Shifting Shadows (Sparks Collide Trilogy) (13 page)

I crossed my legs on the seat “Nothing,
literally. When he let me go,
Logan
threatened him and I walked out. We
all went home. It was stupid.” I sighed “What happened to you and don’t tell me
nothing because I just shared that embarrassing story with you.” I smiled to
show him I was his friend and he could trust me.

“I don’t see how that’s embarrassing
unless you were the asshole, Daniel, but I can play fair.”

He paused and I wondered if he would
continue. He played with the glass and drummed his fingers on the bar in
obvious anxiety.

Finally, he let go a heavy breath as if
a decision had been made. He said stiffly, “Saturday was the day that my mother
passed away three years ago.”

My mouth dropped open and it took
everything I had to try to straighten out my face. I felt cold all over. In a
million years, I never would have guessed that was going to come out of his
mouth.

I took a couple of deep breaths. “How
did she die?”

“Car accident, a drunk driver killed
her.”

“I’m so sorry. That’s… gosh…I’m sorry
for your loss. I wish I would’ve known. I wouldn’t have made you come to the
theme park. I’m so
sor
-”

“No.” He said stonily. “I’m glad you
didn’t know or otherwise you wouldn’t have treated me like normal. My friends,
they don’t know how to be normal about it, they can’t help it. When everyone
knows something tragic happened in your life, they pity you and they treat you
like you’re someone else entirely. I didn’t want that.”

“That makes sense. So why did you
decide to tell me now. Aren’t you worried I’m going to treat you
differently....and scratch that, you don’t have to explain anything. Thank you
for telling-”

“I don’t know.” He cut off my rambling
again and looked at me for the first time in the conversation. “You said
yourself that you don’t like pity parties. I wanted to tell someone who
wouldn’t look at me like I was a terminal cancer patient even after they knew.”

I got that. I remembered the way the
neighbors looked at me, cooped up at home-school all day, never having many
friends. They felt so bad for me but never understood that I just wanted a
friend, not a sympathy parade.

“When you were normal on Friday it made
things so much easier but I wanted it to be...”

“Real” I supplied.

“Yeah, I guess.” He answered. “Plus,
it’s easy to take risks when you don’t have much to lose. You’d find out
eventually.”

I nodded. “I have a feeling you take
risks anyway. It seems to fit your personality.”

He dipped his head once in agreement.

I took another deep breath. “Let me say
again that I’m sorry about your mother. For the record, I don’t pity you and I
don’t know that your friends do either. You seem to have everything going for you.
You have a huge support system. I know that they have your back because they
even had mine on Friday night. Your dad is the mayor. You have every option
available to you. You’re getting an education and you’re not hideous. I’d say
no one pities you, if anything they seem to be worried about you. I doubt
having friends that care about you is the worse thing in the world. For most of
my life, my best friend was my cat, Elvis.”

He snickered and showed one of his rare
smiles. He tried so hard to hide his laughter and failed.

“Hey, don’t laugh at me.” I said mock
defensively.

“What can I say, I’m not hideous. It’s
a great day.”

“Is that all you heard me say out of
that awesome speech?”

“No, but it’s the part most worth
repeating.”

I smacked his arm playfully. “Shut up.
It was almost a complement.”

“Almost. Oh wait, I just remembered the
cat named Elvis part. Classic.”

I buried my face in my hands. “I give
up.” I mumbled through my fingers.

I heard him lift his glass, drink,
plant it on the counter. “I call bull. You don’t give up. I’ve seen how
competitive you are.”

I looked up “True. Did you know
Logan
’s been calling me Annie Oakley since
the water-gun game?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Any tips on how to make him
stop?”

“Be good at something else?”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re really
unhelpful.”

We both laughed and Annabella came
back, finally. “Hey” she said cheerfully.

“Hi, mind telling me what’s going on?”

“Nothing, sorry I had to pawn you off
but I needed to talk to
Logan
about something. So let’s hang out
now.”

I knew I was missing something but I
didn’t have the energy to figure it out. Mondays were not my best days for
thinking. “Ok, how’s your day been?” She pulled up a barstool on the other side
of me.

“So good, Teresa’s redecorating the
house, so I’ve been helping all day. It’s a lot of work but it’s really fun.”

Jay stood up “Before you guys get into
color samples, I’m going to sit… anywhere else.”

I watched him stand up “It’s probably
for the best but listen if you need someone to be real…”

“Yeah” he said, his eyes burning into
mine. “I think you’ve got the right idea there.” He started walking toward the
door.

Annabella called after him “Where are
you going?” He didn’t turn around and was out the door before we could blink.

Suddenly a blur rushed at me and I
winced, nearly falling right off the stool. When the initial panic subsided, I
noticed a pair of arms was wrapped around my body. “Whoa. Whoa, Annabella,
relax.”

She unpeeled herself from me, grinning
from ear to ear “Sorry, Kira but I needed to do that. You are amazing.”

“Only in the truest sense of the word”
I said “but do you mind filling me in on the exact reasons why, this time?”

She began babbling. “I knew you could
do it. Well I had a theory that you could do it but you did and I was right. Thank
you for making me right.”

“Seriously, Annabella is there
medication you should be on?”

“No, why do you ask?” she said,
deadpan.

“Annabella” I shook her shoulders
lightly “What is going on?”

“Oh right, ok. How much did Jay tell
you?”

I felt uncomfortable and strange. It
was odd seeing as I had been fine moments before. “Um, he explained about his
mother’s passing.”

She froze “What?”

“Yeah, what did you expect we were
going to talk about?”

“He didn’t talk to you about Demi and
Will?”

“No.
What
about
Demi and Will?”

“Well, I don’t know exactly, it’s
complicated but I’m sorry I can’t get over that he told you about his mom.”

“Well, I feel like it’s private so if
you wouldn’t tell anyone, I’d appreciate it. I really shouldn’t have told you
but you seemed like you already knew when you asked me.” I crossed my arms. “I
feel awful now.”

“No, it’s ok. I swear I won’t tell
anyone. I just, wow… I can’t believe that but you guys were laughing when I
came over…”

“Yep. There’s only so much depression a
conversation can take. So you expected him to talk to me about Will and Demi?”
I asked, trying to make sense of any of this.

“Yes but now I feel like your
conversation trumps that a hundred times over.”

I considered. “Annabella, you didn’t
invite me here to talk to you, did you?”

“Not exactly, no but I really do like
hanging out with you. I just thought you could help Jay a little bit. You
seemed to do it before and I thought…I don’t know he’s going through some
stuff.” I saw the pain flash in her eyes and I knew her heart was in the right
place.

“I understand why you did it but I
don’t like being manipulated and I don’t think Jay would appreciate it either.
If he wants to talk, he can call me just like if you wanted to talk, you could
do the same. Besides, I hope I helped him in some way but I don’t think he’s as
bad off as you imagine. You’re giving me too much credit here.”

She smiled brightly but it seemed
slightly placating. “You’re probably right. Thanks, Kira.”

“Sure, now tell me about the house,
what kind of theme are you going for?”

“We went from Victorian to Modern. It’s
fantastic.”

I knocked on the door to Will’s room.
No answer. I started banging “Will, open up.”

He opened the door, and grumbled.
“What?”

“We need to talk. If Demi’s still here
I’ll talk to her too.”

“She’s not. She left after you came in.
She’s pissed. So, thanks a lot.”

“A. I haven’t the slightest idea why
your girl is pissed off at me and B. More importantly, I have no clue what your
frickin’ problem is, so let’s sit down and figure it out. I’m so over the
bullshit.”

He looked me up and down. “I’m not
wasting my breath. Get out of my face.”

He tried to shut the door but I held
firm in the doorway “You don’t want to talk? Well guess what? I didn’t want to
talk in my father’s office but you didn’t care then so I’m not caring now. You
don’t even have to talk, you get to listen. I don’t like Demi and I don’t even
mean as a more than a friend. Right now, I don’t even like her as a person.

We’re not speaking and I don’t get why
but even if we were as close as we used to be, I still wouldn’t like her as
more than a friend. Never. Not before, not now, not ever. So whatever, your
problem is, get over it.

He pushed me back a step “You idiot!”
he yelled.

“Idiot? I’m the idiot?”

“Yes, you are” he pushed me again.

“Why, Will? Tell me how the hell I’m
the idiot?”

His face turned red and I felt like I
was finally getting through to him, he was going to break. “I’ll tell you why.
I know you don’t like her but did you every think how she felt about you? Did
you ever think about anyone but yourself? No? I didn’t think so.”

Push.

“It might be goddamn possible that
someone else exists on this planet. That she needs space from you, to get over
you.” Push. “That for years she didn’t see me because of you.”

Push.

“That she’s only going out with me to
make you jealous.”

I pushed back. “That’s a lie you both
tell yourselves but even if it was true, how is it my problem? How is it my
fault?”

He got in my face “It’s not. What is
your fault is being so callous, so self-centered, and jealous of me for doing
the only good thing in my life. I’m sorry you’re mom died but I loved her too.
My own mother wouldn’t know love if it spit on her designer shoes. Your mom was
the only one I have ever had too. So don’t stand there feeling sorry for
yourself. Leaving when I did was my only way out. I didn’t want to become apart
of my father’s plans anymore than you want to be apart of yours. I finally
found something I can do, that I’m good at and what’ll get me away from the
psychos I call parents. But you couldn’t allow me to do that.”

Push.

“Why, because you didn’t think it was
fair that I got to leave and you didn’t? If you gave a shit for anyone else but
yourself you would’ve wanted me to go. You’d have been happy for me, damn it.
You’re a selfish bastard, Jay. So if there’s any doubts as to why we’re no
longer buddy-buddy than you’re more stupid than I thought.”

In an instant I knocked him down, my
hands around his throat. He tried to push me off but I didn’t budge. He had me
strength wise but I used all of my strength and added all of my anger to it.
“Do you think I didn’t know you had to leave? You think I wasn’t happy for you?
All I ever wanted was for you to do what I couldn’t, to get away and be your own
person. You cut me out the second you got the acceptance letter, at the time I
needed you most, and it’s been getting worse ever since.”

He stopped struggling so I got off of
him and backed away. “I always wanted you to be with Demi, she may think she wants
me but she’s wrong. Her parents pushed her, night and day, to try to be my mate
since the second she was born. Look how hard it was for her to be friends with
Annabella and Mena once her parents thought they were competition. They’re
ambitious and selfish and they don’t even give her merit for being an Alpha all
on her own. Does this sound familiar? Maybe it’s exactly like your own home
life and I know, just like I’ve always known, that you are perfect for each
other.”

I watched Will get off the floor and
stare wide-eyed at me but I didn’t stop. “One day she’s going to wake up and
realize that her parents are poison and the lies she tells herself about how
she feels about me will stop. She tells her parents that she’s with you to make
me jealous and she might even believe it but all of it is bullshit and deep
down she knows it. She’s just as in love with you as you are with her. You of
all people should know that’s true. So leave me the hell out of it.”