Lie to Me (A Touched Trilogy) (29 page)

“Yeah, well, it’s kind of hard to break up with someone who
never shuts up,” he explained. The smile he wore dimmed and he put his sexy
serious face on. “I’m glad you finally called.”

“I’m glad you waited,” I said, and before I could say
anything else, he leaned in for another quick kiss. It ended too soon, with him
sliding back to his side.

“Your dad is peeking through the blinds,” he said, when I
scooted closer to him for another kiss.

I dropped my head to his chest in frustration, then moved
back and grabbed my purse from the floor. Nathan hopped out of the truck, came
around to help me out and we held hands as we walked to the door. I didn’t want
him to leave. For a few minutes he’d managed to consume my thoughts, and I knew
once he was gone the image of Tonya’s battered face would return.

“I’ll call you tomorrow,” he said, letting go of my hand
when we reached the porch. He brushed a light kiss on my cheek, then stepped
back so I could go up the steps.

Dad met me at the door, and folded me into a giant bear hug,
squeezing me hard, as if trying to force the sadness from me. Over my shoulder,
he waved to Nathan and then walked me inside. We went into the kitchen and I
sat at the table while Dad poured a mug of hot water from the kettle and then
added a hot chocolate mix.

“I see you and Nathan have made up,” he said over his
shoulder.

“Yeah, we talked and...” I shrugged. As happy as I was about
being back together with Nathan, it felt wrong to be in a good mood about
anything. My thoughts of Nathan drifted away and those of Tonya came crashing
back.

“You want to talk about what happened with Tonya?” Dad
asked, setting the mug in front of me. I’d known this was coming as soon as I’d
called him from the hospital. There was no way Dad would let this go
undiscussed.

“No. Yes. I don’t get it.” I wrapped my hands around the
mug, and watched the steam wafting up. My shock was wearing off, and in its
place was anger at Trevor and at Tonya. “Why would she go back to see him? Why
would she lie to me again?”

I knew it wasn’t right to blame Tonya, but part of me did.
She was the one that had made the decision this time, completely aware of what
kind of a person Trevor was.

“Relationships are hard to understand, especially abusive
ones. Sadly for Tonya, she’s finding things out the hard way.”

“But why? If Nathan ever hit me, I’d be gone so fast. No.
I’d probably kill him first.”

Dad sighed and leaned back against the counter, crossing his
arms. “Tonya isn’t you. No matter how much the two of you seem alike, she has
seen and experienced things in her life that have caused her to think
differently about this. Ms. James hasn’t exactly been a good role model for her
daughter. I know her grandmother tries, but there’s only so much she can do.
Tonya’s father was never around, and her grandfather died before she was born.
She hasn’t had any positive male figures in her life.”

“She had you.”

He smiled and shook his head, coming to the table and
sitting across from me. “It’s not the same thing. I’m her best friend’s dad. I
think you’d be surprised to know how little she cares about what I think.”

Considering Tonya was usually the driving force behind me
skipping school, or sneaking out at night, I was pretty sure I knew.

The image of her on the stretcher, both eyes puffy and
already circled in deep blue and purple bruises came to mind. I rotated the mug
around and around, trying to erase the picture, then lifted the hot chocolate
and took a small sip, burning my tongue in the process. But it was nothing
compared to what Tonya must have felt. The worst part was I didn’t know how to
help her then, and I knew even less how to help her now.

“I don’t know how to make her see how wrong she is about
this.” My mug thumped against the table as I set it down.

“You can’t,” Dad said and laid his hand one my forearm. “All
you can do is be there for her.”

Every bone in my body felt completely useless, and my eyes
filled with tears. Dad got up, and wrapped me in his arms. A sob burst out and
I cried. I felt totally helpless and I hated it. Helplessness was debilitating.
I hated that I was crying, instead of kicking Trevor’s ass.

“There has to be something more,” I said, sniffling as the
tears finally slowed.

“Be her friend. She has a lot of other people helping her,
too. You don’t need to do anything other than be there for her.”

It sounded so easy. Yet it’s exactly what I thought I’d been
doing these past few weeks and it obviously hadn’t been enough. My head spun at
the realization of how quickly she’d gone back to him. I  squeezed my eyes
shut, attempting to calm the dizziness threatening to overtake me, then pushed
my chair back. “I think I’m going to crash. I’m exhausted.”

Dad nodded and gave me a kiss on the top of my head. “I’ll
see you in the morning then, sweetheart.”

I carried my mug downstairs and even made it to my room before
Lily and Chloe were on me. Lily kept herself from getting too close, lingering
in my door and shifting from one foot to the other. Chloe on the other hand,
wrapped me in her arms.

“Phoebe, I tried to call! I swear! As soon as I saw what was
going to happen, I called your cell, but it kept going to voice mail. I’d been
getting random flashes of things, but nothing made sense and then I was
grabbing something from your room earlier and it just hit me. I was seriously
freaking until Lily calmed me down.”

I tried to remember everything Chloe had mentioned over the
past few days and the pieces fit right into what had happened. Nathan coming to
talk to me at the theater, us in front of an apartment in San Diego, the
hospital, me needing Nathan. She’d been right about everything, even if it
hadn’t all made sense at the time.

“It’s okay. You warned me the best you could.” I sat on the
edge of my bed, and gave Chloe an understanding smile. “I’m going to head to
bed. I need to go over to Tonya’s place in the morning to pick up a few
things.”

“Let me know if I can do anything. I might not be Tonya’s
biggest fan, but no one deserves what happened to her.” Chloe came over to give
me another hug and then left.

Lily moved to follow her and then paused, her hand shaking as
it rested lightly on the edge of the door. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

For a moment, I thought she was going to cry, her eyes were
so sad and tired, but then she pulled my door closed behind her and went back
to her room.

I did try to sleep. But it was impossible. Every time I
closed my eyes, I saw Tonya and all the rage and disbelief came back. I lost
track of the number of times I threw off the covers, only to pull them on
again. Anything to distract me. It was nearly four in the morning when my door
creaked open. Soft footsteps padded across the room.

“I’m sorry,” Lily whispered, and I knew she didn’t realize I
was awake, so I kept my eyes shut. Her hand hovered over my arm, a heat
radiating from her that was a sign of her gift. Then she lightly touched her
hand to my arm. It was always the oddest sensation when Lily healed. All my
negative emotions vanished, sucked out of me, and there was nothing in its
place, nothing but an overwhelming sense of calm.

My breath rushed out of me, and my already closed eyes grew
heavier. There was a slight movement of air as Lily moved away, but I didn’t
hear her leave. I was already asleep.

Chapter 15

The next morning Chloe drove me to the movie theater and I
picked up my car. For once, she kept her mouth shut and let the drive pass in
peace. I knew she wanted to say something about her visions. The silence in the
car was unnerving and I wanted to reassure her nothing was her fault, and that
I would forgive her anyways, but I couldn’t say those things. Not because I wouldn’t
have meant them, but it would have made everything seem so much more real. With
every passing moment it was easier to pretend that Tonya was fine and that the
night before had never happened.

I drove over to Tonya’s place and used the key Mrs. Robinson
gave me at the hospital. It was weird to be walking around their house alone,
almost like I was snooping. Feeling awkward, I went straight to Tonya’s room. I
pulled out some slippers from under her bed, and a few shirts and her jogging
pants from her dresser, not sure if she’d be able to wear anything other than
the hospital gown, but I wanted to fill the backpack I’d brought. Her iPad and
chargers went in the bag next, and I considered taking her laptop, but she’d
showed off how she could do everything she wanted on her iPad, so the computer
stayed where it was.

The last thing I did was pull her diary out from behind her
bookshelf. She’d always been paranoid that her gran would find it. I moved to
place it on top of everything, and then faltered. Had she written about getting
back together with Trevor? I wanted to know what she’d been thinking, when
she’d decided to go see him, and most importantly how she could have possibly
forgiven him. I wanted to read it.

The cover flipped open and I sat down on the corner of her
bed, thumbing through until I reached the end of her entries. I slammed it
shut. No. I couldn’t read her diary. That was a massively wrong thing to do. If
it was Chloe’s then I’d do it for a laugh. But this was Tonya and she was
obviously already having problems trusting me if she’d been lying to me about
Trevor.

Then again, could I trust her to tell me what was going on?
I opened the book and immediately slammed it shut again. I fell back onto her
bed, totally frustrated. I wanted to read it, but I knew I shouldn’t.

A vibration in my pocket cut off the warring parts of my
brain. I really had to figure out how to get it back on to ringing. I pulled it
out. Nathan’s name flashed on the screen.

“Hey, what’s up?” I asked.

“Just seeing how you were doing.”

“Fine. I’m at Tonya’s grabbing a few things. I’m going to
take them up to the hospital this afternoon. Do you want to come with me?”

“Can’t. I’m working the day shift today. Give me a call when
you get home, though, and maybe I can come over to study tonight.”

I laughed at his wording. Study was his code word for making
out that he used whenever his parents were within hearing distance.

“Maybe. I’ve got some really hard biology questions I need
help with.” I couldn’t resist teasing him. “Are you any good with anatomy?”

He coughed and I giggled again. It was easy being with
Nathan, and I had missed that more than anything. Well, maybe not as much as
I’d missed our ‘study’ sessions.

“I gotta go,” he said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

We hung up and I put the cell phone back in my pocket. I
glanced down at Tonya’s diary. Before I could reconsider and think of all the
reasons why I should read it, I dropped it into the backpack and zipped the bag
closed. Just as much as I needed Nathan and me to be simple again, I needed it
with Tonya, too. Invading her privacy wasn’t going to help me do that.

Later that afternoon, I went to the hospital by myself. I’d
hoped Lily would come, maybe make things a bit better for Tonya or at least
Mrs. Robinson if we couldn’t see Tonya yet, but she gave me some excuse about
Dylan needing her help with something. It sounded plausible, but I hadn’t been
Lily’s sister for seventeen years without knowing she had an extreme aversion
to hospitals.

Mrs. Robinson had called earlier and given me Tonya’s room
number. When I reached the right floor, I found her in a family waiting room.
She was curled up in a chair, head arching back in what looked like the most
uncomfortable position ever. I gently tapped her knee. Her eyes fluttered and she
gave a small smile before she seemed to realize where she was and why.

“How’s she doing?” I asked, taking a seat across from her.

“Well, they moved her out of intensive care, but they ran
tests all morning, making sure...” She paused and took a deep breath. “Making
sure there’s no permanent damage.”

In all my worries, I’d never considered permanent damage,
but from what I’d seen of her, physical and mental damage wouldn’t be
surprising. I looked down at my feet, seeing the bag full of her things. I’d
packed it like she was on a sleep over, not like her life was going to change
forever.

 I picked up the backpack and held it out to Mrs. Robinson.
“I grabbed a few clothes and her iPad and stuff.”

“Thank you, sugar.” She took the bag, and it promptly fell
to the floor. She looked old. Much older than the mid-fifties I knew she was.
She stared at me intensely and I barely suppressed the urge to squirm in my
seat.

“Did you know she was going to see that boy?” she asked
bluntly.

“No!” I sat up straight and looked her right in the eye,
something Dad had always told me to do when I told the truth. Shifty eyes made
people doubt you. “I swear, Mrs. Robinson, the last time I heard Tonya mention
him was the day after the movie incident. She told me she never wanted to see
him again.”

“So when she told me she was going out with you and Bianca
Friday night...?”

“She told me you wouldn’t let her go.”

“Lordy, these two girls of mine will be the death of me,”
she whispered under her breath, then looked back at me. “I guess I knew, as
soon as that Nathan boy called last night, asking if she was there.”

 “I’m really sorry. If I’d known...”

“I know that, sugar. My girl’s got a mind of her own, and
when I started laying down the law about this boy, I should have known she’d do
something crazy.” She shook her head. “I suppose you want to see her?”

I sat up. “Can I? I wasn’t sure, since...”

“Oh, she can have visitors. I’m just taking a break.” She
handed the backpack to me and I took off for Tonya’s room.

Seeing her was almost as shocking as it had been the night
before. While the blood was gone, swelling and deep bruising had settled in,
making it nearly impossible to recognize her. She didn’t hear me come in,
completely engrossed in something on her tray table.