Bonded (The Raegan Mason Trilogy) (15 page)

“NO!”  I yelled.  I felt my body blush, but for what I had no idea.  I hadn’t really done anything.

“And now you’re blushing? You’ve got to tell me everything now before I explode!” Julie looked around outside and started dragging me to her room.

I told her everything I could from the attempted rape to Kyler saving me and taking me to the lighthouse.  I told her we made out but that was as far as it went. I told her about the new clothes and the motorcycle ride to her house.  I left out the music and electricity part, but explained that he made me feel “connected” in some way.  I sounded crazy enough to appease her curiosity.  After a while she just stared at me with her mouth slightly opened in shock.  I had to call her name a few times before she acknowledged me again.  “So, what do I do next?” I asked her, because I honestly didn’t know.  I’d dated a few guys, but this was a different world for me.  I’d kissed guys before, but this was so much more.

Julie’s mind was turning; I could see it in her eyes.  We’d been best friends forever.  She knew I was in uncharted territory, but she was the only one I would trust with this.  “Jewels! What do I do?  I honestly think I’m in love with this guy and I don’t know the first thing about him.  I could have easily given everything up for him last night if he wanted, but he didn’t even take advantage of the situation.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad he didn’t, but come on, why didn’t he?”  Julie listened to me and I could tell she was deciding whether or not to tell me something.  “WHAT? You’re my best friend in the world and I’m counting on you to tell me the truth.”

Julie sighed and looked me in the eye.  “Rae, I’m not positive, but like I told you the other day, there are those rumors that Kyler is…well people have said he’s…” She looked away from me and then took another deep breath.  “Rae, they say he’s gay.” 

I busted out laughing the instant I heard her say it.  I tried my best to stop laughing, but it was too funny.  “Oh Julie, he’s definitely NOT gay!” I continued to giggle as she stared at me a bit miffed.

“Well I’m just telling you what I’ve heard and observed the last six months that you’ve been gone!  Every girl in school asked him out and he showed absolutely no interest in any of them.”

“Every girl in school? So does that mean you too?” I had gained control of my laughter to ask her the simple question.  Her face turned beet red, an obvious answer to my question.  “So were there any guys he showed interest in?” I continued.

“Well no, but come on Rae, not one single girl in school captured his interests for over six months?  He didn’t even go to Prom with anyone.”  She felt strong in her defense of the rumored gossip.

“Not everyone goes to Prom, Jewels.  Just because a guy doesn’t show interest in every girl in school doesn’t mean he’s gay.”

“Well he’s definitely not normal!” She huffed and crossed her arms.  That was an understatement.

“Was he cruel about it?” I asked her sincerely.

“Cruel about what?” She asked huffy.

“About telling you no.” I wasn’t sure if it was still a touchy subject since I didn’t know how long ago she asked him out.

Julie’s faced turned red with anger and she turned on me quickly.  “I NEVER asked him out!  He was obviously not interested in girls until you came back from the dead!  What did you do to him?”

Now it was my turn to drop my mouth in shock.  “I just shook his hand.” I finally muttered and looked away from her.  Her words hurt me in ways she would never understand.  “Back from the dead.”  I felt the impact of the accident all over.  The wound in my heart from my parents’ deaths ripped open further.  I shouldn’t be alive either.  It wasn’t fair.  Tears ran down my nose as I grasped my knees to my chest.  Guys had never been a problem between us.  Julie always got the guys she wanted, I never resented her.  This hurt me and I didn’t know how to fix it.

“What does shaking his hand have to do with anything?” she asked with her voice strained under control.  She hadn’t seen my tears and didn’t realize how she’d hurt me.  I wiped away the tears running down my face.  “Why are you crying?” Her voice went up an octave as she saw the emotion but didn’t understand.

“It’s been a long day that’s all. I already told you, I feel a connection to him and that started the moment I shook his hand.” I didn’t know how else to explain it without sounding crazy.  “I didn’t know you liked him or had any interest in him.  I don’t know why you’re mad at me.  You’re the one that wanted us to meet.”

“I’m not mad at you!” She took a deep breath again. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.  I didn’t actually ask him out.  I knew other girls had asked him and he was very polite about not being interested.  I did flirt with him and he never flirted back.  Then the rumors started about him being gay and I left it at that.  I always treated him like a girlfriend.  He was always nice and polite.  I thought for sure someone that good looking had to be gay.  I guess you weren’t around for him to find interesting.” She smiled apologetically to me.

“That’s just it.  Why me?” I asked her, truly wanting an answer.

Julie just smiled at me and reached her arm around to hug me, “Why not you?  You’re beautiful and smart.  You definitely deserve some happiness and what a heavenly dose he is!  So okay, tell me the details now.  Is he a good kisser?”  The old Julie resurfaced with her detailed check list of questions.

I answered her as best I could.  The whole time I wondered if it was all a dream.  It sounded too good to be true even as I relived the details.  How could this gorgeous guy actually be interested in me? I couldn’t believe I’d spent an almost uncontrolled night with him alone.  Each time I thought of him my heart would race and my face would blush.  Julie would laugh and drill me with more questions.

“So are you going to see him again tonight?” Julie asked.

“You know I’m not sure.  He didn’t say anything about when I’d see him again.  He just winked at me and drove off.”  I could feel the depression cloud start to close in around me when I thought about not seeing him soon.

Julie must have noticed and interrupted my thoughts, “I’m sure he’ll call you soon.”   I checked my phone to make sure it was on.  Julie laughed and got up from the bed.  “You look a little tired.  Why don’t you lie down to rest for a bit before you go home?”

“Home? Oh no, if you can read my body language so easily what’s Aunt Sarah going to think?”  I began to feel panicky and I stood up to start pacing the floor.  “Can you help me cover this up?” I asked pointing to my face.  “Maybe she’ll believe I walked into a door.”

“Rae, you know I can read you like a book.  Just tell her you’re tired and go to your room. She’ll understand.”  Julie smiled and went to the dresser to get me some pajamas.  “Here, you can change into these that way when my parents get up in a bit they won’t think I lied to them about you staying over.”

I began to change out of my clothes when Julie gasped.  I turned to look at her and she was staring at me. “What?” I asked her looking down at my stomach.

“Oh Rae, what happened to your ribs?” her hand was on her mouth and tears were building up.

I went to her dresser mirror to look at my sides.  The bruises were deep purple where Nate’s iron grip had added to the possible fractures of the dog pile I was under at the bonfire.  I’d almost forgotten about that with all of the other excitement.  “Oh, yeah.  Kyler thought I should go to the doctor to get checked out, but I’ve had my fill of doctors lately.” I pulled on the pajama top and covered up the bruises.  “It doesn’t hurt that much anymore.” I looked at Julie and she was still staring where my bruises were.

“Rae, you need to report this to the police. You’re Aunt Sarah is going to freak out!”

“So you see my dilemma.” I smiled at her. “I can’t let her see me like this and I can’t report it to the police or she’ll find out.”  Julie didn’t look convinced.

“Raegan, if you don’t tell the police, he’ll just do this to someone else, or worse, he’ll come back after you.  You didn’t see his face. There was blood everywhere.  Kyler probably broke his jaw and his nose.  If you don’t press charges, he might press charges against you and Kyler.”  She grabbed her cell phone. 

“Who are you calling?” I reached to grab the phone from her.

“Let’s at least get some pictures for evidence.  You can make up your mind today about the police, but don’t wait too long.” She reached for the pajama top to lift up the shirt.  She took a few pictures and then left me alone to finish changing.

I plopped down on her bed and grabbed my phone.  Kyler didn’t want to be involved with the incident, but he did want me to go to the police. If I go to the police, do I lie about Kyler’s rescue?  It wasn’t even on my mind last night to ask him.  He said it was best not to mention his name.  Did Nate even know who hit him?  What about Jaxon?  Would he press charges too?  I forgot to ask Julie about him.  There were too many details to get caught up in a lie.  I searched my contacts for Kyler’s name and number.  My fingers were shaking as I hit the call button.

“Miss me already?” His deep voice answered on the other end.

“Actually, yes.” I replied. “But that’s not why I’m calling.”  I could hear machines in the background.  He must have been at the lab.

“Everything okay?” He asked concerned.

“Yeah, I just want to let you know that I’m probably going to report last night to the police, and I need to know what I can say about your involvement.” I was shaking at the thought of telling others about last night on the beach.

“Rae, if you’re going to the police, I’ll go with you.  I don’t want you going through that alone.” He was walking by the sound of his breathing.

“I know you’re busy and all with whatever you’re taking care of. I know you said you didn’t want your name brought up.  I just need to know what part, if any, you want in this before I go.  Julie said he had a broken nose and jaw and is afraid he’d press charges if I didn’t do it first.  I don’t want to go to the police, but I don’t want you getting in trouble either.”  I was on the verge of tearing up again though I didn’t know why.  My voice was getting shaky. I swallowed back the tears.  “He broke Jaxon’s nose.  Jaxon’s at the hospital. I’ll need to find out if he’s going to press charges too.  Maybe that will help my case.”

“Hey Rae, don’t worry about what I did.  I know what I did to him and I’m not afraid of any punishment that comes from it.  I’m just glad I was there before…  Look, I’ll be there in a few minutes and we can go together.” Anger was building in his voice and I wished I could reach through the phone to calm him.

“Kyler…” my body shivered as I said his name. “Go ahead and take care of your stuff this morning.  I was actually about to lay down for a bit.  I’m still a little tired from everything yesterday.  We can take care of this later this evening.  I’ll need to tell Aunt Sarah too, and that’s going to be hard enough.  Call me when you’re done and we can meet up later.”  I couldn’t believe I was making him stay away.  I needed some time to clear my head and focus on what to do next.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?  You didn’t look tired this morning.” He stated doubtfully.  “There’s no need to stall.  The longer you wait the more chance he has of getting away with it.”  His voice was full of revulsion.

“I’m feeling fine, just suddenly exhausted.  I really didn’t sleep well.  Plus, Julie dragged me through the ringer with her obsession to details.” I tried to giggle but felt the heat of embarrassment.

“Oh, that bad?” He chuckled on the other end.  “Hope she didn’t fill you in on all the secret details of me.”

“Not really.” I sighed. 

“Oh, is that so? Guess you’ll have to solve the mysteries yourself.”

“I’m already trying to figure those out and failing miserably.  I need more than cryptic clues.” I stifled a yawn.

“Are you sure you want to figure them out?” he sounded uneasy.  “Besides, you need the rest.  I can hear you yawning.  I’ll call you this afternoon.” 

“Okay, bye.” He had hung up and I felt even more drained of energy.  I climbed under the covers of Julie’s bed and was lost to sleep as soon as my eyes closed.

CHAPTER 12 – THE POLICE

Julie woke me up around noon.  She was shaking me hard and calling my name.  “Raegan, please wake up!” Her voice was full of worry.

“Okay, okay.” I mumbled.  I felt like someone drugged me.  My eyes were heavy and my head felt like an anvil hit me.  “Get me some water, please.”  I struggled to sit up.

“What the hell, Rae?  You look like crap!  I’ve been trying to wake you up for half an hour.  You’re phone has been going off.  Your Aunt Sarah called the house checking on you, and you wouldn’t wake up.  I thought you were dead!” The anxiety in her voice was piercing my head.

“I don’t know, but I feel like crap.  How long did I sleep?” I shuffled to her bathroom to splash my face.  The room was spinning and I caught the door frame for balance.

“Only about four hours!  I thought you slept last night.” She stood there with her hands on her hips.

“I did! I slept very well until that nightmare woke me up.”  Nausea was building in my stomach and I ran for the toilet to vomit.

“Eww, gross Rae.  What’s wrong with you?  You might have a concussion.” She reached for a wash cloth to help me wipe my face.

“I don’t know.  I was feeling great, then very tired and exhausted and now sick.  My head is hurting.”  I didn’t feel nauseous anymore, but still felt drained.

“Your head’s hurting again?” Fear filled her question.

“No, not like before.  It feels like I took some kind of sleeping pill and my head is heavy and foggy, like a hangover.”  I made my way back to her bed and sat there holding my head.

“Did you drink last night?” She asked.

“Not at all, you know me.” I was never the type to drink, especially out on the beach.  I had the occasional glass of wine at dinner with my parents, but that was a long time ago.  “I was fine until I fell asleep a while ago.  I talked to Kyler and then fell asleep, nothing else.”

“Yeah, Kyler’s been calling you too.  I answered it this last time and he was getting worried so I tried to wake you up.  He should be here any minute.  He was on the phone for the first ten minutes I tried to wake you up.” She looked at her watch and then at me. “That was almost half an hour ago.”