Games of Fire (26 page)

Sophie tried not to groan. “But last night—”

“Has nothing to do with today!” She smacked the piece of steel wool down on the stove and straightened. “We are not going to let this … incident, direct our lives! What we are going to do is keep going as if it never happened! As if we were never … violated by that … that … ”

It was the sheen of tears in her mother’s eyes that kept Sophie from arguing. She sighed. “I’ll go get dressed. I’m not very hungry anyway.”

Her mother went back to scrubbing without answering.

Her father stayed behind. He claimed it was because he didn’t feel safe leaving the house so vulnerable. Sophie believed him, but she still didn’t like it, mostly because that meant her mother would be driving.

Sure enough, when Sophie reached the car, her mother was behind the wheel. She began to groan when she noticed someone already in the passenger’s side.

Jackie smiled and waved at her as Sophie slipped into the backseat next to Spencer. “Good morning, Sophia!”

“Morning,” she mumbled. She turned her head to the boy beside her. “Hey.”

He grinned sleepily. “Hey.”

“Get any sleep?” she asked.

He groaned, letting his head drop back against the seat. “Not a wink. You?”

Sophie sighed. “Nope.” She glanced at the empty spot on his other side. “Where’s Suzy?”

“Sleepover this weekend,” he replied with a shrug.

Her mother started the car and they pulled out of the driveway. As expected, she stopped for every car, every cat, every piece of drifting leaf from there to the church. She took every turn at a snail’s pace and pulled over to let every car behind her pass. Sophie was ready to scream by the time they finally reached the church parking lot.
This is why dad did all the driving,
she thought.

“Would you like to meet my friends?” she asked Spencer as they entered the church. “You don’t have to. I mean, you’ve already technically met them. That’s to say you
… we sit with them every day at lunch.” Why was she so nervous? It wasn’t as if she was introducing him to her parents or telling her father this was the boy that got her in trouble. Yet she was sweating bullets. At any moment, her white dress was going to turn see-through with all the sweat accumulating beneath her armpits.

Spencer, who would have been stupid not to notice, wisely kept his thoughts to himself. He shrugged. “Sure.”

Jessie saw them first and one look into the blonde’s puffy, blotchy, teary face and Sophie knew her friends had already heard the news.

“How—”

Lauren was on her before she could even finish her sentence. “Not a single phone call or text. Do you hate me?”

Sophie dislodged the nails the other girl was burrowing into her arms. “I’m sorry! There wasn’t time. It all happened so fast and there was so much going on and I was so tired.”

Lauren exhaled. “We have been worried sick!”

Sophie opened her mouth to respond again, only to snap it shut and frown. “Wait. How did you guys even know about
… ?”

Lauren jerked a thumb over her shoulder to where Joe stood, looking anxious and concerned
and annoyed. “Joe heard about it over his walkie-talkie last night.”

“Police radio,” Joe corrected.

“Isn’t it illegal for civilians—?”

“It was my dad’s!” Joe barked defensively
to Spencer’s question.

Spencer put up his hands
in surrender, but he looked anything but apologetic.

There was a moment of awkward silence as no one really knew what to say. The topic of Joe’s family had always been a touchy subject amongst the group. Sophie was almost certain only they knew about Joe’s father and she had never to
ld anyone, not even her parents, not that it would have helped anything. She doubted her mother would suddenly see Joe in a different light. There was a line where Joe was concerned when it came to most of the town’s people. It made Sophie all the more adamant to be his friend.

“So what happened?” Lauren broke the tension. “We heard they found a cat on your doorstep?”

The bloodstained paper bag flashed through her mind’s eye like a snapshot, bright, focused and vivid. She could almost smell the coppery tang, feel the way it wrapped in the air, leeching the scent of pine, grass and rain. Her stomach coiled.

“Cat?”
Her hoarse voice croaked.

Lauren turned to Joe
, oblivious to her friend’s now ashen complexion. “That’s what they said, wasn’t it?”

Joe
sent Lauren an annoyed glance. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked away without answering.

“What?” Lauren turned those big
, dark eyes on Sophie.

“Oh, Lauren!” Jessie gasped. “That is a terrible thing to bring up. Can’t you see how upset you’re making
Sophie?”

Lauren winced. Her thin arms went around Sophie and she was dragged into a tight hug. “I’m sorry, girl.”
The service began and people started towards their pews. Lauren released Sophie. “Bill’s? My treat.”

Sophie nodded, feeling suddenly so tired and sick
.

Lauren touched her arm lightly
and with an apologetic smile hurried to join her mother and brother.

Jessie hugged her quickly. “We’ll talk after, all right?”

Sophie nodded and watched her leave as well.

Joe looked like he was about to say something. His eyes kept darting between her and Spencer, but whatever it was, he quickly swallowed it down and ambled away.

Sophie turned at the feel of Spencer’s fingers lightly grazing the curve of her spine. He tipped his head ever so slightly, his expression questioning.

“I’m okay,”
she lied, but she couldn’t hide the single tear that slipped her lashes.

He drew her into
his arms, pressing her into his warmth. “Shh,” he whispered into her temple.

“A cat?” she croaked, squishing her face into his chest.
“Who would do something so disgusting?”

He kissed the top of her head. “S
omeone that needs serious help.”

She tipped her face up to his. “
Who do you think it was?”

His shoulders jerked. “I don’t know.”

“Sophia!” Her mother waved at them from the pew, motioning for them to hurry up and sit.

Spencer laid a gentle hand on
Sophie’s lower back and guided her over. They sat.

Sophie turned to her mother. “What was in the bag?”

Her mother blinked. “What?”

“Was it a cat?”

Her mother’s color drained. “Who … ” Her gaze flickered to where Joe sat in the pew across from theirs, alone, and her eyes narrowed. “That boy’s mother should have him throw away that horrible radio! It’s an invasion of privacy! He has no—”

“Mom! Was it?”

Her mother’s nostrils flared. Her lips pinched thin. She straightened. “Now is not the time to discuss this. We are in church. Some of us,” her gaze shot to Joe again, then back. “Should realize this before opening our mouths.”

Sophie dropped the topic, but only for the time being. From experience she knew if she pushed now, her mother would only go into one of her many Joe-rants, involving Joe and his family. Sophie didn’t want to hear it. What happened with his father was not Joe’s fault. She hated when people blamed him. No one knew how hard he had it at home already without others pointing fingers.

“Do you want to go to Bill’s?” Sophie asked Spencer after the service. “I really don’t want to go home right now.”

Spencer nodded. “Sure.”

“Are we all ready, good boys and girls?” Lauren appeared behind them, Jessie next to her.

Sophie nodded, her gaze sweeping over the crowd. “Where’s Joe?” she asked
.

“Had to get home,” Jessie said.
“His mother isn’t feeling well.”

Sophie sighed, feeling her heart go out to him.

“He promised to stop by a little later if he can,” Lauren said as they made their way out of the church.

“What’s wrong with his mom?” Spencer asked as they made their way toward Bill’s. Lauren and Jessie were a few paces ahead, chattering on about something that sounded like their trip to the cabin Friday. They almost sounded like they were arguing, but Sophie couldn’t be sure.

“She’s sick,” Sophie murmured.

“Like a cold or something?”

She shook her head. “She’s manic depressive and a few other things. She’s more not there than there, you know? She can’t really do anything for herself. Joe takes care of her.”

Spencer nodded his head slowly. “And his dad? He’s a cop?”

“Was.” She tucked a coil of hair behind her ear. “He died a few years ago.”

“On the job?”

Sophie hesitated. She had never told anyone about Joe’s home life. She wondered if she was breaking some kind of friendship code by telling Spencer this much, not that it was a secret really. Spencer could ask anyone and they would tell him about Joe’s dad. The guy was infamous throughout River Port. Biggest news in years. But they wouldn’t tell him the truth or at least the side they didn’t know about. That was the side Sophie wanted Spencer to hear from her before hearing it from anyone else.

“Kind of,” she murmured.
“He kind of lost his temper and his partner shot him.”

Spencer’s eyes widened at this. “What?”

With a deep sigh, Sophie told him the story. “Joe’s dad was an asshole. He was abusive to Joe and his mom and used to beat them something silly. I think I spent more time with Joe in the hospital than anywhere else. He had a mean temper made even meaner with alcohol. One day they got called in because some guy got caught shoplifting. The guy was mouthy I guess and his dad just went insane! He nearly killed the guy. When he got back to the station, the chief asked for his badge and gun, told him he was suspended from duty. His dad went nuts, pulled his gun and shot the chief. The rest is kind of history.”

“Holy shit,” Spencer mumbled.

Sophie nodded. “Yeah, everyone loved the chief so it’s kind of a big deal. Joe’s kind of been taking the heat all these years for something he didn’t do, which is why he comes off as so … ”

“Yeah,” Spencer said, shaking his head. “That really sucks.”

They reached Bill’s in silence, Sophie lost deep in the recesses of her own thoughts.

“Hey.” Spencer lightly touched her arm, pulling her aside instead of letting her
follow her friends inside. “You okay?”

Sophie nodde
d, but feeling as far from all right as humanly possible. “It just makes me crazy. He didn’t do anything. Joe was just a kid, but he’s the son of a cop killer. He’s basically guilty by association or something.”

The pad of his thumb smoothed over the curve of her cheek.
“At least he has you guys.”

Sophie sighed. “
I’m sorry. I don’t mean to complain. I guess I’m just really tired.”

“We could
skip this, go back to my place,” he suggested with a small smile. “I heard your mom ask my mom over for lunch. That could give us about an hour of naptime.”

Temping. So tempting, especially the part about taking a nap together.

“I want to!” She touched his chest. “But I think Lauren wants to grill you and she won’t let us leave.”

Spencer’s eyebrows lifted. “Grill me?”

Embarrassment colored her cheeks, forcing her eyes down. “I may have mentioned you and she’s the kind of person that likes to make sure her friends don’t get hurt. So when I—”

He perked. “You mentioned me?”

The blood boiled beneath her skin, hot and fierce. “Don’t get excited. I didn’t say it was good things I mentioned.”

He gave her a look of feigned innocence. “What else is there?”

She scowled playfully at his teasing, elbowing him lightly in the gut. “Well it certainly isn’t your modesty.”

His arm looped around her middle and she was dragged into him. He rested his forehead against her shoulder and sighed. “I would much rather be in bed with you.”

Sophie closed her eyes, breathing him in. “Me too.”

After a last nuzzle of her neck, he drew back. “
Ladies first?” He swung open the door and swept her in with a theatrical wave of his arm.

Sophie giggled, shaking her head. “You are so strange.”

Spencer just grinned, following her inside, missing the angry set of eyes watching them from across the street.

“What’s your middle name?” Lauren stuffed a greasy fry into her mouth, brown eyes never wavering away from Spencer.

“Mason,” he said in the same amused tone he’d been using to answer all her other questions.

Lauren raised an eyebrow. “Spencer Mason Rowth?”

“Yup.”

“Okay, well, we won’t hold that against you
, even if it’s super lame.”

“Lauren!” Sophie cried, horrified.