01 Untouchable - Untouchable (9 page)

“
So how’d you like it?” I
asked as the next person began to sing. “Was it better than your
Led Zeppelin?” The back of the room would be the only place where I
knew we would be able to hear each other, but he didn’t say
anything. I looked at him and suddenly knew why. His eyes had this
unusual quality to them, and I understood at that moment just how
much impact the song had made. I didn’t push the conversation; I
just went to the table where the drinks were sitting out and poured
us each a coke.

We listened to another two songs when
he finally turned to me and said, “Jewels was right.”

“
About what?” I took a sip
of my drink.

“
You should try out for
American Idol, or something. You’ve got a lot of
talent.”

The evening seemed to end
too quickly and I knew I wasn’t ready to say good-night. He asked
me if I’d sit with him in his car for a little while before he
left. Bev and Matt were okay with it, although Matt distinctly
mentioned
not
leaving. It was funny to hear him take that fatherly tone with
me, but I whole-heartedly agreed that I wasn’t going any further
than the driveway.

He opened the passenger door and I slid
down in the kid-soft leather seat. I was amazed that I liked the
interior even better than my Porsche, but I was sure I could blow
him away in a race. “This is gorgeous,” I told him as he lowered
himself into the driver’s seat. “What’s under the hood?”

“
An engine,” he
smirked.

“
Very funny…”

“
Annalisa,” he spoke my full
name causing me to go silent. “Who are these people?”

I hadn’t expected that question. “Wha—I
don’t understand what you…”

“
Yes, you do. You told me
you were a liar this morning, and I’m starting to feel like your
whole life here in Pensacola is just some kind of fake front. And
don’t tell me they’re your aunt and uncle.”

“
They—they are,” I began to
stammer.

“
Really? Then how come
Beverly said she’s your mother’s sister?”

“
She is,” I said feeling
completely vulnerable to his prying words. I suddenly didn’t sound
confident at all. “She’s my aunt.”

“
What’s your name? You’re
real name. Don’t say McKinnis because that’s Matt’s last name.
Unless your mother married Matt’s brother, there is no way you guys
have the same last name.”

It suddenly dawned on me the flaw in
the name. Matt would have had to have said he was my uncle on my
father’s side for it to have worked. Unfortunately, Beverly had
been too anxious to answer his question and had volunteered herself
as my aunt. I thought about trying to say that Matt’s brother was
my dad, but I knew there was no way it would fly at this
point.

The tears welled up, distorting my
vision. Tonight had been a mistake. My hand reached for the door
handle.

“
Don’t go, Leese—please, I’m
sorry,” he said, grabbing my arm. “I just want to know who this
girl is that I’m…” He left the sentence unfinished. Just the hint
that he was falling for me stung worse than the tears.

“
I can’t tell you very much,
my parents would kill me.”

“
Tell me what you can,” came
the simple reply.

“
My family isn’t from
Alabama, but I’m guessing you’ve figured that out, too.” I didn’t
look at him, I just kept talking. “They aren’t having marital
problems, my mom—my mom,” I began to sob, “is slipping off the deep
end.” I didn’t have a tissue so I was using the sleeve of my hoodie
to dry my tears. “My grandpa committed suicide two years ago, but
she thinks someone killed him.” I looked into his face with a
pleading stare, “She thinks someone is going to try to kill me and
Kimmy, so she sent us here to keep us safe.”

His arms wrapped around me as I began
to shiver. It wasn’t that cold tonight but it suddenly felt like it
was twenty degrees as I cried my eyes out. “I can’t tell anyone, I
mean it would be like what was the purpose of coming here if
everyone knows who I am?”

“
Who are you?” he repeated
in a whisper against my hair.

“
I can’t tell you, but my
real first name is Annalisa.”

“
Why would someone want to
hurt you?” he coaxed gently.

“
My—my family has money. A
lot of money,” I finished with a hard swallow. “I guess someone
might be trying to get to it through us. Evan, all this has got to
remain quiet. You can’t tell anyone, please.”

“
There is no way I’d say
anything about it,” he said tucking a loose lock of hair behind my
ear. “I just want to be someone you can trust, someone you can be
alone with and feel safe.”

I couldn’t tell him that I wanted that
more than anything, but I wasn’t there yet. I still didn’t know
much about him and sitting in the driveway was as alone with him as
I could possibly venture.

“
I’ve got to get inside.” I
wiped my eyes and hoped I hadn’t just smeared mascara all over my
face.

He flipped down the passenger’s sun
visor and opened the vanity mirror on the back. “You might want to
fix that first,” he said with a grin.

I looked up and sure enough I had two
black streaks under my eyes. “Ugh! I don’t know why I put on makeup
tonight. If I’m going to keep bawling like this, I’ve got to get
waterproof mascara,” I said, carefully wiping away the traces that
I’d been crying.

“
You look beautiful without
it so don’t put it on for my benefit.” He turned my face toward
him.

When he leaned forward, I knew he was
going to try to kiss me. His face was so close, but I simply
couldn’t.

“
Evan, I’m not ready for
this.” I couldn’t keep the quiver from my voice.

He studied me for a moment
and finally said, “
un baiser sur la
joue?”

I smiled weakly, my resolve crumpled up
in a pile on the floor, “Oui, a kiss on the cheek would be
fine.”

His cheek pressed to mine
for a moment and then his lips brushed softly against the same
place he had kissed earlier that day. “Good-night,
Annalisa.”

CHAPTER FOUR

Thursday morning I woke
early and felt excited that I would see Evan’s face in a little
while. What I felt had been a disastrous ending last night now
seemed much more appropriate. I came to the realization that I
liked it better to have fewer secrets between Evan and me. I made
it to the parking lot almost twenty minutes early. Sitting there
with my doors unlocked and my concerns forgotten from what seemed
like eons ago, I sang full blast to my music. I definitely had
cranked the volume a little high so when the tap came on my
passenger’s window, I expected to see Officer Martin; instead, it
was Ryan Faultz.

He opened the door and
moved my books before I could refuse his non-existent invitation to
sit in my car. “Wow, great music. Was that you singing?”

I turned the volume down to
where it was barely audible and crossed my arms, glaring at my
intruder. “Do you always just barge in on people?”

He leaned his head back
against the head rest. “You are an awesome singer. What was the
name of that song you sang last night? Something about I will not
be moved? Is that a personal motto?” And then he crossed his arms,
copying me.

My mouth was open but
nothing was coming out.

“
Yeah,
Nate and Natasha asked me if I’d like to come. They said you’d be
there, but I never expected to hear you sing. And, by the way, that
guy who isn’t your boyfriend was looking at you last night like
you
are
his girlfriend.”

“
You were at my church?” I
questioned, still amazed that I hadn’t seen him there—he wasn’t the
kind of guy who should be able to blend into the
scenery.

“
Yeah, and we drove right
past your house, too. You looked kind of cozy sitting with him in
his car.”

I wanted to call him a
stalker, but the words just wouldn’t come out of my mouth. I
usually used that line in teasing, but I was getting the strange
feeling that it might not be a joke with this guy.

“
Ah, come on, Annalisa.
Lighten up. I just wanted to know if you really had a boyfriend or
not. You could have just told me.”

“
Evan is just ah—a really
good friend,” I finally managed to get out. “He just started here
on Monday. I don’t know him any better than I know you, but,” I
added with anger clear in my voice, “at least he has more
manners!”

I heard the purr of the
Nissan’s engine as Evan pulled up on the driver’s side of my car.
He looked at me and Ryan sitting together, and I could see the
anger fill his face.

“
You’d better get out,” I
warned.

Ryan gave a half grin, “He
doesn’t scare me, but he does look dangerous. You be careful now,”
he said as he opened the passenger’s door. “Good manners don’t
automatically mean good intentions.” Then he turned as Evan was
approaching my door and said something quietly that I couldn’t
quite make out, but a shiver ran through me as I thought it sounded
like something about locking my hood. How could he have known
anything about that?

Evan opened my door. “Is he
bothering you?”

I heard Ryan laugh, which
did nothing for cooling the anger on Evan’s face. I saw the look
and I knew Evan was getting ready to walk away from me and go after
him.

I put my hand on his arm,
which stopped him before he could move. “Hey, no—it’s okay. He just
heard my stereo and came over to listen for a few
minutes.”

One eyebrow went up on his
face asking a question without words.

“
No,” I answered, “I didn’t
invite him, but it’s okay.”

Jewels pulled in right
behind Evan and must have had an idea what was going on. “Hey,
guys,” she said cautiously. “What’s up?” But behind his back she
motioned me to head in with Evan and then she pointed to Ryan and
back to herself to let me know she bring him along
separately.

“
Let’s get going.” I tugged
Evan’s arm, “I’ve—I’ve got to stop by the office this
morning.”

He didn’t say anything at
first, but when we were almost out of hearing distance, he growled,
“I don’t like that guy.”

I didn’t have anything to
do in the office when I started my morning until Ryan made that
comment, and I now had a burning question for the
registrar.

“
I’ve got to see Mrs. Jones
about one of my grades,” I lied—I hated to do that, but if I was
right, he would likely go back out in the parking lot and beat Ryan
into a pile of crap. He sat in the lobby, still trying to get his
temper under control when I slipped around the corner to her
office.

“
Hey, Mrs. Jones, do you
have a minute?”

She looked up from behind a
stack of folders on her desk, “Sure, come on in. Annalisa,
right?”

“
Yes. I was wondering about
the new student that started yesterday, Ryan Faultz.”

“
Oh, yes, nice boy, but a
little odd—don’t tell him I said that,” she said with a
wink.

“
No, I won’t, but I was
wondering was yesterday his first day being on campus?”

“
No, he was here most of
Tuesday afternoon getting registered. Why?”

“
I just thought he looked
familiar.” I started to go out her door and then an afterthought
hit me. “He is from Florida, right?”

“
Umm—I think he’s from,”
she picked up one of her manila folders and glanced inside, “West
Palm Beach.”

I froze in
place.

“
Are you okay, Honey? You
look a little pale.”

“
I’m f—fine,” but the whole
while I felt like throwing up.

Evan didn’t want me to go
to class when he saw how sick I looked. “I’ll drive you home—your
car,” trying to squelch any objections. “I’ll walk
back.”

“
That’s like six miles,
Evan. I’ll be fine, honestly.” I turned for the English wing. I
would have to get through three periods with Ryan today, English,
P.E. and Chemistry. P.E. wouldn’t be so bad because I had a feeling
he wouldn’t get too close to me with Evan at my side. Who knew
where he’d be sitting during chemistry. The only thing I was
becoming keenly aware of was that Ryan was on campus the day my
battery cable had been pulled from my car and now I knew he was
from my hometown. I was trying to calm my shaking nerves as I
walked into English. He was already there, but he wasn’t looking up
as I walked into the room. He was drawing something on a sheet of
notebook paper and didn’t notice me until I took my
seat.

“
Evan leaves you alone long
enough to go to class, huh?”

I ignored the remark and took out my
textbook.

“
Today we are going to take
up the period with Poe-etry,” Mr. Shultz said with a smile. “We
have a great collection to work from and we will see how many we
can read today. Tonight you are going to do a little poetry of your
own. I want at least one poem in Poe’s macabre style. I’ll choose
from the best and we will have another poetry reading on Monday,
but it will be your poetry, not Poe’s. Take a look in the textbook
and raise your hand as soon as you’ve selected a poem and we will
begin.”