Trust Me (2 page)

“Tom’s a jerk. End of story,” Anthony said. At least it was the end of the story he was telling Rae. He cut a glance
over at her. How much had she noticed about his house? Had she been too caught up in the minidrama to take in
much? He hoped so, because compared to where he lived, she and her dad had a friggin’ mansion.

“This is Todd’s,” he told her, pulling into the driveway of a house that didn’t look too much different from his own.

“Wait here, okay? I need to talk to Zack alone.”

Rae nodded. He hoped she wouldn’t touch anything in the car since she wasn’t wearing the waxy stuff she
sometimes used to block out her fingerprint thoughts. He knew she wouldn’t go rooting through his head on
purpose. But it was easy to touch something-the radio, the dashboard-without actually deciding to.
As if she’d find

out something that she doesn’t already know,
Anthony thought as he headed up the front walk. He punched the
doorbell. After almost a full minute’s wait Todd answered. One look and Anthony knew Todd was going to give him
some line of crap.

“I know he’s here,” Anthony said before Todd could get a word out. “I want to talk to him. Now.”

Todd was almost as tall as Anthony, but he was a featherweight, pretty much no muscle of any kind. It had to be
clear to him that Anthony could pulp him in a second. Todd backed away from the door and pointed to the living
room. Then he disappeared into the kitchen.

Anthony moved quickly to the living room, releasing a short breath when he spotted Zack in front of the television.

“What do you want?” Zack muttered, not taking his eyes off the tube as Anthony plopped down on the couch next
to him.

Anthony didn’t answer. He pretended he was just as interested in watching Comedy Central as Zack was. Even
though they’d both seen this Chris Rock wanna-be’s act at least five times.

“So are you supposed to drag me home?” Zack finally asked, eyes still glued to the TV even though a commercial
had come on.

Anthony stretched out his legs. “Nah. I was thinking of moving in here myself,” he answered. There were only two
ways to get Zack out of this house-an explosion or making him think it was what he wanted to do.

They watched the TV in silence. Todd poked his head into the living room for a second, then scurried away.

The Chris Rock wanna-be’s act ended, and a half-hour Richard Lewis deal came on. About ten minutes into it Zack
actually looked at Anthony. “Tom is such a freakin’ idiot.”

“You’re not gonna get any argument from me,” Anthony answered. “Maybe Mom will finally realize that herself and
trade up. She’s got to be getting itchy by now.” His mother and Tom had been together for about four years, living
together for over eight months-almost a record for her. She usually treated guys like Kleenex. Or maybe it was more
like they treated her that way. It was hard to tell.

“So, what, I’m just supposed to be a good little boy? Be respectful until he gets the boot-if he ever does?” Zack
demanded.

“I do it,” Anthony answered. “I keep my head down so I can live there until I finish high school ’cause there’s no
way I could do that if I was working enough hours to pay rent and buy groceries. Next year I graduate. Then I’m out
of there. And you’re right behind me.”

Anthony couldn’t believe he was sitting here, giving the rah-rah speech. But he was telling Zack the truth. He didn’t
like it much more than Zack did, but it was the truth.

Todd stepped back into the living room. “My mom’s gonna be back soon. You should head out to the shed. And
make sure she doesn’t know you’re out there.”

“Screw it.” Zack stood up. “See you later,” he told Todd. Then he headed for the door. Anthony followed him. That
hadn’t been nearly as hard as he thought it would. Although Zack liked his electronics. It was hard to picture him as
shed boy.

“This is Rae,” Anthony told his brother when they got in the car. He turned to her. “I’ve just got to drop him off, then
I can take you home.” He didn’t really want to give Rae another look at his house, but there wasn’t a way out of it.

“No prob,” Rae answered. She twisted her fingers together in her lap.

Anthony flipped on the radio. It seemed like the best way to fill the silence. Almost too quickly, he was turning back
onto his street.

“Crap,” Zack burst out. “Mom and Tom are home.”

Not just home, but standing in the driveway.

“Anna must have called them when she called me,” Anthony said.

“Little snitch,” Zack muttered.

Anthony reached back with one hand and flicked Zack on the forehead. “She was worried about you, moron.” He
parked along the curb. Rae climbed out before he could say anything to her. As if there was anything he could say
to prepare her for his mom and Tom. They were nothing like her college professor dad. Probably nothing like any
adult in her little prep school life.

“No point in sitting here,” he told Zack. Then he climbed out of the car and slammed the door. Zack got out a
second later. And their mom was all over him. “Honey, what were you thinking?” she cried, her voice way too loud
as usual. None of the neighbors would have to be straining their ears to hear what was going on.

“He wasn’t thinking, period,” Tom cut in, hitching up his pants before they could fall off his bony hips. “He’s just
like his father. If things get a little tough, just bolt.”

Oh, crap. Tom would have to play the father card two seconds after Anthony managed to get Zack home. He shot a
glance at Zack. A dark red flush was creeping up his neck. Anthony knew exactly how he was feeling. Whenever
Tom started going off about Anthony’s father, Anthony felt like any second he’d go volcanic.

“Although I don’t know what’s so tough about your life,” Tom continued. “Free food. No rent. All those video
games your mother keeps buying you. What’s your complaint, Zack? That you have to take out the trash once in a
while?”

“Zack does a lot around here. How many times do you two leave him to watch the kids while you’re out partying?”

Anthony demanded. If Tom wanted a fight, Anthony would be the one to give it to him.

“Yeah, watching a couple of kids once in a while is way too much work for Sam Plett boy to take on,” Tom shot
back.

“My dad-” Zack cried.

“What do you do that’s so hard?” Anthony asked Tom, interrupting Zack. He squared off with Tom, keeping Tom
and Zack apart. “You paint some houses if anyone is dumb enough to hire you and your buddies. You fill in at the
hardware store if good old Bob is feeling sorry for you. And what else? Oh, yeah. You spend a lot of time picking
your butt.”

“Anthony! You apologize!” his mother exclaimed. She tried to squeeze between him and Tom, half falling out of her
low-cut top in the process. Her nauseatingly sweet floral perfume filled his nose, then went down his throat until he
could feel it burning in his lungs.

Anthony caught Zack’s eye and jerked his chin toward the house. Zack disappeared inside, then joined Danny,
Anna, and Carl at the living-room window.

“I’ll apologize. I’ll be happy to apologize. If he apologizes to Zack,” Anthony shot back.

“The last thing that little punk needs is an apology. Do you know how worried your mother was-” Tom began.

“And Anthony got Zack back,” Anthony’s mother cut in. “Happy ending. Let’s just say that everyone has
apologized to everyone.” She gave Tom a little push with one hand, Anthony a harder push with the other.

Reluctantly they both backed a step away from each other.

“Good boys. Now, Anthony, I see you brought a friend home. That’s wonderful. I’m always telling you to bring
friends home,” his mother said as she headed over to Rae. Anthony’s mother adjusted her breasts so her shirt
better covered them. Anthony couldn’t decide if that was classier than just leaving them alone.

Rae stepped forward awkwardly. “Hi, I’m Rae,” she introduced herself.

“Well, Rae, you come on in. We can’t stand out in the front yard all day.” Anthony’s mother led the way inside.

“Welcome to Springerville,” he muttered to Rae as he fell in step beside her.

“You guys would never make it onto
Springer”
Rae whispered back. “You wouldn’t even make it onto
Maury.”

The girl was cool. He had to give her that. If anybody had to see his family, it might as well be Rae.

“Everybody sit down,” Anthony’s mother said as she threw a stuffed bear off the sofa and picked a bowl of crusty
cereal off the coffee table.

“Rae can’t really stay that long-” Anthony began.

“She has to stay a little while,” his mother protested. “I don’t know any of your friends anymore.” She winked at
Rae. “Anthony hasn’t brought a girl home since the second grade.”

“Rae goes to Sanderson Prep,” Anthony volunteered, just to shut his mother up. If he let her go on another minute,
she might start hauling out a photo album.

“Great football team,” Tom said as he sank down on the couch. “A lot of those kids go on to play college ball.”

“Yeah, that’s true. Football is a huge deal at Sanderson,” Rae answered. She touched Anthony’s arm. “Anthony
plays, right?”

“He messes around sometimes, yeah,” Tom answered. “He’s actually not bad. Maybe even good enough to play
for your school.”

Okay, where’s the punch line?
Anthony wondered.

“Except that you have to be smart to go to one of those prep schools. And Anthony inherited his brains from his
old man,” Tom added.

Slough it off. Slough it off,
Anthony ordered himself. He didn’t need to get into round two with Tom. Not with Rae
watching.

“You never even met my dad,” Anthony said quietly.

“Yeah, well, I’ve heard plenty from your mom,” Tom answered. “She never runs out of stories about what a loser
Tony Fascinelli is.”

Even though Rae wasn’t touching one of Anthony’s fingerprints, it was like his feelings were her own. Anger,
shame, hatred, and the desire to slam a fist into the closest wall jangled through her body.

“You ever hear the Fascinelli story about the-” Tom began.

“Rae, come help me get some sodas for everyone,” Anthony’s mom interrupted.

Rae didn’t want to go. She wanted to stay and… and
protect
Anthony. But he’d hate that. He wanted her to go. She
could see it in the quick glance he threw her way.

“Sure,” Rae said. She obediently followed Anthony’s mother into the kitchen, where Zack was doling out peanut
butter sandwiches to the other kids.

“Thanks, baby,” Anthony’s mom said. She reached out-maybe to kiss him on the forehead-but Zack reared away.

Anthony’s mother pretended not to notice. She pulled a can of powdered iced tea mix from the cupboard. “I think I’ll
mix us up a pitcher,” she told Rae. “You want to get some glasses?” She nodded at the dish drainer.

Rae grabbed four of the clean glasses and set them on the table while Anthony’s mom dumped a scoopful of the
tea powder into a plastic pitcher and added water. “Don’t take Anthony and Tom too seriously,” she said as she
stirred the mix. “They’re like bulls, you know? Fighting for dominance. Snorting and charging at each other.”

“Uh-huh,” Rae murmured. But she knew it was much more than that. At least to Anthony. The one time they’d made
fingertip-to-fingertip contact, she’d been almost overcome with his longing to know his father, to find out if he was
anything like his dad.

He should know the truth,
Rae thought. Not the garbage Tom kept spewing at him. But how was that supposed to
happen? Only a mind reader could figure out where Tony Fascinelli was…

Um, earth to Rae,
she realized with a jolt. She
was
a mind reader. Well, a fingerprint reader, at least. So maybe there
was a way she could help Anthony find his dad.

“Um, do Anthony and his father ever see each other?” Rae asked, even though she knew the answer.

“Not since Anthony was a baby,” Anthony’s mom answered. She plunked the long spoon into the sink. Rae
wandered over, trying to look casual, and picked it up-
Tony
Tom
shoul
d
n’
t/W
hy
won’t Anth
ony
/

“Oh, you don’t have to bother washing that,” Anthony’s mother said. She plucked the spoon out of Rae’s hand and
dropped it back into the sink.

Well, that didn’t get me anything useful,
Rae thought. Nothing that would help her track down Anthony’s father, if
she was actually serious about this.

She tried to shake off the mix of fear and annoyance and lust and protectiveness that the thoughts had brought up
inside her. Anthony’s mother was filling the glasses with the tea. Rae didn’t have much time. She was going to have
to go fingertip to fingertip.

Rae reached out and grabbed Anthony’s mother’s free hand. “I want to thank you for making me feel so at home,”

she said. It was corny, but it worked okay. Anthony’s mom gave Rae’s hand a little squeeze, and Rae positioned her
fingertips over Anthony’s mom’s.