Honeytrap (20 page)

When I found her in her bathroom, brushing her short blond hair and bopping around to a '90s song coming from an old radio, all my worries slid out of me like they were melted candles that I'd been burning since I'd heard her story.

My chest cupped into itself. She was my same mom.

Why did I need to keep telling myself that?

Probably because I could picture her as a teenager, getting ready with her friends for a big night out—one that she was never going to tell her parents about. She'd probably made some excuse to them about hanging out with her usual good friends, cruising by the bowling alley like they always did on the weekends. She'd probably hopped in the car with her new, wild, country club staff buddies instead, thinking she would have more fun than ever that night, that she was fifteen now and she could handle anything at the out-of-town party they were taking her to. Maybe she'd even lied about her age to them. Maybe she'd already caught a glance of one of the older boys who'd be there, and her new friends were going to introduce her. Or maybe she'd seen
Dirty Dancing
and she was looking for her own rough, lower-class Patrick Swayze . . . or Swayzes.

Maybe she'd thought she was going to fall in love that night until she'd had one too many wine coolers.

Sadness choked my throat now, but I cleared it away. “Morning, Mom.”

“Morning to you, too.” She turned down the radio. “What can possibly warrant a pre-breakfast visit from my favorite daughter?”

Her favorite.
She kept you, loved you . . . loves you today more than anything . . .

I gulped, thinking of an excuse for me to be here. It came easily. “Don't kill me, but I didn't get those invoices done last night. Is it okay if I do them this afternoon?”

“That'd be great. So you were off partying again, huh?”

“I was socializing, yeah.” If you could put it that way.

She gave her hair one last fluff, and her lightness almost slayed me. What if she knew that I knew? What would that do to her?

“Good for you, Shelby. All work and no play . . . Well, you know my philosophy on that.”

Oh, God, I sure did. Now more than ever.

She smiled at me. “Since you've been helping Mr. Carmichael at the Ritz, that means you're actually doing two jobs.”

“Not really. The work at the theater is light. I'm only helping him with some marketing ideas.”

“You're such a sweet thing.” She winked at me and dug into a makeup tray in an open drawer, coming up with a tube of lipstick. “Speaking of the Ritz, thanks again for letting me have a day off so I could catch a movie. Mr. Carmichael couldn't say enough about you, so that made the trip extra pleasant.” She uncapped the lipstick, then ran a pearled pink shade over her lips. After she used a tissue to blot, she said, “So how's life otherwise?”

I wasn't sure how long I could stand here, bursting with what I knew. But she was Mom. She'd sacrificed so much for me. Couldn't I deal?

“Life's good,” I said, smiling, wishing I didn't have to remind myself that it was what I did around her and it'd always come naturally before.

She latched her gaze onto me, and for a second, I thought she knew. But how?

Then her eyes darkened, and I crossed my arms over my chest. Sadness stuck in my throat again. I didn't
want
to go here with her. I wanted the mom I'd always had—the single woman who'd defied everyone to raise me, no matter what they said about it. I wanted the world we used to live in together, just the two of us against so many others.

“Have you been seeing him, Shel?” she asked.

At first, she threw me off with the question. She wasn't talking about her pregnancy. What
was
she talking about?

She threw the lipstick tissue away and shut the drawer. “It's only that you seem . . . Well, like you're not telling me something, and Micah Wyatt's the only something I can think of that you wouldn't be talking about with me.”

Everything coalesced in my brain then: Mom, and how she didn't like Micah. Marvin Wyatt and his eyewitness account to that night . . .

Was this why she disapproved of Micah? Because she'd known that his dad was there on the night she'd gotten pregnant? Was she afraid that Marvin would tell Micah and Micah would tell me?

Just seeing the slight fear in her eyes was enough to confirm what I believed in my heart—that revealing I knew her secret would change everything, would make her think that I wouldn't see her as the woman I'd always loved and respected.

One day, maybe she'd tell me the truth herself, but I couldn't force her hand now. When she was ready—if she ever was—I'd be there to listen and support her. But it really wasn't up to me.

I went to her, throwing my arms around her. My mom, my defender, the most admirable woman I could've ever hoped to have in my life.

“I love you,” I said as she hugged me back, obviously bewildered by my behavior.

But I wasn't so confused, because I'd just realized something else—if I wasn't hiding Lana Peyton anymore, and if I'd faced Mom this morning, I needed to get someone else in my life out of hiding. Micah.

And the coming out had to start here.

I drew back from her, still holding her hands. She was frowning, like she knew she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.

So I started off easy. “I
have
been . . . hanging out with Micah.”

“You've . . . ? Oh,
Shelby
.”

“He's not a bad guy. I think if you talk to him next time he's in the Angel's Seat, you'll find that out.”

She was already shaking her head.

“Mom, I'm not going to do anything I'll regret. Trust me on this. Please?”

Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned doing something with a guy who I'd regret, because Mom turned a clouded gaze on me, and I knew she was thinking about what she'd done at that party, thinking about how Marvin Wyatt was there.

I hugged her again, much harder this time, because I couldn't see her like this. I couldn't put her through watching me make so-called mistakes with boys I shouldn't be around. She needed to trust me.

“He's not the guy you think he is,” I repeated.

This time, she clung to me like I was going to float away. She hugged me and hugged me, and I felt like the luckiest daughter in the world to have someone who cared so damned much.

“Shelby,” she said in my ear, “you're my little girl. You always have been, and I would move mountains to see that you never get hurt.”

“I know.” Words got hooked on their way out of my throat. “I'd do the same for you.”

Hadn't I proven that this morning by not mentioning the secret? And now, more than ever, I was certain I'd made the right choice.

“I just don't want you to make a rash decision that might affect the rest of your life,” she said. “You're a woman now, and I can't stop you if you set your mind to something, but sweetie, be careful. Just watch every step you take.”

“I will,” I said into her hair. “But I survived what happened with Rex, Mom. I'm a survivor, just like you. And I'll always be your girl who loves you more than anything, no matter what.”

She held me closer at that, and I clung to her as tight as I could.

For as long as I could.

***

I didn't dare tell Evie about
that
story.

Even when I called her a few hours later, after I'd used the elliptical, eaten, and showered, I knew that this was between me and Mom and, of course, Micah. But I made up for it with Evie by presenting the good news of last night.

“Oh my God!” Evie yelled into the phone. “You
didn't
with him!”

“Yes, I did.”

“And?” Evie didn't wait for details. “I'm sitting here fanning myself like Scarlett O'Freakin'Hara. Was it good? Of course it was. Do you wish you could take it back? Or do you—?”

“It was really good,” I'd said on a sigh, smiling and missing Micah so deep that the pit of my stomach felt empty whenever I thought of him. And as I filled Evie in on
almost
all of the rest—minus anything about my mom—she sighed, too. There were also a lot of “oh my Gods,” to go along with the romantic drama, but when I told her about the moment when I'd seen Micah's hand shaking, she went quiet.

Then, “He's really into you. Not just
into
you, like he wants to sleep with you, but . . .”

“He pretty much told me how he feels about me.”

“He . . . loves you?”

“He almost said it.”

To Evie, it was like Ryan Gosling had popped out of a cake naked or something. I sort of felt like that, too, except the only guy I could think of was Micah.

“
Oh my God!
” Evie said. Then she sobered. “Oh. My. God.”

I could tell she was thinking about that damned bet. “Evie, he didn't butter me up so he could get what he got last night and cash in on it.”

“Sure. I know. That would really suck of him. I mean, I didn't think you'd go all the way with him, but now that you did, I would absolutely kill him for messing with you. If that's what he was doing.”

My pulse was fluttering now that she'd brought up that bet, but it was more like a trapped bird than a butterfly flying free. Why was that fear still there, even after last night and everything Micah and I had been through?

How could I even think he'd seduced me as ruthlessly as he'd done to Jadyn Dandritch?

“I'm just being cautious,” Evie said. “I didn't mean to slam your big night. It's huge news. It's wonderful!”

She was still putting on a show. “Listen, I doubted him for a while, too, but yesterday changed everything.”

“I know—you two bonded when his dad showed up.”

Since I hadn't told her what Marvin knew about Mom, I wasn't sure Evie would understand just how much of a connection I felt with Micah. But it seemed she was coming around, anyway.

“I'm sure you two were very emotional after his dad left,” she said. “I'm sure that it did change everything.”

“It did, and . . .” I stood in front of my computer—the Lana Peyton-less one. I'd been doing even more thinking after I'd had my talk with Mom, and that was another reason I'd made a call to my best friend. As I'd told myself before, Lana wasn't the only one who'd needed to come out of hiding and be dealt with. “Evie, you've been telling me to stand up for myself to everyone.”

“Right.”

“And it's time I did that.”

“It is?”

I braced myself. “I'm going to show this town that I don't give a shit what they think about Micah or me. It's not fair to him to keep him hidden away like I'm ashamed of him.”

I could practically hear Evie wince.

“Hey,” I said, “you were the one who cheered me on with him.”

“Well, I was thinking of maybe having you ease into the news, you know? Rex is gonna freak.” A second passed, and I could practically imagine the wheels turning in her head. When she laughed, there was a touch of mischief to it. “That's right—Rex is gonna
freak
! Oh, please tell me I can be there. For support, of course. Because I
will
kick ass if anyone gets in your face.”

I believed her. She was my rock.

“Of course,” I said, smiling. I was already looking forward to this. I was sick of this town and worrying about what they'd say and not say. “I wouldn't want anyone else to be my huckleberry, Evie.”

“Good, because I think I have a great place for you to make that stand . . . if you're really up for it.”

I was. And I was sure Micah would be, too.

Evie had suggested that I do a “soft opening” with Micah over the next few days, being seen with him at the Ritz, then the DQ. And, yes, we did get the expected amount of curious stares and judgmental eyes, even if we were just innocently going to the movies together or sitting at the same table.

Mr. Carmichael was about the only one who greeted us with open arms, giving us free popcorn, chatting with us about
Psycho
, but all in all, everything was going well.

We hadn't worked our way up to having Mom welcome Micah to the Angel's Seat yet because Evie and I both thought
that
would be the toughest appearance of all. She had something else in mind for our “expansion” of the coming-out plan.

We cruised into Kroger after suppertime, Evie linking arms with me down the cereal aisle.

“Jadyn gets off her shift at seven-thirty,” she said. “I told her we were picking her up for the party.”

We were headed to Miller Dock Lake, where a bunch of kids were gathering with kegs on this summer night. Evie, Micah, and I had been planning to pop in and make a short, sweet statement, then go on our way. It wouldn't just be about me and Micah appearing together in public, showing the other kids that we didn't care about them. It was more about being in their faces with our relationship, finally taking a stand and doing what we wanted, with or without their approval.

Let everyone talk and shoot verbal bullets at us after we left. Whatever.

The only drawback was that Jadyn didn't know Micah was in on this yet. We were about to break the news gently.

Jadyn had always been a part of this scandal and she deserved a chance to put an end to it just as much as I did.

We found her walking into the store through a backdoor by the meat counter, and I smiled when I saw that she'd left her usual gray colors behind; her curly dark hair was down, flowing over her shoulders, her milk-and-cocoa skin glowing right along with her hazel eyes. She was dressed in coral shorts and delicate leather sandals with a tank top that looked like Evie had artfully splashed paint over it.

One glance at Evie's satisfied grin confirmed that she had indeed given Jadyn the shirt.

“Girl's on fire,” she said, letting go of me to hug Jadyn.

I did the same before Jadyn stepped back and self-consciously brushed over her clothing with her hands.

“I don't know whether to be scared of creeping into this party to show Rex I'm over him or to be excited.”

“When you see the look on his face after we get there together, you'll be excited,” I said.

Was now a good time to tell her about Micah being there, too?

As Jadyn chatted nervously while we headed for the store's exit, I slyly texted Micah to give him an update.

“Evie's been the best, talking me up and getting me out of my funk about Rex,” Jadyn was saying. “Thank God for you two this summer, because I'd be bummed out without some pepping up. But truthfully, Evie did have to give me an extra push to do
this
.”

I slid a glance to Evie, who had linked arms with Jadyn now.

I waited to talk about Micah until we were close to Evie's car in the parking lot, ready to get in. A text came through.

Micah

On my way.

And that was his only response about Jadyn. What did it mean? The Micah I knew had been real quiet when I'd told him about the plan, but now he didn't seem to give a crap.

I put my phone into my shorts pocket and took care of business with Jadyn. “By the way, there'll be someone else joining us at the lake.”

“And,” Evie said, scooping right in, “it's for good reason.”

Jadyn went still, her fingers on the backseat door handle.

“Micah's meeting us,” I said.

Evie and I waited for her to answer. And waited.

She wandered away, and we looked at each other.

“And this is where we lose her,” I said.

“Nope,” Evie whispered, eying Jadyn, who had stopped walking away and was standing under a parking lot lamp. “She'll come with us.”

Another passing second. Another.

Finally, Jadyn returned. “What's the good reason for him to come with us?”

Okay. She wasn't throwing a fit. Good.

“I'm with Micah now,” I said matter-of-factly. “And he's coming with us because I want to send a strong message to Rex and all of his friends that they can't chase me, you, or anyone away from the lake or anywhere else in this town.”

Jadyn let out a long breath.

Then she said, “I'd heard something about you and Micah hanging around together. Even if I was keeping my head down and out of all the gossip, Kroger is full of it. I didn't believe any idle talk, though. I thought everyone had to be mistaken, so I didn't even ask you and Evie about the rumors.” She laughed softly. “Then I remembered how Shelby's eyes would get dreamy every time Micah's name would come up. I knew you were interested. But . . . together? Do you mean dating?”

“Yeah.” I couldn't stop a smile from overtaking me. The last couple of days with Micah had been perfect. More moonlit nights together, more kissing and loving and not having to say anything while my head rested on his chest and he just breathed.

Even now, my stomach flipped, my heart flopped, my skin flushed.

Jadyn's expression didn't change. “That's a new one. Dating Micah Wyatt. I didn't think those words went together.”

“Surprisingly, they do,” I said. “It was hard to tell you about it, because I know you're not exactly a fan.”

“I'm not.” More silence. “I'm not sure how I should be reacting to this.”

Evie said, “If it matters, I have to say that there's more to him than what you know. And I'll tell you something else—he'd probably be the first to stick up for you if Rex or his pals give you a shitty time for showing up tonight.”

I could've added so much more. That Micah had been my champion when it'd counted the most. That he'd only needed an opportunity to come to someone's rescue and shine. But Jadyn was staring straight forward, digesting everything, probably already convinced one way or another about whether she was going to tolerate Micah's presence.

When she opened the back door and got inside, Evie and I grinned at each other.

“That's a girl,” Evie said.

***

We parked behind some pines down the road that led to the lake, but not so far away that we couldn't hear the music blasting from someone's stereo or catch the sounds of kids hooting and hollering on their way to getting blasted. Hopefully Rex and his crew were already here, just starting to drink.

My belly was scrunched together with gathered nerves. Still, that wasn't as bad as how I'd felt when Marvin Wyatt had told me his story about Mom. I didn't think anything could ever feel that bad again.

Jadyn, however, was having a bit of a freak out.

“I don't know,” she said, still sitting in the backseat while Evie and I stood outside near the dirt road. “Maybe this isn't such a great idea.”

“Jade.” Evie had the practiced tone of someone who'd spent quality time on the phone with Jadyn; she'd told me she'd been calling her regularly. “You can do this. Let them know that they don't scare you and it
will
make a difference. They might be dicks to you tonight, but would you rather stay buried in your job and at home, afraid to go anywhere from this point on? You can't let them beat you.”

“This just seems so unwise.” As a truck blew past us on the road, she pulled back into the shadows.

Evie and I traded a look.
Oh, oh
.

Just as I started to wonder if Jadyn was going to ask us to drive her out of here at any minute, another vehicle came down the road, and I knew the purring sound of its engine pretty well by now.

The Camaro.

Micah saw us and pulled to a stop, his arm hanging out the open window. Once again, the sight of his muscles and skin got me. So did his smile as he ran that gaze down me. But instead of being lustful, his eyes held that softness, that affection, making me sigh and want to fade into him.

Evie's chipper greeting told me she noticed the goo-goo eyes. “Hey, Mike.”

After another sigh-worthy moment, he pulled his attention away from me, nodding at Evie. “Good to see you. You ready for this?”

“Oh,
am
I.”

Then he focused on Evie's car, and his good mood disappeared.

“Jadyn,” he said in a tone that'd lost all its lightness. But if I'd expected to hear regret, there was a formalness there instead.

Where was the guy I'd expected to be apologizing to her already?

She got out of the car, her chin raised. “Micah.”

The sound of the Camaro idling, the squeals and laughter of the party . . . None of it was louder than the silence between them.

I couldn't take it, so I widened my eyes at him. He tightened his jaw, then looked at Jadyn again.

“I'm glad you're here,” he said. “It gives me a chance to apologize.”

His tone was still striking me in a weird way, and I didn't know why. Was he embarrassed and trying to play it off? But that wasn't like the Micah I knew, the blunt one who'd say anything if it was true. Or was he only like that with me?

The little voice I hadn't heard for a while now came crashing back, getting comfortable in a corner of my head.
Or is he only dashingly honest with the girls he intends to nail?

I dismissed that outright and glanced at Jadyn, who shut the car door behind her, then calmly smiled at him. I nearly did a double take.

“I appreciate that, Micah,” she said. “But onward, right?”

Evie beamed with pride. It was the kind of thing she would've said to Jadyn to pep her up.

Still, I didn't think that settled everything between Jadyn and Micah, and I didn't know if anything ever would, really. But when she stood by Evie's side, she seemed over it, even if she was only acting for Micah's sake.
I
really wanted to be over it, and when I glanced back at him, he'd gone back to being Mr. Hot And Bother Me.

“Well, then,” he said. “You girls just gonna stand there all night, or are we gonna make an entrance?”

Evie had already scuttled over to the passenger side, dragging Jadyn with her. “Might as well! If you drive in there, we'll have our escape vehicle nearby for when they start throwing tomatoes at us!”

Jadyn didn't comment as Evie opened the door and pulled her into the backseat. As for me, I slowly walked around the rear of the Camaro, sending Micah a taillight-tinted gaze he was bound to see in his rearview mirror.

Why couldn't he have said a little more to Jadyn? Weird.

When I was seated in the front, Micah took right off without a hello kiss, without a nothing. He could've been keeping his distance, thinking that he didn't want to rub Jadyn's nose in the fact that he and I were together. Or . . .

That idiot voice in me returned full force.
Or he's acting distant for a reason, now that you're about to appear in front of Rex together
.

But why would he act any different with me in that case? Was he on pins and needles about how Rex was going to take the news about us?

I didn't like the direction my thoughts were taking as he rolled up the windows, then accelerated down the dirt road until the dock came into view, a gaggle of kids dancing on it. Nearby, another crowd gathered around the keg in the back of Dante Rhodes' blue Silverado.

But the biggest group was around Rex as he sat reigning on the tailgate of his T-Rex truck, girls clotted around him.

Micah had clearly targeted him, too, because he skidded to a stop about five feet away from the T-Rex Machine, spitting dust on it.

In the backseat, Evie let out a surprised laugh.

But I wasn't laughing, because Rex had hopped off the tailgate and had planted himself at the side of his truck, obviously recognizing Micah's car. He looked taller than ever, built like the quarterback he was, his brown hair flopping over one eye until he pushed it back.

It was like Micah had been waiting for this moment, too, and he shot me one of his cocky looks before he opened his door, lazily getting out. I shrank down, pushing my hair over my face. All gazes outside were on Micah, so no one was looking at me.

Jadyn whispered, “What's he doing?”

“Making an entrance?” Evie said, but she didn't sound so giddy now. We'd been going for a less aggressive statement. Hell, we'd been thinking of starting at the fringes and sort of just appearing for a “we're not going to listen to your bullshit anymore” moment and then take our leave.

None of us girls moved. Adrenaline was screaming “flight!” in me instead of “fight,” and from the frozen expression on Jadyn's face, she was feeling the same thing. But Evie? Hell, Evie was pushing against my seat, clamoring to get out.

“Come on, Shelby,” she said. “Let's do this.”

But why hadn't Micah just taken this confrontation easy instead of throwing down like this?

Outside, Rex was barking at him. “Who invited
you
?”

Micah's drawl flowed through me, making my heart beat harder. “Invitation must've gotten lost in cyberspace, Rexy. We thought this was a community event.”

Rex clearly didn't notice the “we.” “Dude, no one wants your kind around.”

“And what kind is that?” Micah leaned against his car, crossing his arms over his chest.

If I'd ever wondered why Micah had disrespected Rex before, his reasons were obvious now. Rex had it all, including a team behind him as well as beautiful, quarterback-loving girls. Life seemed so easy for boys like T-Rex Alvarez.

Life had never been that way for Micah, and maybe this was the way he got out that frustration. That and all his girls.

How could this be the same guy who'd been so sweet and tender with me?