Love Behind Lies (6 page)

Chapter 11

As soon as Brent was out of my sight, I shook Sam’s arm off my shoulders. He stopped walking and looked at me, but I kept walking.
“Hey! Come back here,” he yelled at me.
“No, I don’t want to,” I said back. He ran up to me and grabbed my arm. He yanked me back towards him so that we were only inches away from each other. He was breathing hard and his breath was cool. “Do you need something?” I asked, trying to back away from him.
“Yeah, I need you to behave, or else we won’t go back to your house.” His hands were on my lower back, making sure that I didn’t move.
“How do I know your taking me there right now?”
“If I wasn’t, I would be in really big trouble with Loren, if he found out.”
“Why do you even have to bug me and my family?”
Sam sighed and let me go. We began walking again before he answered my question. “Well, Loren thinks your sister is hot and then we realized that Nick’s dad used to work with your dad until your dad got him fired him.” Sam paused. “So, Loren wants to get to know your sister and Nick is just mad at your family.”
“What about you and Nate?”
“We both just think you’re cute.” He laughed at that. Then he grabbed my hand as we were walking.
We walked in silence for awhile and all we could hear was our footsteps. I tried to pull my hand from his but he just held on tighter.
“Can you please let go of me,” I asked, breaking the silence.
“No,” Sam replied, as if it was obvious.
“Why not?”
“I want to hold your hand for as long as I can before I have to leave you.” Sam smiled.
“Well I don’t want to hold your hand.” I pulled as hard as I could but my hand didn’t move. Then I stuck out my leg and tripped Sam. Sam fell to the ground and my hand came free.
“What was that for?” he asked.
“For not letting go of my hand,” I replied with a laugh.
I started walking again be he jumped up and wrapped his arms around me so that I couldn’t move. Then he leaned down a little bit and whispered in my ear. “Tripping me was a very bad idea, by the way, Catherine.”
“And why is that?” I asked, his breath sending shivers all over my body.
“You didn’t listen to me and you let go of my hand.”
“And your point is…?”
“Shut up!” Sam shook me. “I don’t care what you think, but now you are in big trouble. We are going to turn around and go straight back to Loren. He will know what to do with you.”
“You promised Brent that you would bring me home,” I said a little worried that Sam was serious.
“I don’t care. I don’t have to listen to anybody right now. You are coming with me whether you like it or not.” I struggled against his grip around me, but I couldn’t move. Sam was too strong for me.
“What do I have to do to make you bring me back home?” I asked sadly, knowing that I had lost that battle.
“Oh, so now you will listen?” he asked me.
“Just tell me what I have to do.” I was not happy.
“Well you could let me touch you and bring you home safely and when we get there I want a kiss.”
“No! I am not doing that! Are you crazy?”
“Ok, then I will bring you back to Loren.” He smiled, knowing that he was going to get his wish.
“Fine, but nothing else.”
“Good,” he said, sounding really happy.
He slowly let go of me and grabbed my hand. We began walking again without talking. It seemed like forever, but we finally reached the fence that surrounded my house. Sam stopped walking and he let go of my hand and grabbed my shoulders.
“You happy,” I asked Sam, with a smirk.
“I will be happier after you kiss me,” he replied.
My smile vanished. “Do I have to right now? Or can we wait until I see you again?”
“I guess it doesn’t really matter, but you have to promise me that I will have a kiss from you before the week is over. I’ll talk to you at school if I don’t.”
“Fine. I promise.” I said. “Speaking of talking to me at school. What’s going on?”
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean, you were so nice at school. Why are you being so mean, now?” I asked.
“You are the one who is being stubborn. I am just trying to do my job.”
“And, why do you keep running into me in the hallways?”
“Because I feel like it.”
“Whatever. Oh and I see what you mean about seeing me later.” I said.
“I told you not to worry about it.” Sam said.
Then he let go of my shoulder and we walked towards my house. When we reached the ladder, we said good bye and I began to climb up to my room.
When I reached my window, I slowly lowered myself into my room and shut the window. Finally I was home and safe, for the most part.
I called Brent as soon as possible.
“Cat? Are you okay,” Brent asked.
“Yeah. I’m home. Where are you?” I asked him.
“I am just outside the fence to your house. I will be there in 30 minutes. Just let me say goodbye to Evan.”
“Ok.”
“I’m sorry, Cat.”
“It’s okay, Brent.”
The line went dead and I shut my phone.
I went downstairs and found my mom working at her desk, and my brothers watching T.V. There was no sign of Margaret.
“Where’s Margaret?” I asked my mom, worried for a few moments.
“She is upstairs working on homework. Why?” my mom asked.
“No reason. William, can I talk to you?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” William responded.
I went back to my room and shut the door. A few minutes later William walked into my room.
“Where were you?” he asked spastically.
“In the woods,” I replied, as if it were no big deal.
“Doing what?” William asked throwing his arms in the air.
I then proceeded to tell William everything that happened. He looked so worried.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t have to time to call you! They wouldn’t even let me talk to Brent, let alone call you! I’m sorry.”
“Well I’m not letting you leave the house anymore without me knowing about it.”
“Ok.”
“You are lucky that I thought you were still with Brent, otherwise I would have thought that you were missing again. I would have gone crazy. I can’t believe you! You go from being a perfect angel one week to a rebel the next. This isn’t you Katie.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I will be safer.”
“You better be or else I’m going to have to tell mom everything.” Then he got up and left my room. Closing the door with some force on the way out.

Chapter 12

Well that went well, I thought to myself. I didn’t know that William cared that much about me. I don’t want to go to school on Monday. I see Sam everyday in the hallway. Why can’t Brent be a normal teenager and be able to go to my school? I wish that my life could go back to normal. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about all of this. I would only have to worry about whether Brent was my boyfriend or not.
I sat there thinking about all of this, when there was a knock at my window. My heart jumped and I got up to reach the window. I opened the window and was very happy to see Brent. My head was pounding like crazy.
“Hi,” Brent said as he climbed through the window, barely out of breath.
“Hi,” I replied. As soon as he was in my room safe he gave me a big hug. I felt much safer than I had for awhile. We stood in the middle of my room hugging for what seemed like forever.
“I’m sorry,” Brent whispered in my ear.
“For what?” I asked.
“For getting you into this. It wasn’t my idea to use you, but I am really glad that Evan decided you would be good. I think that we are going to have a lot of fun.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine. I trust that you will keep me safe, no matter what.”
“You don’t need to worry. I will always keep you safe.” We sat down on my bed that was in the corner of my room. We leaned against the head board and relaxed.
“What happened after I left?” Brent asked.
“Sam and I walked home,” I replied.
“You know that you can’t lie to me. Tell me what really happened.”
“Well he wanted to hold my hand, but I wouldn’t let him and then he was going to bring me back to Loren. Then I promised him that he could hold my hand.”
“Cat, I know that there is more. Tell me. I won’t be mad.”
“He made me promise that I would kiss him before the end of the week.” I smiled, a little embarrassed.
“Ahh, I see. So did you kiss him when you got home?”
“No, I didn’t want to. I was too mad.”
“That’s ok. Was it really that hard to tell that?”
“No.” I laughed a little and he squeezed my
hand. Then he slowly turned toward me and grabbed my chin. Our faces were only inches apart. My heart beating rapidly. “Cat, I really like you,” he whispered to me and then gently kissed my lips.
His other hand reached around my back and pulled me closer to him. Brent was very gentle with me. Almost as if I was a piece of glass. The way his hand moved from my chin to my neck. I barely even felt it. I have never been kissed like this before. So, I enjoyed this moment knowing that it wasn’t going to happen often.
Our lips finally parted and we were both breathing heavily. He kept holding me tight to his chest.
We sat there and there were so many things going through my mind that I almost didn’t hear him whisper “I really do like you,” again into my ear. I looked at him and he looked at me. His eyes were like the sky when there are no clouds. They were very blue right now. Probably because of how happy he was. I couldn’t take my eyes away from his. Then he let go of my hand and stood up. Leaving me on the bed. He walked over to the other side of the room where his backpack was sitting on my desk.
He unzipped the front pocket of his bag and took out a small box. “Evan said that I could give this to you. It is a laser ring. It can burn through almost anything. If I give this to you it will make me feel better when I’m not around you. Since we don’t go to the same school I am barely ever around you during the day.”
“Thanks,” I said and he took my hand again. The ring fit perfectly and it was beautiful. He kissed my hand and then pulled me up to him. He hugged me again and then let me go.
“Do you want to know how it works,” he asked.
“Yeah!” I responded. I was anxious to see how it worked.
“Ok. So say you where tied up with your hands around your back with chains. All you have to do is rotate the diamond three times and it will start to laser through anything in its path.” Brent pulled out some rope from his backpack. He rotated the diamond three times and the rope began to burn.
“That’s cool!” I stood up and walked over to where he was standing.
“Yeah! But you have to be very safe with it. Promise me you will be safe with it?”
“Yeah, I promise.”
“Show me,” he said with a sly smile. Then I reached up and kissed him on the lips, smiling. He pulled me closer to him and he kissed me back.
We broke apart and then he hugged me.
“I should probably go. I’ll see you later. Text or call me if you need anything.”
“I will, and Brent?”
“Yes?”
“What do I do about Sam? Should I just ignore him?
“Oh yeah. I don’t want you to get yourself in trouble. So just be safe and do what you think is best. I know that you won’t fall for him. Call me if you need any help. Oh! I almost forgot. You have to rotate the diamond clockwise three times for the laser to work and then if you rotate it counter-clockwise it calls me. That way you can reach me even if you don’t have your cell phone. Also, if you rotate it twice counter- clockwise, my phone beeps and tells me where you are. That way if you can’t call me I can still find you.”
“Ok. I think that I got it. Thank you so much Brent!”
“Bye, Cat. Sleep good ok? And try not to think about what happened tonight with the other guys.”
“Ok. Bye Brent.”And then he was gone down the ladder. I already missed him. I didn’t know how much I really liked him until I kissed him. Now I really wish he went to my school. I think that I could get used to Brent being boyfriend. He is prefect!

Chapter 13

I only sat in my room for a little bit longer, before I got ready for bed. I was excited to sleep in tomorrow and maybe seeing Brent. Saturday’s were my sleep in days, because my family usually went to church on Sunday morning. But I was glad that it was Saturday because that meant that I had the whole weekend to enjoy still. I wanted this weekend to last forever. School, on Monday, was not going to be fun.
I was still tired when I woke up the next morning. My phone was ringing. I looked at the time, 8:05 A.M., and then answered.
“Hello,” I asked still sounding tired.
“Cat, you ok,” Brent’s voice was more alert than mine.
“Yeah, why?”
“Jake disappeared last night and wanted to make sure that you were ok.”
“What?”
“I don’t know what happened. He was supposed to meet me for breakfast. When he didn’t show up, I went to his apartment and the door was unlocked so I walked in. He was nowhere to be seen.”
“Where do you think he is? Did he leave a note?” My voice was getting louder and I was breathing heavily.
“Yeah, but I don’t recognize the handwriting. The note says, ‘I need to talk to Catherine. I need something from her.’ And then there is a smiley face.” Brent sounded angry.
I knew exactly who the note was from. Sam wants a kiss from me and he knew that he would get to me by taking away Brent’s best friend.
“Cat? You still there?”
“What? Yeah, sorry. Just thinking.”
“About what?”
“The note.”
“You know who the note is from don’t you?”
“Yeah, it’s from Sam. He wants that damn kiss.”
“That was the only person I could think of too.”
“What do we do?”
“Let’s just see how the day goes and then you can go to school on Monday and work everything out there.” I shuddered at the thought of seeing Sam at school on Monday. I was not looking forward to that at all.
“But, you won’t be there. What if something happens to me or to Margaret and if-?”
“Cat, Relax. You will be fine. You will always have the ring and just stay close to your teachers and friends.” I didn’t respond. He was right. I needed to relax. Brent must have known that my mind was still whirling.
“I’m coming over right now,” Brent said without warning.
“Ok. Give me 15 minutes to get ready.”
“Ok. Everything is going to be fine. Don’t worry. Trust me, Cat.”
“I trust you.” Then the phone was silent.
I set the phone back on my nightstand and then flopped back onto my bed. Ugh. This is not what I had in mind on my Saturday morning. I didn’t know what I was going to do. What if this didn’t work out and something happens to my family. I laid there on my bed and thought all of this through. I then decided that I should probably get ready. I got up and walked to the door.
When I reached my door, I hesitated. I didn’t want to see anyone right now and just wanted to be comforted by Brent. I finally opened the door and looked down the hallway. There was no one in sight. I quickly ran down the hallway to my bathroom. I turned up my music and proceeded to get ready.
I was almost finished getting ready when there was a knock on my door. I opened it a little bit. It was Margaret.
“Good morning. You’re up early,” Margaret said.
“Yeah, I guess,” I replied still tired.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting ready.”
“For what? A date?”
“Maybe. Why?”
“What?”
“It’s ok. Just go back to bed,” I said. I really didn’t feel like explaining anything to anyone, especially Margaret.
“No! Explain to me about this date.”
“I don’t want to right now. Maybe later.”
“How old is he?”
“Senior, I think. Same age as you.”
“Fine. We will talk about this later young lady.”
“Ok.” I laughed a little. I was finally ready and I walked downstairs. I grabbed I piece of toast from dinner last night, that was sitting on the counter, and a bottle of water. It was really quiet downstairs. No one was up yet. I looked out the window and saw Brent walking up the sidewalk. I my heart leaped again. I guess I was happy to see him.
I opened the door before he knocked. He looked surprised but only for a moment. Then he shut the door and walked inside.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi,” I replied, sounding more awake.
“How did you sleep last night?”
“Pretty good, I guess. You?”
“Yeah, I slept well too. I missed you a lot,” Brent said. I was pretty sure I was blushing. “Well, what do you want to do?” Brent finished off.
“I don’t care. Whatever you want to do.”
“Do you want to go somewhere or do you want to stick around.”
“William would have to come with us if we left, and he isn’t up yet. So, let’s just chill out here for awhile.”
“Ok. Sounds good to me.”
“We can go up to my room. I think that my sister is the only one that is awake.”
“Ok.”Brent sounded content. I led him up to my room and shut the door quietly. I didn’t want to wake anyone up.
As soon as I shut the door he grabbed me and gave me a hug.
“What was the for,” I asked.
“I’m so sorry. I feel so bad about all of this.”
I stared at him a quick moment before I spoke. “Don’t worry. It is ok. I think that we should make a deal.” I grabbed his hand and sat down at the end of my bed. “We won’t feel bad about anything that happens to each other from here on out. No matter how serious it is, we won’t get mad or feel bad about what happened. Deal?”
He smiled a little bit. “Deal,” he said, and then put his arm around my shoulder.
“So, I think that we should get to know each other a little more,” Brent said, sounding happier than before.
“I think that’s a good idea. You can start by asking me a question,” I replied.
“Ok. Well I know that you go to Evansville High School and I know that you are in 10th grade. So, what grades are your siblings in?”
“Oscar and Thomas are obviously in 10th grade, William is a junior and Margaret is a senior. What about you? What school do you go to?”
“I go to a small school right outside the cities. You wouldn’t know the name of it, it’s that small. I am in 12th grade. We are only a couple years apart.” Brent paused, trying to think of another question. “Ok. When is your birthday?”
“March 17th. You?” I was excited to learn about Brent.
“July 29th.”
“You’re lucky. I wish that my birthday was in the summer.”
“Yeah I like having it in the summer...”
We talked for a long time. We laughed as we shared stories from when we were little. I thought that it was weird that no one had come in my room yet, so I thought that I would go and look around.
“Hey, I’ll be right back. I am going to see if anyone is up yet,” I told Brent and let go of his hand.
“Ok. Hurry back.” Brent smiled at me before I left my room.
I laughed as I left the room. I opened the door and walked downstairs. My mom was working at her desk and Oscar and Thomas were watching T.V.
“Good morning sunshine,” my mom said as I walked in the door. Oscar and Thomas turned their heads toward me.
“Good morning,” I replied. “Where is everyone?”
“Well, we are here, Margaret is still sleeping as far as I know and I don’t know where William is. I think he might be in his room.” Thomas replied for mom.
“Ok. Thanks. I think that William and I are going to go downtown for the afternoon.” I informed my mom.
“Ok. Have fun!” I walked up the stairs and knocked on William’s door.
“Come in,” William’s voice sounded tired. I opened the door. “Hey,” William said.
“Hey,” I replied as I walked into his room.
“What do you need?”
“Just wondering when you were going to be ready to go, because Brent and I want to go into town.”
“Oh. Well thanks for telling me you were going and not just leaving. Give me about 15 minutes and I’ll be ready to go. Do you want me to knock on your door when I’m ready?”
“Sure. We also need to find a way to get Brent downstairs without mom seeing.”
“What? Is he already here?”
“Yeah, he has been here since 8:45 A.M.” I looked at the clock. It was almost 11:00 A.M now.
“Oh, ok! Well I will hurry then.”
“Ok. Thanks.” I shut the door and walked to my room. I opened my door. Brent was still sitting on my bed but he had my year book out from last year.
“Oh, hey,” he said, setting the book down to his side.
“So, William is going to be ready to go in about 5 minutes. We can leave then and go into town if you want.”
“Yeah! That sounds like fun. It will keep our minds off of things for a while too!” He stood up and walked towards me. He gave me a big hug and then we sat back down and began to wait for William.
“I have a question,” I told Brent.
“Yes, what is it?” Brent was curious.
“When you were talking with Sam, before he brought me home he said that Loren wanted me to stay ‘very safe.’ Do you know why?”
Brent hesitated. It almost seemed that Brent knew the answer, but he didn’t want me to know. “Evan and I have been thinking about that for awhile and we sort of have an idea. We don’t want to tell you yet because we aren’t sure of the real reason.” It almost seemed like he was lying again.
“Okay,” I replied, still wondering what it could mean and if he was lying or not. Brent looked away from me, so I stood up and walked to the door. I had heard a slight knock and I knew that William was ready now. Brent stood up and followed me towards the door.