Broken (9 page)

If his gorgeousness had stopped there, I
probably would've been ok, but the little spirits in charge of
keeping the universe in equilibrium must've been momentarily busy
with something more important.

The blue buttons that kept his shirt snuggly
wrapped around his impressive torso were almost the exact shade of
his eyes, which happened to be staring at me with a trace of
something different than his normal self-assurance. In someone else
I would've almost said gratitude, but his manner was too arrogant
for that.

More than anything else, that's what finally
shook me from my reverie. He was already talking.

"...wanted to talk to you about what happened
today."

Part of me wanted to wait and see what he was
going to say, to lose myself in what was sure to be a very
convincing lie designed to make him look good, and me feel like I
was on heroin for however long he favored me with his presence.
Luckily that idealistic, stupid part of me had seen too many girls
get used by smooth-talking boys. I interrupted right away.

"You mean when your sister nearly got beaten
by that whore, and you not only didn't do anything, you stopped
your friends, from doing anything either."

Alec flinched a little. I was a little
surprised by how satisfying it was to have him, a demigod, on the
run, but I didn't let it slow me down.

"The fact that I, a little waif from out of
town, could defuse the situation and save Rachel no doubt sticks in
your craw, which explains why you're lurking around out here
waiting to talk to me. Because only then can you fabricate some
reason for why everything had to go down the way it did, and
thereby save face!"

He wasn't flinching now. Instead his face had
gotten tight and remote. For a second it seemed like he was looking
right through me. "You don't understand."

Alec's expression should have scared me. It
sent shivers down my spine, but I was too mad to back down over a
little thing like my knees nearly shaking. "Of course. That's an
easy comeback. I don't understand. You're right, I don't. I
would've done almost anything to protect my sister, but you didn't
even care that Rachel was going to get hurt."

Now I really was scared, Alec was trembling
slightly, and he looked like he wanted to slap me. While I was
still trying to decide whether I should radiate smugness at having
verbally bested him, or run back to the safety of the tutor room,
he lunged forward and grabbed me around the shoulders.

"I was going to offer you my protection
against Cassie and Brandon, and you throw your supposed superiority
in my face. Fine, but don't come crying back to me when the mask
comes off."

Alec abruptly released me and stalked off. He
was moving so incredibly quickly he'd disappeared around a corner
with one balled up fist pressed against his side before I'd even
started shaking in fear. I'd never before been that helpless. Had
he wanted to, I had no doubt but that he could have easily snapped
my neck. He was that strong.

I really was trembling now. I wanted to
mutter something about overzealous body-builders lifting just to
intimidate people, but couldn't get the words out. I think maybe I
was afraid he'd somehow overhear and return to finish the job.

My shoulders felt like the skin was on fire,
but I knew it was just my imagination. His grip had been rock hard,
but he hadn't actually squeezed enough to hurt me. He'd shown
pretty good control for someone who'd just been spanked in a
debate, and obviously wanted to rip my head off.

Turning around to return to the tutor room, I
almost tripped over my own feet when I saw Britney standing just
outside the closed door.

"Are you crazy? First you side with Rachel
against Brandon, firmly putting yourself in Alec's camp, and then
you turn around and piss off Alec?"

I really wasn't in the mood to argue with
Britney, so I tried for nonchalance. "So now I'm not on anyone's
side. They'll both leave me alone and I'll be fine."

"Oh, yeah, because that's how things work."
I'd only thought Britney was mad before. She was all but shaking
with fury now. "Don't you get it? You, me, most of the rest of the
school, we survive by staying neutral. For better or worse, we
aren't attractive, cool, or rich enough to get in with Alec or
Brandon. Once you piss one of them off though, you'd better hope
you're in with the other one, because that's the only way you've
got any kind of protection."

It was starting to sound like organized crime
or something. Of course they could make my life miserable socially,
but it wasn't like they were going to really hurt me. I opened my
mouth to try and calm Britney down, but she cut me off.

"You don't understand how much influence they
have. Three years ago someone tried to start a newspaper in
Sanctuary. Things were going along just fine until they pissed off
Alec's mother. The city condemned the building and refused to
change the zoning laws so he could get another place. When he
really pushed the issue, his house mysteriously caught on
fire."

My mouth was hanging open, but Britney seemed
to think it was disbelief rather than amazement. "I'm serious
Adriana, and I'm not letting you take my family down with you. Find
your own way home."

Chapter 6

There was no reason for Britney's actions to
come as any kind of surprise, it was exactly in keeping with her
character. Even if she didn't believe a word of what she'd just
told me, I really was on my way to becoming a social pariah, and
her whole existence centered around becoming more popular.

Even so, knowing I was officially stranded at
school with no way home, felt very much like the end of the world.
We still didn't have a phone, and probably won't for weeks still,
even assuming we somehow managed to keep our home through the end
of the week. Calling mom and asking her to come and get me was
out.

Presumably if I waited long enough Mom would
decide something was wrong and come looking for me. Unless she was
out hiking somewhere, in which case it might be a day or two before
she realized I was missing.

There was nothing to do, but walk. I waited a
few minutes to give Britney time to get out of the lab, and then
walked in and grabbed my things. The other kids were already
clearing out. Nobody even looked up as I left.

Luckily I'd worn sneakers rather than the
exotic footwear most girls gravitated towards. If I'd been wearing
anything else, I'd have been nursing blisters before I made it out
of the parking lot. As it was, I quickly realized my little walk
home was going to be twice as unpleasant as I'd expected.

The school most definitely wasn't in the
pretty, green part of the region. Every step seemed to kick up a
miniature cloud of fine, red dust that drifted into my lungs and
slowly coated my clothes. The dust would've been plenty bad all by
itself, but the heat made things even worse.

It was only an hour or two removed from the
hottest part of the day, and the air was so dry it seemed to be
sucking moisture out of me with each breath. I knew it was stupid
to walk home. My one little bottle of water wasn't going to last me
five miles in this oven, but I was tired of always having to be
sensible about everything. I was going to walk, and that was it.
Maybe if I passed out on the side of the road and ended up in the
hospital Britney would finally realize what a wench she was.

I was barely out of sight of the school,
still vividly imagining Alec and Britney's faces when they found
out that they'd put me in the hospital, when I heard a car
approaching from behind me. Only it wasn't zipping by, it was
slowing down.

Every scary story I'd ever heard about
rapists, kidnappers and murderers suddenly flowed through my mind
like a frayed rope catching at my insides as they went, pulling out
all of the other thoughts and feelings until there was nothing left
but a hollow, fear-filled shell.

I found myself praying for the first time
since the accident, pleading with whatever might be out there
listening to protect me and get me safely home. My heart was
pounding so hard it almost drowned out the crunch of gravel as the
car pulled even with me.

I didn't recognize the vehicle, which was a
bad sign. It was a light-eating black, and emitted the throaty roar
of a sports car. The windows were tinted; I could see that much out
of the corner of my eye without acknowledging that it was there.
That really seemed like the best course. Maybe if I pretended he
wasn't there, the driver would just go away.

A hint of motion told me that wasn't going to
be the case, the passenger side window was sliding down with the
smooth, even motion of power windows.

"I've heard that some of you easterners have
some really funny ideas. I guess seeing as how we don't have any
mass transit out here you must've decided you needed to walk home.
Don't you think it's a bit hot for that kind of environmental
responsibility?"

The voice was familiar, but my mind initially
refused to place it with a face. It was too unbelievable to be
real. I took a couple more steps, and then looked to my left and
was rewarded as an infectious grin slowly appeared on Brandon's
face.

I wanted to say something witty, but the
thoughts all just swirled around in my head without making it down
to my mouth. Brandon's smile grew just a little bigger.

"I really think you should let me give you a
ride home. Based on our past history, it's only a matter of time
before one of us runs into the other, and I'm afraid of what my
Mustang might do to you when that happens."

Brandon's voice washed over me like silk,
carrying away any desires I might have had to walk all the way home
just to prove a point. Not trusting my voice, I nodded and took the
couple of steps needed to reach his passenger door.

"I wanted to apologize for what happened
earlier today. Cassie can be a real jerk sometimes."

It seemed too good to be true. I almost
looked over at him, but I knew I'd lose myself in a pair of soft,
gray eyes. Brandon seemed to understand that my silence meant I
wasn't convinced.

"You wouldn't believe how relieved I was when
you stepped forward and stopped her before things got out of
hand."

My natural pessimism reasserted itself,
undaunted by the fact that I could just see Brandon's
perfectly-muscled arm out of the corner of my eye.

"If you knew Cassie was in the wrong, why
didn't you stop her? She's your friend; you should have been able
to defuse the situation before it got that far."

Brandon took a deep breath. His voice was
quiet now, the perfect example of someone admitting something they
weren't proud of. "Things are complicated with Cassie. Our families
go really far back, it's almost like she's my sister sometimes. She
doesn't like to listen to me, and when she gets mad, things get
very unpleasant."

It was a weak explanation, but there was
something in his voice that made me believe him. The few doubts I
still had melted away as I finally met his eyes. I've always been
pretty good at reading people, and I'd never seen anyone whose eyes
conveyed that level of sincerity. My voice caught, and it took a
couple of tries to get actual words out.

"She'll come after me."

Brandon shook his head. "I won't let her.
That's part of why I wanted to talk to you. I won't let anyone do
anything to you. Think of it as repayment."

The words weren't anything special, but there
was something about the way he said them that made me absolutely
sure he'd deliver on his promise, that he was somehow completely in
control of his surroundings.

The level of the intensity in his stare was
too much, and I found myself looking away, trying to buy some time
to collect myself. Luckily I wasn't so far gone as to not recognize
where we were.

"Oh, gosh, that was the turnoff to my house.
I'm so sorry."

Brandon flashed me another smile and quickly
maneuvered his car through a U-turn, a feat I was fairly certain
was harder than it looked in the bulky muscle car.

"No harm done. You guys bought the old
Anderson home then?"

I nodded, staring out at the desolate
landscape. "You mean every single person in town doesn't already
know everything there is to know about us?"

"Oh, the joys of a small town. Yeah, with as
little real news as we get out here, people probably know more
about you than you're used to. It has its benefits though."

I snorted, and then felt myself turning red
with embarrassment. You would think after seventeen years I'd have
learned how to laugh without making those wretched sounds. "As if.
I can't think of one good thing about everyone having their noses
in everyone else's business."

The smile was back, but it was more
mischievous than before. "How about me knowing Britney left you
high and dry after school today?"

"Please. That just makes the humiliation more
painful."

Brandon shook his head as we pulled to a stop
in front of my house. "No, that means I can do something about you
losing your ride."

I suddenly felt like there was a joke I was
missing out on. "How do you propose to fix that?"

"It was my fault so I'll be your ride back
and forth from school every day."

"I don't know about all of that, but thanks
for the lift just now."

I fumbled for a minute with the unfamiliar
latch, and then invited the blistering heat into the cool interior
of the car as I swung the door open.

Brandon gently captured my arm before I could
slide out of the passenger seat. "You'll wait for me tomorrow?"

"I don't know-maybe. Anyone that thinks
Minnesota is the east instead of the Midwest can't really be relied
upon to remember important things like appointments."