Caught Up In You (11 page)

Oh, please. I had barely said two words
about my aunt since he showed up here unannounced. Of course my aunt is eating
it up.

“Oh, stop it.” She puts her hand in his
and let’s in linger there for a second to long like she’s shaking hands with a
celebrity and not just a everyday person you meet for the first time. I’m
pretty sure I see a hint of a blush creeping into her cheeks as well. “It’s so
nice to meet you. How do you know Victoria?”

Shit, please don’t say the wellness
center. Please don’t say the wellness center.

Eric shoots me a quick look. “School.”

Oh, thank god.

My Aunt Jenna smiles and finally lets go
of Eric’s hand slowly. “Well, I hope you wont turn us in. We’re playing sick a
little bit today.”

Eric shoots her a smile with his perfect
teeth. “You ladies secret is safe with me, but I should go if I don’t want to
be late. It was nice meeting you.” He shoots me a reassuring look and I know
he’s trying to tell me not to worry because things will be okay. “I’ll see you
later, Tor.”

“Thank you.” I mouth to him and he shoots
me one last smile before he’s walking away in that easy way he has about him.

“Wow, he’s really something.”

I watch the back of Eric’s head disappear
into the morning rush of the lobby. “That he is.”

***

My aunt loves Eric. Actually, my aunt
loves Eric for me. She literally can’t stop talking about how great he is for
me. I’ve explained to her more than once that he’s just my friend, but she
seems unable to hear it. She’s all about how it might be good for me to get out
there and start dating again. I’m not sure what she means by again since I
never really dated to begin with but every time she brings it up I’m aware of
the fact that she has no idea about how I really feel about Nathan.

I’m so sick of feeling guilty all the
time, but I know I created this situation. It just feels even worse somehow
with my Aunt Jenna. She literally had changed her life just so I wouldn’t have
to stay in that prison for a minute longer. It felt awful knowing she was doing
so much for me and I was still in a way living a lie under her roof.

What’s even worse is that besides the
Eric stuff we had a really great morning together. We went to this great little
park and walked around the water while we sipped these pumpkin lattes and fed
the ducks circling the pond. We even split an apple cinnamon muffin. Then we
went to this little bookstore and talked and read books together. She even let
me pick out any books I want.

Then we ended up in this cute little restaurant
where we ordered so much food that we couldn’t even finish it all. We had
pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausage, and like four kinds of toast. By the
time we were done I was so full, but I felt so warm.

It was after brunch was over and we were
walking down the sidewalk toward the car that I realized what that warmness
meant. It was a type of happiness. It had been so long I almost didn’t
recognize it. I was almost scared of it, but I was happy. Not because of Nathan,
or because I had gotten anything. No, it was just there. A rare moment, a rare
light of happiness had come over me. I close my eyes and make a mental note to
remember this moment.

I can’t help thinking about how I didn’t
even want to go this morning and now standing here in the street I feel a
feeling of disappoint wash over me as my aunt tells me she has to get back to
the hotel.

“First though, one more surprise.” She
stops in the middle of the sidewalk. It takes me a few beats to realize I’m
walking a few steps ahead of her. I stop and look back at her waiting for an
explanation.

“It’s here.” She waves her arms around
the middle of the street as if it should explain everything. “I hope you like
it!”

I look around the street waiting for
someone to pop out with a big bag of presents or something. Maybe some flowers
or even some fireworks to start lighting up the sky but nothing is happening,
nothing at all. It’s so silent you could hear a pin drop.

I look around confused. “You got me… the
street?”

My aunt laughs so loud that I can hear it
echo off the buildings that surround us. She takes a stride toward me and
swings me around so I’m facing the other side of the street. “No, silly, I got
you this! I hope you love it!”

There sitting on the other side of the
road as if it’s been waiting for me all morning is a shiny black BMW.

Chapter
Nine

An hour later I’m pulling my new car into
a parking spot in front of my school. I shift the car into park and run my hand
over the steering wheel taking in the fresh new car scent. I still can’t
believe this is mine. It feels completely unreal. I never thought I would drive
a car this nice, let alone own one. But here it was, all mine, in the flesh.

I had argued with my Aunt Jenna for about
twenty minutes before she finally convinced me to take it. I didn’t feel right
taking it, but she assured me it was for her benefit also. She wanted to have
comfort in knowing that I was getting around save and that nothing was going to
happen to me. She was glad she never had to worry about me getting stranded
anywhere. Or what if there was an emergency and I needed to get somewhere fast?
I was worried about my dad, but my aunt said she would take care of that, and
before I knew it I was taking the keys and heading off on my way.

It felt like a good day, a real good day.
The first good day I had had in a while. I had texted Angelina right away and
told her to wait for me in front of the school because I had to show her
something. I was hoping none of my teachers would happen to be leaving school
at the exact time I was coming up and ask me why I hadn’t been in class, but I
figured showing off a new BMW was worth the risk.

I’m so caught up in my new car that it
takes me a second to realize Angelina’s already standing in front of the school,
and she’s not alone. She’s talking to someone, and it looks like they’re arguing.
Yikes. I squint my eyes for a closer look and realize that it’s Eric.

What the hell was Eric doing here?

I slam my hand down on the horn and
Angelina jumps about an inch off the ground causing Eric to laugh, of course. I
swing my door open and jump out of the car with a newfound pep in my step.
“Check it out, bitches!”

Did I just say bitches? What was wrong
with me?

Angelina gives me a blank look until she
registers it’s me. Then her eyes take in the car and she starts jumping up and
down and yanking Eric up and down by the arm. She’s running over to the car
now, screaming and jumping up and down while she drags Eric behind her.

“This is your car! Tell me this is your
car!”

“This is my car!”

Then Angelina and me are both holding
hands jumping up and down together. This moment is exactly why she’s my best
friend. She gets exactly what I need at the exact right moment.

After a few seconds she drops my hands.
“I need to be the judge of this! You lucky bitch!” She runs over to the car and
starts opening doors then vanishes inside.

Eric has his eyes on me, and it occurs to
me he’s probably driven cars like this before he even had his license. He
appeared to have that type of life. It was understandable that this wasn’t as
exciting to him as it was to us.

I return his gaze. “What are you doing
here?”

He sighs and crosses his arms over his
broad chest. “I came to make sure you were okay. You know, after this morning.”

“Listen-“

“Forget it.” He uncrosses his arms and
takes a step closer to me, lowering his voice. “I’m not mad at you, I get it, I
wouldn’t have known if I should tell me about Nathan or not either, but I’m on
your side. If you want me to stay on your side you’re going to have to be
honest with me and try to trust me. I’ve never given you a reason not to.”

I throw myself into his chest and bury my
head into him. “I promise to be completely honest with you from here on out.
I’m so sorry.”

Eric let’s me stay there for a second
until Angelina’s back at our side, scolding. “Oh, please, why don’t you two get
a room?”

I take a step back from Eric and he
smiles at me sweetly. “Well, if you really want to make it up to me I know one
way.”

Oh, great. Of course there was a catch.
And from the look on Eric’s face, I wasn’t going to like it very much.

“Here.” He shoves a peace of paper into
my hand and smiles with satisfaction.

I look down and see a name and address
scribbled on it. “What is this?” I ask him, even though I can clearly see what
it is.

“That is Stephanie’s mom’s address, it’s
only a few hours from here. If you leave now you can make it home before dark.”

Stephanie.
My roommate
from the wellness center, what was wrong with him?
He had already gotten
back my notebook. “But you already got back my notebook.”

“So?” He shoots a look of disappointment
at me and cocks his head to the side. “It’s the right thing to do, Vic. Did you
ever think maybe she was so miserable to you in there because her mom really
has no idea she’s there? You know what it’s like in there, it’s pretty awful,
if there’s a chance to help someone get out, even someone you aren’t that fond
off, shouldn’t we take it?”

I bite my lip. I know he’s right, but I
really don’t want to go. It’s going to be so uncomfortable. What am I supposed
to say? I knew nothing about this woman or what to expect.

“Who’s Stephanie?” Angelina grabs the
piece of paper out of my hand and starts looking at it like it’s some kind of
map, which I guess it is.

“My old roommate. She asked me to find
her mom for her before I left.” I’m talking to Angelina but my eyes are still
on Eric.

“Besides, if you do this, we’re even.
I’ll never mention what’s his name again.” His gaze is intense and I can tell
he knows he has me because the truth is he’s right, I wouldn’t wish that place
on anyone.

“Oh, fun!” Angelina starts jumping up and
down again. “A road trip in your new car! I’m in! Just let me grab my bag!” She
takes off toward the school before I can say another word.

“Great!” Eric pulls his phone out of his
pocket and types out a text. “I have something I can’t miss tonight, so let me
know how it goes, okay?”

“You’re not even coming!” I exclaim
loudly. “I have to go alone!”

He rolls his eyes. “Not alone, with
Angelina. Besides, it’s the right thing to do, right?”

“Right,” I mumble.

“Good girl.” He leans forward, kissing me
on the head and then he’s walking away from me.

“Hey! How did you get this address
anyway?”

But if he hears me, he doesn’t answer.

I sigh and swing around to wait for
Angelina.

Only, she’s already back, and she’s not
alone.

Nathan is standing beside her.

“Bad news! I forgot I have to help my mom
clean the attic today! But the good news is that Nathan has agreed to ride
along with you! He has nothing going on today! Practice ended early because the
coach’s wife got food poising! You can talk about the article on the way! Isn’t
that great?”

Has she lost her mind? This wasn’t great.
This was the opposite of great. This was a complete disaster and from the looks
of it Nathan didn’t look very excited to be involved with this plan either.

I grit my teeth. “I really don’t think
that’s a good idea.”

I’m talking to Angelina, but Nathan’s the
one who let’s out an annoyed sigh. “Well, maybe you shouldn’t have skipped
school then! Now we have to make up for the time we lost tonight!”

Then he strides over to the car and
shoves his bag in the backseat and jumps in the front seat, slamming the door
shut behind him. Great.

That didn’t even make any sense. We
wouldn’t have even talked about the article in school! I was going to kill
Angelina, I had seen her attic,
it
was very clean!
This was clearly just a plan to get us alone, but when I turn my gaze away from
Nathan and toward Angelina she’s already halfway across the grass headed back
toward the school.

How had this turned from bad to worse so
damn quick?

I slowly make my way back to the car and
climb in clutching the piece of paper with the address so tight in my hand that
my knuckles start to ache.

Nathan sighs again and crosses his arms
over his chest. “You’re not getting out of this, all you’ve been doing is
putting this article on the back burner since you started.”

I know he’s just saying anything now to
get a rise out of me, but it’s still annoying me. How am I going to get out of
this?

“Where are we going anyway?” He’s on his
phone now pretending I don’t exist.

It occurs to me suddenly that I’m not
going to get out of this. That I’m going on this road trip with Nathan and that
at the end of it he could find out the truth about where I really was all this
time.