Lie to Me (A Touched Trilogy) (28 page)

Talking made me realize how badly my breath smelled. To
distract myself, I rummaged in my purse for some gum.

“What are you looking for?” Nathan asked.

“Some gum. My breath is kind of funky.”

“Check the glove box. My mom is a fanatic about her teeth.
She may have something.”

I opened the glove box, found a pack, and pulled out a stick
of nasty tasting dental gum. The repetitive chewing had a calming effect,
though my knees didn’t stop their jackrabbit thumping. The drive wasn’t long,
only about thirty minutes, but each minute felt like an eternity. Each one a
minute that Tonya could be in trouble. I tried calling her cell again, but
there was still no answer.

“You okay?” Nathan asked.

“Yeah, I just hope Tonya is.” I rubbed my hands down my
face, then placed them on my knees and tried to still my bouncing legs. “I
don’t understand why she would go and see him. I would kill the guy if he’d
done that to me.”

“Who knows? Maybe she was just picking up some of her
stuff.”

I picked up the GPS and checked the arrival time. Four
minutes. I put it back in the dashboard holder and glanced out the window. My
gum popped in my mouth and I blew an awkward bubble. It was the old person type
of gum meant only for chewing, not bubble blowing. I tried another bubble, but
it snapped across my tongue. I looked at the GPS again. Two minutes. Bubble.
Snap. One minute.

“There it is.” I sat up in my seat. The area was familiar
and the GPS was announcing we’d arrived. I jumped out of the truck as soon as
Nathan parked. He followed behind me, as I pushed the call button for Trevor’s
apartment. He didn’t answer. I pressed it again and again. My finger bending
painfully with the pressure I was using. “Answer the fucking door, asshole.”

“Maybe he’s not home.”

“He’s here. I know it.” I stepped back and looked up at his
window. He was right above us on the second floor. The blinds were drawn, but
backlit. He was up there. Bianca and Owen came up behind me and Nathan
explained Trevor wasn’t answering. “Shh! Listen.”

They all shut up and we listened. Then I heard it. It was
faint, but it was there. A cry and then something louder. Trevor yelling.

“I’m calling the cops,” Owen said, and I tried to remember
why I hadn’t done that earlier.

I lunged back at the call button and did what I’d seen done
on TV and the movies, pressing all the buttons, over and over again, hoping
someone would just let us in. No one did. But one answered the call.

“Hello?” a man’s voice said.

“Thank God! Can you let us in? We need to get in please! My
friend is hurt.” I was crying. Trevor was getting louder. I could hear him
yelling clearly now. What was scaring me was that I didn’t hear Tonya.

 “Is this about that couple fighting upstairs?” the man
asked.

“Yes. Please! We’ve called the police, but please let us
in.”

He didn’t reply, but a moment later, there was a buzz and
the door pulled open under Nathan’s tugging hand.

“I’ll wait for the cops,” Owen called behind us, and caught
the door before it closed. Even as he said it, I caught a flash of blue and red
lights reflecting along the road with the corner of my eye.

I ran up the stairs with Nathan and Bianca right behind me.
Trevor’s door was behind the stairwell and I thumped on it with the palm of my
hand. I could hear Tonya now. She was crying. Whimpering.

“Trevor! Open up. I know Tonya’s in there.” I slammed my
hand against the door when there was no response, and then pounded my fist on
the door repeatedly.

“The cops are here,” Bianca said from the foot of the
stairs.

“Trevor, please, open the door,” I begged, trying to sound a
bit less angry and scared.

“Miss, move away from the door.”

I glanced over my shoulder and saw two police officers
behind me. Nathan wrapped a hand around my arm and tugged me back, giving the
officers space to move.

“My friend is in there. I know she is. Please, help her.”

“Miss, step back and let us do our job.” The female officer
glared at me, causing me to take that commanded step back.

“Phoebe, just be quiet,” Nathan said. It sounded harsh, but
I knew he was only trying to help. With his father being the sheriff, he knew
what to do around working officers. “Let’s wait downstairs.”

“She didn’t need to be rude,” I said, my entire body shaking
with fear and anger as we moved to the stairs.

“She wasn’t. That’s the way cops are when they’re on duty.
They need people to be a bit intimidated.”

We walked back down to where Owen was waiting, and collapsed
on the bottom step. I wanted, needed, to know what was going on. I could hear
them knocking on the door, and identifying themselves as police. It seemed like
forever before there was the creak of the door opening.

Once the police had gone inside it was impossible to hear
anything. Then the sirens of an ambulance reached us, and my stomach dropped.
Tonya must be hurt.

When Nathan gripped my arm, I thought he was preparing to
stop me from going back up, but he was just moving me out of the way so the
paramedics could get through. They took the stairs two at a time.

“I should have called the cops as soon as she called me,” I
said, watching the paramedics disappear up the stairs.

“You didn’t know what was going on.” Nathan rubbed his arm
along my arm. “Besides, what would you have said? That you thought Tonya was
here, but couldn’t prove it? That you thought she was hurt, but couldn’t prove
it?”

“No. I don’t know. I should have done something to stop
this.”

“You’re blaming yourself again, Phoebe,” Owen said. His arms
were crossed and he stared at me with an intense gaze. It was a gaze that made
me wonder if maybe he was simply acting all those times when he spaced out.
“You might have a gift to hear lies, but you can’t know everything, and even if
you did, you can’t control everyone. Tonya would have come here if you’d known
or not. And if you’d told her not to come, she would have probably broken speed
records to get here.”

“Probably.” Admitting it didn’t make me feel any better.

Owen looked like he had a lot more to say, but there was
movement at the top of the stairs and we all turned to watch. Trevor came down
first, his arms twisted behind his back, wrists cuffed. I found it difficult to
swallow, my mouth completely dry. Even now, it was easy to see why Tonya had
trusted him at first. He didn’t look like a bad guy. He just hid it very well.

The paramedics came next and that’s when I nearly broke
down. Tonya was on a backboard, her neck stabilized. Blood was everywhere,
covering her new blue shirt, it was in her hair, and on her face. God, her
face. What I could see was swollen and discolored.

“Oh God,” I sobbed, and stepped toward her. Nathan held me
back so they could move her out of the lobby.

Tonya murmured something, but her lips were so swollen the
words were unintelligible. I knew she had heard me. I shook Nathan’s hold off,
and walked alongside her as they got her outside, managing to grasp her hand.
She felt so cold.

Looking down at her from this angle, I could see the other
side of her face. There was an impression of the Nike swoosh along the side of
her face. I choked back the bile burning my throat.

“I’m here, Tonya. You’re gonna be fine.” I tried to keep my
voice steady, but it still trembled.

Her lips moved again, and I could see tears pooling in her
eyes. My hand slid from hers as she was transferred into the back of the
ambulance.

“Are you family?” asked one of the paramedics.

“What? No. No, I’m her best friend.” I looked at the
paramedic. My mind was completely clouded. I tried to figure out what was
happening. “Is she okay? What...? Can I ride with her? Please?”

There was a pause, as if he was debating, and then he gave a
short nod. I climbed up into the back of the ambulance and looked back at
Nathan.

“Call Mrs. Robinson!” I yelled before the doors closed and
we took off.

The ride was surreal. Nothing like I’d seen on television.
There was no frantic moving about, working on her, no blaring sirens, although
the lights flashed occasionally. The paramedics were calm and simply monitored
her. I took it as a good sign, that maybe she just looked worse than she really
was.

They asked me a few questions, about allergies, medical
history, medication, and I answered as best I could.

Once at the hospital, I was directed to the nurses’ station
where I simply gave them Mrs. Robinson’s phone number. After that, there was
nothing to do but sit. I found a seat in the emergency room and texted the name
of the hospital to Nathan and Bianca. They arrived a few minutes later.

“Any news?” Bianca asked, sinking into the chair beside me.

“No, they took her back and made me stay out here. Did you
manage to get hold of her gran?” I looked up at Nathan.

“Yeah, she sounded pretty upset. I guess she thought Tonya
was with you. She should be here pretty soon.”

I was going to end up banned from Tonya’s house. Mrs.
Robinson still hadn’t forgiven me for covering for Tonya before, and now she’d
think I was doing it again.

“I don’t get it,” Bianca said. She was slouched in the seat,
staring straight ahead, a kind of deer in the headlights thing. “Why would she
start seeing him again? She knew what he was like.”

I didn’t have an answer and I glanced up at Owen, curious to
see if his sudden ability to understand and explain people would be able to
handle this.

“Maybe she thought he wouldn’t do it again. Or maybe she
thought she could change him.” Owen’s idea seemed so out there, so
unbelievable, but at the same time scary and real.

“What an id-” Bianca cut herself off with a shake of her
head.

We all knew what she’d been going to say. We’d all thought
it. But who calls the victim of an abusive partner an idiot? They are the
victim. Tonya was the victim and nothing she did asked for this. She had wanted
to see the good in him, despite everything he’d already done, she’d believed in
him, and maybe like Owen had said, she believed she could change him.

I knew Tonya better than anyone, but even I wondered how
many times would he have to prove her wrong before she finally believed?

After what felt like hours of waiting, Mrs. Robinson came
out to tell us Tonya was in the ICU and couldn’t have visitors. She didn’t go
into details, but I had seen the marks on Tonya’s face and knew that it had
been just a fraction of what she had endured. I arranged with Mrs. Robinson to
pick up a few of Tonya’s things from the house and bring them by the next day.

 The drive home with Nathan was silent. I was completely
drained, and could do nothing more than stare out the window. He seemed to
realize that I needed those moments to hold myself together.

It was after two in the morning when we pulled up to my
house. Every light in the place seemed to be on. I’d already talked to Dad on
the phone earlier, but I’d known he would still be up to make sure I got home
okay.

“Thanks for the ride,” I said, still feeling numb.

“Phoebs,” Nathan turned off the truck and twisted so he
faced me as he spoke, “are we going to talk about us? Is there an us again?”

I thought over everything that had happened the past few
weeks, of how miserable I’d been when we weren’t together, how crazy I’d
reacted to everything. It was actually hard to believe he wanted to get back
together. Before all of the Tonya stuff, being with Nathan had felt right.
Easy. Like I didn’t have to work at it. I wanted that back. I wanted to know
that I had something in my life that wasn’t complicated, or weird, or scary.

“I was angry with myself, not you.” I saw his eyebrow
twitch. “Okay, maybe a little with you, but mostly with myself and the fact
that I didn’t trust me, or my gift, enough. Besides, if Tonya really was there
tonight getting back with Trevor then it just goes to show that knowing what
kind of guy he was wouldn’t have been enough to stop her.”

Tonya had been so giddy when she’d been dating Trevor,
loving the secret of him, loving the fact that she was hiding him from her
gran. She’d even said that she’d thought his moodiness had been attractive at
first, that it had shown her how passionately he loved her. Any time I’d
mentioned how obsessive it was, she’d make it a joke, like I was jealous
because Nathan wasn’t like that. And she’d been a bit right. But now, I didn’t
want anything to do with that kind of relationship. I wanted
my
Nathan
back.

“I want things to be simple again,” I said. It was difficult
to swallow and tears pooled in my eyes. “I want us to just be us, and not a
bunch of other crap. No drama. Just us together with no one else. Simple.”

“I think I could manage simple.” He moved closer and framed
my face with his hands. The kiss that followed was the most gloriously
uncomplicated kiss I’d ever had. It was sweet and gentle, and I felt like I’d
gone back in time to New Year’s and we were really kissing for the first time
again. When it ended, I pulled back and gave him a slight smile.

“So the only question left is, can Vivian handle us?” I
asked.

He groaned and his head tilted back. “That’s gonna be the
best thing about getting back together with you.”

“What’s that?”

“I’m not gonna have to hang around her trying to make you
jealous anymore.”

“Are you serious?” I asked, giving him a gentle whack on the
arm.

“God, the entire time I was dating her was hell. Did you
honestly think I wanted to hang out with her again?”

“Nathan, you dated her for a year!” I felt mildly bad for
Vivian, to think that her one time boyfriend hadn’t even liked her, but that
sympathy died pretty quick when I remembered how she’d treated me since...well,
since forever.