Riley's Secret (A Moon's Glow Novel # 1) (10 page)

“Well, this has been fun. Are you still going to drive
me to pick up my car, or should I ask someone else?”

“Who would you ask?”

My mind went blank. I was actually bluffing when I
offered to find a ride with someone else. Only one person came to mind.
“Lauren. She’s the only person who talks to me other than you.”

“Maybe you should ask her.”

Ouch
,
that hurt. I wasn’t sure how many more times I could take rejection from him.
And right at that moment I made a vow to forget about Nate Green. He was so
weird. One minute, he was telling me to basically get lost; the next he was
overly protective and hanging out at my house having dinner. Then he was acting
like it never happened and blowing me off again. I wasn’t sure how much more of
his confusing behavior I could take. I decided I was done. No more. I was so
over
Nate Green. I wouldn’t give him the time of day even if he begged.

“Fine, I’ll do that.” I grabbed my bag off of the
table, leaving my barely touched lunch for him to dispose of and stormed out of
the cafeteria.

When the last bell of the day rang, I rushed to my
locker, not wanting to keep Lauren waiting. I stuffed my English, geography and
calculus books into my bag before rushing out the east door to the parking lot.
Lauren and I had agreed to meet there when I asked her for a ride after lunch.

As I slipped out of the school, I noticed a tall man
wearing a suit and dark sunglasses. He was leaning against the building talking
to a woman with long brown hair. They were speaking quietly while scanning the
kids who rushed to their cars, eager for the end of the school day. When the
door slammed shut behind me, the woman looked over and I knew who they were
waiting for—me. Detective Carver gestured to Alberts, who glanced my way.

“What do you want?” I said, stopping in front of them.
“Don’t worry I’m going to community service.”

“That’s not why we’re here, Megan. We heard that you
had an incident with your car. Would you like to press charges?”

“No.”

They shared a look and then Carver continued. “Do you
know who did it?”

“No.”

“Seems to me that by slashing your tires someone is
trying to scare you into keeping your mouth shut about the fire,” Detective
Alberts said. He rested his hand on his belt buckle, exposing his badge. This
was not good. All I needed was for any of my old friends to see me with the
police.

“I have nothing to say,” I called out, rushing away
from them, making my way to Lauren’s car.

“Thanks so much for doing this, Lauren,” I said as I
slid into her blue compact car.

She was sitting in the driver’s side tapping the
steering wheel. “No problem. Hey, who was that you were talking to?”

“The police. Somehow they heard about my tires
yesterday. Nate must have told them. What a jerk. I really thought I could
trust him.”

“You don’t know it was him. A lot of people saw your
tires. The teachers could have reported it,” she offered. She was defending
Nate, which was strange, since she had told me once she didn’t know him. “So
where to?” she asked, sliding her large brown sunglasses on and turning the key
in the ignition.

I gave her the address to the body shop and she pulled
out of the lot. Her tires squealed on the pavement behind us.

I tried not to scan the cars for a black convertible.
But it didn’t matter anyway, it wasn’t there. He had already left, probably in
a hurry to get away from me.

“What are you doing tonight?” Lauren asked me,
stopping at a red light. Serena Beranger pulled up behind us with a group of
other cheerleaders. I could hear my name drift from their car, but it didn’t
bother me. I hadn’t really gotten close to any of them. Lauren must have heard
as well, because she twisted her face, making a gagging sound. I laughed as we
pulled away, forgetting all about the girls’ gossip.

“I have community service. Why?”

“Ally and Lily are coming over tonight, just to hang
out and listen to music, maybe watch a movie. I thought you might want to
come.”

I had never really talked to Allison or Lily. My other
friends always felt that we were too good for them. They came from middle-class
families and didn’t live in mansions. I had always secretly envied Lauren for
hanging out with anyone she wanted. She didn’t care what others thought about
her. I suddenly wanted to be like her.

“You know what, I will come. I’ve been at the shelter
almost every day this week. I think I need a break.”

She turned her head and smiled widely. “Great.
Everyone’s showing up around eight.”

I returned her grin, feeling excited. I hadn’t had
friends to talk to in over a week.

Once she pulled into the garage, I climbed out, giving
her a quick wave as she took off. The body shop was full of empty cars and the
lot was empty of people. Just as I started to take a step toward the building,
I heard the sound of a motor rev from a side street. I looked over, but all I
could see was a black hood hidden behind a very large truck. I started to make
my way around a big blue car to investigate when I heard my name.

“Are you Megan?” I turned around to see a small skinny
man with black greasy hair. He was wearing a ball cap that read Lou’s Auto. He
stood in the doorway of the auto shop, holding the door for me.

“Yes.”

His smile revealed extremely white teeth. “Well, come
on in, I have your keys.”

Forgetting about the black vehicle, I followed him in
to retrieve my keys. Louis confirmed what Nate had planned. He had sent the
bills to the parties responsible and would let me know what happened. But for
now I was free to take my car and head home before going to Lauren’s.

Followed

At seven thirty, I slipped out the door and headed to
my car. It was just getting dark, so I turned on my headlights before I pulled
out.

Lauren’s house was on the other side of the city. Most
of the upper-class houses were located in the same subdivision as mine, but
hers was in the older part of town. It was one of the original structures in
Creekford.

I pulled out of my driveway onto Pine, turning up the
radio. An indie band floated out of the speakers. I reached down to turn it up.
The song was about fighting against authority and it was exactly how I felt
tonight. I was ditching community service and I felt like a rebel. I wished I
could see the look on Nate’s face when I didn’t show up. I wanted him to know
that I was sick of the hot and cold way he treated me. I just wished I didn’t
feel the tug of guilt by not going to see Natalie and the other kids.

Stopping at a stop sign almost to my destination, I
thought I heard a loud
thud
. I was sure I felt something hit the back of
my car. I turned down the radio and looked in my rearview mirror. All I could
see were headlights so bright they almost blinded me. The vehicle behind me was
huge and extremely close.

Seeing that there were no cars coming, I pulled out,
glancing around the area for Cedarcrest, the street that Lauren lived on.

Thud
.
I knew for sure this time that something had hit me, slamming me into the
steering wheel. I looked into the rearview mirror and saw a truck was coming at
me, about to ram the back of my car again. I stepped on the gas, but so did the
driver of the black vehicle and
thump
, it bumped me again. I couldn’t
believe this was happening.

Just when I was about to stop and call nine-one-one
with my cell, the truck pulled out around me, squealing its tires. That’s when
I saw what kind of vehicle it was; a big black SUV. It sped past me and stopped
abruptly at the end of the street, waiting. As it sat under the streetlight, I
realized it was the same truck that I had seen at the body shop. The only
person I knew that drove a vehicle like that was Shane. He must have seen me
talking to the police after school and wanted to scare me. If that was the
result he was after, it was working. My heart hammered in my chest and my hands
shook on the steering wheel.

I pulled onto the side of the road, hoping to avoid a
confrontation with him. I sat and waited to see what he was going to do. His
truck didn’t move, just continued to sit at the end of the road. Its exhaust
puffed up into the night sky. The shine of the street light above created an
eerie glow around his vehicle, like a warning for me to stay away.

He was waiting for me to come to him. He thought I had
nowhere to go. He was wrong about that.

I looked behind me and saw that the road was empty. I
pulled out again and went the other way, driving faster than I ever had,
constantly looking in my rearview mirror.

He spun around and started to follow me. I turned onto
Maple and then Valley Road. I kept turning onto side streets until eventually I
didn’t know where I was. But the enormous black SUV was always there behind me,
making my heart race, its headlights shining like two angry eyes.

A street sign ahead of me gave me hope. It was Water
Street, which backed up to Cedarcrest. I pulled onto it, driving fast, hoping
to get to Lauren’s before Shane caught up to me. I made the turn onto
Cedarcrest just as he sped up, coming at me fast. I stepped on the gas, not
letting up until I came up to Lauren’s driveway. I turned onto it, my tires
squealing and pulled up in front of her house behind an older station wagon.

I sat inside my car with the engine idling and peered
out my open window. Shane’s SUV sat blocking Lauren’s driveway. He revved his
motor, as if threatening me one last time.

The front door of Lauren’s house swung open and Lauren
stood out on the step. She looked at me, then at the SUV that was now speeding
away.

“Megan, are you all right?” she yelled, running down
the steps and opening my door. I turned my car off and slipped the keys into my
purse. “What was Shane’s SUV doing here?”

“He followed me,” I said, feeling shaken, slowly
getting out of the car. She shut the door for me and led me into the house.

Once inside she pulled my bag from my arm and tossed
it onto an antique wooden bench in the hallway. “Are you all right?” Lauren
asked me, leading me up the long winding marble staircase and to the right,
down a wide hallway. I nodded, not sure if I was.

The hall was lined with tempered glass sconces that
created a low light. Even though it wasn’t very bright, I noticed that there
weren’t many rooms. It looked like there were just two doors and a closet at
the end of the hall. As soon as we walked into her room I could see why; it was
huge. About double the size of mine and I thought that was big.

On the right side there was a king-size, dark wood,
canopy bed with brass edgings. The curtains that were pulled back were red silk
that matched the window coverings and pillows. The bed itself was on a platform
with steps leading up to it. There was an end table on either side with a chair
next to the bed. On the left was a sitting room with a big-screen TV, sofa and
two overstuffed rose-colored armchairs. Lauren guided me over to her bed and I
sat down on what felt like a cloud, her mattress was so soft.

Lily and Allison, who were huddled near a shelf beside
the TV sifting through what looked like thousands of DVDs, rushed over. “What’s
wrong?” Lily asked.

I suddenly felt guilty for the way I had treated her
in the past. She held an expression of genuine concern, even though every time
she had spoken to me in school, I only had a quick hello for her. I didn’t talk
about her behind her back like Mandy and Jenny did. But I had never stopped
them either, or made an effort to be her friend.

Lily was a very pretty girl, but tiny. She was short
with a slim build and her cropped blond wispy hair made her seem even more
fragile. Her green eyes were the color of emeralds.

Allison, on the other hand, was as tall as me with
long black raven hair and the lightest blue eyes I had ever seen. Guys were
friendlier to her because of her looks, but the ones from my crowd wouldn’t
date her. They all thought they were better than she was because of their large
homes and even larger bank accounts.

“Someone followed her,” Lauren explained to the two
girls, who sat on the bed beside me. I glanced at her with my brow furrowed,
surprised that she held Shane’s name back. She gave me a wink on her way back
to shut the door.

“Who?” Allison asked.

I leaned back on the comfortable bed, laying my palms
flat onto the silky blanket. “I’m not sure. It was a big black vehicle, that’s
all I could see. But whoever it was bumped the back of my car a few times and
then followed me until I pulled into Lauren’s driveway.”

“Do you think it has something to do with the fire?
Maybe it was the people you’re protecting,” Allison guessed, looking from
Lauren to Lily and back to me.

I raised my eyebrows at her, wondering how much she
knew.

“People talk,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders,
leaning against the big red, silk fluffy pillows on Lauren’s bed.