Coercion (24 page)

“I’m glad.” Daniel stretched out his arm, twirling her before pulling her toward him again. “You seem a lot happier than you did earlier.”

Valerie could feel his body heat radiating from beneath his suit, and his hands were warm on her back. She blushed from the nearness of him. “I know. I’m sorry about that. But I’m having a good time now.”

The unguarded grin appearing on Daniel’s face made Valerie smile. She was amazed at being liked by a boy. It was wonderful. She couldn’t even begin to count the times she’d wished Michael Vartanian would look at her that same way. There had been moments anger nearly paralyzed her when she’d realized he never would, and how much she’d given to him anyway.

Now, she shook those thoughts from her head. She’d been enjoying the unfamiliar, refreshing sensation of thinking of something—and someone—else aside from Michael Vartanian. She hadn’t seen him all evening, and there was no way or reason she was going to let him ruin the night for her.

“So what’s on the agenda once the gala’s over?” she called to him over the music.

“Ed’s throwing a party,” Daniel said, speaking of one of his friends Valerie had met during dinner. “I’m sure some of the gang is already at his place by now. If you want to, we can head out soon and go there.”

“I want to.”

He smiled again, and Valerie experienced the desire she’d felt for him in the men’s bathroom in Rightmer. Why hadn’t she thought to return his feelings for her long ago? Not only could she have saved herself a lot of heartache, but she suspected she could’ve actually been happy.

The song came to a close, and Valerie fanned her flushed face with her hand. “Do you mind if we sit the next one out? I’m burning up.”

“Sure. I’ll get us some drinks.”

“Sounds perfect.”

Daniel left her in search of the refreshment table, and Valerie surveyed her peers. Although she didn’t know most of them personally, she still experienced a warm sentiment inside her as she watched everyone dancing, smiling and having fun. It was a feeling a lot like hope.

Her eyes rested on a familiar face, and she drew in a deep breath. She counted to ten, trying to muster enough courage to do what she’d wanted to do all night. Logic warred with her fear, insisting she had nothing to lose by saying what she needed to say.

Finally, she crossed the dance floor to where a couple stood at one of the tables, gathering their things. “I just wanted to say you both look really amazing tonight.”

Shannon whirled around and her eyes widened. “Thanks.” Her surprised expression turned into one of wistful relief. “I can’t believe how pretty you look. I told Rick that earlier when I saw you dancing, right?” She looked to her boyfriend, who nodded in response, then turned back to Valerie. “So you’re here with Daniel?”

“I am.” Valerie gave a proud, happy smile. “We’re having a great time. How about you two?”

“This is better than the gala we had at Rockhurst,” Rick said with a dry smile.

“That’s because I was on the Student Activities Council this year and pushed for perfection.” Shannon gave her hairstyle—a long braid with flowers woven into it—a mock-arrogant pat. “How could anyone say no to anything I want to do?”

Rick smirked. “I know the answer to that one better than anyone.”

Valerie giggled. “You guys aren’t leaving, are you?” She gestured between Shannon, who held her purse, and Rick, who carried their souvenir booklets.

“Yeah, we’re heading out.” Shannon tittered. “We thought a drive might be fun.”

Valerie rolled her eyes, a smile playing on her lips, and Rick gave Shannon a one-handed shoulder rub. “Nice going, Shan.” He shook his head, his expression exasperated but affectionate. “I always appreciated and admired your subtlety.”

“Well, if you guys get tired of ‘driving,’ Daniel’s friend Ed is throwing a party afterward,” Valerie said. “You should come.”

“I never get tired of driving.” Shannon laughed. “But yeah, that sounds fun. Maybe we’ll swing by.”

“Okay.” Valerie feared a giddy shriek would suddenly explode out of her. “I really hope to see you there.”

“Me too.” Shannon captured Valerie’s hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. “It was good talking to you.”

“I know.” Valerie felt like she’d start crying, she was so happy. “Let’s do it more often.”

* * * *

Michael stepped outside Farley Student Union, where the gala was being held in the ballroom, and took a huge gulp of air, an act that instantly soothed him. A brief rainstorm had passed, but the air was still cool and the night sky cloudy, partially hiding the moon.

He dodged a few stray puddles on the cracked sidewalk as he stepped into the comforts of the shadows and reached in his pocket for his lighter. All the while he cursed Breeze for conning him into coming to the gala. He wasn’t even sure why he’d agreed. He highly doubted sex was in the works for him that night, considering the way she’d been acting lately. Some days she would entwine her pinky finger with his like she used to do when they were officially dating, some days she would insist they were only friends and some days she even had the gall to tell him in detail about other people she had been seeing during the past few months.

He shook his head as he cupped his hand around his cigarette and lit it, wondering why he even bothered with Breeze. All she seemed to do anymore was infuriate him. When she wasn’t infuriating him, she was intriguing him, which only further annoyed him.

Michael leaned against the building and took a drag as he assessed the scene in front of him. Student cars packed the parking lot, and he smirked as he saw one couple tumble in the backseat of a Ford Mustang and immediately fog the windows. Bats swooped overhead and rode the evening air, capturing bugs out of the sky. Faint strains of an Aerosmith song floated from inside the student union building, where he assumed Breeze had found another guy to ensnare with her charms. He shook his head at the thought and raised the cigarette to his mouth again.

The front door swung open and Valerie and a tall boy stepped outside, their arms linked and their faces flushed. A few curled strands escaped Valerie’s upswept hairstyle, and she wore a flimsy shawl over her pale blue floor-length dress. The smile on her face made her look absolutely radiant. Michael thought she’d never looked prettier.

He ducked farther into the darkness before he could be detected just as the boy turned to Valerie. “I’ll go get the car and meet you here, okay?” He shook his head and looked at his feet, smiling. “I know I’ve said this about a million times tonight, but you really do look incredibly beautiful.”

“Come on.” She gave his arm a playful squeeze, the look on her face one of pure joy. “Quit being a goof and just go get the car.”

“You got it. Your chariot awaits, m’lady!” The boy scampered off across the parking lot, disappearing into the night.

Michael rolled the cigarette between his fingertips, wondering whether to approach her. More than likely, she was bound to be unpleasant, considering they hadn’t spoken since their afternoon behind Rightmer Hall two weeks ago. After so many months of her having been everywhere, staring at him with a devastated expression, she’d suddenly vanished, as if she’d gone out of her way to avoid him. He supposed that him following Breeze around like a golden retriever hadn’t helped the situation.

He groaned inwardly and pinched the bridge of his nose, sick to death of thinking about Breeze. There was no one he’d rather think of less. He studied Valerie again. She stood patiently in front of the building, looking ethereal beneath the outdoor lamps as she clutched her shawl around her shoulders and stared across the parking lot. Before he could make sense of his motives, his feet made up his mind for him and led him toward her.

Michael touched her gently on the back of her arm, and she spun around. “Having fun?”

Her eyes narrowed as she took a step back. “Go away.”

“I’ll do what I want, thanks.” He took a puff on his cigarette. “It’s a free country, after all.”

Her shoulders stiffened, full of fight. “What do you want?”

“I think it’s pretty clear.” He rolled the cigarette’s filter between his fingers.

Valerie snorted. “Yeah, it always is.”

“Come on.” He stroked her shoulder with his index finger. “Why are you being like this?”

She let out a humorless laugh as she recoiled from his touch and stared at the sky. “Why are you?”

“I’m not being like anything. I’m just trying to have a conversation.”

“Well, I
don’t want to have a conversation with you.” She crossed her arms over her chest and looked away, pressing her lips together as if she had more to say but refused to let the words out. He admired the naked nape of her neck and fought the urge to defile it with his mouth.

“You know, I know I’ve said this about a million times tonight, but you really do look incredibly beautiful.” He spoke without understanding why he felt the need to say anything at all, why her refusal of him was too shocking to believe.

She whipped her head toward him, her mouth parted with surprise. Her eyes hardened. “Eavesdrop much?”

“Yep, so now out with it. Who’s the dork?”

“I’m with my friend Daniel, whom you’ve met about a zillion times by now.”

“Oh, right. Daniel.” Michael flicked his cigarette across the parking lot. It sparked as it hit the pavement. “So is tonight the big night? Are you gonna finally make the poor bastard’s dreams come true and fuck him?”

Valerie gave him a shove, and he pitched backward in surprise. “Fuck
yourself
, Michael!” She turned on her heel and marched off, disappearing in the darkness of the night.

“Where you going? You’re gonna miss your chariot!” His heart hammered as he raked a hand through his hair and looked across the parking lot. No sight of a guy with feathered hair. He took a deep breath and followed Valerie around the corner of the building. “Seriously, what are you doing?”

Her high-heeled shoes sounded like ice picks as she marched across the pavement, the hem of her dress gathered in her hands, giving Michael a glimpse of the backs of her bare calves. “Getting away from you,” she called over her shoulder.

“Is that right?” Michael quickened his pace and caught up with her near a row of overflowing silver garbage cans by the back door. He grabbed her arm and whirled her around to face him. “You know…” He pressed his body against hers and walked her backward, pinning her between him and the student union’s brick exterior. “It really pisses me off when you pretend you don’t want me.” He grabbed the fabric of her dress and tugged it upward.

“I don’t want you!” She braced herself on his shoulders in an effort to push him away.

“Really?” His hand wriggled between her tightly closed legs and beneath the crotch of her panties. He grinned as wetness flooded his fingers.

“I hate you,” she said through clenched teeth, but her legs parted just enough for him to slide two fingers inside her, wringing a moan out of her mouth.

“No.” He shook his head as his fingers continued to dip in and out of her. “You just wish you did.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“Because you want me to. You want me to make you feel good.”

A transformation swept across Valerie’s face at his words. Her eyes were ablaze as her lips curled into the grimace of a gladiator. “You make me feel horrible.”

A sharp, white-hot pain blasted through Michael’s leg as Valerie’s shoe stabbed his shin. His fingers left her body as he let out a gasp and hunched over to clutch his sore leg. “Jesus!” He gingerly rolled his pant leg to see the checkmark-shaped indent left by her heel. A trickle of blood worked its way out of the already purpling wound. He winced and quickly smoothed the fabric back down, rubbing his injury and stopping any further bleeding with two meek fingertips.

Then he looked at Valerie, backlit by the single yellow light hanging overhead as she stood above him. Her hairstyle collapsed around her face, and her dress still bunched around her thighs, revealing those endless legs.

She looked like a warrior goddess from a Frazetta painting. Michael couldn’t think of a time when he wanted a girl more. “What’s your problem?”

“What do you think my problem is?” Her nose flared as she matched his stare, a million different emotions playing across her face. “Were you seriously just going to fuck me surrounded by piles of rotting garbage after blowing me off?”

Michael’s lips parted as if to speak, but said nothing. He realized there wasn’t anything he had to say.

“What do you want with me?” Valerie continued, her tone shrill. “Why me? Why do you do this to me? That’s all I need from you, that’s all I need to know. Tell me why you think it’s fun and acceptable to torment me like this.”

A dry wheeze squeaked out of his still open mouth. A strange fear prickled his skin at this unfamiliar, upsetting outburst. He realized then he had no answers for her, nothing that he was sure of himself. His eyebrows rose and his shoulders lifted slowly in a tentative response.

Valerie’s mouth twisted as she reared back and delivered another no-holds-barred kick, this one right to his knee. Michael’s breath left him in a rush as a second onslaught of agony exploded through his body and he fell backward, blinded by pain. He took a brimming trashcan with him as he toppled to the ground. The can let out a metallic screech into the otherwise peaceful night as it scraped the cement.

“Val?” shouted someone—likely Valerie’s date—from around the corner. “Where are you?”

“Back here!” Valerie called with an exuberant burst of cheerfulness. “But don’t worry. I’m coming.”

Michael rose on his elbows and watched, paralyzed with surprise, as she stepped closer to him.

She bent and, with her lips hovering inches away from his, whispered, “Don’t ever come near me again.” Then she stood, smoothed her dress down as best she could and walked away. He listened as the clack of her shoes on the wet, gritty pavement faded away.

The pain in Michael’s leg ebbed to a dull throb, but hot tears stung his eyes. He pushed himself into a sitting position, a few pebbles biting into his palms, which were slick with a sour-smelling salad dressing that had sloshed out of the fallen trashcan and spattered the ground. Across from him, a sprung mousetrap hugged the side of the building and contained a rodent’s withered corpse. He wiped his hands on his thighs, trying to swallow the knot clogging his throat. A panic crept through him, and he couldn’t say why.