Red (18 page)

“
She insulted Mom,” I said
softly.

“
What did she
say?”

Her filthy words scrolled back through my
mind and I wished viciously for Sawyer to be there to wipe them
away again. I shook my head again. “It’s not important. Amber is a
hateful bitch and she finally found something that would get a rise
out of me. I’m sorry.” I looked to the sheriff. Might as well take
my medicine. “Is she pressing charges?”

“
No. I didn’t hear about it
from her or her parents.”

“
Then who?”

Before either of us could speak, Dad’s
beeper went off.

“
Damn it. Barn fire out of
hand at MacLellan’s Dairy. I have to go. Is she actually in
trouble?”

“
Not with me.”

“
Okay. Do you
need—”

“
I’ll finish taking
Elodie’s statement about what happened last night. Then we’ll drop
her wherever she needs to go.”

“
Thank you.” He turned to
me, and I dared to actually lift my head to look at him. Oy, not
good. “We’ll talk about this at home, young lady.”

“
Yes, sir,” I said
meekly.

Jim left with him.

“
I am so dead.”

“
He’ll get over it,” said
Sheriff Beasley.

Who knew the sheriff was such a fan of the
power of positive thinking? He so didn’t know my dad.

“
So who told
you?”

“
Bob. He figured Miss
Cooper probably would press charges and wanted to make sure the
real story got told.”

I had a feeling whatever details Mr. Hansen
shared probably still had some measure of editing. Silently I
blessed him for it.

“
So this vehicle last
night. Did you recognize it?”

“
No. It was dark, and I was
blinded by headlights. Then I was kind of too busy running for my
life to pay attention.”

“
Tell me what
happened.”

So I did. Leaving out the part about being
rescued by a wolf, of course.

“
Your dad said you were
injured.”

I shifted in my seat, wincing at the ache in
my back. “It looked worse than it was.” In truth, all the abrasions
were healed this morning. It’s why I was wearing a hoodie and jeans
in freaking
July
. So Dad wouldn’t see. “Just some bruising
mostly.”

“
You were pretty lucky. Do
any of Miss Cooper’s friends have a vehicle that could fit the
description of the one from last night?”

“
Sheriff, it’s small town
Tennessee. Everybody and their brother has a truck or an SUV here.
Half the high school parking lot could fit the limited description
of what nearly ran me down. Maybe a quarter if you limit it to
those with V8 engines.”

It suddenly seemed completely ridiculous to
think that last night’s encounter had been a hunter. Amber was
beyond pissed. She’d have found some lackey or other to give me a
good scare. And the bleach thing, well we could blame our chem
teacher for showing that episode of Mythbusters last semester.

“
I’m sorry I don’t remember
more.”

“
That’s all right.
Something might come to you. I’ll have a chat with Miss Cooper and
let her know that further hostilities on her part won’t be
tolerated.”

I wasn’t sure whether that was a good idea
or not, but I thanked him anyway, wanting nothing more than to get
the hell out of here and find Sawyer.

“
I’ll have a deputy drive
you home.”

“
Work,” I corrected. “I’m
very late.”

I finished signing whatever paperwork they
had for me, and got into one of the cruisers with a fresh faced
deputy I remembered as being a senior when I was a freshman. Geez,
they recruited them young.

“
Where to?” he
asked.

I gave him directions to the research
station.

He pulled out of the parking lot. “You’re
Elodie, right? Fixin’ to be a senior this year?”

I nodded.

“
I remember
you.”

Well whoopty doo. I didn’t remember his
name, just his face. He’d never bothered me, so I’d had no real
reason to notice him. For purposes of polite conversation, since he
obviously wasn’t going to let the ride go in silence, I wracked my
brain for something I remembered about him.

“
You played baseball,
didn’t you?” I asked.

“
Short stop.
Yeah.”

I thought he smiled. I wasn’t sure because I
wasn’t actually looking.

“
You look . . .
different.”

Something in the tone of his voice had me
turning from the window, looking at him with one brow lifted.
“Different how?”

Color stained his cheeks. “Oh I just mean .
. . I don’t know . . . older. More mature. More confident. It’s
really . . . attractive.” He cut himself off with a kind of choking
noise and looked firmly back at the road. “Sorry. That was
inappropriate.”

What was it with everybody thinking I looked
different? Rich had acted like he suddenly thought I was sexy.
Amber said something about my look being different, as if I was
trying to look like a girl. And now this deputy thinks I’m
attractive? What was up? All I saw when I looked in the mirror was
the same old me. Maybe part of the change nobody wrote about was
some kind of spike in pheromones or something.

The remainder of the drive was the epitome
of awkward silence. At least he didn’t try to actually hit on me or
something like Rich had. Given everything that had happened, I
definitely was no longer the girl who could stay submissive and
suffer through unwanted attentions, and I really didn’t want to
find out how far I might go to stop them without someone to stop
me
.

Sawyer was out the door of the lab before
the cruiser was fully parked, his face a thundercloud. Because I’d
learned to read him, I knew his anger wasn’t at me, but at any
potential threat, so I shot out of the car to intercept him.

“
What happened?” he asked,
shifting to put himself between me and the car. He hadn’t actually
looked at me yet, his attention still fastened in a narrow-eyed
gaze on the poor deputy, whose name I still didn’t
remember.

I curled my hand in his, tugging to get his
attention. “I’m fine.” I looked back at the deputy. “I’m good.
Thanks for the ride, deputy.”

He gave me a salute and avoided Sawyer’s
eyes as he got back in the car and drove off.

Sawyer swung around and pulled until I
bumped solidly into his chest.

“
Where were you?” he
demanded. “I was worried.”

It took me a bit to work up actual words for
an answer because my brain was too busy short circuiting at his
nearness and urging me to press closer. “Um, I emailed your dad
that I’d be late.” The chest beneath my hand was broad, the muscles
toned and taut. My mouth seemed to be at war over whether it wanted
to drool or go bone dry.

“
I saw your car last night.
What happened?”

Car. Explanation. Right. This was really
going to go better if he wasn’t touching me, so I stepped back
until there were at least a few inches between us. I didn’t matter.
I could still feel the heat of him pulling at me. Jesus.

“
Broke down.” I herded my
remaining brain cells together. “Someone poured bleach in my gas
tank.”

“
What?” The word rolled out
in a growl, and I found myself stroking his arm.

“
Probably Amber, as payback
for yesterday morning.”

“
There’s more.” It wasn’t a
question. I guessed he was learning to read me too.

“
Yeah. I kinda sorta nearly
got run over on my walk home.”

No
what?
to that one. Just a glower.
He lifted a hand to my cheek, “Are you okay?”

Yes, I’m great, as long as you never, ever
stop touching me.

“
I’m okay,” I breathed.
“Look, Sawyer, there’s something I need to—”

“
Elodie! Good to see you
made it.”

Sawyer stepped back as Patrick circled
around, his pack in one hand, keys in another.

“
Everything okay?” he
asked.

“
Sure. Fine. Just had some
car trouble. Prank gone wrong. Dad wanted me to report it this
morning.”

“
Kids these days. No
respect for personal property.” Patrick shook his head, then shoved
his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
“
Well
,
c’mon you two, load up! Big doings today!”

“
Later,” I
mouthed.

Sawyer nodded, and I pasted on a smile.
“Great! Let’s go.”

~*~

Elodie

I collapsed onto the top of one of the
picnic tables across from the research station, my feet perched on
the seat. “I’ll move again sometime next year,” I promised as
Sawyer collapsed beside me.

“
I think Patrick secretly
found a way to bottle a little kid’s energy and he mainlined it,”
observed Sawyer, watching the man in question drive away. David and
Abby drove out after him. Dr. McGrath was up in Knoxville for the
day, doing something with a colleague at UT, so we were, at last,
alone.

Carefully, because my back was aching again,
I eased back on the tabletop.

“
Good idea,” said
Sawyer.

He lay back himself. He was too tall to fit
as I did, so he had to readjust diagonally, angling so his head fit
sort of between my head and shoulder. I didn’t mind. It was
comforting to just close my eyes and be surrounded by the scent of
him. If I’d had more energy, I might have rolled a little to
snuggle him or brushed my fingers through his hair. Which would
embarrass us both, so it was a good thing I couldn’t actually
move.

It was strange, really. I wasn’t a touchy
feely kind of person. Dad and I were not what you’d call
demonstrative with affection. At least not since the letter. So
this perpetual need I seemed to have to
touch
Sawyer was
weird. I mean, it worked out. He was a touchy kind of guy. Not in a
gross, gropy kind of way, but he was just one of those people who
communicated through touch. The brush of his arm. His hand on the
small of my back or shoulder. The easy way he curled his fingers in
mine.

God, I was going to miss that.

With that thought, any vestiges of
relaxation disappeared. I was supposed to leave. Say my goodbyes
and disappear. Because even if Amber was behind the car and last
night’s hit and run attempt, I still couldn’t shake off the idea
that Rich had been bait.

“
Whatever just popped into
your head, forget it,” said Sawyer.

When I tipped my head to look at him, his
eyes were closed.

“
Your tension is
practically vibrating the table,” he said.

“
Sorry,” I said.

He snaked a hand up and tangled his fingers
with mine. “Did your dad give you shit about the car?”

“
About the car, no. But
he’s probably going to murder me over my fight with
Amber.”

One eye cracked open. “He found out?”

“
It was either I tell him
or the sheriff would. He got called in to work before he could
finish flaying me alive with a lecture. Don’t expect to see me
tomorrow.” I swallowed back the knot in my throat. Christ, I was
not
going to cry in front of him again.

Sawyer’s hand tightened. “You think he’ll
make you quit?”

“
I don’t know what he’s
going to do. I currently have no means of transportation, and he
would so not be okay with the idea of one of my male co-workers
picking me up for work. For the job I totally lied about
having.”

“
Maybe if we steal the club
he uses to bash you over the head before dragging you back into his
cave by your hair, we could knock some sense into him.”

I snorted a bit of a laugh at the heavy
sarcasm. “It’s moronic, yes, but he has his reasons. I’ll probably
be grounded the rest of the summer as it is. Breaking that Rule in
front of him will get me under total house arrest.”

“
Don’t tell me he’s pulling
that old jewel of ‘I know how teenage boys think. I used to be
one.’”

“
Well considering that’s
exactly how I came about . . . ”

“
I think it just means your
parents were too stupid to use protection.”

“
Oh, thank you so much for
that mental image. I need to go bleach my brain.”

“
Not that I’m complaining
since I’m glad you’re here. Still, it’s not fair for him to punish
you for their mistakes or treat you like you’re too stupid to learn
from them.”

“
I think it’s less about
punishing me and more an attempt to protect me. Then, of course,
there’s the ‘It’s not you, I’m worried about. It’s
them
I
don’t trust.’ Which also, conveniently translates to driving, as it
happens.”

“
A multipurpose parental
smackdown. Right up there with ‘Because I said so.’”

“
I’m guessing that stopped
working on you a long time ago.”

“
Oh yeah.”

He shifted, actually tucking his head
against my shoulder. After a moment’s hesitation, I leaned my head
against his, reveling in the feel of his soft hair against my
cheek. We lapsed back into a comfortable silence in which he played
with my fingers.

“
Do you think your parents
really loved each other? I mean like, the really
it
kind of
love. Or were they just a couple of crazy teenagers?” he asked. “Do
you think you can find
it
that young?”