Never Doubt Me (10 page)

I know it’s probably too soon to be thinking these sorts of things, though. So I push my yearnings aside…for the time being.

Once the weekend is behind us, Monday arrives in full glory. And it feels, at first, as if the happy times are set to continue.

First, Will comes down to breakfast in an exceptionally good mood. He grabs a slice of toast as it pops up in the toaster and slides into the chair next to Chase.

“Good morning,” he says jovially to Chase, and then to me.

“You’re up early,” Chase comments as he leans back in his chair.

“Yeah, Cassie woke me up. She and her mom are back in Vegas.”

“Already?” I inquire.

At the same time, Chase interjects, “Wow, they must have hardly stopped.”

I place a plate of over-easy eggs in front of Will, smiling since I know they’re his favorite.

He thanks me, holding my gaze long enough to express his gratitude, and then he continues his conversation with Chase. “Yeah, they didn’t stop much. Plus, you should see, dude, Mrs. Sutter drives like a maniac.”

“Clearly,” Chase remarks.

Will then asks his brother if it’d be okay if he stayed home today, as opposed to spending the day with us at Holy Trinity.

“Tired of working for free?” Chase teases, referencing the unpaid work Will did on the mural.

“No, that’s not it at all,” Will replies. “It’s just that Cassie and I met this kid who lives in town. He was at that miniature golf place across from the church the day we hung out over there.”

Will leaves it at that, saying no more, which prompts Chase to ask, “Okay, and…?”

Will continues, “Well, he called me last night. Seems like an okay dude, so I was wondering if maybe it’d be all right if he comes out to the house today.”

This is uncharted territory for Chase, and it shows in his uncertain expression. “Uh, I don’t know. What’s this kid’s name? How old is he? Where’s he live?”

Will laughs. “Jesus, Chase, you’re worse than Mom.”

But when Chase shoots him an I-am-not-messing-around glare, Will hastily provides some background on his new friend.

“Jared is the kid’s name, okay? Jared Knox. He’s sixteen and lives somewhere not far from the church. I think he called the area South of Market, wherever that is.”

Chase glances over to where I’m standing by the stove. South of Market is the nicest part of town. Jared is probably from a wealthy family, though the name Knox doesn’t ring any immediate bells.

Chase turns back to his brother. “Yeah, I guess it’d be okay. How’s he planning on getting out here? Are his parents okay with driving him out?”

“Not necessary.” Will picks at his eggs with his fork. “He actually has his own car.”

Further evidence the kid’s family has money. Chase’s blues find my eyes again, and I know he’s thinking the same exact thing.

“Fine,” he says to Will. “You can stay here today. And it’s fine with me if you have your friend over.”

“Cool,” Will mumbles through a forkful of eggs he shovels into his mouth.

When Chase and I leave for work, he asks me when we’re in the driveway if I think he made the right decision.

“Sure,” I say. “Jared is probably a nice kid.”

“Probably,” Chase echoes, and then he says, “But I’m thinking maybe I should drive separately to work. If I wrap up early today, then I can head back here and hopefully meet this Jared guy. I better make sure he’s not trouble.”

“Yeah,” I agree, “that’s probably a good idea.”

Chase and I then leave for the church in our respective vehicles.

Later, at lunchtime, Chase and I are down at the diner as usual. He reminds me again of his plan to leave work early. “Just so you don’t wonder where I am,” he says, a second before taking a bite of his burger.

“Great, I’ll see you back at the house, then,” I reply.

The rest of my workday is uneventful, but late in the afternoon, all hell breaks loose.

It all starts when I receive a frantic call from Cassie.

“Oh my God, Kay,” Will’s girlfriend sobs when I answer. “I’m so sorry to bother you when you’re probably still at work, but I didn’t know who else to call.”

She sniffles, and I assure her, “It’s fine, sweetie. What’s wrong?”

Cassie chokes up when she tries to speak. In the background, I can hear traffic whizzing by.

“Where are you?” I ask, worry creeping up my spine.

“I just pulled off the road,” she says, her voice hitching as she suppresses a sob. “Mom and I were supposed to go out to lunch today, but she forgot she had some conference call for work that she absolutely couldn’t miss. Anyway, I told her I’d pick something up for us. So I went to this restaurant we like, and when I was coming out, I noticed Paul’s car parked a few spots away. I hurried and got the hell out of there, but he followed me.” She lowers her voice, adding, “Kay, he was right on my bumper. I was terrified.”

“Oh, Cassie.”

“I turned into a residential area,” she continues, “and I just kept turning and turning until he finally gave up and sped off.”

Cassie breaks down as she finishes her story, and I, as kindly as I can, say, “Cassie, listen to me, okay?”

“Okay,” she says in a stuttered breath, still choked up.

“You have to call your mom right away. Tell her everything you just told me.”

“I did call her,” Cassie chokes out. “I called her first, but she was still on that stupid call and couldn’t talk. I’ll tell her everything when I get home, I promise, but what should I do
now
?”

“Can you go to a police station?”

After a long pause, Cassie says in a whisper, “I don’t think I want to do that.”

I’m floored. “Why not?”

She takes a deep breath. Cassie’s not crying anymore, but she still sounds upset.

“What if I go to the cops and it makes things worse?” she begins. “Paul is obviously mad I ruined his marriage to my mom. Besides, I’ve seen those crime shows. He didn’t do anything illegal. It’s just my word against his. If I tell the police what happened, maybe they’ll question him, yeah, but they can’t do anything, not really. There’s no proof he did anything wrong. And what if my telling the police makes that psycho even angrier? Then what? I’m scared, Kay, for myself and for my mom.”

Cassie has a point. It’s her word against Paul’s. Surely, he’ll deny he was anywhere near her. Needless to say, I’m officially lost here.

While I’m trying to think of an effective solution where there appears to be none, Cassie throws out that she needs to call Will and tell him all that has happened.

Calling Will is a very bad idea.

“Please don’t do that, Cassie,” I plead. “Will can’t do anything from here. Please, just talk to your mom. She can file a restraining order based on how Paul has been harassing you. And ask her to talk to your uncle. He can keep an eye on you and your mom, right?”

“I guess,” Cassie mutters.

“So you’ll hold off, for now,” I qualify, “on telling Will?”

Cassie promises she won’t call her boyfriend, but I have a bad feeling she’s just saying what she knows I want to hear.

“I gotta go,” Cassie says softly, and then she ends the call.

I immediately text Chase:
Are you still over at the school? I think we may have a problem.

I gather my things and lock up the office. But by the time I reach the parking lot, I still haven’t heard back from Chase. My Neon is the only car in the lot, so I assume that he’s left work early as planned and that he’s either on his way home or already at the house.

But then again, maybe Chase is somewhere else entirely. I mean, why else would he not reply to my text? Maybe something turned up, something unexpected. It’d have to be important, though, for him to skip going home to check on Will and his new friend, Jared.

“Shit,” I mutter to myself.

Cassie could be calling Will at this very moment, getting him all worked up. And here I am, with no idea where Chase might be.

I try to call him before I leave the lot, but his phone goes straight to voicemail.

Still, I leave a message detailing Cassie’s call. “Maybe I’m panicking over nothing. I mean, maybe you’re home, after all,” I say hopefully. “I’m heading there now.”

When I reach the house, I pray Chase’s truck is in the driveway. But it’s not.

Chase definitely left work early, so where in the hell did he go?

As I park in my usual spot near the garage, I notice there’s a shiny black sports car parked around the side of the house. It’s a really nice car—a Jaguar. Will’s friend Jared’s car, I assume. It’s not funny, but I have to laugh. Chase thinks Cassie has what he terms a “too-nice-for-a-kid car.” Wait till he sees this flashy thing.

Unbelievable.

Shaking my head at the blatant display of wealth, I walk past Jared’s Jag and let myself in the house through the back door. When I step into the kitchen, I am greeted by a tall, gangly kid with a mop of messy dark hair.

“Hey,” he says from where he’s seated at the table, his long legs kicked out in front of him.

He’s alone in the kitchen; there’s no sign of Will.

“Hi,” I reply, making my way to the table, “you must be Jared.”

“Yeah,” he slowly replies, glancing up at me. “Who are you?”

“I’m Kay.” I smile. “I live in the apartment next door.”

His face lights up with realization. “Oh, yeah, you must be Will’s brother’s girlfriend.”

“That would be me,” I confirm as I glance around. “By the way, is Will around?”

Jared frowns and I know before he speaks that Cassie has called. Sure enough, he says, “Uh, Will’s girlfriend called, like, ten minutes ago. I could hear her crying. She was upset about something, so Will went upstairs to talk to her.”

“Damn,” I curse.

“Is something wrong?” he asks.

He seems like a nice enough kid, so I tell him the truth. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

As it turns out, things are indeed wrong—very, very wrong.

Will returns to the kitchen just as I finish speaking. His stressed-out expression, not to mention the way his lips are pressed together in a straight line, tell me all I need to know. Cassie has definitely told him about Paul. And just as I feared, Cassie sharing the unpleasant stalker-stepdad update with her overprotective boyfriend has set off a chain of events, the likes of which I soon discover I have absolutely no control over.

Where the hell is Chase?
I think when Will starts freaking out.

He paces the kitchen floor like a caged animal, muttering things like, “I need to get the fuck out of here. I should be in Vegas. Cassie needs me. She can’t handle this shit on her own. That motherfucker is one sick dude. He needs to be fucking put down.”

The whole time Will is ranting, Jared sits quietly at the table, staring down at his hands, his face obscured by his mop of hair.

Suddenly, surprising both Jared and me, Will skids to a halt. He scrapes back a chair from the table and plops down in it. Then, he whips out his phone and starts to make a call.

“I’m calling the fucking airline and changing my ticket,” he announces.

But when he finds out how much it costs to make a last-minute adjustment to an existing ticket, he disconnects and slams his phone down on the table.

Jared glances from the phone to Will. He mumbles, “Dude, be cool.”

Will ignores Jared and states to no one in particular, “I gotta call my mom.”

He leaves the phone on the table, hits speaker, and dials. When his mom answers, things spiral from bad to worse.

Abby informs her son that not only is she not giving him any money to change his ticket, but his flight home has actually already been changed!

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Will spits.

“Don’t you swear at me, young man,” Abby states calmly.

And then she proceeds to inform her youngest son that she has
extended
his stay in Harmony Creek. Now Will is not due to fly back to Vegas until mid-August, which is two and a half weeks away.

“Greg and I are booked on a cruise to Mexico that leaves Los Angeles in two days,” she says, dreamily, as if there’s not a care in the world. “We figured, with you gone, this would be the perfect time to travel.”

“Well, it’s not perfect, Mom,” Will says, his voice cracking.

His anger has turned to an emotion I can only describe as despair.

“My life does not revolve around you,” Abby replies dryly. “Anyway, we’re flying to LA tomorrow, so it’s too late to change our plans. Everything is set.”

“You can’t fly to Los Angeles tomorrow,” Will whispers into the phone. “I need to come home, like,
today
. Why would you do this?”

“I’m sorry, Will, but I have a life to live, too.” His mother sighs. “I thought you were having a good time in Ohio. I figured I was doing something nice in extending your ticket. I thought since you and your brother are getting along so nicely, you’d enjoy the extra time with him.”

“You don’t care about me or Chase,” Will croaks out, defeated. “You always put yourself first, Mom, always.” My heart breaks a little at the depth of sadness in Chase’s brother’s tone. You can just hear how this is breaking him.

But sadness turns to anger when, suddenly, Will snatches the phone up from the table and whips it across the room. The cell whizzes past me and hits the pantry in the corner. It skitters across the linoleum as Will’s fist comes down on the table.

My heart hurts for Will, yes, but I need to take control of the situation before things get too out of hand.

I clear my throat and say in what I hope is an authoritative voice, “Settle down, Will.”

He turns slowly to glare at me. “Really?” His eyes fill with defiance. “
Really
? And who the fuck are you, Kay? Do you seriously think you have some right to tell me what to do?”

Holding my ground, I reply, “I’m your brother’s girlfriend. And since he’s not here, I’m the closest thing to family.”

Will laughs derisively. “Sorry, Kay, but just because my brother sticks his dick in you doesn’t make you family.”

I am momentarily speechless, not to mention completely saddened. So much for feeling like a part of the Gartner family, the way I felt yesterday at the restaurant. My silly feelings were obviously way off base.