The Appeal of Evil (The Road to Salvation) (18 page)

Katie chewed on her lower lip. She had seen Deb in them both, so she knew they were lower cut than she liked, but the one with stripes had more of a tank-top top, so she opted to go with that one. She had on a pair of jeans shorts, so she decided to put that over the tiny bottoms. Deb handed her the suit with a smile. She opened the car door and got out with the bag. Katie followed behind her.

After dressing and applying sunscreen, the pair headed down toward the water. Katie noticed the normal weekend boaters and families, but she didn’t see any high school students. She followed Deb around the dam to the upper lake. Of course the teens would want to be away from the other people; no doubt they were engaging in activities society would frown upon. Katie was surprised at how many kids there were. If she had to guess, it was half of her graduating class—mainly the popular ones and those involved with sports. She glanced down at her cleavage and felt exposed. Was it too late to put a shirt on? Deb would probably tell her it was.

She followed her friend into the thick of the crowd. Deb knew practically everyone at school. She made it her business to know what was going on with everyone. With blonde hair and a quick smile, hardly anyone minded that Deb wanted to know everything. She was also Student Council President and had a great sense of humor. Sometimes, Katie wondered how they were best friends. They were complete opposites. Katie rarely craved being in the limelight, while Deb would steal it from her own mother. Deb ran into the group and instantly started hugging people. The boys were more than happy to comply. Katie hung back and waited for her friend to finish her hellos.

While Deb was talking to a group of basketball players, someone nudged Katie on the right arm. Katie turned. Zack Nelson. The quarterback.

“Katie, right?”

She had to physically keep her jaw from dropping open.

He offered her a red Solo cup. “You want a beer?”

Katie held up her hand. “No, thanks. I can’t drink today. It will mess with the medication I’m taking.”

The lie came easily. It had occurred to her in the car that alcohol would be at the beach, so she thought about plausible excuses. Katie really didn’t feel like getting sloppy drunk in the middle of the day around a bunch of people she didn’t know. She wasn’t really a drinker. She’d had a few here and there, but she didn’t want to get in trouble with her mom. Alcohol had caused a lot of problems in the family, so she tried to avoid it whenever possible. Of course, explaining that to the quarterback would make her look like a weirdo, so she opted for a simpler answer.

He shrugged. “Whatever. What happened to your arm anyway?”

“A dog attacked me.”

He took a long drink out of his cup. “No kidding? I’m not surprised. Seen a ton of them around town lately.”

Katie thought the comment was strange. An influx of dogs? Why would that happen? Didn’t Randy say something the other day about dogs becoming a nuisance? She pushed the thought from her head. She didn’t care. She was here to have fun, to get away from it all.

“So I assume you can’t get into the water with that either, huh?”

Katie couldn’t believe Zack was still talking to her. They had a class together, Sociology, but she didn’t think he knew she existed.

“Nope. Unless I want to wrap a plastic bag around my arm.”

Zack chuckled. “Too bad.”

Katie smiled. A silence drifted over the pair. Zack took another drink of his beer.

“Well, I’ll see you around. I assume you’ll be here later in the day?”

Katie nodded. “Sure. Why not?”

He pointed his finger at her and clicked his tongue.

At that point, Deb ran up to her, a smile stretched from ear to ear. “Oh, you dog!”

Katie rolled her eyes. “I have no idea what that was all about.”

A knowing look crossed Deb’s face. “Oh, I do.”

Katie stared at her. “Well, are you going to fill me in?”

“It’s simple, really. Now that Josh has shown an interest in you, everyone else is curious to know why. They’re feeling you out, checking out what you have to offer.” Deb laughed. “You could probably let anyone of the guys ‘feel you out’ if you wanted.”

Katie smacked her arm. “Very funny, Deb.”

“It’s true. Just now, Andrew Spence was asking about you. Wanted to know if you and Josh were serious.”

Katie tried not to let her enthusiasm show. Andrew Spence was on the basketball team. Since both of their sports took place in the gym, she often saw him and his teammates during practice. He had extremely blond hair, almost white, and green eyes. He was already over six feet tall and muscular. Katie never really thought much about him, mainly because her eyes were only focused on Wes. But she heard the stories about him, about what a nice guy he was and how he would do almost anything for a friend. She wondered if those rumors were true. Given the chance, Katie would like to find out how kind he could be. Anything would be better than what Josh and Wes put her through.

“And what did you tell him?”

Katie hoped that Deb’s answer would give her some clarity on how others viewed their relationship.

Deb stopped at an empty spot on the beach and pulled out a blanket. “I told him I didn’t know and that he would have to ask you.”

Katie took a seat. “Yeah, I’m sure that will happen.”

Deb’s response wasn’t exactly helpful in giving her an idea of what was going on. But what did Katie really expect? Not many people saw her and Josh together. It all seemed so secretive. And Katie wasn’t sure she wanted anything serious with him. He was evil, manipulative, yet so incredibly hot and nice when he wanted to be.

Deb sat next to her and nudged her with her body, pulling her back to reality. “Just go with the flow, Katie. How often do you have so many boys interested in you? Even if you and Josh are serious or get serious, this isn’t hurting anything. Besides, if you and Josh don’t become a thing, this keeps your options open.”

Katie leaned back on her elbows and stared at the water. “What makes you think I’m looking for something serious?”

Deb shrugged and pulled out the bottle of sunscreen. “Serious, a fling, whatever. The point is, now that you’re no longer aching for Wes, there is a world of guys out there. And you’re a very attractive girl. Any of them would be lucky to have you.” She rubbed some lotion on her shoulders. “And the ones you reject, you can send my way and I’ll comfort them.”

Katie laughed. “Maybe I’ll keep them all for myself.”

Deb snorted. “Like you would know what to do with one of them. You’ve spent your whole life up to now going after a boy who couldn’t care less if you existed. You have no idea what real boys want.”

Again, Deb was right. Katie didn’t know what boys wanted or liked. She had an idea from movies, but she’d never experienced it in real life. So much time had been wasted trying to figure out Wes and doing things she thought would make him happy. Where did that get her? Nowhere. Heck, for all she knew, boys could have always been interested in her, but she was so focused on Wes, she never noticed. Well, all of that was going to change. No longer would she waste time on people who didn’t give her the attention she deserved. She was going to live and experience what the world had to offer. What boys had to offer.

The sunscreen lid snapped shut and pulled Katie out of her thoughts. Deb smiled at her.

“Don’t feel bad about it. I’m sure we can find plenty of boys who are willing to instruct you in the art of loooove.”

As if on cue, footsteps sounded next to Katie. She turned and looked at Andrew and two of his friends—Paul and Stan. Andrew smiled at her.

“I heard you couldn’t drink because of your medication, so I brought you a water.” He held the bottle out for her.

“Thanks.” She took it from him and he took a seat next to her. Katie’s chest felt warm from the gesture. It was the nicest thing any boy had done for her recently.

Stan sat by Deb and Paul sat in front of them. A giddiness surged through Katie—or maybe it was nerves, she couldn’t tell. She’d never been in this situation before. But she wasn’t going to let her fears stop her. She was going to do her best not to embarrass herself.

“So what happened?” Andrew asked. “I heard you got attacked by a skunk or something.”

“A skunk?” Deb scoffed. “Who told you that?”

“Brenda.”

“Of course she told you that.” Deb’s tone was defensive. “It was a dog. Do you know of skunks that can jump high enough to grab a human by the arm?”

Andrew turned his gaze toward Katie. “Really? A dog did that?”

Katie nodded.

“What kind of pills did they give you?” Paul asked. “Anything good? You wanna share?”

Deb threw a small rock at him. “Knock it off, Paul. Like you need anything else.”

Paul threw the rock back. “I was just asking.”

Andrew leaned in close to Katie. “Just ignore him. He acts like a pill popping freak, but he’s not. Just does it to be cool. Besides, I wouldn’t let him take your meds.”

The smell of pineapples and beer drifted into Katie’s nose. His shoulder almost touched hers and she felt the heat rising from his skin. Her stomach tingled, and she found herself lost for words. She forced a smile and her gaze drifted around the beach. To cover the silence and make it less awkward, she opened the water and took a drink. Her sight fell on a group of teens several yards to her right and the water lodged in her throat. Coughing, she sat up and spit water all over her legs. What in the world was Josh doing there?

DEB WIPED OFF THE BEADS OF MOISTURE
that had inadvertently splashed her before rubbing Katie’s back.

“Jeez, Andrew. Are you trying to poison her?”

He held his hands out to his sides and lifted his shoulders, as if asking why he would do something like that.

Katie gained control of her coughing and took another sip of water to alleviate the scratchiness in her throat. Her gaze was locked on Josh’s. He smiled and raised his red plastic cup. The girl standing next to him followed his line of sight. When she saw Katie, her nose wrinkled in disgust and she placed a hand on her hip. Josh took a drink and then made his way toward her. Anticipation coursed through Katie. On one hand, it made her giddy to see Josh, especially since he wore long swim trunks with no shirt. Every one of his well-defined, well-tanned muscles glittered in the sun. On the other hand, it was hard to straighten things out in her mind if she didn’t have a chance to be away from him.

Andrew cleared his throat and moved slightly away from Katie. He must have noticed Josh’s approach and didn’t want to get in trouble for hitting on her. Not that he was really doing much. Bringing someone water and telling them they were protected from rowdy friends would hardly be considered more than friendly, but Katie was aware of the intention behind it. More than likely, Josh was too, but what was he going to do about it? Why did he even care? It wasn’t like they could have a real relationship.

Josh stopped in front of them and his smile grew wider. “Hey, guys. What’s going on?”

Paul and Stan mumbled something under their breaths, Andrew glanced at him briefly, then played with a pebble near him.

“Nothin,’” Andrew said softly. “Just hangin’ out.”

Josh nodded toward Deb. “You just hangin’ out too?”

Deb smiled and leaned back on her elbows. “You know it.”

“You all look like you could use some more beer.” He held his hand out. “C’mon, Katie. Let’s get your friends some drinks.”

Katie didn’t want to take his hand. She wanted to tell him to go back to Hell and let her live her life. She wanted to scream at him to stop acting human and be what he really was. Or did she? She knew that was what she was supposed to do, but she didn’t. She liked how all the eyes on the beach drifted toward her. She liked the evil stares from the other girls who were jealous Josh Evers wanted her and not them. She liked the attention. She reached out her hand and let Josh pull her to her feet.

“You all want one?” She pointed at each in turn and waited for their affirmative, then she and Josh headed down the beach toward the keg. He placed his hand around her waist.

“May I say you look absolutely stunning.” His eyes drifted up and down her body. “You should show off your curves more often. Show these boys what they’re missing.”

Redness crept into Katie’s cheeks and she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. The embarrassment quickly turned to irritation as Josh pulled her into his body.

“What are you doing here?” She tried to keep her voice low so no one heard. “I thought you said you would wait for me to text you.”

They reached the keg and Josh grabbed the tap. After pumping it a few times, he filled his glass. He nodded toward a sleeve of other cups and Katie grabbed four. Joshed started filling them.

“C’mon, Katie! You really think I’m going to miss this? The sin, the debauchery. With a little luck, I’ll get me some souls.” He handed her a full cup and took an empty one. “I am surprised to see you here. I wouldn’t consider this your normal scene.”

Katie took the second full cup and handed him another empty one. “And what exactly is ‘my scene’?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know. Something safe, something low key.” He handed her the third full cup.

“I’m branching out. Trying something new. I can’t sit around by myself forever.”

Josh finished filling the last cup and smiled. “No, you can’t. And you shouldn’t. Life is too short not to try new things.”

She grimaced. “I’m not sure I’m overjoyed to see you. No offense, but I was hoping to get away from you for a while. Clear my head. Relax.”

Josh folded his arms on the tap and leaned forward. “I can leave you alone. If that’s what you really want. This place is big enough for the both of us.” He pointed toward Andrew. “I know it would make him incredibly happy if I left.”

Katie glanced at Andrew. He smiled. She forced one back. It would give her a chance at a real relationship if Josh was gone. Her and Andrew could spend some time to get to know each other and talk…about what? She didn’t know the first thing about what regular boys wanted to talk about. She’d only talked to Wes, and that conversation focused solely on her. Surely someone else would find that topic boring. Besides, didn’t the boys only find her attractive because they thought Josh had her? Would they feel the same if they thought she and Josh had broken up? She swallowed thickly, an uneasiness developed in her stomach. She wanted to go home.