Unconventional Scars (11 page)

Closing her eyes, she absorbed the sensation of the night breeze caressing her skin, the sound of the Massive Attack song that was
floating
through the speakers, and the pleasant feeling of drowsy contentment.
Tonight would have been perfect if
only
Alex had been here.
Why wouldn’t he come?
I could have put my arms around him and held him close while we danced . .
.it would have been so romantic . . .

Yawning, she stood up, having no intention of falling asleep
be
neath a tree and missing the rest of the party. She caught sight of Sebastian, making his way toward her. Oh, great. Him again. From what she’d seen, he’d been drinking nonstop for the past hour and was well on his way to complete inebriation. Already he wasn’t quite walking in a straight line.

“Anna! Whassup, baby! You havin’ a good time?” His usual smooth
charm had devolved into something
obnoxious, loud and annoying.

She brushed the stray leaves off her skirt. “I can see
you’re
having a good time. You’re about ready to fall down.”

“You’ll catch me if I fall
.
” He snaked his arms around her waist and pushed his body against hers, pressing her back up against the tree. “Dance with me, baby.” His breath smelled of
alcohol
. Anna placed her hands against his chest and ineffectively tried to push him away.

“I don’t want to dance right now. My feet hurt.”

“Then gimme a kiss,” he drawled against her cheek. “Mm, you smell good. Makes me wanna do nasty things to you.”

Anna pushed harder. “
Oh, c
ut it out, Sebastian. I don’t feel like dealing with you right now. You’re drunk.”

“So? You could use another drink yourself. Loosen up your tight ass. How about I fix you another drink and we go for a little walk.”

“No, thank you. Would you please move?”

“Make me.” His arms were now on either side of her, pinning her to the tree.

“
Damn
it! I’m not kidding!
Move!
”

His glassy eyes focused on hers. “Shit, girl. You gonna play the virgin forever?”

“Get the hell off me right now
, Sebastian,
or I swear to God you’ll be singing soprano tomorrow!” She was starting to get mad.

He backed up a bit, glaring at her. “What’s your problem?”

“What’s
my
problem? You’re acting like an asshole!”

“Oh, so you don’t want
me
touchin’ you, huh, but I bet you wouldn’t have a problem
throwing yourself all
over that queer you like so much
!
”

Her mouth dropped open. “
What
did you say?”

“You know who I’m talkin’ about, you little pricktease, that fag you’re always . . .”

He didn’t have a chance to finish his sentence before Anna hauled off and
smacked
him across his leering face with all the strength she
could muster
. The crack seemed to reverberate and nearby, several people turned their heads to look and began to convulse in hysterics.

The blow appeared to have a sobering effect on Sebastian. Instead of getting angrier, he just stood there, stunned, rubbing his jaw speechlessly while Anna stalked away.

****

Shaking with fury, Anna headed toward the mouth of the trail, intending to go for a short walk to calm down. Her
docile
mood was gone, replaced
with
a surge of angry adrenaline.
Spoiled little rich jackass!
Who does he think he is? C
an’t handle not getting what he wants so he retaliates by slamming someone who never did a thing to deserve it! Son of a . . .

In one brief instant h
er heart lurched painfully against her chest.

Because there he was. Hands shoved into the pockets of his khakis, casually leaning against a tree and watching her intently, was Alex.

She walked
over to him on legs that threatened to buckle, reminding herself
to breathe, and
as soon as
she reached him she could sense his veiled amusement.

“Hey,” he said blithely.

“Hey
,
yourself. What are you doing here? I thought you weren’t coming.”

“Changed my mind. Happens sometimes. You having some trouble with Sebastian?” The twinkle in his eyes told Anna he’d witnessed their altercation.

“Nothing I can’t handle.”

“Mm, I can see that. Got a little too frisky, did he?”

“Something like that.”

“Some guys just don’t know when to quit.”

God, how she loved his smile.
And those eyes!
When he looked at her like that, the universe
ceased to exist
and
all that remained was the two of them
. How did he do it? Still propped against the
ancient
oak,
aquamarine
sleeves carelessly pushed up to his elbows,
he looked so sexy that Anna wanted nothing more than to touch him. The refrain of a slow Coldplay song drifted through the air, surrounding them.

Anna shivered. She could feel herself falling
even as
her
body
remained
frozen
, attached to the ground by gravity that
refused to let go,
but the world around her was
shifting
, breaking apart into a billion celestial pieces
while
she was falling, falling deep into those soft blue eyes.

He finally
moved
toward her. This time she didn’t back away,
instead slipping
her arms around his neck while his hands rested
hesitantly
on her hips, then continu
ed
their journey around her waist. Swaying ever so gently in time to the music, they held each other closely, two
perfect
snowflakes melting
to form
one
sparkling
drop of water. Her head rested on his shoulder
while
they
surrendered to
euphoria. If time could stand still, if there was
a
single
instant
in a lifetime to be captured and held forever, this would be her chosen moment.

****

The song ended too soon, the spell broken. Anna reluctantly released Alex and stared at her feet, too shy to
evaluate
what might be in his expression. He took an unsteady breath, then sighed.

“So. Have you seen the grave yet?”

She’d forgotten about that. “No, I haven’t. Where is it?”

“I can show you if you like. It’s kind of a long walk, though. In the dark.”

It sounded like Anna’s idea of heaven. “I’d like to see it, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all. Let me just get a light and I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Okay.” Dazed, Anna waited, staring up at the stars that had grown brighter somehow in the past ten minutes, until he returned with the lantern.

“This way.” Alex headed for the opposite end of the clearing, weaving through the crowd between all the couples still dancing around the dying bonfire. At the edge of the circle, he located a narrow path that led deep into the darkness. “Give me your hand,” he said to Anna. “It’s hard to see out here, and I’m familiar with the way you walk.”

Happily, she slipped her hand into his and they started out, walking side by side down the path in darkness broken only by the glow of the lantern. The music from the clearing
began to fade somewhat
. After a time, Alex commented, “Some wild party, huh?”

“It was
actually a lot of
fun.”
Perfect now.
“
You should have come earlier.
I wonder how they can have these without being raided by the police
?
”

“Probably has something to do with the fact that Randall Harrison’s father is the chief of police.”

“Who’s Randall Harrison?”

“The guy who’s usually behind these
things
.
His dad may let him get away with murder, but he’s not completely stupid. He’ll have a lot of his men patrolling the roads tonight looking for drunk drivers. Speaking of which . . . how many have
you
had?”

Anna smiled demurely. “
A
couple. But I’m not driving. I don’t even have a license.”

“Well, I do and you’re riding home with me. I saw
Dalton
tonight. There’s no way I’m letting you in a car with him.”

“I didn’t know you drove. How long have you had your license?”

“A little over a year. I just don’t have a car yet. I borrow Creed’s truck
when I need it
.”

Anna was surprised. “Over a year? How old are you?”

“Seventeen. I missed a lot of ninth grade so I had to repeat it.”

“Oh. Were you sick?”

“No.” Alex hesitated. He seemed reluctant to talk about it.
Eventually, he
just
told her, “I got into some trouble in
Indiana
. I missed a lot of school because of it. I’d prefer not to go into any details right now. Okay?”

“Okay. I didn’t mean to pry. It’s none of my business,” Anna reassured him. She couldn’t fathom, even for an instant,
someone like
Alex getting mixed up in any kind of trouble. What could possibly
have
happened that would cause him to miss
that much
school? Had he been arrested? No, that was ridiculous. Ninth-grade boys
weren’t
sent to jail.
Were
they?
Some sort of j
uvenile hall, maybe. What a
bizarre
thought.

“I think it’s right up here,” Alex was saying, holding the lantern up and surveying the area. The light rested on a tiny spot fenced in by some rusty barbed wire on wooden posts that were rotting away to dust. They drew closer, and Anna could see the
grave now
, a
weathered headstone
whose once-rounded top was now missing a chunk.
Eroded by time, the inscription in the limestone
was impossible to make out. Weeds and grass tangled
unchecked
around it.

“Do you have any idea what it says?” Anna wanted to know.

“
From what I’ve heard
,
his name was Lucius Pratt. The clearing is supposedly where his log cabin stood before it fell apart and was torn down. I don’t know how true any of that is, though.”

Their hands still clasped, they stood in reverent silence for some time, listening to the night. The wind ruffled their hair and delicately blew Anna’s skirt about her calves, tickling them. She moved closer to his side. “Alex?” she said softly.

He turned to look at her. “Yes?”

“How come you changed your mind? About coming.”

There was a long pause. Then, “I guess I was worried about you being here by yourself with a bunch of drunken guys in the middle of nowhere. I’d hate to see anything bad happen to you.”

She grinned. “I can handle myself.”

“So I noticed. But you know, sometimes you can be helpless to defend yourself. Could you fight off a group of intoxicated
jocks
who suddenly got the bright idea to take you off into the woods and gangbang you? Would you notice if someone slipped a roofie in your drink? Stuff happens. Especially at places like this.”

“All right, Mr. Optimism. So following that logic, I definitely shouldn’t have come way out here with
you
then, right?”

Alex raised his eyebrows. “Maybe not. How do you know I’m not dangerous? Maybe I was planning to get you out here and sacrifice you in some kind of blood ritual. Offer your virgin soul in exchange for passing my finals.”

Anna found that funny. “If you’re going to sacrifice me, at least
do it
for something a little more interesting than passing grades. I think my virgin soul is worth more than that.
Ask for
a Porsche
.
”

“Ah, so you admit your soul is virginal.”

“I don’t know about my soul, but the rest of me might be.”

“
Is
it now? Sweet sixteen and never been kissed?”