Shattered Secrets (Book of Red #1) (8 page)

“They grounded him?” I doubled back for my room, grabbed my bag, then went downstairs.

“They felt what he did was heroic but reckless. They grounded him for not calling the police sooner.”

I stopped halfway down the stairs. “Since when are the two of you such good friends?”

“Since he was the one who noticed the guy putting you in his trunk. Mark paid me a visit after your date.”

The trunk. The smell. The dust. I was right there again, bound and gagged. My breath escaped me.

“You still with me?” Derick asked, his voice low and cautious, as if speaking too loud would make me have a break down.

I headed for the family room. “I’m here. I’ll be out in a minute. I’m just going to tell my mom where we’re going.”

Mom perked up when she heard her name, ignoring the book in her hands. I’m pretty sure she hadn’t turned a page all day long.

“Tell her I’m taking you to dinner afterward.”

“Dinner? Where are you taking me?”

“You going out with Derick?” Mom whispered.

I nodded.

“Keep your cell phone on.” She stood and planted another kiss on me; I hoped her guilt disappeared soon. “And make sure to check in every now and then—”

“So I’m just supposed to call and give you updates?”

My mom smiled and shook her head. “You’re right. I’m sorry. You’re eighteen next week, and you’ll be with Derick. Can you at least let me know where you’re at when you get wherever you’re going?”

“Sure.”

“Be home by midnight.”

“I will. Thanks, Mom.” I bolted to the front door, hoping to avoid more waterworks.

When I opened it, Derick stood there wearing a pair of jeans, white tennis shoes, and a tight black T-shirt. He slipped his phone into his back pocket, grabbed my bag, then guided me toward his car. “Took you long enough.”

I stuck out my tongue before I remembered I was supposed to be angry with him. “I needed help tying my shoes.”

Derick grimaced as if my words punched his gut. “I’m so sorry, Abby. This shouldn’t have happened to you.”

“It’s not like it’s your fault,” I said, leaning my head to the side.

“Maybe it is”—Mark climbed into the back seat—“Maybe if he hadn’t stopped talking to you, you two would have been together.”

“Would you enjoy walking? I’m sure your mom would love to add another week to your punishment.” Derick helped me into the car and belt, then closed the door.

Mark leaned in between the two front seats, putting his face next to mine—and his injured forearm. “I like how guilty he is. Serves him right. I would never treat you that way.”

“Can you, for one minute,
not
think about yourself?” On one hand, I wanted to apologize for him having to get stitches. On the other hand, I wanted to swat him like a gnat.

He sat back, crossing his arms over his chest, a smug look plastered on his face.

My cell buzzed with a text from Megan.
Just got home. Can I come see you
?

Maybe later? Going out with Derick now.

She typed a frowny face.
Slap him for me. <3

I will. Promise. <3

I slipped my phone into my bag and took a deep breath to chase away the confusion. Derick and I were together. He had a ton of explaining to do, but we were
together
.

He practically glided into his car, reached over, then cupped my cheek and smiled. “You ready to take this jerk home?”

I laughed at the irony, the jerk calling the nice guy a jerk. “Behave.”

“Hey, Abby, Derick!” Misty wandered over to our table in the back corner of The Capitol Ale House. She was our regular server, terrible but always friendly, and the food was to die for.

I don’t know how Derick found the money to take me to places like this. His parents rarely left the house, and he only worked as a grocery bagger, but they
always
had a ton of money. Derick said something about investment earnings, before the crash of the stock market, but I didn’t understand much of that, or how they had anything left.

“Hi, Misty.” I glanced down at my menu, though I had the thing memorized.

“I heard the news about what happened. If you need to talk, you should give me a call; I feel like you two are a couple of old friends. Although, with your hero here, I guess you don’t really need other friends.”

Derick grabbed my hand and ran his thumb over my knuckles, a gentle reassurance that he was here for me, and I didn’t have the strength to pull away. I needed my friends. “We should order.”

Misty reached into her black apron pocket, pulled out a pen, then tapped it to her plump lips. “Let me guess, you guys want to order a Bavarian pretzel with cheese and grapes for an appetizer and a braised lamb shank for dinner. Bring an extra plate, right?”

We ordered the same meal every time.

“Yes, thanks.” My cheeks flooded with heat.

How was everything in my life falling apart at once? Mark wanted me for his own, so he played up Derick’s every mistake. My best guy friend, and the only boy I cared romantically about in the whole world, rescued me and waltzed back into my life as if he never left. My parents withheld my truth from me. And Misty knew me so well, I couldn’t possibly hope to hide from the kidnappers.

They were on the loose, probably looking for me.

Misty bounced off toward the computer, her blonde hair swaying behind her as she returned to her job.

A tear fell in my lap.

Derick lifted my chin with his finger, forcing me to look into his eyes. “You’re going to be okay. You know I won’t let them get to you, right?”

“How’d you know?”

“You looked about ready to vomit as soon as Misty recited our order—the same thing we always order. It’s just food, not a trail of clues.” Derick glanced around the restaurant. “Don’t see anyone here, not Mark, not even Megan. I’m surprised she didn’t follow you to keep tabs on your safety.”

An image of Megan in a ninja suit and stalking my every move made me laugh. “My personal bodyguard.”

“You know she was pretty freaked out yesterday, and the day before. Couldn’t handle being in the room with you while you were unconscious.”

And barely while I was conscious.

“She asked me to slap you.” Maybe he deserved it. Yes, he definitely deserved it.

“She’s your best friend and doesn’t want me to hurt you. I’m sure she’d slap me herself if she were here.” Derick laughed and glanced around again. So nervous, on guard. “Megan loves you, just like Mark—who’s acting very strange, by the way. I thought he was going to hit me at school. Seems everyone wants to love you, everyone wants you for themselves.”

“Not you.” I sniffled, ignoring his comment about Mark. His strange outburst at the hospital was the last thing I wanted to bring up. “Everyone wants a piece of me, but not you. And you’re all I want, all I think about.”

The self-respecting part of me yelled obscenities in my mind, berating me for laying my feelings on the line for Derick. So what if he turned me down? I needed to hear how he felt.

He caressed my jaw with his thumb. “I want you, too.”

I pulled away and clasped my hands in my lap. “So why did you leave? Why didn’t you call? Why wouldn’t you look at me, Derick? Every day you passed me in the halls as though I didn’t exist.” My words came out weak. I didn’t want to sound like a blubbering fool who couldn’t live without him, but the truth was: I
was
a blubbering fool without him.

“This is not where I’d hoped to talk to you”—he looked around the restaurant, at the diners passing through on their way to a table, college students trying out one of the million different beers the place had to offer, wait staff darting from table to computer to bar to kitchen and back again—“but I guess it will have to do.”

“Why shouldn’t we talk here?”

Derick sighed, focusing his blue-eyed gaze on me. “Because you’re going to start yelling before I have a chance to finish telling you what happened.”

“Start talking. I promise not to yell.”

“I promise not to get upset when you break your promise.” A smile crept up the side of his face. “That night at The Griffin, your dad followed us.”

“
Derick
—”

“Let me finish. He’d come to me a few times already, saying I needed to stay away from you, that I would just bring you trouble, you were a good girl who I’d hold back because I came from a family of bums.”

“I don’t understand. Our moms are friends. How could my dad possibly say this?”

“I thought he was under the impression my family deals drugs or something.” Derick glanced down as Misty placed our pretzel between us. He waited for her to leave before speaking again. “Not many people live as well off as we do, solely surviving off the stock market.”

“But you’re not a bum. You already know you’re valedictorian of our class. Hell, every school you applied for accepted you.”

“That’s not the point. He saw us kiss, then he approached me after I dropped you off. Your dad said if he ever caught us together again, he was going to ship you off to an all-girls school.”

“This is some kind of lie”—I slid away from Derick, closer to the wall, glaring—“to pit me against my dad because you don’t want to tell the truth.”

He frowned and pulled out his cell. “I have proof.”

Glancing at the phone, I nearly threw up at the sight of his opened voice recorder app. And right then, I knew he’d told me the truth. “You recorded him? Why would you do that?”

“He threatened me so many times, and I never really took him seriously. I guess I found it kind of funny, and I guess I figured if he ever went through with any of his threats, I could play the recordings for you. But we don’t have to listen. There’s so much more to my story, so much more that will make you understand your dad’s actions.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “No. I need to hear it.”

“I’m sorry.”

He was, I knew it from the pitiful way he looked at me, but not as sorry as I was, not after hearing my dad scream and shout at the top of his lungs about what a piece of crap Derick was, how he’d destroy me, steal my youth, my innocence, not after hearing Dad say he’d ship me off.

“I’m going to kill him.”

Derick was right, I was utterly, raging mad at Dad. Nothing Derick could say would change that. I slid out of our booth and headed straight for the door, for home, but I stopped in the middle of the restaurant, my legs trembling beneath me.

Psycho Number One stood in the entryway. “Hello, Abigail.”

turned around and ran right into Derick, jarring my poor arm.