Unlovable (8 page)

“
Can you see him? What’s he
doing?” His voice sounded rich and low in my ear. I forced my eyes
open, bringing me back to reality.

“
He’s dropped back into the
trees, but he’s still staring at us.” Seth asked me another
question, however the sound muffled against my skin, and I couldn’t
understand him. I turned my face toward his to ask him to repeat
it, and realized our mouths were almost touching. We had to kiss.
There was no way out of it, anything else would’ve looked awkward.
I pressed my mouth onto his.

His lips were soft and warm on mine,
though somewhat hesitant. And I felt incredibly stupid. He
obviously did not intend on really kissing me. Why in the world
would this gorgeous guy want to kiss me anyway? I started to pull
away when his hands began winding their way through my hair. He
held my face gently to his as his mouth moved carefully against
mine. It felt wonderful. My head began swimming as I drew myself
tighter against him, again, to help keep the illusion
going.

After several moments, he pulled away.
I didn’t open my eyes, instead drawing my bottom lip into my mouth
to get one last taste of him. Suddenly realizing how long my eyes
had been shut, I popped them open to see him smiling down at me. I
was mortified!

“
Did he leave?” His thumb
stroked my cheek.

Refocusing my thoughts on the man in
black, I glanced around. “No, he’s still watching us, but he’s
moved over by the northwest exit gate now.”

“
Then I guess we had better
keep up the act.” Before I could answer, his mouth dropped back
onto mine, and this time there was an undeniable eagerness to his
kiss. I struggled to stay calm, if only he hadn’t tasted so
incredibly good and felt so incredibly warm. Zack’s kisses never
made me feel like this. He slowly spun us around until he faced the
northwest gate. His lips never left mine while his eyes searched
the park. Finally, he pulled away.

“
I think he’s gone. Come,
I’ll take you home, just in case,” he said, sliding his hand in
mine. “Which way is your house?”

“
No, I’m fine.” I pulled my
hand free, taking several deep breaths trying to regain my
composure. “He went the opposite way of my house. Anyway, I only
live a few minutes from here. Bye.”

“
Maggie, we can do this two
ways. Either you let me take you home, or I’ll follow you without
your consent. Simply put, you’re not going alone.”

“
I live east of the park, he
went toward the northwest. I’ll be fine.”

“
What if he decides to
double back? You did hear about the girl who was stabbed and left
for dead in front of those buildings a few days ago, correct?” He
pointed to a row of abandoned buildings that were adjacent to the
park.

Grrr!
He was right. Her story was
the
topic of conversation at school
lately. Moreover, it was almost midnight, definitely not safe to be
out alone. “Fine.” I stuffed my hands into my jeans pockets and
stomped off speedily toward my house.

My 5’6” stature proved no challenge
for Mr. 6’2”. He easily matched my stride. “Where’s the fire?” he
asked. I slowed a bit, not wanting to look as foolish as I felt.
When we reached my corner, I spun around to face him.

“
Why were you in the park?
Did you have a date?” Like, perhaps with Hillary?

“
No, just out with a
friend.” A nice, safe generic reply. He must be trying to keep his
options open.

“
Here’s my street, thanks
for walking me home. See you at school tomorrow.” I said it fast
and without taking a breath, it would have been a miracle if he’d
understood. I started walking again, and he continued to follow.
“Really,” I called over my shoulder. “Thanks again for your help at
the park, you’re a lifesaver.”

“
Anytime, well, not anytime.
Hopefully, you’re smart enough not to take midnight strolls through
the park anymore.” I twisted around and glared at him. He flashed
an impish grin before taking my arm. “Maggie, please allow me to
see you home—all the way home.”

It was evident he wasn’t giving up.
“Alright. Thanks.” I had no choice. I stuffed my hands back into my
pockets and walked on.

He didn’t say anything until we
approached my trailer. “Truth be told, I was hoping for a goodnight
kiss, you know, after the park and everything.”

I ignored him and increased my pace
again. After a few more steps, I had a small brainstorm and sallied
around with a smug expression. “Sorry, it’s not cold enough to kiss
you.”

He looked puzzled. “Okay, you’ve lost
me. What does the cold have to do with you kissing me?”

“
Simple, the river
Phlegethon will have to freeze over before I’ll ever kiss you
again.” Dr. Bore would be proud of my mythology reference. Seth
just threw his head back and laughed. “I’m glad you think that’s
funny.”

He gently, but firmly, took my chin in
his hand. “Methinks the lady doth protest too much.”

He did
not
just misquote Shakespeare to
me!

“
I watched you taste my kiss
back at the park, Maggie. You enjoyed it as much as I did. You know
it and I know it.” His voice rumbled soft, low, and yummy. I yanked
my head free and walked up the small path to my porch.

“
Sooner or later, Maggie,
our lips will meet again. Personally, I’m voting for
sooner.”

I wheeled around, almost losing my
balance. “Why do guys like you think every girl wants to make out
with them? I don’t get it.”

The playful grin had vanished from his
face. “I didn’t ask you to make out, Maggie. Goodnight.” A twist of
guilt clutched at my belly as he walked away.

Safely inside my house, I slithered
down the closed door, burying my face in my hands. There was no
need to be cruel. My mother was right, I was an unlovable
nothing.

“
You’re back?” It shocked me
to find my mother still awake. Her voice carried a strange tone, it
was probably disappointment that I’d returned.

“
Yes.” Thankfully, the
lights were still off. I didn’t want to explain to her why my face
was flushed.

“
Go to bed! You have school
tomorrow.”

Geez, my mother picked the strangest
times to go parental on me.

I forced my weary body up and headed
toward the bathroom fully intending to wash off Seth’s kisses and
forget the whole night had ever happened. I marched down the hall,
past the bathroom, and went straight into my room, dropping onto my
bed. My mind wouldn’t stop thinking about him. I ran my fingertips
over my lips, remembering.

“
Stop!” I rolled over,
forcing myself to sleep. Sorry to say, it didn’t end my thoughts of
Seth. He stayed front and center in my dreams. I gladly welcomed
the hideous sound of the alarm clock the next morning.

4

Seth

“
Here’s the artist rending
of the man who attacked Michelle Stringer.” Booker placed the
drawing on my desk as I ate my breakfast; a bowl of Honey-Nut
Cheerios. “Hmm, looks tasty, kid,” he said dryly.

“
It’s not as if I have all
the time in the world to make a hot breakfast. I have to get to
school and do my job, unlike some of us.” I frowned down at the
soggy O’s. Man, I’ll be glad when this assignment’s
over.

“
Someday you’ll be in charge
of your own team, and you can call the shots.” He set a mug down
next to my bowl. “To show you my heart’s in the right place, I made
you some of my famous hot chocolate.”

I inhaled the sweet chocolaty steam
escaping from the cup. “Formula number seven?”

“
Would I bring you anything
less?” He sat down and propped his black hard-soled shoes on the
corner of my desk, beaming as I savored the warm liquid.

“
Are you ready to share the
secret ingredient with me?” I asked between sips.

“
Nope.” His grin broadened.
“So does the drawing look like the guy from the park last night?”
he asked, pointing to the picture.

I studied the man’s face. “It’s hard
to tell, it was pretty dark, and he was alone. Didn’t Ms. Stringer
state there were two of them?”

“
Yes, but that doesn’t mean
they can’t do a little business alone.” He had a point. The drug
community had no problem stabbing each other in the
back.

“
You watched this guy
walking throughout the park, but didn’t witness any drug deals
going down?”

“
None.” I laughed. “However,
most of the people in the park last night weren’t exactly looking
to score. Well, not drugs anyway. There was a whole lot of
making-out going on.

“
Once he spotted Maggie, his
demeanor changed. He stayed hidden in the trees, as if he was
tracking a defenseless animal, and he kept licking his lips.”
Repulsed, I shoved my breakfast away.

“
I worked my way over toward
him just as he got a phone call. He was angry and kept telling
whoever it was,
no
, and that he was in charge, all the while watching
Maggie.”

I got up and walked over to the
window, resting my arm on the sill. “He said there was this hot
girl who was all alone and that he was a man with needs.” My jaw
tightened. “He kept smiling and scratching himself.”

Booker walked over and patted my
shoulders. “She’s okay, Seth. You saw to that.” I nodded and took a
deep breath to calm my gut.

“
I should have arrested
him.”

“
On what charges? Gawking at
a cute girl?” Booker laughed. “I would have had to charge you too.
I’m sure you were doing some pretty heavy gawking yourself at Ms.
Brown.”

“
I can guarantee you my
thoughts weren’t lascivious. All I wanted was to talk to her. He,
on the other hand...”

“
I have no doubt your
thoughts were pure,
Son of a Preacher
Man
,” Booker said, walking back over to my
desk. My dad served in the Air force as a Chaplin, among other
things, and Booker was forever singing the old Dusty Springfield
song to me as we were growing up. “This guy was probably some loser
guy hoping to score. No need getting uptight over
nothing.

I knew Booker was trying to downplay
the incident. Until we had any evidence proving otherwise, he saw
no need for me to tie myself up in knots. Vintage Booker. Out to
save the world.

“
Which reminds me,” I
narrowed my eyes at him, “it’s not working.”

“
What’s not
working?”

“
The scheme you had to, how
did you put it?
Win the lady's
heart
. Cheesy, Booker, even for
you.”

“
So what’s not working? You
must be doing it wrong,” he said playfully.

“
You said to make her laugh,
make
her
the
nervous one. Well, she doesn’t laugh at my jokes, instead they seem
to put her on edge. Although, I do believe she’s nervous. She has
this cute habit of twisting her hair around her fin—” I looked over
at Booker. His chest was bouncing with laughter. I smiled. “I did
kiss her last night,” I admitted. “Twice, actually.”

“
See. I hate to say I told
you so,” he glowed proudly.

“
But she got mad after I
did.”

“
You must be a pretty rotten
kisser. Did she kiss you back, or was she cringing the whole
time?”

“
I kiss just fine, thank you
very much. And yes, she kissed me back. Actually, she kissed me
first,” I bragged. “But I don’t think she’s interested in having a
boyfriend. Maybe I should try being her friend.”

“
No, no, no. You’re making
real progress, kid. You need to—”

Thankfully, a knock on my office door
brought Booker’s love advice to a premature end. In walked a lanky
blond woman in an MET uniform with a sheet of paper in her right
hand.

“
Hey, Connie. What’s
up?”

“
Captain, you said you
wanted to be notified if another stabbing occurred with the same MO
as Michelle Stringer.” Booker nodded slowly. “A 24 year-old female
identified as Tammy Byrne was found shortly after two A.M. this
morning behind some empty buildings near Applegate Park. She had
several knife wounds almost identical to those of Ms. Stringer. She
didn’t survive, Captain.”

“
Was she raped?”

“
It’s hard to tell, the
body’s a mess, but the forensic team doesn’t believe so. Sir, the
woman who discovered the body is a reporter for
The Democrat and Chronicle
. She and a
staff photographer were there doing an exposé on the growing drug
scene at Applegate park. It’s already hit the morning
papers.”

She handed the report over to Booker
along with a small plastic bag. “This was found under the body. We
couldn’t get any fingerprints off it, we’re not even sure it’s part
of the crime scene, but I thought you might want to see
it.”

“
Thanks, Connie.” Booker
closed the door as he read over the paper.

“
What’s in the
bag?”