Catch (4 page)

How are you doing?

A moment later, another message came
through.

This is Ollie, by the way. You won’t be able
to trace these texts to any number, so don’t think you or the
police can try.

Sliding farther under her blankets,
microorganisms and all, she turned off the sound to her phone, hid
the glow, and started typing.

How am I doing? What kind of a question is
that coming from someone like you?

She waited and waited. Julia’s steady
breathing put her at ease. There was no way anyone in her family
would approve of her talking with this guy more than she already
had.

I’m not what you think, Miranda.

She wasn’t sure she liked the tone of that,
especially with him using her name. Just because she was fascinated
with what he was doing and thought he was good-looking didn’t mean
much of anything. She was curious, that was all. Right? Gritting
her teeth, she started typing again.

Then what are you, Ollie? You steal from
people. That makes you a thief. I shouldn’t even be talking to you.
My parents want me to report you tomorrow. Now that I’ve seen your
face, it shouldn’t be too hard to give the police a decent
description.

She wondered what he would have to say to
that.

I might not want to deal directly with the
police, but I can tell you right now that filing a report won’t
make any difference to me.

Why not?

There was a long pause.

Because my father won’t let me get arrested.
That’s all I will say about it.

She knotted her brow.

Who is your dad?

I’m not telling you that.

Why are you talking to me?

There was an even longer pause than before.
She listened to her own breaths underneath the covers. She was
starting to get sweaty, and she wasn’t sure if it was because of
the temperature in the room or because she was having a
conversation with someone she shouldn’t be talking to.

You called me … you seem nice, not like most
people I know. I don’t know why I’m talking to you. I’m sorry I
stole your purse. I probably ruined your day, huh?

She grunted quietly.

Just a little, but thanks for returning my
phone, at least. And thanks for the apology.

No problem.

Can I get those photos back next, please? If
you give them to me I will forget any of this ever happened.
Promise.

Another long pause. She stared at his earlier
messages, trying to imagine him typing those words with her in
mind. What kind of a person was he? Was he like Luke and Ryder and
Christian? They had all left her feeling so used and hollow,
especially Christian. She had given him her heart completely—he was
the first and only guy she had slept with so far. She had thought
he was different, but in the end he had only used her for sex and
to help him pass all of his tests so he could graduate with a 4.0
GPA. And here she was talking to another guy who was probably a
bigger loser than Luke, Ryder, and Christian all put together.

Another message came through.

I’d like it if you didn’t forget any of
this, actually.

It was her turn to take a long time in
answering. He had told her she was nice, not like most of the
people he knew. As much as she hated to admit it, he seemed nice
too—aside from his kleptomania.

She stopped herself and rolled her eyes.
Nice? What was wrong with her? Something. Something was terribly
screwed up in her head.

So what do you want to happen? she typed.
Because I’m confused.

She wanted him to say something about the
photos, because she couldn’t forget about that disappointed look on
her mom’s face when she’d told her about them being stolen. She had
said they were “just pictures,” but Miranda knew better. They were
a lot more than pictures.

I’d like you to find me again tomorrow, but
come by yourself this time.

She almost laughed out loud.

Why? So you can lure me into a dark alley
and rape me? I’m not that stupid.

You think I’d do that? Come on.

She wasn’t sure how to answer.

She typed,
Um, I don’t even know
you.

I promise it will be a public place. I will
not hurt you.

That was better.

Okay, I’ll try. I’ll probably be with my
family most of the day. I can’t promise anything.

Are you going to tell them about this
conversation?

She stared at her phone and realized how on
edge she was, how hard her heart was pounding, how much she was
hanging on every single word.

No, probably not.

How come?

That was a good question.

I don’t know. This is all just really weird,
you know?

It’s a little strange for me too. Tell you
what. You found me today. It’s my turn to find you.

Yeah, that would keep her jumpy the entire
day. She was about to type that she’d prefer to find him on her own
timetable, but he texted first.

See you tomorrow.

She waited and waited, but he didn’t text
anything else, and she wasn’t sure how to answer him.

The next day was the biggest day of the
convention for Miranda’s dad. He left early in the morning, and the
rest of them took their time rolling out of bed and getting ready
for the day.

“My feet still hurt from yesterday,” Julia
complained as she laced up her tennis shoes. She was wearing a pair
of very short shorts, and her brown legs made Miranda insanely
jealous, even if they were pudgier than her legs. She had to tan
for weeks to get that brown.

“We’ll take the monorail as much as we can,”
their mother answered. “I’m sorry you had to walk around so much
yesterday. I didn’t expect you two to try to get
all
the
pictures yesterday.”

“That would’ve been nice to know
before
we walked all over Vegas, Mom,” Julia growled. “Too
late now.”

“Well, suck it up, because I have a few
things I want to get in today. There are rides to ride and shopping
to do.” She walked over to Julia and kissed the top of her head.
“We’ll take lots of breaks, ’kay? Then we’ll come back to the hotel
before dinner and we can relax down at the pool.”

Miranda watched her mother closely, trying to
see if she was upset about the pictures at all. Stupid Ollie. She
hoped that if he did find her today, he would hand those over. She
wasn’t going to leave Las Vegas without them. Unfortunately, she
sensed he knew that about her, and that made her a little more than
frustrated. Why had he talked to her last night? She got little
flutters in her stomach whenever she thought about it.

“Do you want to get a new purse today?” her
mother asked as they headed out the door.

Miranda shrugged. “Maybe.”

Or maybe she’d be lucky enough to get her old
one back.

Miranda spent the rest of the day with her
stomach in knots. Everywhere she walked, she kept darting her eyes
all around. There was no way Ollie could find her with no clues. He
didn’t even know she would be on the Strip today. A part of her
wanted to know how good he really was at this hide-and-seek game.
Would he find her inside M&M’s World? The arcade? One of the
dozens of shops their mother was dragging them into? Needless to
say, Miranda was not in the mood to shop. After lunch, they
wandered into a shopping area at The Venetian, and she fought the
urge to whine. She was eighteen. She could humor her mother for a
few more hours.

“They have gondola rides here,” Gabriela said
excitedly.

They took the escalators to the second floor.
There were shops everywhere, all made to look like they were in
Venice, and a ceiling painted and lit to look like a soft summer
sky dotted with clouds. The smell of food and cigarettes drifted
through the air. As she had done all day, Miranda looked around for
Ollie, but she knew there was no way she was going to find
him—especially if she was with her family.

“I think I’ll sit this one out,” she said as
they neared the ticket booth in the main part of the center.

Gabriela looked over at the canal where they
started the boat rides. A few gondolas floated by, filled with
people who looked a little bored. “You sure?” she asked Miranda.
“This looks kind of fun.”

Miranda waved her hand. “Give me the camera
and I’ll take your picture so you don’t have to buy one of those
overpriced ones they take.”

“Oh, good idea.” Gabriela handed over the new
camera she had purchased that morning—a simple point-and-shoot
instead of something fancy.

Miranda could tell Julia was having second
thoughts about the ride, and gave her an evil glare she hoped would
be interpreted as
“Just let me be alone for a few freaking
minutes.”
Julia seemed to take the hint, and they went over to
the ticket booth as Miranda started walking around to find a good
spot for pictures. She crossed a bridge over the canal and walked
around until she was on a little overpass overlooking the loading
area for the rides.

Finally. Alone. She snapped a few pictures of
them waiting in line then pulled out her phone. There was a new
message she had missed. Her heart started to beat faster. It was
Ollie.

Any hints for me today? It’s only fair since
I gave you one yesterday. I don’t even know if you’re inside a
building. Or on the Strip. Or what!

She smiled. She shouldn’t be enjoying this.
She shouldn’t, shouldn’t, shouldn’t. But she was. Thinking
carefully, she typed one word.

Canal.

Was that too vague? She suspected if he knew
Las Vegas as well as she guessed he did, he would know where she
was right away. She was obviously a tourist, and he’d jump to the
first touristy thing in Las Vegas that had to do with a canal.

Luckily, the line was pretty long, and the
rides lasted about fifteen minutes apiece. That gave her maybe half
an hour depending on how long that line lasted. She typed another
message.

You’d better hurry because I won’t be alone
much longer.

He didn’t answer, and as the minutes ticked
by, she grew more and more impatient. Las Vegas was big. Maybe he
was so far away it would take him hours to reach her. Finally,
after about twenty minutes, her mom and sister boarded a boat with
a few other people. She snapped as many pictures as she could, and
they were soon gone down the canal and out of sight.

Well, it was now or never. Turning in
circles, she desperately hoped he was somewhere. She’d settle for
five minutes with him. One minute. Anything.

There were people everywhere. Constant
chatter and occasional laughter reverberated all around her. She
took her hands off the railing in front of her, remembering that
thousands of people had touched it before her. Sometimes she hated
public places more than anything else. She couldn’t think too much
about it.

“Having fun?”

She spun around and there he was, standing
right in front of her. He was in a suit again, like yesterday, but
today his sneakers were black instead of white. Still, they were
sneakers. Surprisingly, though, they looked great with the outfit.
Relaxed and comfortable. When she looked into his eyes, she
swallowed a lump in her throat and took a few steps back. He had
light-colored eyes, but it was difficult to tell what color they
really were under the artificial lighting. A little blue and a
little gray, maybe some green. There was a faint hint of scruff on
his jaw, barely noticeable. He really was as good-looking as she
remembered. His nose was big, but the longer she looked at him the
more it suited him. She tamped down her rising emotions,
remembering all the pain other good-looking guys had brought
her.

“You found me,” was all she could manage to
force out of her mouth.

His lips curled into a smile. He kept his
eyes on hers. “That was the easiest hint ever. Probably as easy as
my Olives hint.”

Just like we’re finding excuses to
meet
, she thought to herself. Her mouth was getting drier by
the second.

“So?” she said, gaining a little courage.
“Where’s my prize?”

“Your prize?” he laughed. “Didn’t
I
find
you
?”

She looked at his tie. It was a pretty yellow
color checkered with thin brown lines. It reminded her of
sunflowers. “I thought the whole point of this was to get my stuff
back,” she said boldly, and held out an open hand, waiting.

His smile stayed put as he reached into his
back pocket and pulled out her small wallet. He placed it gently
into her hand, and she tried not to think too much about how warm
his skin was as it slid against hers. She noticed some thick,
raised scars along his knuckles.

“Thought that was pretty valuable,” he said.
“You might want it back.”

She opened it up. The money was still there.
Her debit card, her and Julia’s monorail passes, her driver’s
license. He hadn’t taken a thing. She looked up. “I don’t
understand. I really just don’t get any of this.”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he asked, stepping
closer. His feet were close to hers now, and she fought the urge to
step back once more. “I like to play games, and you’re fun to play
them with.”

“Is that why you stole my purse? To play a
game?”

His smile fell and he shook his head. “No,
that’s not why I took your purse. That had nothing to do with who
you are, but this … whatever it is we’re doing … it has everything
to do with you.”

She didn’t know what to make of that, but his
words and the sincerity and sadness in his voice made her breath
catch in her throat. She looked down at the canal, expecting her
family to show up at any second. She looked back at Ollie. He had
his hands in his pockets now.

“You’re keeping my purse so we can keep this
up, aren’t you?” she asked. “You’re going to hold on to those
pictures for a long time.”