Twisted (21 page)

Remy had been gone by the time I got home. I knew I
should
tell her about the doll but I just hadn’t had the energy to get into it. I’d left the lights off and let myself wallow in my self-pity. I wasn’t even able to drag myself out of it long enough to answer the phone when my mom had called. The message she had left, telling me she missed me and that she really wanted to talk and that she was hoping Remy and I could visit, had barely lifted my spirits at all.

I skipped over all of those details. Instead, I gave Phoebe a condensed version of what had happened with Ben. I hesitated at the kiss but decided it was a relevant bit of information since Alec had witnessed it. I was sure that’s why Ben bolted. At least I was hoping that was the reason why.

“Alec is really starting to give me the creeps,” Phoebe said. “I mean, talk about a stalker. We both
know
he’s behind the pranks. I can’t believe he just sat there and watched you kiss. That’s just
wrong
. It’s…
icky
.” But then she smiled as that sank in. “Oh,” she sighed. “Ben kissed you!”

“Yes. Right before he jumped up, told me it was a mistake and pretty much ran away.”

“Yeah, that part sucks,” she agreed.

We sat in silence for a while, thinking things over as the parking lot filled up. I didn’t see Ben but I really hadn’t expected to.

“So what are you going to do?” Phoebe finally asked. “Just pretend you don’t know him?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. Part of me thinks I should because that’s what he wants. I’m worried about what people will say if I’m no longer his Lit partner. I mean, people are going to notice and then they’re going to talk. Of course that happens to be the only class either of us have Alec in.” I sighed. “I really think before he saw Alec he was changing his mind. I hate the idea of sneaking around but these are kind of extenuating circumstances. If it means I get to spend time with Ben, I’m willing to do it. I’m sure he was going to agree. I want to see if he’ll come over tonight so we can talk. In private.”

“Do you think he’ll agree?”

“I don’t know. I think he wants to spend time with me. But he thinks he’s protecting me by staying away. I just think there might be more going on between him and Alec than he’s admitted to.”

“And that would not be good,” Phoebe stated.

I glanced at the clock. We would need to head in soon.

“Hey, there’s Henry,” I said as I saw him weaving through the crowd moving toward us.

Phoebe smiled and waved.

“He called me last night,” she blurted in a big happy gush.

“He did?!” I exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because what you’ve got going on is way more important. Apparently he and Olivia had it out last night. She’s been seeing someone else for a while but she won’t tell him who. As soon as Hailey heard from Olivia that the break up was official, she called Henry and told him he needed to apologize to me for yesterday. Because he had no right to be upset with me for anything after the way he broke my heart. Yes,” she said when she saw the look on my face, “she actually told him that.” The words were shooting from her mouth like a round from a machine gun. “Which I should slap that girl silly for except that Henry did apologize and it sounded so sincere that I’m thinking I should hug her instead of slap her. Anyhow, we talked for a couple of hours after I got home last night. I explained my side of things. He explained his and apologized for ever going out with Olivia. And, well, we just got everything out in the open.” She blasted the words at me as Henry reached my car. Then she gave me a huge giddy smile and opened her door.

I got out as well.

Instead of Phoebe and Henry stealing my attention it was caught up by someone else skipping toward us.

“Oh…my goodness,” Phoebe muttered.

“Is that who I think it is?” I asked.

“Uh-huh,” Phoebe replied.

Hailey, with hair several shades lighter than it had been—as if the color had been stripped but refused to come off completely—was approaching us with Blake by her side. She was wearing a short white skirt with a pink sweater. The purse slung over her shoulder was pink and white plaid with little threads of silver. She had dainty little pearls in her ears and a pearl ring on her finger.

“Guess what!” she exclaimed. She was bouncing up and down like an out of control Jack in the Box.

I had no idea where to begin.

“You’re getting a Miata convertible,” Phoebe stated flatly.

“
Yup
!” she just about screamed. She unzipped her purse and pulled a package out. She started handing us all pink bubblegum cigars. “The day after graduation I will be the proud momma of a Liquid Silver Mazda Miata convertible. I just had to ditch the black and promise to do family stuff at least once a month without complaining. And keep a C average.” Her smile was so wide I thought her face would crack in half. “And Blake is going to be the first person I take for a drive.” She bounced up and kissed his cheek.

Blake gave me a smug look. 

I scrunched up my nose in disgust.

“Have you guys seen Olivia?” she wondered as she continued to bounce around.

“Nope, we haven’t seen her,” I quickly supplied. I kept my eyes glued on her bouncing hair instead of glancing at Phoebe and Henry. I didn’t want to make things awkward.

“Okay, I’ll catch her at her locker then. Are you ready to go in?”

I nodded and the five of us headed across the parking lot. Blake and Hailey were in front of me. He had his arm around her and she had her finger hooked into his belt loop. Henry and Phoebe hung back a few feet talking excitedly about their presentations in Personal Communications third hour. I walked somewhere between the two pairs and caught sight of Ben, walking by himself.

He gave me a slight nod and I forced a smile back, wishing I could do more. It was so unfair that someone like Blake could walk in with his arm draped around Hailey and Ben wasn’t even allowed near me.

I had to make him talk to me one more time. I had to convince him that we could work something out. I couldn’t imagine going through the rest of the school year like this, having him right there but going through every day pretending he didn’t exist. I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t treat him like everyone else did, like he was just a phantom, a nonentity floating through the halls. I couldn’t pretend that he didn’t exist and that he didn’t matter.

As I watched Ben walk away from me I knew without a doubt that my heart was tumbling down the slippery slope and I was falling head over heels in love.

It was an unseasonably warm afternoon. I was hot and sweaty as I ran through the park. I had covered almost all of it but I hadn’t seen Ben. I was so busy looking around—scanning across the open areas while trying not to trip over my own feet—that I nearly collided with Alec who stepped out right in front of me. He slid his phone into his pocket as I stumbled and then tried to dodge him.

“Hey, not so fast!” he said smoothly, reaching out to grab my arm.

I snatched it away from him, surprised he was lowering himself to speak to the likes of me. I crossed my arms and waited.

His dark eyes reminded me of a thunderstorm coming in. “I was hoping we could talk.”

“What do you want Alec?” I asked testily.

He held his hands out, as if in peace. “Just to talk.”

I took a step to move past him but he cut in front of me. “We don’t have anything to say to each other.” I took another step but he grabbed my arm. I tried to pull it back but this time his grip held. “Let go,” I said firmly. I tried to pull away again but he pulled me closer instead.

He shook his head. “Not until you agree to talk to me. I think we have a lot in common. Don’t you think it would be better if we were friends?”

“You call this being a friend?” I said, tugging at my arm once more. I was starting to feel panicked but I didn’t want him to see it.

The ring of my phone caught me off guard. Alec relaxed his grip as I held my glare.

“Don’t you think you better get that?” he said, releasing my arm completely.

I shot him another dirty looked and turned my back to him as I answered my phone.

It was Olivia. “Hi, Maya. I just wanted to give you a heads up. Alec is looking for you.”

I flicked an annoyed glance his way. “He’s already found me.”

“Great!” she gushed. “He’d really like to talk to you.”

I snorted in contempt. “Are you kidding me Olivia? We don’t really have anything to talk about.”

“Of course you do,” she said encouragingly. “I was thinking…Well, he asked if maybe you could come over here. The two of you? And I could, you know, mediate or something.”

“Since when are you and Alec such good pals?” Suspicion colored my tone.

Her silence was my answer.

I groaned. 

“Please, Maya? It would really mean a lot to me. Henry isn’t speaking to me.” As if anyone could blame him! “Phoebe wouldn’t even look at me today. I would just really, really like it if you and Alec could get along. Just come over. We can even set a time limit. How about an hour? Please? For me?”

I glanced at Alec again. He was looking at me, his face softer now.

“I don’t think Alec and I are ever going to get along,” I said, looking him right in the eye.

“Pretty please, Maya? It’s just…
no one
is getting along right now. It feels like our whole group is fighting. Don’t you think it would just be better for all of us if we could make amends? Besides, I told him about what you said the other day at lunch. You know, about losing your brother. I think he’d like to talk to you because you can relate to losing a sibling. I think it would be therapeutic for him.”

“I don’t think so,” I said as I started to walk away. “I’m not going anywhere with him.”

“Please? Maybe if you talk to him you could help him understand Ben better. Wouldn’t you like that? I mean, Alec and Ben will never be friends but…maybe they can co-exist peacefully or something.”

I blew out an enormous sigh. “Fine. I’ll do it for you. And for Ben. But I don’t like this.” I was beyond caring about what Alec thought or felt. But if it would help Ben in any way, I was willing to try.

“Thank you!” she trilled. “I’ll see you guys soon.”

“You planned that,” I accused as I turned back around. “It was Olivia you were talking to when I bumped into you, wasn’t it?”  

He shrugged. “So what if it was?” Then he reached out and put an arm around my shoulders. “We better get to Olivia’s. I don’t want to keep her waiting.” I shrugged him off. We’d gone no more than a few steps before he grabbed me by the arm again, as if afraid I’d change my mind and dash off the other direction. I jerked my arm back and pushed him away.

“Get one thing straight,” I seethed as I stopped in my tracks.

He took a step closer to me, completely violating my barrier of personal space. I shoved him hard in the chest. “I’m not joking, Alec. You keep your hands off me or I’m not going anywhere.”

“You wouldn’t disappoint Olivia like that,” he said. He reached up to swipe a trickle of sweat off my face. I slapped his hand and he caught my wrist before I could give him another two handed shove. “Hey, just trying to help.”

I kicked him in the shin. “Let. Go.”

“Alright!” He scowled as he released me. “All you had to do was ask!”

“What is it with you guys?!” I demanded. “I didn’t want Blake touching me. That goes double for you!”

“You’re right,” he said. He held his hands up, as if in surrender. “But you just need to lighten up.”

“No, you need to back off.”

He gave me an apologetic look and took a step away. “Done. Now can we go? I don’t know how long we have until Olivia’s parents get home.”

“Sure.” I stomped along in front of him, leading the way to his truck.

I could just imagine how well a conversation was going to go with Olivia “mediating”. I sighed. I just wanted to get it over with. He beeped the remote to unlock the doors.  I slid into the passenger seat.     

“Better buckle up,” he said. “Wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. Olivia wouldn’t like that much.”

I let out an unladylike sound that closely resembled a snort and reached for my seatbelt. He started the truck and we left the lot.

“Aren’t you supposed to take a right?” I asked.

He shrugged. “We’ll take the long way.”

I shook my head. “No, I’d rather not. Let’s just get to Olivia’s and get this over with.”

He turned to me and smiled a fake, unpleasant smile. “Too late. We’re already headed this way.”

“This road leads out of town,” I pointed out.

He shrugged and the sick feeling in my stomach suddenly became almost unbearable. “Stop the truck and let me out!” I ordered.

He ignored me, keeping his eyes set on the road.

“Alec! Let me out!”

He continued to act as though I hadn’t spoken. I sat there, silent for a moment, weighing my options. I glanced at the speedometer. He held it at a steady 55 as we rolled out of town. Not a stop light or a stop sign in sight. Jumping out was a possibility but not a very feasible one. Grabbing the steering wheel didn’t seem like a very good idea at the moment. I mean, what would I do? Ram us into a tree or an oncoming car?

I took a deep breath and though I wasn’t the least bit calm, I tried to tell myself I was. The minute we slowed I intended to open the door and make a run for it. He was definitely bigger than me and he was taller but did that mean he was faster? I ran daily.

In the meantime, I hoped to get him talking. Where were we going? What was this all about? Why was he doing this? If I could distract him maybe when the time came he’d have let his guard down.

“Care to tell me where we’re going?” I asked, ignoring the wobbliness of my voice.

“Care to guess?” he countered.

“No.”

He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and a sneer.

“I’m not exactly familiar with the area,” I reminded him.

“It’s a quiet little place,” he said smoothly. “Although, at one point, almost two years ago, there was a lot of traffic running through there. You know, the morbidly curious, wanting to take a little peek. Do some gawking at the crime scene. That yellow tape that they use? It’s all blown away. Not a trace of it left. For now, anyway.”

I felt an invisible trickle of ice slowly glide down my spine. A crime scene.
The
crime scene. In the back of my mind, I think I may have known that.

I now had the
where
. My mind was frantically trying to shove the
what
deep, way deep under the surface before I fell apart in a fit of hysteria.

Now I just needed to know…

“Why?”

“I can’t believe you really have to ask that.”

“I do have to ask! I don’t understand! I had nothing to do with any of this!”

He had seemed so calm that when he screamed, “
You have everything to do with this
!” I jumped in my seat and pushed away the feeling of being stabbed with a million tiny, freezing cold needles.

“Why?” I whispered.

“
Because he cares about you
!
That’s why
!” Alec screamed. “I want him to see how it feels to have someone he loves torn from his life. Just like my family has. This has almost killed my parents. She was a daddy’s girl. She had him wrapped around her finger. She was my mom’s pride and joy. The little girl she insisted on having. The skating champion. Sweet and quiet and the whole family worshipped her. Losing her has torn our family apart. Every day for the past two years has been like living in a nightmare.” Then quieter, “My brothers are gone, off to college or married. It’s just me at home now. I’m left with them, day after day.
Just me.
Katie should be there too.”

“You have this all wrong,” I said, hating how my voice sounded so desperate. “I know you don’t want to hear it but Ben loved Katie too. He already knows what it’s like to lose someone he loves.”

“He didn’t love her!” Alec growled through clenched teeth. “If he did, he would’ve protected her. I told him back then I didn’t want him dating her. Do you know what he told me?” He didn’t wait for a reply. “He told me not to worry about it. Said he’d be good to her. That he’d take care of her. He told me he would never hurt her.” His knuckles were bulging from his fists as he gripped the steering wheel. “He got her killed instead.”

“Ben and I? We’re barely even friends!” I cried as I discreetly slid free of my seatbelt.

“Nice try. But I’m not buying it,” he said, voice back to calm and eerily serene. “Thanks to Olivia, I think I have a pretty good idea how you feel. And you know what? I can let you in on a little secret. Ben’s pretty
protective
of you too. And if I had any doubts, which I didn’t, you can’t deny what I saw last night. Not very smart of you. Either of you.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I insisted.

“Maya, over the last year Ben just sucks it up and takes it. Whenever I feel the urge for a punching bag to relieve the stress, the stress he has caused, he takes it! He owes it to me. But after the first gift I left I believe what he said to me was…‘Do what you want to me, but Maya is off limits. You’re not going to hurt her’. And you know what? I didn’t like that idea. So I gave you your second gift and Ben came looking for me. He gave me the black eye everyone was talking about. So don’t you dare tell me that there’s nothing going on with you two.”

Alec slammed on the breaks as he took a corner, guiding us off the tar and onto a dirt road. I had no idea where we were but I could guess we were nearing the dilapidated house that Trent had used. He had taken the corner so fast I didn’t have time to try the door. I tried to mentally prepare myself. I knew we had to be getting close. There were almost no houses in sight. We were in a heavily wooded rural area.

“You know I lost a brother…and my dad,” I said to Alec, hoping to get through to him.

He shrugged. “That’s not my problem.”

“What about my sister? Remy? Think about what you’re going through. How can you do that to my sister? She’s already lost so much!”

“Again, not my problem!”

“Okay,” I said, trying for a different line of defense. “What about your parents? They’ve lost Katie. What’s going to happen when you get caught? When you end up in prison like Trent?”

He slid me a sly smile. “Oh honey, it’s sweet of you to worry about that. But I’m still a minor. They wouldn’t send me to prison. Not that it even matters because
I’m
not going to get caught.”

And that’s when I saw it. The one story farm house. It was surrounded by brown grass, about knee high. It consisted of broken windows, a sagging porch and a moss covered roof that had partially caved in. It was discolored beyond recognition, planks falling off and rotting away.

Alec caught my fearful glance. “Romantic? Isn’t it?” And his face was suddenly serious. Maybe for just a moment his craziness subsided and a wave of heartbreak passed over him as he approached the place where his sister’s life was taken.

He slowed, preparing to turn into the drive. My hand edged closer to the door handle. I kept my eyes on him, moving my hand slowly. He seemed completely entranced by the house, his eyes not wavering as we slowed.

“It’s secluded,” he said calmly. “I’m sure Trent put a lot of thought into picking it out. No neighbors, no one within screaming distance. Not that Katie had the chance to scream. Not with her mouth taped shut. Nowhere to run, but that wasn’t really an option for her, either. Kind of hard to run when you’re tied up. And it’s on a dead end road. No chance of anyone driving by.”