Paranormal Realities Box Set (42 page)

After a couple tentative knocks so soft
that the most attentive elephant couldn't hear them, I pulled myself up
straight and wiped my wet palms against my denim skirt. "Quit being
ridiculous. You can do this," I muttered before rapping—hard.
Pounding was probably a fair characterization.

Keagan's father jerked the door open.
"What the hell is that—Oh, Tara, it's you."

"Sorry, Mr. Ellsworth. I didn't mean
knock so loud." Trying to force out a smile, my expression was probably
more like a grimace because my lips felt set in a fast drying cement.

His face relaxed into a smile in return
as he widened the door. "Come on in. But Liam isn't home right now."

With my purse hugged to my body, I
stepped forward. "Thanks, ummm. That's okay." A bullfrog in my throat
needed clearing before I could get out the next part. "I'm here for
Keagan."

A huge gasp of air escaped with the last
word. There. I'd done as he'd demanded. I'd told his parents...or at least one
of them.

As the thought occurred to me, his mother
stepped around the corner and into the entry. "Hi, Tara. Liam isn't home.
Are you supposed to meet him here?"

"No I...ummm."

Just then
my date
came out of his room and strode
down the hall to stand at the top of the stairs. The white t-shirt that
evidenced the hard muscles of his chest hung over low-slung jeans. His bicep
flexed as he slipped on a navy blue dress shirt and began to button it.

I found it hard to swallow again, but not
from fear this time. But even acknowledging to myself how physically drawn I
was to him, pangs cut at me with a thousand tiny razorblades. How could I feel
this way, betraying Liam in thought as well as act? My boyfriend at least
deserved emotional fidelity.

For a moment I registered a hopeful
expression on Keagan's face before our eyes met. Maybe not hopeful as much as
anticipating something. But as if he knew my guilty thoughts about his brother,
his expression transformed in an instant to its usual bored cynicism.

"Liam should be home any time
now," Mrs. Ellsworth continued.

"I'm meeting Keagan, not Liam,"
I announced.

"I don't under—Oh, are you
giving Keagan a ride?" Mrs. Ellsworth asked.

"I'll just call Liam and tell him
you're here," Mr. Ellsworth chimed in, moving to the hall phone.

"Don't call Liam," I said in a
harsher tone than I'd intended. "I'm not giving Keagan a ride...well ... I
am but..."

Keagan grabbed his off-white hoodie from where
it had been draped over the banister and proceeded down the stairs with a grin
rivaling the Grinch's. He was clearly enjoying the uncomfortable scene.

"That is, we're going in my car but
it's a date," I continued. "I'm going on a date with your son... with
Keagan."

Just as I said his name, he reached the
bottom of the staircase.

His parents' shocked silence continued
for the time it took him to walk down the hall to my side.

His father's shock was the first to
change to anger. "What is this?" Mr. Ellsworth finally demanded, his
gaze darting back-and-forth between his son and me. "What has Keagan done?
What is he threatening you with?"

"Nothing," I answered, my
entire body shaking as I put my arm through Keagan's. My action seemed to
startle him almost as much as it did his parents.

"He must have done something,"
Mr. Ellsworth said.

Keagan shook his head. "Is it so
impossible to think she might
want
to date me?"

"Yes," his father yelled.
"When she can have your brother, why would she want you? Tara's always
been a good girl. I know you must have done something to force her. You
worthless piece of shi—"

"Stop it! You're wrong," I
interrupted with a sharp shout.

As Mr. Ellsworth's jaw dropped Mrs.
Ellsworth gasped.

I lowered my voice for the next bit.
"Mr. Ellsworth, I don't want to be disrespectful to you or Mrs. Ellsworth
but I'm just not going to listen to you run down Keagan any more. It's not
fair. He hasn't threatened me or done anything...ungentlemanly." Weird
word but I couldn't find anything any better. "In fact, I had to beg him
to go out with me. Keagan is a good person. You've been forcing him to be bad
in order to live up to your expectations."

"Now listen here, young
lady—" Mr. Ellsworth started.

"No, sir. This is your home, and
you're adults. I can't stop you from verbally abusing your son when I'm not
here, but I don't have to listen to it. I've been a witness to it for too long
without saying something."

"Verbal..." Mr. Ellsworth
sputtered. "What abuse? Witness what?"

"Tara," Mrs. Ellsworth exclaimed.
"I'm going to call your grandmother, young lady."

"Go right ahead. She knows what I'm
doing." I tugged at Keagan's arm. "C'mon. Let's go."

Outside, Keagan abruptly stopped when we
reached the end of the block.

I'd been so mad we strode right past my
car. I was just about to say something when he looked up at the sky. A sound
between a scream and a cry erupted. He turned to look at me and another sound
more like a laugh boomed out of him.

"What?" I asked.

"Goody's not so goody."

"Yeah. Maybe now you can give that
horrid nickname a rest."

"Not only the nickname but no more
lewd comments," he said but then ruined it with, "for tonight at
least."

"Nice."

He hooted to the sky again. "My
parents—"

"I know. They'll probably take it
out on you later. I'm sor—"

He grabbed my shoulders and then stopped
my word with a quick kiss.

"Don't say you're sorry. I don't
care what happens later. I loved it. I love y—I loved what you
said." Another booming laugh finally trickled to chuckles. "Did you see
their faces? I bet dad'll have to check his pants. He probably shit so many
bricks he can build that retaining wall in the backyard he's always
wanted."

I bit my bottom lip to stop a laugh, not
to mention the tingles that rippled along its surface from the touch of his
mouth on mine.

"Let's go." Clutching my hand,
he tugged me into a run the rest of the way to the car.

"Where to?" I asked.

"Anywhere."

The local organic burger joint with a
vintage car motif seemed like a good idea—meat for Keagan and vegetarian
fare for me. But then I spotted Liam's football teammates Billy and Quinn,
known at school as BQ, seated at the counter. The two were both engrossed in
jamming food into their faces as fast as possible.

With them busy with their private
burger-eating contest, we just might avoid them seeing us,
I thought. Even so, I couldn't help
squirming. If BQ saw us, they'd spread the news all over school. Liam didn't
deserve that humiliation.

 
"Two tonight?" The hostess asked.

Glancing at Keagan, anticipating his
affirmative answer, I found him staring at me instead. "Would you rather
leave?"

His question surprised me. He'd insisted
I declare our date to his parents and I'd have thought he'd glory in Liam's
embarrassment at the hands of BQ no matter my discomfort with it.

"No, it doesn't matter they're
here." I tried to sound convincing but my voice wobbled.

"Why don't we get something
to-go," Keagan said, taking my hand and giving it a squeeze. "You can
wait in the car while I order. Veggie for you, right?"

Nodding with a grateful smile, I squeezed
back.

Before I could move out the door, Billy's
obnoxious voice stopped me as he shouted from ten feet away. "Tara-girl.
Where's my wingman, Liam?"

"We're both going," Keagan
whispered to me and, with his guiding hand at the small of my back, we turned
to push out the door.

"Hey," Quinn said. "She's
here with his brother."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Billy
jump off his stool as we exited. Billy followed us outside with Quinn at his
heels. Billy grabbed my shoulder to pull me around just as Keagan and I reached
the front of my car.

"You're here with him?" Billy
demanded.

"Yes." I nodded and cleared my
throat. "I'm with him on a date."

"Hands off her Billy or I'll make
your head into a hood ornament," Keagan warned, shoving Billy.

"You and what army, dog
breath?" Quinn joined in with a child-like taunt so ridiculous I wanted to
come back with
yes
you are but what am I?

Billy stepped back. Lifting both hands,
he released me as if I had cooties. Then he shook his head and gave a snort.
"You aren't worth it. You're a traitor to Double Dick as well as a
slut."

Keagan made a motion, his arm twitching,
and I had to grab him to stop him from swinging on Billy. "No," I
said. "Please. No fighting."

He subsided into a huffing glower first
at Billy then Quinn then back again. Keagan's angry breath chugged in and out.

With a disgusted, wave of his hand and a
pfffffffft, Billy turned on one heel and sauntered back to the door of the
restaurant. Quinn got out his phone, and held it up as if taking a photo,
before trotting after Billy.

My hand shook as I reached in my purse
for the car keys. Finally, getting them out of where they had seemed caught, I held
them up triumphantly. Keagan took them from me and unlocked the passenger door.
He opened it wide and motioned for me to get in.

"I'm driving," he said.
"You're too shaken up."

"I'm all right," I insisted,
but slipped gratefully into the passenger seat anyway.

"Yeah sure," he muttered.
"You're about as
right
as a feather in a hurricane."

He closed the door and then rounded the
front bumper to the other side. Billy stuck his head out of the restaurant door
and shouted something I, thankfully, couldn't make out.

I heard the ping of my cell phone as
Keagan opened the driver's side door. Pulling the cell out to examine its face,
I then saw a message from Liam: Whas'up? A photo of Keagan and me outside the
restaurant accompanied the text. Omigod, Quinn had wasted no time.

Oh well, Liam would know soon enough
anyway. With shaking fingers I texted back: Imona d8 w/ K. And then I stared at
the phone waiting for a reply. The silence hurt my ears, so I powered the cell
off and threw it in my purse.

After getting in the car himself, Keagan
shoved the key into the ignition and fired the engine. He glanced at me and
swore. "You look terrible."

I couldn't say anything, not even a
sarcastic "thanks."

"Put on your seatbelt."

I still couldn't say anything. Neither
could I move. At that moment, with my mind on how Liam must be reacting, I
don't think I even understood what he said.

"Jesus," he muttered as he
reached around me to grab the buckle and bring it down across my shoulder and
lap. It locked into place with a snap.

The next thing I knew the car peeled out
into a left turn before joining the traffic on the adjacent street.

Off to my next trauma
, I thought.
At the reserve.

But then Keagan made another turn in the
opposite direction and suddenly I didn't know where we were going. Was that
better or worse?

* * * * *

By the time we reached Tybee Island, I'd
recovered. We stopped to pick up a take-out cheese pizza before heading to the
beach. Keagan parked the Camry on an access road. We climbed out of the car and
Keagan pulled two blankets off the backseat.

"Those are dog blankets for
Harry," I said, referring to our Cockapoo. "We'll be covered with dog
hair if we use those."

Keagan smiled as he bundled them into his
arms before closing the door to lock it. "That's okay. Better hair than
sand. Besides, I love animals."

Even at this time of year, the night was
a moderate sixty degrees but a cool breeze smelling of salt and sea came in off
the Atlantic. As we crossed the boardwalk over the dunes, I was glad Keagan had
thought of the blankets, hair or no hair. An almost full moon shone like a
spotlight over our heads and the few lamps lining the path were just a small
supplement.

After the boardwalk, we took off our
shoes and made our way over the rough area of stone, shell and sand mixture to
the packed granules. From here I could see the ocean was calm. The water merely
lapped at the shore, ebbing and flowing gently, instead of the usual pounding
wave assaults. The peace of the night, with no one else in sight, calmed my jangled
nerves ever so slightly.

Keagan spread out one of the blankets for
us to sit on and weighed down its four corners with his shoes and mine. I
settled into a seated position with my legs curled to the side. He kneeled down
and reached inside the pizza box to extract a slice. He handed it to me along
with one of the soda cans.