Pierced by Love (3 page)

Pierce Logan pulled his Ford Explorer into his normal parking space and rubbed the tiredness from his eyes. It had been a long day. He’d been up since five o’clock this morning, completing homework assignments that he’d left unfinished due to working a late shift at the sporting goods store the night before. Then he’d almost gotten into a car accident on his way home when another car pulled out in front of him. The snow was coming down hard now and he was glad he’d made it okay. He slammed the door and locked the vehicle.

Slinging his backpack over his shoulder, he noticed his roommates engaged in a snowball fight with the girls from the apartment in the next building over. David Berkeley caught Jessie Rasmussen by the hood of her parka and squished a good-sized snowball onto the nape of her neck. Jessie’s squeal of laughter reverberated through the parking lot. Jessie came after David with full force and returned the favor. Pierce hid a smile at their antics.

“Hey, Pierce!” his other roommate, Garret Drake, called. “C’mon. It’s a free-for-all.”

“Aren’t you guys freezing?” he asked, wondering how long they’d been at it. It was late in the afternoon but the sky was already dark. “I’ve got stuff I need to do. But throw a big one at Kasey for me, all right, man?” Belatedly, he’d noticed that the girls from another apartment were also participating. He felt a momentary spurt of remorse at targeting her, but it quickly dissipated. She shouldn’t have expected so much from him.
Or wanted so much from me
, Pierce amended silently. His eyes had been opened to the dangers of dating her.

Quirking a brow, Garret nodded. “Yeah, sure. Later you can tell me what she did to set you off.”

Not likely
, Pierce thought. He just wanted to put it out of his mind. Dates were supposed to be fun, no pressure. That was why he hated it when girls hinted at the end of a date that they’d like to “go again sometime.” Kasey, however, hadn’t just hinted that she was interested in Pierce. She’d waged a full-fledged battle of wills.

Shoving that gloomy thought out of his mind, Pierce went inside and peeled off his coat. The warmth from the heater felt good. He went into the kitchen and pulled out some hot chocolate mix and put some water in the microwave. Absently, he waited for the microwave to beep and then stirred in the mix.

The guys burst through the door with exuberant voices, laughing and backslapping each other. Austin Fremont, their newest roommate, who was soaked from head to toe, called to one of the girls outside. “So much for fair play, huh, Hannah? Next time you’ll want to rethink your strategies!” Hannah called back to him, but Pierce couldn’t make out the words. Thinking of the spunky redhead, Pierce smirked. Austin might think he could get away with teasing Hannah, but what he hadn’t learned yet was that Hannah was seriously competitive. She’d get him back eventually.

Pierce listened to the guys bragging about their superiority in hitting their targets while he sipped his hot chocolate. This was what he liked about living here and belonging to this group of friends. Yeah, they could get a little crazy at times, but they were a lot of fun. Each set of roommates often wound up at each other’s apartment to hang out and play games. The different personalities meshed well together and, at times, felt more like a family to Pierce than his own.

Especially since his family was so disjointed. Pierce’s parents had divorced four years ago while he was serving his mission. But even before then, things had been difficult between them for a very long time. While his dad hadn’t broken any major commandments, as far as Pierce knew, he hadn’t lived up to his temple covenants, either. If anything, the worst thing Jared Logan could be accused of was his indifference to his family. Some might even call it neglect.

Tearing his thoughts away from his family, Pierce realized he hadn’t seen the Jensen sisters outside. “Where were Noelle and Melody tonight?”

Garret shrugged. “Don’t know. Maybe Noelle’s working late.” They all knew that Noelle sometimes worked late hours at a clothing store inside the mall on the other side of town.

“No, she isn’t,” David interjected. “I saw her car earlier when I was getting the mail, but when I came back out later to get my textbook out of my car, it was gone.”

“What about Melody?” Pierce asked, knowing that even though Melody didn’t always join in the hoopla, she usually made treats for them. If she’d been home, she probably would have invited them in for hot chocolate. “Is everything okay with them?”

Garret shrugged again. Feeling slightly irritated with his roommate’s indifference, Pierce pulled his cell phone from his pocket and, with the click of one button, entered Noelle’s number.

“You’ve got Melody’s number on speed dial?” Austin asked incredulously. “Man, you work fast.”

A few moments later, Pierce shook his head while still holding the phone to his ear. “No. I thought that giving Noelle a call would be worth a try but she’s not answering. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything’s wrong, though. She has a hard time keeping track of her phone.”

“Bummer,” David said.

Just then, Garret’s phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, he grinned. “Hey, are you girls ready for round two?” Garret’s face turned somber a few seconds later. “Nope. I haven’t seen her. Why?”

Pierce and the others looked on in curiosity. Instinctively, Pierce knew that it had something to do with the Jensen sisters.

“Okay,” Garret continued into the phone. “I’ll tell them. Let us know when you learn more. Will do. Bye.” Lowering his phone, Garret addressed the group. “That was Hannah. She’s worried about Noelle. She said that Melody just came home after being with Chase and looked like she’d been crying. She and Noelle had a fight and she felt bad about making Noelle take off in these icy conditions. Now she can’t get a hold of Noelle either.”

“Are you saying that Melody and Chase have been dating each other behind Noelle’s back?” Pierce asked, stunned.

“Not just dating,” Garret replied in bewilderment. “Hannah told me they’re engaged.”

Pierce scoffed. “You’re kidding me, right?” He stared in unbelief at his other roommates, who were showing similar reactions. “You’re serious?”

“Yeah, dude. Chase and Melody told Noelle about the engagement when she came home from school.”

Remembering his close call while driving home in the snow, Pierce’s heart thudded inside his chest. Different scenarios played out in his mind, none of them good. “She’ll be all right,” he reassured himself. “Noelle’s been driving around here for two years. She can take care of herself.”

David squinted at him perceptively. “Who are trying to convince, us or yourself?”

He told them about almost being hit by another driver and admitted, “I’m still feeling on edge.” The others agreed that they were worried about her too.

A moment later, a knock sounded at their door. Austin strode over and opened it. Jessie, looking solemnly at them, said, “Hi. I just came to let you know that Bishop Thornton called and told us that Noelle is fine. She was at his home earlier and is going to stay the night at Jill Simmons’s apartment.” Jill Simmons was Noelle’s former roommate who’d gotten married just before Christmas.

“Thanks for telling us, Jessie,” Garret said. “We’re glad she’s okay.”

Jessie nodded. “Me too. I’m getting out of this cold. See you guys later.”

Pierce’s uneasiness dissipated as they all said good night. After she left, he blurted, “I don’t get it. Chase and Melody? How and when did that happen? That’s rough. Noelle’s probably freaking out.”

David gave a rueful smile. “Knowing her, yeah. But what girl wouldn’t? She and Chase were getting pretty serious.”

A hundred thoughts collided for his attention. Pierce took a few moments to let them settle while he recalled all that he knew about Melody Jensen, which wasn’t much. She’d come to NAU right after the new year to start the spring semester. Noelle had been talking about how excited she was that her older sister was almost finished serving in southern France and would replace Jill. Melody seemed like a nice person, a little too quiet for his preference. Pierce wouldn’t have believed she’d be capable of doing something like this if he hadn’t heard it from his roommates. He trusted them.

Pierce’s thoughts stayed on Noelle for the rest of the evening. She was a go-getter who always put her best effort into anything she did. She was nice to look at too, with wavy light brown hair that fell midway down her back and big blue eyes that could draw a person in. She had an outgoing personality that Pierce had been attracted to. He’d briefly entertained thoughts of asking her out when he’d first moved in but had reluctantly admitted to himself that a girl like her, who gave a hundred and ten percent with everything she did, would easily put that much commitment into a relationship.

And he was right. When he’d been assigned as her home teacher, he’d learned that she’d been engaged and that it hadn’t worked out. So he’d stayed clear of her and watched when Chase Dunlop later swept her off her feet. But Pierce hadn’t been very impressed with the guy lately, wondering what was taking Chase so long to ask Noelle to marry him.

Now he knew. And with that knowledge came a curious feeling of relief mixed with anger.

With an effort, Pierce put the unsettling thoughts out of his mind and opened his scriptures. He had another long day ahead of him tomorrow and needed to get to bed soon.

THREE

N
OELLE STEPPED INTO the sunlight of the morning. Closing her eyes and inhaling deeply, she smelled the wonderful scent of the pines surrounding her. It was a beautiful morning. Birds were chirping and the air felt crisp and clean. She wished that she was feeling as chipper as the birds. The little amount of sleep she’d received last night had finally come close to dawn. At least the roads would be clear today.

After thanking Jill for her hospitality and receiving a hug from her friend, she started driving along Butler Avenue toward her apartment complex to grab a fresh set of clothing. Hopefully, she could sneak in and out without running into any of her roommates. Jessie and Hannah had classes this morning and Melody was still job hunting, so maybe she’d be out too.

A sharp pang assaulted Noelle as she thought of her sister. Bishop Thornton had spent some time counseling her last night. He’d admitted that he’d seen this sort of thing happen only one other time in the college scene and it hadn’t been pretty. He had encouraged Noelle to seek to forgive them, that to harbor jealousy or anger toward her sister would only create a much larger rift that would be harder to reconcile over time. Noelle had felt somewhat better after he’d told her that it would be okay. For half a minute, Noelle had believed it.

Now here she was, driving to the crime scene and chanting to herself, “It will be all right. You’ll be fine. When you become the institute freak, just smile and pretend it doesn’t matter.” Then the tears came again. She found herself turning down a side street to compose herself. “Get a hold of yourself, girl. You can do this. You have to.”

But her teeth were grinding by the time she pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex. Spotting the old sedan that her parents had loaned Melody next to Austin Fremont’s green clunker, she felt the bile rise in her throat. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t go in there and smile and act like everything was fantastic, because it wasn’t. She felt like her heart was literally breaking in two pieces.

Then again, she really needed a shower and a new change of clothing. Taking a calming breath, she steeled herself. There was no reason for her to feel obligated to be friendly toward Melody. She let herself in, keeping her eyes downward just in case Melody was in the front room.

She wasn’t, so Noelle hurried down the hall where she heard the shower going. Okay, so she’d skip the shower today. At least she’d have clean clothes to wear. She took what she needed and hightailed it out of there. Noelle took a deep breath to calm herself before restarting her car. She could make it through one more day before Melody and Chase would take off for her parents’ house in Gilbert, Arizona. At least she’d have a brief respite then.

She had a pounding headache by the time her classes were finished. Noelle had skipped her institute class, wanting to avoid the awkward stares and questions. She enjoyed the Book of Mormon class that she was taking and felt bad about missing it. But the important thing was that she’d made it through what she’d known would be a rough day.