Games of Fire (55 page)

“The dance is in a few days,” he said with a tone that was a little too husky. “This Friday.”

Sophie had forgotten all about the dance and couldn’t believe how quickly it had come around. She turned to Jessie who was staring down at her feet, looking like she was trying not to listen.

“Have you and Lauren already gone shopping yet?” Sophie asked.

Jessie shook her head. “We were waiting for you to come back so we could go together.”

Sophie smiled at her, hoping to ease the sadness from her eyes. “Did you want to go tomorrow after school? We could drive into New West.”

Jessie nodded, smiling slightly. “I’ll let Lauren know.” She pulled her phone out and began texting as she hurried away, leaving Sophie to turn to Joe.

“Are you going?”

Joe shifted ever so slightly. “Well, I was hoping … ”

“You should!” Sophie insisted when he faltered. “I want you to come.”

He blinked, straightening. “Really?”

Sophie smiled. “Of course!” She slipped her arm through his. “It wouldn’t be the same without you and I would miss you.”

“Oh … okay!” he said, his shoulders relaxing.

She guided him towards their table, which was remarkabl
y a whole lot emptier than it used to be. Jessie was there, head still bent over her phone, thumbs a blur over the keys, but the rest of the group, Brian and Roy and the others, were back to their table on the other side of the room. Brian glanced up when Sophie spotted him. His face broke into a wide grin. He raised the arm not draped around Tiffany’s shoulder and waved, pointing to an empty spot at the table. Sophie waved back, but pointed to her table with a shrug. He shrugged back, still grinning.

Chuckling, Sophie glanced at Joe. “What happened while I was gone? What’s with the divide of the tables?”

“Hey, Blondie.” The low, husky murmur caressed every nerve ending in her body the way silk glides on flesh. It whispered into her ear, toying with her senses until she was lightheaded and breathless when she whipped around.

“Spencer!” She threw her arms around him, burying her face into his neck and closing her eyes.

Behind her, Joe grunted and stomped over to the table and sat next to Jessie.

Spencer kissed the top of her head. “
Miss me?”

She chuckled. “Yes.”
Too much.

The last part wasn’t
said out loud, but his arms tightened around her. “I missed you, too, baby.” He drew back to search her face. “How has your first day back been? Mine’s been endless.”

Sophie sighed, touching his chest. “
I think we’ve been used to not having to do anything for two weeks. I already have a month’s worth of homework and that’s only from two classes.”

He nodded, slipping an arm around her shoulder. “Me too.”

They sat at the table across from Jessie who set her phone down and smiled at Spencer. “Hello!”

Spencer smiled back. “Hey.”

Jessie switched her gaze to Sophie. “Lauren’s on her way.”

No sooner had she said it when the leggy beauty appeared at their table. She dumped her book bag on the floor and flopped down on Jessie’s other side. “I’ve decided I’m going to just drop out of school and live in a refrigerator box behind Bill’s.”

Jessie giggled. “Ms. Anes still giving you a hard time with that essay?”

Lauren grumbled something that would have earned her a year’s worth of detention if a teacher had heard under her breath. “She hates me.”

“She does not!” Jessie argued. “Besides, this will make you feel better. Sophie wants to know if you’d like to go shopping tomorrow after school.”

Lauren blinked as if surprised to find Sophie sitting across from her. It was an exaggerated flutter of her eyes
like in the movies where they clutch their chest in horrified confusion. Thankfully she didn’t go that far.

“Oh! I forgot you were back.” She waved a hand. “We were just getting used to you bailing on us.”

“Lauren!” Sophie pleaded. “I said I was sorry!”

“Give her a break, Laur!” Jessie said at the same time.

“They would have killed her or worse if they’d gotten their hands on her,” Spencer said casually, but with a hard, steely undertone that axed all conversation at the table. “They found her at the hotel which meant somehow, they were able to track her. The only way to keep her safe was to go underground for a few days. She didn’t do it to be malicious. Unless you would rather she be your friend in the afterlife instead.”

Lauren’s rapid eye movement wasn’t exaggerated this time. “Excuse me?”

Spencer shrugged, tearing open his paper bag. “I’m just saying. It was either not talk to her for a few days and still have her alive or … ”

Lauren’s mouth opened and closed a few times. Her eyes darted between Sophie and Spencer as if waiting for someone to jump out and say,
fooled you!
But when no one moved or spoke. She pressed her lips together.

“She could have still texted!”

“My parents took my phone,” Sophie said. “And Spencer’s. We didn’t even go outside for a week and a half!”

Lauren eyed her narrowly, something of the old Lauren sparkling behind the stare. “Did you have fun?”

“No!” Sophie said automatically. “It was horrible.”

“Hey!” Spencer said.

Lauren burst out laughing. “Okay, fine. I forgive you, but next time, you keep a sister informed!”

Sophie smiled. “Let’s hope there won’t be a next time.”

“Amen!” Lauren muttered, exhaling. “That shit was scary.”

A moment of tense silence fell over the table. It was broken by Jessie.

“So what happened?”

Sophie told them everything
about their move into the hotel room and finally the card that sent her to live with Spencer’s father for a little over a week.

“The detectives phoned my dad and told him that someone had tipped them off on these guys and when they were arrested, they found evidence that they’d done it
and
they confessed to everything,” she finished.

Lauren frowned. “They confessed? Just like that? Who were these guys?”

“Dad said they were the same ones from the party. One of the apparently rolled over, spilling everything.”

Lauren was still frowning, but Jessie beamed. “I am just so glad it’s over!”

“Why were these guys after you?” Lauren interrupted.

Sophie shrugged. “I guess to get even for what I did? I don’t know. The police are still trying to figure it all out.”

“Setting a person’s house on fire seems a bit extensive for a few scratches on the face,” Lauren mused. “I mean were these guys crazy or something?”

“I don’t know.”

But Lauren wasn’t listening. “And who tipped them off? That doesn’t make sense. If all three were arrested, then who was the person who snitched? It clearly wasn’t one of them, right? And what kind of evidence did they find?”

Unease had begun to froth in Sophie’s stomach. A cold chill crept along her spine, curling around the base of her neck, making her shudder. Why hadn’t she thought to ask these questions?

“Hey.” Spencer placed a soothing hand on her spine. “None of that matters. The police will sort it out. What matters is that those assholes are in jail where they belong and they can’t hurt you.”

Lauren noticed the pallor of Sophie’s face and winced. “Hey, don’t listen to me. This is what happens when you watch too much
CSI
.”

Sophie tried to smile, but the numbing grip around her refused to be shaken. She busied herself opening her lunch bag and removing her lunch. She passed a sandwich over to Joe.

He caught her gaze. “I won’t let them near you again,” he said softly.

The hand moving rhythmically over the ridges of her spine faltered, but just as quickly, resumed.

“So are we good for shopping tomorrow?” Jessie asked, abruptly changing the subject.

It was set. They would all somehow pack into Lauren’s tiny
Coop and drive to Gilford Mall. Sophie wasn’t sure how they were going to accomplish this feat and was a little impressed and amused when Spencer and Joe didn’t so much as blink an eyelash when they mysteriously got dragged into the adventure. Sophie tried to warn Spencer that there would be a lot of stores and whole lot of trying on dresses, but he just shrugged.

“I can watch.” He leaned in close to whisper into her ear. “Maybe we can stop at a lingerie store if I’m a good boy?”

Sophie blushed, elbowing him. “Quit that!”

He snickered, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

The next day, Lauren picked her and Spencer up with Jessie already in the car. They left her driveway and headed out of River Port towards Surrey.

“Where’s Joe?” she asked.

“Not coming,” Jessie said from the passenger’s side. “His mom wasn’t feeling well.”

Sophie
’s lips made an
O
of understanding and she let the matter drop.

They arrived at the m
all and instantly hit all the dress shops. Sophie knew straight away that she wouldn’t find very much. All the good dresses were already snatched up and what was left was drab and so not her style, not that it stopped Lauren from forcing her to test most of them out.

By the ninth store, Sophie was ready to go home.

“Having fun yet?” she asked Spencer, who had yet to complain through all of that. He casually walked beside them, waited while she was forced into change rooms, and then walked just as casually back out with them.

He shrugged. “It’s not so bad.”

She scowled. “Really?”

“Could be worse,” he said as if that were possible.

Sophie decided to just ignore him. The guy clearly had some kind of issue. How could he not be losing his mind? She was the one doing the shopping and she was bored stiff.

“Hey, I want to go check something. I’ll catch up with you guys in a little bit, okay?” He was gone before she could beg him to take her with him.

“Deserter!” she shouted after him, ignoring the odd stares she received from other shoppers.

“Where’s he going?” Jessie appeared at her side.

“He’s making a run for it!” Sophie muttered, glaring venomously after him. “Coward.”

Jessie giggled. “Come on. Lauren found a dress she says you’ll like.”

Sophie allowed herself to be pulled deeper into the store.

Lauren stood by the change room, a poppy red dress draped over her arm. She grinned at Sophie, clearly enjoying the power she seemed to wield.

“You’ll like this one,” she told Sophie, thrusting the material into Sophie’s chest and shoving her behind the curtain.

“You said that about the last thirty
.”

“Yes, well, I’m sure this time.”

“You said that, too!”

She hated to admit it, but once the dress was over her head and zipped up, she loved it. It fell high up on her thighs, much shorter than her mother would ever allow, but with a pair of tights, she could probably get away with it. The collar fell modestly over her collarbone and the sleeves were puffy little teacups. But it was the back that sold her. There wasn’t one. The back opened halfway down in a playful U before the skirt took over at her waist. A thin strap bridged across her shoulder blades, keeping the sleeves from slipping off her shoulders. The material was soft and the skirt flirty, sweeping around her thighs and ballooning out perfectly when she twirled. She loved it.

“Are you alive in there?” Lauren called.

“We found a keeper!” she called back, poking her head out from behind the curtain. “It’s perfect.”

She stepped out for her friends to see, delighted when they
ooh’d and ahh’d
, agreeing with her. She hurriedly changed back into her regular clothes and took her dress to the front counter.

The girl behind the counter had just finished ringing her up and stowing her dress into the bag when her hands stilled on the bag handle. Her glossy lips formed an O and her brown eyes stared across the store, wide and slightly unfocused. Sophie followed her gaze and smiled.

“Hey!” she called, watching Spencer’s approach.

He returned her smile with a light kiss to her lips. “Done?”

Sophie nodded, taking her bag from the crestfallen girl. “Found the perfect dress. No! You can’t see.” She jerked the bag away when he tried to take a peek. “I want you to be surprised.” She looked down at his empty hands. “Where did you go, traitor?”

He pushed a hand through his hair, smiling at her crookedly. “I want you to be surprised.”

She poked him in the belly, making him grunt. “Meany.”

They spent the next three hours wandering about looking for dresses for Lauren and Jessie. Then another hour finding matching accessories. They stopped at the food court for a quick bite before resuming their hunt. It was nearly midnight before Lauren finally pulled up Sophie’s driveway and dropped them off.

“Still think shopping with us was a good idea?” Sophie turned to Spencer as the Coop’s back lights faded down the street.