From the Damage 1 - Opposites Attract (6 page)

They ignored Daphne’s demand, each daring the other to throw the first punch with their glares and their constant nodding up of their chins in c’mon kind of gesture.

“Guys, sit down!”

Ryder’s head snapped to look at Daphne, and then he looked around at the rest of the group. He stepped back slowly until he fell into his chair. He tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling.

“Now, have any of you been in a situation where you felt you weren’t in control?” Daphne looked around the group, taking in the reactions to see if she’d effectively redirected the conversation.

Megan lowered her gaze to the carpet, while Gage glared harder at the clock.

Kelly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and Carmen started to stroke her left arm.

“My entire life is out of control,” Carmen said. “One day, I’m just an average girl, and the next, my mom’s been killed in a car accident and I have to move in with my stupid sister.”

“What’s that been like for you?” Daphne asked.

“It’s turmoil,” she whispered. “I try to be nice to her, but I always end up yelling at her. All we ever do is fight.”

“How old is she?”

“Twenty-two.”

“That’s a very young age to take on the huge responsibility of raising a teenager.

I bet it makes you feel kind of like a burden, huh?”

Carmen swallowed hard, crossing her arms over her chest as she slowly nodded.

“Oh, for God’s sake, get over it,” Gage said suddenly.

Everybody turned to gape at him, obviously shocked at how cruel he sounded.

“I’m not trying to be an ass,” he said to Carmen. “I’m trying to help you out.

People die, and your life is shredded when they do. It happens. The best you can do is swallow the pain and keep living, There’s no other choice.”

“That’s a rather blunt way to put it,” Daphne said as she turned her attention to Carmen again, “but, in essence, Gage is right. When pain or loss knocks us down, we need to get up and keep going.”

“I’ve tried.”

“It sounds like your mom was nice at least,” Kay said as she tapped her fingernails against the arm rest. “You should focus on that. At least you had it. My mom acts like I’m a plague.”

“So? Everybody’s parents suck.” Gage rolled his eyes. “You just have to get used to it.”

“You don’t know what it’s like.” Kay ran a hand through her hair in frustration.

“It’s like, any little screw-up, and she threatens to send me to boarding school.”

“I know you guys can’t live your lives being afraid to do anything—afraid to breathe, afraid to leave, afraid to walk. God, grow a spine.”

“You’re one to talk, Mr. Anger Management.”

Gage laughed. “I don’t need anger management.”

“No, you need some manners,” Kelly mumbled.

Gage glanced at her, and she sank deeper into the chair.

Once the meeting was over, Daphne sprinted after Gage, calling out his name.

She saw his back stiffen at her voice, but he pretended not to hear her. “Gage, wait!”

She reached out and touched his shoulder just as he stopped at his car.

“What?” Turning, he scorched her skin with his fiery, impatient stare.

“Every time somebody opens up in there, you shut them down. That needs to stop.”

“You know what? Just because you say so, I’ll get right on that.”

“I did some checking up on you.”

He tapped his foot against the cement.

“I talked to some old teachers, your boss, your probation officer. They all say the same thing. They tell me you’re a quiet kid, smart if you apply yourself, responsible, with a hint of temper. They even went as far as to say you shouldn’t have been prosecuted for what happened. You vandalized a police station and punched an officer?”

He laughed bitterly. “Yep. I put my fist through one of their windows...and a guy’s face.”

“Right. The night of the school shooting. They had some questions about your involvement with the shooter.”

Glaring at her, he stooped down into the car, but Daphne grabbed the door before he could slam it.

“So I have to ask myself why this quiet, responsible kid is acting up during group. You want me to kick you out—to tell your probation officer you’re a lost cause so they can slap you with a fine and a record, and then you can get on with your life.

Why? Because there’s something you don’t want to talk about.”

“Don’t you realize what’s going on here?” Gage said, keeping his gaze on hers as he gave her a superior laugh. “You’re in over your head, Daphne. You can’t help me, or anybody else in there because you’re no different than any of us. You’re so caught up in what happened to you. The pain is written all over your face. What was it? Parents split up?” His eyes glowed with menace. “Somebody break your heart? Beat you up? Let you down?”

The words and the hateful way he spoke cut into her like a knife. Her lips quivering to hold back her reaction, she let go of the car door.

“I knew it,” he said triumphantly. “You’re just as screwed up as we are. The freaking blind leading the blind.”

She latched onto the door as he tried to pull it shut again. “Don’t you see? That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I got close to your real issue, and you’re trying to piss me off so I’ll give up on you like everybody else has. It’s not going to work. You’d be surprised how well I can handle your abrasive attitude.” She took a deep breath, calming herself. “You’re not a lost cause, Gage...and you
are
worth my time.”

She watched his jaw clench and watched him squeeze his eyes shut.

“You witnessed something horrible. It’s perfectly normal to want to ignore it and wish it would go away, but—and you can trust me on this—it won’t
just go away
. At least not until you face it.”

He revved his engine to a start with a roar that made her jump. “You have no idea what I have to face or what I witnessed.” He slammed the door shut and shoved the car into reverse so fast Daphne had to jump out of the way.

She watched him fishtail out of the parking lot, and wondered if she’d ever see him again.

≈≈≈

Kelly shut and locked the door behind her. She hooked her iPod up to its docking station and let her favorite sad song playlist fill the room. She walked over to a small throw rug in the center of her floor; she pulled the rug away and knelt down.

From beneath a loose floor panel, she retrieved her hidden box of mementos. Sitting on her floor, leaned against her footboard, she opened the box and began to leaf through the contents.

She kept old love letters from Alex in there, but she didn’t dare unfold the weathered pages to read the words he’d once used to sneak into her heart. Taking out a few pictures, she let the memories rush to her: Alex and Kelly at the prom, at a costume party dressed as Elizabeth and Will from
Pirates of the Caribbean
, pictures of her and Alex at homecoming, on a boardwalk, before a football game. They were just random pictures, moments of happiness frozen in time, and nothing more. She flipped the next picture, and tears slowly slipped down her cheeks as she gazed at it.

“Kelly?”

Alex’s voice startled her, and, stifling a scream, she whirled around in search of him and knocked over the shoebox at her feet. Spotting Alex with his head popped in her open window, she had half a mind to shove him out and watch him topple two stories onto the ground.

“What are you doing here?” she hissed.

“I’ve been calling you, and—”

“I’ve been ignoring you, if you couldn’t tell.” Crossing her arms over her chest, she stood up as he climbed in her window.

His gaze landed on the scattered contents of the box. He pointed and gave a small smile. “Are those pictures of us? I knew it! You still care about me.”

“
Of course
I still care.” She plopped down onto her bed and looked down at the picture in her hand. “But you shattered my heart into a million tiny pieces. I don’t even know how to...”
deal
, she thought,
cope, live
.

Reaching out, he slowly pulled the picture from her grasp and looked down at it, his face clouding over as he realized what the picture was. “Kelly, I—”

“Don’t,” she said, but instead of sounding forceful, she whimpered. “Please.”

“I just want to find some way to fix this.” He sat next to her, but she immediately stood up, unable to even be around him anymore. “We used to be best friends, Kel.

When I broke up with you, I didn’t know that would change.”

“Please,” she snapped. “When you broke up with me, you know as well as I do that it was to dodge a bullet. You knew I was going to be upset about what happened, and you just didn’t want to deal with it.”

“It messed me up, too, Kelly,” he said, saying her name in a bossy tone he rarely used. “You act like you’re the only one hurting.”

“Oooh, I’m so sorry,” she said with fake sympathy. “I’m sorry
you’re
hurting. I guess that can happen when you make a big mess out of your life.”

“Kelly—”

“I needed you,” she said, cutting him off and keeping her gaze steadily on his.

“You walked away. So, Mr. Take Off When the Going Gets Tough, why don’t you just keep on freaking walking?”

Shaking his head, he glanced down at the picture in his hand. “I had no idea it’d turn out this way.”

“Well, it
did
.” She yanked her picture from his hand and tucked it against her chest. “So, please, Alex, if you ever cared about me at all, you’ll leave me alone and let me get over you.”

≈≈≈

Kay stood on the sidewalk outside her house, balancing a pizza box on her hand.

Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to go inside the house.

Her father sat in his recliner, a bottle of liquor in one hand as the blue light from the television flickered across his face in the dark room.

Kay took a cautious step into the living room. “Hey, Daddy. I brought a pizza.”

“You were supposed ta be here at 14:00 hours,” was his gruff reply.

Kay walked around to face her dad and placed the pizza down on the coffee table. “I know. I lost track of time while I was studying at the library.”

“Studying?” He laughed at that, bringing the bottle to his lips as he gulped a swig of brown liquid.

Kay braced herself, a shiver running down her spine at her dad’s hateful tone.

“Dad, I’m only ten minutes late.”

Trying to ignore the impending fight, Kay proceeded to the kitchen, where she poured two glasses of soda and grabbed some paper plates. She carried them back into the living room, handed her father a soda, and then placed a piece of pizza onto the plate.

She was glad her back was turned when she heard him say, “The pharmacy called.”

Slowly, she turned to face her father, fear seeping into every muscle in her body, stiffening her from head to toe.

“They said your prescription’s been ready for over a week now, and you need to pick it up.”

She cautiously walked toward him with the food and set it down on the dinner tray next to him. “Oh, that.”

“What kind of prescription is it, Kay?”

“It’s just some cough syrup, Dad,” she said, her voice shaking. “I’ve just had a cold lately.”

As she started to move back, her dad reached out and grabbed her wrist, his gruff voice startling her. “Don’t lie to me, girl.”

“I haven’t done anything wrong.”

He gripped her wrist tighter.

“You’re hurting my arm. Please, just don’t do this tonight, okay? I have to go to school tomorrow!”

Roger let her go with a sudden jerk that sent her toppling over into the bookshelf. Instantly, she was dizzy from hitting her head, and the room was spinning in circles as she tried to sit up.

Her father still stood by his recliner, but from the floor, he looked much taller than usual. “Why won’t you tell me the truth, Kay?”

“I told you, Dad, it’s for
cough
syrup
.”

Shaking his head in a disappointed look that said he didn’t believe her, Roger walked over to her, each thick, heavy boot making a drunken
clunk
on the floor.

Chapter Five—Magnetism

Ryder picked up his phone, dialed the first half of Meagan’s number, and then hung up again. It was the third time he’d tried to call her, and he kept finding excuses to bail. “Why am I so nervous?” he muttered to himself. He couldn’t recall ever being so nervous around a girl before, and he wondered if it meant anything or if it was just because Meagan knew more about him than any of the other girls. Taking a deep breath, he picked up his phone, dialed her number, and finally let it ring.

On the third ring, Meagan answered with a rough, hateful “What?”

“Wow,” he said. “I hope you don’t have caller ID.”

She gave a small gasp and then sighed. “Ryder. I’m sorry. These jerks have been prank calling me for over an hour.”

“Ah. Lena and her gang?”

“Who else?”

Ryder felt sorry for her, and he wished those girls would just leave her alone.

“Then it sounds like you need to step away from the phone and come take a drive with me.”

She giggled a little. “Is that so?”

“Yep,” he said, unable to hold back the grin she always caused. “Doctor’s orders.”

“That sounds great. Thank you,” she said softly. “When?”

“You tell me,” he said. “I can be there before ya know it.”

≈≈≈

By the time Ryder picked Meagan up at her house, she was growing nervous. To say she was attracted to him would’ve been an understatement—more like crazy star-crushing, like the one she’d had on Justin Timberlake years ago, only she didn’t have any life-sized posters of Ryder...yet.

Ryder picked her up, and they drove to Clearwater Lake. Since it was early evening, it wasn’t too difficult to find an area that wasn’t crowded, and they settled on top of Ryder’s hood to gaze out at the water.

She noticed that Ryder looked a thousand miles away as he gazed out over the gently rippling current of the lake. “What are you thinking?” she probed.

He smiled, peeking at her out of one eye. “You really want to know?”

Meagan nodded as she pulled out her camera phone. She needed to get a picture of Ryder looking like this, all dark and thoughtful and mysterious.