From the Damage 1 - Opposites Attract (11 page)

≈≈≈

When Kelly knocked on Gage’s door with the pizza, he opened it, cradling a crying Lizzie against his shoulder. He looked tired, with purplish bags under his eyes, and his skin looked pale. “Hey,” he said, stepping aside to let her in. “It looks like Lizzie doesn’t want to go to bed yet. Third night this week she’s been up late. I think she’s catching a cold.”

“As clean as you keep this place?” Kelly asked as she walked into the living room. “It’s surprising any germs could live in here.”

“Well, I try to keep this house sanitary, but when we walk out that door, it’s out of my hands.”

Kelly smiled as she set the pizza on the coffee table. “Do you mind?” She held her arms out, reaching for Lizzie.

“Uh...sure.” Gage carefully handed the baby over to Kelly, and she balanced her on her hip, bringing her eye level with the little girl. When Kelly held Lizzie, the baby immediately started to quiet down, going from a whaling cry to small, quiet sniffles.

Tickled at being able to calm Lizzie down, Kelly looked up at Gage. “Isn’t she just the
cutest
?”

“Sure is,” Gage said, but when Kelly looked up, he was wearing an expression that made her think he’d been talking to her. Giving her a small smile, he picked up the remote and turned the television on. “It looks like our movie tonight is going to have to be the Spongebob marathon. That okay with you?”

“Yeah, I like Spongebob,” Kelly said, watching as Gage laid a blanket on the floor a few feet away from the TV.

After placing a few throw pillows around the outside, he dropped Lizzie’s teddy bear and a few other toys onto the blanket and motioned for Kelly to put her down.

After Lizzie was happily watching the animated sponge’s hi-jinks on TV, Kelly grabbed a piece of pizza and offered one to Gage.

“So, how was the dinner last night?” Gage asked.

“Brutal torture,” Kelly said, covering her mouth with one hand so she could talk politely around a mouthful of pizza. “My mom hates me. It’s the only explanation.”

“She doesn’t hate you,” Gage said. “She just doesn’t understand why you and Alex broke up...because you’ve never
told
her.”

“Last night’s dinner was a pathetically see-through attempt for her to get us back together. And what’s worse, when I tried to leave, the asshole kissed me.”

“He
kissed
you?” Gage asked, almost choking on a piece of pepperoni as he tried to swallow. “In front of your parents?”

“No,” Kelly said, rolling her eyes. “That was
after
he followed me to my room and barged in.”

“You want me to take him out? I know people.” Gage gave her a wink, and she had no choice but to giggle in response.

“Don’t tempt me,” she warned.

“So, what’d you do when he kissed you?”

She laughed. “I slapped him.”

Gage burst into laughter and then slapped his hand down on her knee. “That’s my girl.”

She felt a jolt when his fingers brushed her kneecap. The butterflies in her stomach and the fuzzy warmth were all signs she was crushing on Gage. She was ready to give in and flirt a little with him to let him know she was definitely interested, but then he quickly withdrew his hand, keeping his gaze on the TV set.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him absentmindedly smooth his left thumb over the wedding band he still wore, and she knew he was thinking about Peyton.

Anybody who looked at him and really
saw
him at all would know he was still madly in love with his late wife. So, for now, she reasoned that just being his friend was enough.

“I think,” Gage said suddenly, drawing Kelly out of her trance, “if you told your mom about the abortion, she’d lay off you about getting back together with the jerk.”

Kelly shook her head. “I can’t tell her. You know that.”

“Why not?”

“Tell my mom I killed my baby? No thanks.”

“Kelly,” he sighed, “you had a legal medical procedure done—”

“
Illegally
done,” she corrected. “Remember? I used a fake ID and pretended to be eighteen. Besides, Mom is strictly pro-life. She’d...” She shivered at thinking of how angry her mother would be if she knew what Kelly’d done. “She’d hate me.”

“You’re her daughter,” Gage said, “and trust me on this one—as a parent, I know—nothing you do could
ever
make her hate you. I’m sure she’d be a little angry, probably disappointed, but she wouldn’t
hate
you. So stop using that excuse. What’s the real reason you won’t tell her?”

Kelly sighed, watching as Spongebob frantically searched his house for his missing snail-cat. “It’s like you said. She’d be disappointed. I’m just too...too ashamed of the entire thing.”

With a small, compassionate sigh, he reached over and draped his arm around her shoulders, filling her with such a safe feeling that for a second that it rendered her breathless. “You don’t have anything to be ashamed of, Kelly.”

She turned to look at him, to tell him that yes, she had plenty to be ashamed of, and that’s when she saw Lizzie curled up with her head on one of the throw pillows, clutching the teddy bear to her chest as she slept soundly. “Look,” she whispered to Gage.

He glanced over at Lizzie, his face broadening into a smile at how precious and sweet and peaceful his little girl looked. Reaching over, he turned the lamp off, leaving the room lit only by the blue glow of the television set. Kelly settled underneath Gage’s arm, nuzzling her head against his shoulder and giving a small smile of satisfaction when he tightened his grip around her.

≈≈≈

Meagan walked into Rob’s house for his weekly party and searched the room, her gaze immediately seeking Ryder. He was always at a party, playing bouncer.
He
should be here by now,
she thought, scanning every corner of the place.

Smoke hung in the living room as a thick fog, and loud music blasted from a large entertainment center. Meagan weaved through the crowd until she came to the kitchen, where people gathered around an island playing quarters.

When her gaze landed on Seth, suddenly, all of the bodies felt too close to her.

She could smell their sweat and perfume, and it was too strong, making nausea do a vicious dance in her stomach.

Seth was watching her. She could feel his eyes on her, as if he could see right through her skin, and in his eyes, she saw what he was thinking. He was thinking she was alone at a party again, and he was drunk again.

She shrank away, disgusted and desperately in need of the Knight Ryder.

Stumbling out the back door, she staggered out and into the cool night air. The constant chirping of crickets resounded in her head, a loud and obnoxious song. She leaned against the side of the house, held onto her head, and tried to calm herself. But leaving the party’d been a mistake, for she knew the second the door opened, Seth would step outside, and that was exactly what he did.

Fear mushroomed inside her body, and she jumped off the open porch and onto the grass, hoping she could make it around the house before he...

Seth reached out and grabbed her wrist, swinging her around until he held her tightly clutched in his arms.

“Seth, knock it off,” she warned, struggling to get away, but he was so strong.

He’d always been so strong. “Let me go!”

“I tried to warn you about tattlers,” he said, his drunken breath smacking her in the face. “Maybe I wasn’t clear.”

“Seth, I swear—”

Ignoring her, he moved with her as she struggled, turning it into a twisted dance.

“You got me suspended from three games.” His voice rumbled with anger as his grip on her tightened and she thought her bones would crush. “Do you have any idea what that looks like to the scouts who were there to watch
me
play?”

“I’m sorry, okay? I was mad.” Her normal retorts and bravery had melted away, leaving only paralyzing fear in their wake.

“Yeah? Well now,
I’m
mad. Maybe it’s time I show you which one of us is in control.” Looping his leg around hers, he swept her off her feet, and she tumbled backwards, landing on the grass moments before his weight landed on her.

Tears slipped down her cheeks as she frantically looked around for anything she could use as a weapon. Seeing a garden gnome resting against the porch, she squirmed, trying to reach it as Seth groped at her body, sliding his hands up her shirt.

Narrowing her eyes in determination, she managed to slide over, even if it meant making Seth follow her. She let out a loud scream at the top of her lungs, just in case, by some miracle, someone happened to hear her.

His weight started to smother her, and his hands felt clammy and hot as he felt her skin. Pressing down against her, he tried to unbutton her jeans.

With one last desperate stretch, she grabbed the garden gnome by his feet and swung it, knocking Seth clear off of her and onto the grass beside her. Yelping in pain, he grabbed his head, muttering a string of curses.

Jumping to her feet, she took off, with Seth right on her heels, yelling after her.

She headed for the side of the house so she could round the building and hopefully make it to her car. As she rounded the corner, she ran smack into a broad chest and screamed, stumbling back as she tried to keep herself from falling.

When she realized it was Ryder, she burst into tears, and Seth slowed to a stop behind her. Even though the danger was over, Ryder could see what had almost happened, Meagan could tell he knew in the cold glare he fixed on Seth as he wrapped his arm around Meagan and led her safely away.

Chapter Nine—Coming Clean

“I think I finally get it,” Meagan said as she still reeled from the fear and dread she’d felt only moments earlier. Sitting inside Ryder’s car, she felt safe and protected, and that’s what made her realize it—the tiny clue that made him tick. “You do all of this—the breaking up fights and playing the knight in shining leather—because you’re hoping you can earn redemption somehow. Right?”

Glancing over at her, she could see his breath catch as the emotion flooded his deep brown eyes. “Do you think I can? Earn redemption?”

Reaching over to him, she grasped his hand. “Of course you can, Ryder. You already have.”

He gave a small sigh. “I don’t know about that,” he said. “I don’t know how I could ever be forgiven for something so...God, so horrible.”

“You know what you need to do to make yourself feel better.”

“Meagan, I just can’t.”

“You have to tell him, Ryder. I promise that guilt will go away if you just fess up and make things right.”

“Make things right?” Ryder’s bitter laugh echoed in the car. “I sold his wife the gun she used to shoot up the school, ultimately getting herself and those other people killed. How could I ever make
that
right?”

She leaned forward, resting her head on his shoulder. “I have no idea,” she said, resting her chin on his shoulder and gazing up at him, “but you’re asking the wrong person. You need to ask Gage.”

≈≈≈

Kelly woke to the sound of her cellular phone ringing. Glancing down at the display screen, she realized her mother was calling her. Silencing the ringer, she looked around the room and saw that she’d fallen asleep on Gage’s shoulder, and Lizzie still slept soundly on the floor.

They’d all just drifted to sleep. When the phone finally stopped vibrating in Kelly’s hand, she flipped it open to look at the time. “Three a.m.?” she exclaimed on reflex, prompting Gage to shoot awake.

“Peyton, don’t!” Gasping for breath, Gage looked around the room and spotted Kelly, his cheeks flushing.

She eyed him, wondering if he’d been dreaming about Peyton and if she should ask about it. She decided not to. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I fell asleep. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“It’s okay.” Leaning back against the couch, he rubbed a hand over his face as he released a breath. He picked up her hand, glancing at the clock on her phone as he sleepily asked, “What time is it?”

“Three,” she said. “Mom’s called me like twelve times. I should go.”

“I’m sorry if I got you in trouble,” he said as he stood when she did.

“It’s okay.” In the darkened room, from the blue glow of the TV, his eyes looked magnetic, drawing her in, coercing her to stay. Tearing her gaze away from him, she started for the door. “I’ll call you later.”

He nodded as he walked over to the pallet Lizzie slept on and easily picked her up without waking her. “Okay,” he whispered. “Good luck with your mom.”

I’m going to need it
, she thought as she waved goodbye to him.

≈≈≈

Kelly pulled her car into the driveway and turned it off as she stared up at the big white house. She didn’t want to go in and face her mother; she’d rather do anything else.

For a second, she considered turning her car back on and going somewhere else, anywhere else, but before she could move, the front door flung open, and Kelly saw her mother standing in the doorway.

Jodi marched onto the porch with her hands on hips and her robe tied tightly around her small frame. Taking a deep breath, Kelly climbed out of the car to finally face her mother.

“Get in the house right now.” Jodi’s voice was taut as she scanned the block, looking for any sign that a neighbor might be watching.

Of course, Mother. We’ve got to keep up appearances,
Kelly thought as she went into the house.

“Where the hell have you been?” Shutting the door quietly behind her, Jodi whispered to keep from waking up the entire house. “It’s three o’clock in the morning, Kelly.”

“I’m sorry,” she interrupted. “I really am. I fell asleep watching TV. It was an accident.”

“Who were you with? It was that boy, wasn’t it? That dropout who lives on his own?”

One look at Kelly’s face confirmed Jodi’s suspicion.

“Kelly, I told you not to see him anymore.”

“No,” she corrected. “You said you didn’t like the idea.”

“Then the rest goes without saying!”

“Mom, it was an accident, okay? We were watching Spongebob with his daughter, and we just fell asleep. There’s nothing more to it than that.”

“His daughter?” Eyes bulging, Jodi stared at Kelly in disbelief. “You’re dating a guy who has a daughter?”