Entice (9 page)

Tanner shook his head. “That’s not true. You’re forgetting that I knew you before.”

I bit my lip, and looked up from the mug of coffee. “You didn’t really know me. We didn’t hang out or anything.”

“No, but we ran in the same circles so I knew enough. You’re a completely different person now. That’s why our friendship has meant so much to me. We were both so much alike before, and then we got saved around the same time. It’s so cool that we can relate to each other that way.”

The espresso machine roared to life from behind the counter, and cups clanged from a nearby table. Instinctively, I reached for my necklace, but it wasn’t there. In my haste to get ready, I had forgotten to put it on. It felt like a betrayal to Isaac. Guilt burned through me. As my fingers fluttered over my neck, I noticed Tanner eyeing the spot. His eyebrows raised slightly.

Lowering my hand, I reached for my coffee, and took another sip. Foamy whip cream stuck to my nose. Grabbing a napkin off the table, I wiped it off. “But you seem to be doing so well, Tanner. You’re not messing up all the time like me.”

“I’m struggling just like you. This past week, I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of. But I know God forgives me so I can move on and try harder next time.”

“What if we can’t do any better though?”

Tanner smiled, his gleaming white teeth blinding me. “We can’t.”

Huh? I was expecting more of a pep talk than that.

“That’s why we need Him to help us.”

He was right, of course. I thought of how little I’d been praying and relying on God. Nodding, I smiled back at him. “Thanks. I needed this.”

“Glad I could be here for you.” He shot me a pointed look before grabbing his cup to take another drink.

“So, you were gonna tell me about the service I missed.” Suddenly, I was interested in church again.

He swallowed his coffee. “Oh yeah, it was interesting. It really hit home.” He leaned forward. “He talked about Satan attacking us and how we always needed to be on guard.”

Chills shivered up my spine.

“The whole talk made me think of this friend that my older sister, Rosie, had. A couple of years ago she totally changed. She started wearing all black, listened to depressing music and got all involved in weird stuff.”

My chest tightened. “Your sister or her friend?”

“No, Rosie would never do that. It was her friend. And they had been friends for years, but when she started acting like that Rosie stopped hanging out with her. I think she got in with the wrong crowd and was influenced by some guy or something. Anyway, Rosie used to always say that she thought the girl was demon possessed. My parents and I would laugh it off. We didn’t believe in that kind of stuff. Now, I’m wondering if she was right.”

He looked at me expectantly, but I found it hard to breathe, let alone talk.

“What do you think?” he asked.

I swallowed hard, forcing myself to draw breath. “I don’t know. I suppose she could have been.”

“But I mean, do you believe in that kind of stuff?”

The question was laughable. I wanted to tell him my whole story right there. But I wasn’t quite ready to trust him that completely. So instead, I just said, “Yeah, I do.”

He nodded. “Me too. I feel like I owe Rosie an apology now.”

“Is your sister a Christian?”

“I’m not sure. She believes in God and stuff but I don’t think she goes to church or anything. She’s in college now so we don’t talk much.”

“What ended up happening with her friend?” I had to know even though I didn’t really want to.

“Last I heard, she’d gone off the deep end big time. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was dead by now.”

I put my cup back down on the table. My stomach hurt too much to drink it now. My mind drifted to Haley and I wondered if that would be her fate too. Sighing, I stared out the window and gasped. He stood on the sidewalk, hands stuffed in the pockets of his black trench coat. He wore sunglasses even though the sun was hidden deep beneath the thick clouds.

“You okay?” Tanner asked, following my gaze.

As he did, Drake walked swiftly away from the coffee shop. I shivered. What was he doing here?

I was still shaking when we headed back to my house. Of course, I’m sure the coffee hadn’t helped with that. My hands trembled as I held them close to my body.

“Maybe he was just grabbing a coffee.” Tanner kept his hands on the wheel, his gaze fixed on the road as he drove. Light rain splattered the windows.

“Yeah, I guess.” I bit my lip so hard I thought it might bleed. I’m sure Tanner thought I was crazy, getting so upset about Drake being in front of Thatcher’s. Maybe I was. Only, something felt wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but something odd was going on.

“Crazy weather, huh?” I decided to change the subject, and keep it light.

“Yeah. But it’s cool. I like the rain.”

“Yuck. Not me. I’m a California girl at heart.”

I felt his head swivel in my direction for a minute. “I bet Isaac would be happy to hear you say that.”

Nodding, I turned to stare out the window. Why did I feel bad when the subject of Isaac came up around Tanner? He was my boyfriend. I should be able to talk about him anytime I wanted. Still, I knew it upset Tanner and we’d had such a good morning. I didn’t want to ruin that.

“But it is prettier in Washington. A lot greener. In California the sun kills all the flowers and grass.”

This elicited a smile from Tanner. I smiled back. He offered to walk me up to the house when we got back, but I said no. That would make it seem too much like a date.

I climbed out of his car, gave him a quick wave and headed for the front door. When I was almost there, a funny feeling descended on me and stopped me in my tracks. Goosebumps tickled my arms, and my hair stood on end.

Someone was behind me, watching me. I could feel it.

I whipped around. He started walking briskly in the other direction, but he wasn’t fast enough. I’d already seen him.

I ran after him. “Why are you following me?”

Drake spun around and looked at me as if he just noticed me for the first time. He flashed me an innocent smile. “Why hello Kenzie.”

“Don’t why hello me. Why do you keep following me?”

Rain drizzled down, splattering his sunglasses, trench coat and slick dress shoes. My teeth chattered. I hugged myself to keep warm.

“I’m not following you.” He took off his sunglasses. His eyes were much darker than I remembered, and they seemed to stare into the depths of my soul. I shuddered under the scrutiny of his gaze.

“I saw you standing outside of Thatcher’s”

He tucked the glasses into the pocket of his trench coat. “I was getting coffee. In fact, that’s why I was returning to the car. I had forgotten to get out the one for your mom. I already drank mine.” After opening his car door, he reached inside and pulled out a paper coffee cup with a lid secured on top.

“Oh, well, I didn’t see you in there.” I felt a little stupid.

“You were in deep conversation with a boy. Is he your boyfriend?” He cocked an eyebrow as he closed the car door.

“No. My boyfriend lives in California. Tanner’s just a friend.”

“It looked like a little more than friendship if you ask me.” He winked, causing me to blush. “We better get inside. I don’t want to keep your mom waiting. You know how she can be.”

This made me chuckle. I followed him up the walkway and then realized I never did get a straight answer from him. Sure, I might have been wrong about him following me today but how would he explain being at Haley’s?

“What about the other day when I was at my friend’s house?” I asked as we neared the front door.

“What other day at your friend’s house?”

“I was at my friend Haley’s and you were in a car across the street. I know you saw me because you looked right at me.”

“Ah, yes. I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure if that was you or I would’ve stopped.”

“But what were you doing there?”

“I have a client on that street I was checking on.”

I narrowed my eyes. It seemed like a reasonable explanation. Maybe I was just being oversensitive. Perhaps Mom was right. Ever since my experience with Wesley I had become so untrusting of everyone.

The door swung open. Mom stuck her head out, smelling strongly of hairspray. “What are you two doing standing out here in the rain?”

“Um…”I sputtered. The last thing I wanted to do was explain to Mom that I’d just given her boyfriend the third degree. It was precisely what she’d begged me never to do.

“We were just having a little chat, that’s all.” He bent down and pecked Mom on the cheek. “I was just telling Kenzie how much I care for her mother.”

Mom’s cheeks turned bright red. A broad smile swept over her face. Drake winked at me over his shoulder. I chuckled. Maybe the guy wasn’t so bad after all.

I brushed past them to get in the house. Mom closed the door behind Drake.

Holding her coffee cup in her hand she said, “Drake, just make yourself comfortable. I’m going to run into the kitchen and bring out some snacks.”

I plopped down on the couch, tucking my legs up under my body. As I reached for the remote, Drake took a seat next to me. I could hear Mom puttering around in the kitchen. After turning on the television, I flipped through the channels trying to find something on.

“I’m sure you have like a gazillion channels at your house,” I said to Drake. “We still have an antennae. There’s never anything on.”

“There’s nothing on even when you have cable,” Drake replied.

“That’s probably true.” I turned my head to see if Mom was coming in the room. I could faintly hear her still rooting around in the kitchen. It might take her awhile to find something edible in there. Fidgeting with the bottom of my sleeve, I tried to think of something to talk to Drake about. The silence was super awkward.

“So, do you have a lot of clients on Haley’s street?” I pictured all those rich ladies, their face frozen into perpetual smiles from all their botox injections.

“Whose street?” His brows knit together in a look of confusion.

“My friend that I was just talking about.”

“Ah, yes, Haley.” A shadow passed over his features. His smile turned into a scowl. “I thought you weren’t friends anymore.” His voice had taken on an evil, scratchy quality.

I jumped back, and clutched my hand to my chest. My heart beat against my fingertips. “How did you know that?”

“Here we are.” Mom swept into the room. In her hand she held a plate, containing a couple pieces of processed cheese, a handful of nuts and a sliced apple.

I glanced back at Drake. He beamed up at my mom, his face serene and light. It made me wonder if I’d imagined the whole exchange a minute ago. Was I going crazy?

While Mom sipped on her coffee and Drake nibbled on the cheese from Mom’s fancy snack tray, I slipped into my room to call Isaac. Once inside, I closed the door tightly behind me and reached into my jeans pocket for my phone. Only it wasn’t there. I looked in my other pocket but it was empty too. After scouring my room, panic set in. Oh no. What if I left it at Thatcher’s? I may never get it back. Someone could have found it and reprogrammed it by now. Desperately, I tried to remember if I’d ever installed that tracking app. I kept meaning to, but I wasn’t sure if I ever had.

There was a rapping on the front door. Mom yelled down the hallway, “Kenzie, it’s that boy. The one that’s just a friend.”

I cringed and prayed he hadn’t heard her. Quickly, I emerged from my room and raced down the hallway. I was grateful that the front door was still closed. Of course, our walls were pretty thin so he still might have heard what she said. I opened the door and greeted Tanner warmly. From the happy expression on his face, it seemed he hadn’t heard Mom.

“Thought you might need this.” He held up my phone.

I snatched it from his fingers and squealed. “Thank you!” Without thinking, I threw my arms around his neck. He tensed under my touch, his expression serious. I could hear his heart pounding beneath mine. Swallowing hard, I let my arms drop and stepped away from him.

Tanner glanced inside the family room. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had company. Just wanted to drop off your phone. I’ll get going now.”

“Nonsense.” Mom waved him inside. “Come on in. The more the merrier.”

Tanner looked at me. I shrugged.

“Alright.” He stepped inside with a smile on his face. It vanished the instant he saw Drake. I watched as his face paled.

“Tanner.” Drake stood up from the couch. “So good to see you again.”

Tanner set his jaw, took a step back. He reminded me of a dog, ready to attack. I stayed close to his side.

“I hear you’ve made some changes, turned over a new leaf,” Drake said.

“Yeah.” Tanner’s voice came out strained. He still hadn’t moved.

“Even so, I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around.” Drake grinned mischievously.

Tanner’s face reddened, he balled his fists.

“How do you two know each other?” I asked.

Tanner shook his head, but didn’t speak.

“We go way back. Don’t we, Tanner?”

I narrowed my eyes. “What does that mean?”

Drake opened his mouth to answer, but Tanner cut him off. “Nothing. I have to go. I’ll see you later, Kenzie.”

“Yeah.” Confused, I watched him walk out the door. “Thanks for my phone,” I called after him as he fled.

“That was rude,” Mom muttered under her breath.

I glared at Drake. In the entire time I’d been hanging out with Tanner I had never seen him act like that. ‘Rude’ was the last word anyone would use to describe him. Clearly, Drake had done something to upset him.

I intended to find out what it was.

I stood in front of the bathroom sink, holding my hands under the running water. The soap in the school restrooms smelled like throw-up. I wrinkled my nose as the suds swirled toward the drain, emitting their disgusting aroma.

“I really thought you’d gotten better taste after last year.”

Scarlett’s reflection appeared behind me. Her strawberry blonde hair cascaded down her thin frame. Her green eyes glared at me, her painted ruby lips hardened into a determined line.