took a moment for my mind to register what he said. “Nah, not really,” I said honestly. “Dads are overrated.”

  A sad look crossed his face and I immediately felt terrible. “Well, I better get those steaks on.”

  “I can hardly wait,” I said honestly and gave him a warm smile, hoping to make amends for my callous statement.

  Reaching over, he patted my head like a dad would to his kid. It felt strange but good too, in a comforting way.

  “Don’t worry about Jason, Amber,” Ken was saying as he dropped his hand back down.

  “I won’t. I mean, I’m not.”

  “Good.” He gave me a half-hearted smile and limped away, heading back towards the kitchen.

  I stayed where I was, looking at nothing in particular. Then my eyes strayed to the pictures on the mantel, the ones Ken had been staring at. There were a bunch of pictures of me when I was little and one all the way in the back was a picture of when I was younger and my dad was in it. He was holding me on his lap and Mom was hugging him from behind, smiling from ear to ear. I couldn’t help wondering if that was why he asked if I missed having a dad and why he seemed so sullen.

  We looked like the perfect little family. Too bad it was a load. We were anything but.

  twenty three

  After dinner, I did the dishes and then with my nightly glass of water in hand, I headed back to my room to read some more before bed. Mom was already down in her room and Ken had left to go on out on a call. “Urgent Police Business” he said when I asked.

  Waffling, with my water, I thought about going to say goodnight to Mom but I didn’t want to get stuck having to talk her back from the edge. I was sure she would be thinking the worst since Ken had to leave.

  Forgoing the nightly chitchat, I headed back to my room. For once, I was feeling like Mom and wanted to finish at least another chapter of Twilight. I was reading it slowly now, I was almost to the end and even though I saw the movie, I wanted it to last just a bit longer. Reading it was like visiting with friends, of which I was in short supply at the moment.