Unbound (8 page)

He was telling me about how great the city was when Laney came in. Ethan’s back was to the door, so she couldn’t tell just who I was with. She made a bee line for me and stopped in her tracks when she saw him. Her jaw fell open. Gosh, she was so obvious. Ethan followed my gaze to look at her. She smiled and said ‘hi’ in a very flustered manor.

“What are you doing?” She didn’t mean it in a judgmental way, but she had every right to be. As far as she knew, I still had a boyfriend. Yet here I was, wearing a very attractive man’s jacket and having coffee with him.

“Long story. I’ll tell you on the way home. Where’s Marie?”

“In the car. I’m glad I have her car, because I think she’s gonna puke.”

I made a face that showed my disgust and stood. Ethan did too. I took off his jacket and handed it to him. “Thanks.” I looked him in the eyes so he knew I was serious. “For everything. You didn’t have to be so nice, and I really, really appreciate it.”

“My pleasure. I hope to see you again, Anora.”

“Me too,” I said before I realized that I was agreeing that I wanted to see myself again. Laney grabbed my wrist and pulled me towards the door.

“Ok, tell me everything!” she said as soon as we were outside.
“
Oh, Annie! I
’
m so sorry!”
Laney exclaimed after I finished telling her about Mike. I was sure I was going to have to repeat the story to Marie in the morning. We pulled into Marie’s driveway. I got out of the passenger’s seat and opened the back door to let Marie out of her little Mazda.

“Mike’s a poop head!” She hugged me. “You don’t need him!” I put an arm around her and led her up the porch stairs. I didn’t think she’d have been able to walk on her own. I hoped her parents were fast asleep; there was no way Marie could pretend to be sober tonight.

“Ok, so now you need to tell me what you were doing with that hot guy.” Laney unlocked the door.

“His name is Ethan.” It didn’t take long to tell her how he found me, and how nice he was to me. I wished I could tell her about the dog attack too. Wow, that seemed like forever ago. Tonight’s events had been enough to deal with. I was worn out. We helped Marie into her PJs and tucked her in her bed. Laney and I went into the living room to watch TV before we passed out too.

“I just feel so stupid,” I told her. “Like I should have known he was using me.”

Laney looked at me with so much empathy I was afraid she was going to start crying. She put her arms around me and rested her head on my shoulder. I put my head on hers.

“You can’t blame yourself Annie. He’s a player, and he was good at his game. I’m just glad you found out before you actually slept with him.”

“Me too.”

***

My car was still at the barn. Laney drove us up there late the next morning. Neither of us felt like riding so we just brushed the horses and let them out. Laney hugged me goodbye and I drove home. The afternoon sun was unseasonably warm, and my parents were lounging around the pool, trying to take advantage of the possible last day to be in the water. I was glad because I wasn’t in the mood to talk to them. Hunter was out there with them, and he wanted in as soon as he saw me. I slid the glass door open slowly, trying to be quiet and unnoticed. That plan didn’t work, but I was able to get away with only a wave to my parents.

I hurried up to my room. I badly wanted to shower. I turned the water on and slumped down on the bathroom floor, the pain from last night hitting me again. Hunter ran over and licked the tears off of my face. He lay down with his head in my lap, which was oddly touching and made me cry even more. I told myself to snap out of it, that lots of people get used and hurt and that I was acting stupid. That didn’t help, so I tried the old ‘there are people who have it so much worse’ psychology. I got a flash of an infomercial about homeless children in third world countries. Great, now guilt was the cherry on top of my self pity sundae. I forced myself to shower and allowed myself to cry. I told myself that this was all the tears Mike was going to get from me. He wasn’t worth my time. I put my pajamas on and lay down in my bed. I held my DVD remote in my hand for a while before I decided that I just wanted to sit in silence. That was short lived, because Marie called.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey. You hung over?”

“Ugh, yes. I feel like crap.” She paused. “Laney told me about Mike. I’m really sorry Anora.”

“It’s ok. I’ll live.” I just didn’t want to talk about it anymore. “Did you have fun last night?”

“All things considered, yes, I did. And it looked like you did too, at least for a while.”

“For a while.”

“Now, you
have
to tell me how you picked up that hottie! I’m so jealous!”

“I didn’t pick up anyone, Marie, and his name is Ethan.” Again, I told the story of how I met Ethan, but left out the part where he gave me his number. I fell asleep after I got off the phone. It wasn’t a restful sleep though, because I dreamed that the monster dog was chasing me back up the stairs in the frat house. Mike was standing there and Alix was behind him, laughing like a crazy person. Every time I tried to get away from Mike, the dog showed up. Mike pushed me down on a bed. “It’s the only way,” he said.

I woke up suddenly, feeling the effects of the dream wear off. Harrison was standing over me.

“Hey,” he said softly.

“What are you doing?”

“You were having a nightmare. I was going to wake you up.”

“Oh. Did I scream?” I did in the dream.

“No, but your face was twitching. And I just knew.” He sat down. “Laney called me.”

“So you know?”

“Yea.” He was quiet for a minute. “Want me to beat his ass?”

I smiled. “No. He’s not even worth it.” I thought about it for a second. Mike was shorter than my brother, and not anywhere near as strong. “But if you happen to see him and your fist just happens to run into his face, I wouldn’t exactly care.”

Harrison gave me an awkward half hug and sat with me through an entire episode of
Buffy
. If there was a world’s best twin brother contest, I’m sure Harrison would win.

Since we had only been in school for three days, I didn’t have any homework to do yet. I wanted to be busy to keep my mind off of a certain someone.
 
Today might be the last warm day of the year, I decided to make the most of it and take Hunter for a long walk.

Normally we just walked around the gated neighborhood, but I was in the mood for a change of scenery. And since
I didn’t want to be around anyone who would pity me, I decided to take him downtown. I was enjoying the sun and was actually starting to feel in a somewhat good mood when any happiness inside of me came crashing down.

Alix was sitting outside of Greta’s with her sidekick. Alix stood and approached me, a smug grin stuck on her face.

“Well, well, well. Look what the cat dragged in.”

I’ve heard that phrase before, but I didn’t think it really applied in the context, mostly because we were outside. I didn’t really know what to say back to her. I moved to the side to pass her and keep walking. Kelsey was eyeing Hunter nervously. Alix stepped in front of me, making my pass impossible. I resisted the urge to punch her in the stomach and yell “SIC ‘EM” to Hunter.

“What do you want, Alix?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Then get out the hell of my way.” When she didn’t move, I went around her. I only made it a few feet past when she said, “Who do you think took care of Mike when you didn’t?”

I didn’t know what she meant, and the confusion must have been apparent because she said, “That night I first met you. You left Mike in a very uncomfortable position. Who do you think
took care
of him?”

Oh, I got what she meant now. I clenched my fist. Hunter sensed my hostility and walked in front of me and growled a very low growl. To my delight, Alix looked a bit scared.

“Go to hell you ugly cuchara!” was all I could think to say and Hunter and I turned and quickly walked away. Laney would die laughing when I told her I called Alix a spoon in Spanish. Surprisingly, I was more pissed than hurt. Not only did that asshole use me, but he cheated on me the whole time with someone as gross as Alix. What had I been thinking, dating someone like him?

I was way too angry to go home so I opted for the barn instead, walking with Hunter to trails so I could be alone.
 
I unclipped his leash and let him wander ahead of me. Hunter stopped dead in his tracks and the fur stood up along his back. I couldn’t hear him growl, but I could feel the vibrations coming from his throat when I reached down to hold onto his collar.

Without wanting to take my eyes off of the woods in front of me, it took a while for me to clip the leash back on. Now was the time to feel truculent.
 
The sunlight was fading fast, but I could still see into the trees fairly well. Hunter could no doubt see better than me. He lurched forward and almost pulled me down. Any bravery in me died that very moment.

Something big and dark was crouching in the woods. Hunter kept pulling forward, wanting to attack. I pulled back on the leash. The thing slowly stood up and turned towards us. The remaining sunlight reflected off of its eyes and flashed yellow. With a final jerk on the leash, I regained Hunter’s attention and ran as fast as I could back to the barn. I stopped right outside the big door. I was shaking. Hunter was still on edge, looking behind us. I slowly turned but didn’t see anything. I sank down on my butt. Hunter stood protectively over me. What the hell was going on? That makes two times, in a row I might add, that something attempted to attack me at the barn.

 
What should I do? I felt like I should warn everyone in the barn, but no one would believe me. I didn’t think anyone else was in danger though; it seemed that these things were definitely only after me. I didn’t want to be outside anymore, but I didn’t want to go in and risk anyone see me in my traumatized state. I wrapped my arms around Hunter and buried my face in his fur. I was thankful for the fact that Hunter was with me. If he hadn’t noticed, I really doubt I would have. I was in deep in self pity and probably wouldn’t have noticed anything around me.

***

“I’m really sorry Anora. I feel like I should have known and warned you.” Leslie looked at me with sorrow in her eyes. We were sitting in the barn office; everyone else had left by now.

“How would you have known?”

“I don’t know. I guess no one could have. But still…”

“Yea, I know what you mean. I just feel so stupid for trusting him and thinking that someone might actually like me.”

“Don’t even say that! You are amazing and any guy would be lucky to have you. I’m serious.”

Of course she would say that. Laney, Marie, Harrison, and even the curious Ethan told me that. That was what you are supposed to say to someone after a breakup.
 
I looked down at Hunter. I was still freaked out from being chased and Leslie noticed. I debated telling her about the creepy things that had recently happened, and I opened my mouth to say something, but then changed my mind. She looked at me though, and I realized I had to say something.

“I fell off Mystery yesterday.” I pushed back my bangs to show her the bruise.

“What happened?”

 
“Something spooked him in the woods.”

“Well, that happens.” Leslie didn’t seem too upset. I know she’s fallen many times too.

“I bet your mom flipped out,” Leslie said with a laugh.

“Kinda. I’ve avoided her since yesterday and I’m hoping that when I see her tonight she’ll have calmed down.” Shoot. That reminded me that I told my parents I was going into town to take Hunter for a walk hours ago. My phone was in my car. Reluctantly I said goodbye to Leslie and buckled Hunter in the backseat before I got in and buckled myself in.

Crap. I had five missed calls. Four were from home and one was from Harrison. I hit redial and Mom answered after only one ring. She must have been waiting.

“Anora?”

 
Who else would it be? I was on my cell and we had caller ID. “Yes.”

“Where on earth are you? I’ve been calling you for hours!”

“Sorry, I went to the barn. Leslie just got back from the show, she did really well by the way, and I just lost track of time.”

“And you didn’t think to call and let us know where you were?”