Unlovable (37 page)

I came back again on Saturday and once
more on Sunday; still no Seth. By Monday, my new resolve had melted
away. I pulled back into my self-made cocoon and threw up my walls,
just like my mother.

Monday the walk to school felt more
like a death march. Not only did I have to speak to Mrs. Volkel
about Zack, but Seth and Hillary would be together, laughing,
snuggling, and kissing in the halls. This was not going to be a
good day.

I’d barely stuffed my extra books in
my locker when Dwayne caught my arm and practically dragged me
outside. He turned back and looked me square in the
eyes.

“
Dwayne, what’s wrong? Did
something happen with Karen?”

“
You get up on your high
horse about Seth and his secrets, what about your secrets?” He was
furious. He looked funny, his face was usually so sweet and
innocent.

“
What are you talking
about?”

“
Come off it, Maggie.” He
threw his arms up in frustration. “Fine. How did you get those
bruises on your cheeks?”

I was sure my face was now green. My
voice stayed mute as I pulled deeper into my safety zone. “It’s all
over the school what happened between you and Zack.”

“
Nothing happened between
us,” I said defensively.

“
He and Hillary set you and
Seth up. You were supposed to bump into Hillary
accidentally
as she jumped into
Seth’s arms to kiss him. She was positive once she planted her
slimy lips on his, he’d forget all about you. Then you were
supposed to fall into Zack’s arms for comfort, and you can imagine
what he planned on doing to comfort you.”

“
It didn’t happen that way,
not the last part anyway.” Seth didn’t kiss her, she kissed him! My
heavy heart suddenly felt as if it could fly. Maybe I haven’t lost
him after all.

“
I know it didn’t happen
that way, everyone knows that.”

“
How does everyone know what
didn’t happen? Surely Zack isn’t bragging about failing to pull off
his little plan.”

“
Melody, how
else?”

“
Who told her?”

“
Zack did. Melody had a
party Friday night and someone smuggled in some booze.”
So much for the substance abuse
assembly
. “Zack got completely plastered
and could hardly stand. He threw up all over Melody’s car.” We both
laughed.

“
He told Melody about
grabbing your face so hard he was sure he bruised it.” He glared
once more at the marks on my face. “He said you knocked him in the
head with your book bag and he went flying. Did you really?” A
smile tugged at his lips. I smiled back.

“
He kept bragging about how
hard he threw you down on the ground, and that there was blood on
your jeans. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if your knees were
covered in bruises.” I stayed silent. My knees were very bruised
up, as were my wrists. I slowly slid my hands into my jacket
pockets to hide the evidence. “Don’t bother, Maggie, I’ve already
seen those bruises. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“
Because nothing happened,
Dwayne. After he got angry with me in the parking lot, he left.
What’s there to tell, he knocked me around a little?”

“
Yes! He told Melody he
debated about whether to …” He didn’t finish his sentence, he
didn’t need to, I’d seen it in Zack’s eyes. “You should have told
me just like Seth should have told you sooner about himself. Zack’s
lucky Seth’s been out of town this whole weekend. When he hears
what’s happened, he’s going to flip out. And I almost feel sorry
for Zack when Booker gets a hold of him.”

“
Don’t tell them,
please.”

“
I sort of told Booker
already, at least part of it. I called him yesterday and left a
message on his answering machine. I didn’t mention Zack’s plan to…
well, you know. I thought it would be better to tell him that part
in person. You know how Booker can fly off the handle. He’s with
Seth, so he won’t hear the message until they get back sometime
this morning.” Since no one escorted me to school this morning, my
assumption was neither of them knew yet.

“
Did you leave a message for
Seth?”

“
No, only Booker. He called
me Friday and wanted to know why your face was bruised. I told him
I’d try to find out, and you can be sure he’ll tell
Seth.”

“
The whole school knows?” A
groan escaped my lips.

“
Yes, Zack did tell Melody
after all, and since when has she ever kept her big mouth
shut?”

“
How am I supposed to face
everyone?” There had to be a rock somewhere to crawl
under.

“
Are you serious? Everyone’s
ostracized Hillary and Zack. The rumor is she is being dismissed
from the cheerleading squad, and Zack is getting kicked off the
baseball team.”

That wasn’t a good thing. I was sure
they would take their revenge out on me.

“
Don’t worry. I’ll protect
you, Maggie.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and gave me a
side hug.

“
Thanks.” I hope it will be
enough.

A loud crack of thunder cut through
the air, along with a flash of lightening. “Come on, we’d better
get inside before it starts raining. If anyone says anything rude
to you, I’ll pop’em in the mouth.” Before I could ask if he was
kidding, a shiny patrol car pulled up to the school.

Booker. I certainly knew his car by
now.

“
Let’s go see what Booker
found out,” Dwayne said.

“
No, I don’t want to.”
Dwayne seemed oblivious to that fact I'd planted my feet firmly on
the ground as he dragged me across the small patch of grass
separating us from the car.

I wasn’t prepared for who got out of
the car with Booker.

27

Seth! What was left of my bravado and
determination from the weekend disappeared instantly. Seth stopped
dead, his eyes flashed to me, then to Dwayne. I twisted around so
only Dwayne could see my face and mouthed, “Don’t tell them now,
please.”

“
Seth’s going to hear about
it as soon as he walks into the school,” he whispered
back.

“
Pleeease?” I begged
silently.

“
Fine,” he growled
aloud.

“
Hey, guys, did you find out
anything?” Dwayne asked as we approached.

“
Yes.” Booker looked to me.
“Are you sure you want to hear this, Jailbait? It has to do with
the undercover agents and lots of secrets,” he taunted.

“
I can handle it.” Out of my
peripheral vision, I saw Seth’s head snap in my
direction.

“
As you know, those two men
that were in your home were the Dreser brothers.”

Finally Seth spoke. “I’m not so sure
this is a good idea.”

“
She’s been given
clearance.” Booker gave him a stern look. Seth didn’t answer,
instead he folded his arms across his chest, and leaned against the
hood of Booker’s car, signaling for him to continue.

“
As I was saying, the Dreser
brothers are younger brothers to the dealer Seth and I killed
several months ago. Dwayne, put your arm around Maggie before she
faints.”

“
I’m not going to faint,” I
said, resting heavily against Dwayne. I already knew all this and
had no idea why I was letting it affect me.

“
Maggie, their older brother
Jeffery was a murderer. His favorite MO, method of operation, was
to hang out around the local elementary school and entice young
children into buying his dope. He’d offer free samples of
drug-laced goodies, pretending to be a friend to the friendless,
you know, a fun, generous guy. He did whatever it took as long as
they kept coming back to him until he had them hooked.

“
In the end, he was
responsible for the deaths of nine children. One was only ten years
old,” he said. “We had orders to find him and bring him
in.”

Seth began fidgeting, plainly, this
was the part of the story he didn’t want me hearing.

“
One evening we got a tip he
was at a local pool hall. When we got there, it was clear he didn't
intend on coming along peacefully. He drew out a sawed-off AK 47
from under one of the tables and began using my men as target
practice.

“
Jeffery ended up with three
bullet holes, a couple of which were in his chest. If you ask me,
we saved the taxpayers a hefty sum in court fees and housing
costs,” Booker said dryly.

“
We had no idea who Jeffery
was at the time, not until his brothers broke into your house… for
whatever reason,” he added uncomfortably.

“
You didn’t find anything at
my house, Seth told me so,” I said bravely.

“
No, you’re right, and I’m
holding off any assumptions until we have evidence. Innocent till
proven guilty.” He looked at me sincerely.

“
I picked Seth up from
school Friday, and we flew out to Arizona on a lead. Harry Dreser
was supposed to be there, and we hoped to arrest him for countless
reasons, but our main goal was to try to flush out his son Alan.
However, when we got to his home he was gone. It appears he’d been
tipped off right before we arrived. All he took with him were some
clothes, the contents of a small safe and his jeep.

“
We found a large amount of
heroin with a street value of over $500,000. We were also able to
retrieve a few emails from his computer, one of which was a
confidential police report he’d somehow gotten his hands on about
Jeffery’s shootout. He had emailed a copy to Alan, with a note
reiterating his desire to have Seth, myself, and our loved ones,
murdered. Regrettably, Maggie, all this puts you in
danger.

“
And you may be able to lie
to yourself about your feelings for the kid here,” he tipped his
head toward Seth, “but everyone else knows otherwise. I just hope
you snap out of it before you push it too far and lose everything.
Do you understand what I’m saying?”

The bell rang and saved me from having
to answer. “I have to go.” Booker let out a frustrated
groan.

I’d only gone a few steps when Dwayne
called out after me. “Maggie, how did you get the bruises on your
face?”

I flinched.
Traitor
!

Seth was immediately at my side,
timidly scooping my face into his hands, and tilting it to examine
the bruises on my cheeks. His face darkened with
outrage.

But I hardly noticed. I was too busy
noticing how soft his mouth looked, how beautiful his eyes were,
and how incredible he smelled. When he looked directly into my
eyes, self-control was tossed aside, I kissed him.

Somewhere in the distance Booker
muttered, “It’s about time,” after that I heard nothing except
Seth. His soft intake of air as he pulled me in close, his lips as
they moved passionately against mine, and his sigh as I forced my
mouth more fully onto his. His arms wrapped tightly around my waist
and this time I sighed, not caring how loud it was. It felt
wonderful to be back in his arms. It didn’t matter who was after
me, as long as Seth wanted me back.

The sweet urgency of his kiss told me
that he loved me still, even after I’d hurt him. My heart pounded
away violently as my mouth moved with determination against his. He
responded in kind. Completely engrossed in his kiss, I hadn’t
realized my hands had tangled themselves up in his hair, something
I dearly missed doing the past two weeks. I didn’t want there
to be any doubts about my feelings. I forced my mouth a fraction
from his. “I love you,” I said breathlessly.

I actually said the words, it was
liberating. He pulled me back to his mouth, kissing me with even
more abandonment. My head began spinning and my heart exploded
inside me. Every cell in my body ached for his kiss. There couldn’t
possibly be anything in the entire world that felt this
wonderful.

All too soon he pulled away, taking
deep breaths to steady himself. I looked around for Booker and
Dwayne, they were gone.

“
I thought I had ruined us.”
He ran his hands over my hair, resting his forehead on
mine.

“
I’m sorry for all the
horrible things I said, and for the stupid way I acted. You’ve done
nothing but help and protect me. And love me. I acted like a fool,
I’m so sorry.”

He caressed my jaw softly with his
thumbs, slipping his hands around to the back of my neck. “I can’t
swear there’ll be no more secrets, Maggie, it’s the nature of the
job. However, I do promise to tell you everything I can, but you
need to be more open with me too, deal?”

“
I promise.” I leaned up and
kissed him again.

With my lips still on his, he asked,
“Good. Tell me how you got these bruises.”

“
You set me up!”

“
Maggie, I just want to know
who I have to… talk to about this, as if I don’t already have a
pretty good guess.”

“
Fine, except not here. I’ll
tell you later.” I tried to kiss him again, instead he took my hand
and led me toward the parking lot.

“
Where are we going?” I ran
to keep pace.