Crushed (36 page)

“Yes, I promise,”
Cleo
assured her.
She
had already planned on
talking to him
.

Eventually
.

Emma’s
posture changed and
Cleo
could tell the conversation was about to change as well. “Are you going to come with
us tonight?” she wondered.
“It’s not as boring as it sounds.
You might have fun.
”

Cleo
shook
her
head. “Would you mind if I just stayed here?”
she
asked. “I could really, really use a nap.
Or I could go back to my house. I doubt Paul will be around.
”
She
was so exhausted.
She
was on the verge of tears. One way or another, things were going to be changing.
She
wasn’t sure if
she
should be afraid or relieved. But
she
hoped maybe
she
’d be able to deal with whatever came
her
way after
she
got some sleep. Because right then,
she
didn’t have the energy to
get up and get a glass of water. L
et alone deal with the wrath of
her
so-called step-father.

“No,” Emma said firm
ly. “You’re not going anywhere.
”

Chapter 20

“Are you sure this is a good idea?”
Reece
asked Emma.

“Yes,”
Emma said as she pushed him
toward the stairs. “Lauren already called Adam. She was happy to go to the game with
him. I’m sorry but I’ve got to get going. I’m already late for dinner and my parents
are going to kill me.”

She’d called
Reece
less than half an hour ago asking
him to come to her house. He
’d been home, getting ready to throw some dinner in the microwave
before meeting Adam. He
’d told her
he
was supposed to be going to the game with him. She
’d
told
him
she’d take care of it. She thought
he
needed to come over not just tonight but
right now
. So
he and Cleo
could talk. What she didn’t tell
him
was that Cleo didn’t know. And
that she was sleeping. And now Emma was
running out the door for some family thing and leaving the two of
them
alone. Which
he did
n’t mind.
He just wasn’t
so sure
Cleo would be very happy about it.

When
he
just stood there, not sure if
he
should go upstairs or not, she rolled her eyes at
him
.

“Seriously, Reece, it’ll be fine. She’s been sleeping for hours. She should wake up
pretty soon. I think,” she muttered. “But just go on up. She’s in Ethan’s room. It’s
the second door on the left.” Before
he
could question that, why she’s in Ethan’s room
,
Emma was
talking again. “We should be gone for hours. I’ll call when we’re on our way home.
You know, just in case you want to leave or something. Not that you have to. Bye!”
And out the door she went.

So
Reece
was left standing in Emma’s foyer, alone. With Cleo sleeping upstairs and not aware
that
he was
t
here. Or that
he’d
probably be the first thing she s
aw
when she w
oke
up. And she might not like it.

Screw it
,
he
thought.

He
headed up.

He ha
d been to the Donovan’s
home
a few times before, with Cleo.
He had never been upstairs, though. He had
gone with her a few times when
they had
picked up Emma. Last year
he
’d even eaten dinner here for Cleo’s birthday. With Ethan.

A feeling of wrongness slammed into
him
.
He
didn’t like being in his house.
He
knew
Ethan
from school
and sports
. And because of Emma.
He had known Ethan
and Cleo were friends but that always seemed like that’s all it was.
He had never had a problem with it.
He’d
always thought
Ethan
was a nice guy.

Until
he
didn’t.

He
passed the first door on the left. A girl’s room for sure. It had bright yellow walls
and a frilly bed covering.
He
had no idea if it was Emma’s or Elli’s.

He
reached the second door on the left, just like
he was ordered to do. Cleo was
curled up in a ball, hugging a pillow. She look
ed
so small, curled up like that. Her hair ha
d
fallen over her face.

The fact that she
was in Ethan’s room, in his bed, wasn’t sitting real well with him
. The fact that the pillow she
was
hugging
was
pink and ha
d
a picture of a fat, white cartoon cat with a bow on its head ma
de
him
feel a little better.
He was
pretty sure the pillow
was
Luci’s.

He could
see her iPod on the nightstand. She
’d
already put the purple and white butterfly cover that
he’d given
her on it. Next to it wa
s half a glass of water and a white bottle of painkillers.
His
stomach twisted itself up tight at the sight of those. Knowing that she needed them.

He
decided to go in. 
He
wasn’t going to stand in the hallway all night. Waiting for her to wake up.
He
edged onto the bed, trying not to think about how ironic this was.
Him
on Ethan’s bed with Cleo.

He
could smell
her sweet, fruity scent
right away. As
he
moved closer, the weight of
his
body caused the mattress to sink lower. Lower than what her slight weight caused
. Almost instantly
,
he
was close enough that she’s slid down into
him
. Her back was to
his
chest
. He
looped an arm around her.

He didn’t mind that she was
sleeping.
He
was actually glad. She needed it. And as long as she was asleep, she couldn’t tell
him
to leave.
He
could just hold her. Which was exactly what
he
did.

***

Cleo slept for at least another hour. Her warm body was pressed into
his the whole time. He
could tell the minute she started to wake up. She’d barely moved at all but she
started to squirm
in her sleep.

He
’d spent part of that time mentally preparing an argument for why
he
was
here. First off and most important, it
was
because Emma invited
him
. And it
was
her house. It sound
ed
better than telling her
he was
t
here because
he
want
ed
to be.

Well, not in this house exactly. But with her.

Sure, she’d let
him
kiss her a few times over the last few days. But
he knew it was
obvious as hell that she
was
hiding something. Holding back something big. And she ha
d
to know that
he
was
ready to demand to know what it
was
. And that’s why
he was sure she was
not going to be happy to see
him
.

She had
all sorts of walls up and
he was
ready to start taking them down.

So when she started to wake up,
he
had this argument prepared
. A
ll ready to go. She didn’t turn to face
him
right away, though. She stretched and then let out a little sigh.
He
didn’t realize
he
’d started holding her hand until she brought it to her lips and kissed
the back of it
.

“I’m not Ethan.
”
The words
shot out of
his
mouth before
he
could stop
them
. For just a minute,
he
was worried she’d think
he
was.
They
were at his house. In his room. On his bed. The sun was starting to set and the room
was becoming pretty gray and gloomy.

“
What
?” she asked. She finally rolled over to face
him
. She blin
ked at
him
a few times. She looked
like she
was
still half asleep. She pushed her messed up hair out of her face.
He
realized she was waiting for
him
to answer.

“We’re in his room. I didn’t want you to think—
,
”
he
cut
him
self
off when her hand slid around him. It
slid u
p
his shirt and
rested on his
back. Suddenly her body was pressed even more
tightly to
his than it had been before. It was
the first time in the past few weeks that
she’
d
made a move to be closer to
him
.

“I knew it was you.”

“You’re not mad I’m here?”
he
asked. The argument
he
’d formulated was ready to be put into action.
Camping out on the edge of
his
tongue.
Turned out,
he
didn’t need it.

She shook her head. She didn’t seem mad at all. “Did Emma call you?”

“Yeah.”

She nodded and closed her eyes again. She still looked sleepy.
He
was quiet.
He
wanted to give her a minute to wake up.

“Are they gone?” she asked when she open
ed her eyes again. “The Donovan
s I mean?”

He
nodded. “
Emma said she’d call when they were all headed home. To give us a heads up.”