Deceptive Cadence (33 page)

“James?” I met his incredible gray-blue eyes.

“Yes?” he said breathlessly.

I climbed off him. I rubbed my hand over his crotch. He groaned.

“Cadence, don’t tease me unless you plan on following through.”

I unbuttoned his pants. “Lock the door.”

His eyes widened, then he shot up and rushed to the door. I leaned over and pulled the blankets back as the door lock clicked. I turned to face him and saw a hungry look in his eyes. I bit my lip and backed toward the bed as he eagerly approached.

“Cadence? Are you sure you’re ready for this?”

I nodded.

We made love tenderly, passionately. My skin tingled at his touch. My body came alive, aching, yearning. His touch, his kisses, drove me over the edge. Every noise of pleasure I made he rewarded me with more tenderness. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him.

When we finished, he looked down at me, searching my face, checking to make sure I wasn’t about to bolt or freak out on him.

To reassure him, I touched his cheek. “That was wonderful.”

A relieved smile spread across his face and he kissed my jaw. “I know. Cadence, you have no idea how much this means to me. I love you so much.”

He shifted onto the bed beside me, but held me tight against him. He turned me onto my side and pulled the blankets over us. Our faces pressed together as we gazed into each other’s eyes, exchanging silent expressions of love.

His fingers slowly brushed over my hips and waist, then descended down my back, making long circles. I shut my eyes, completely lost in him and the moment. I softly kissed his lips, causing him to sigh.

Before I knew it, I dozed off.

I awoke to James shaking me. “Hurry up and get ready. It’s ten thirty! Your dad is gonna have my hide!”

I jumped out of bed and rushed into the bathroom to freshen up and get dressed. We bounded down the stairs and saw the guys still playing. I thought they didn’t notice us at first, until Sam said, “You guys sounded like you had fun.”

I whimpered. Had I really made that much noise?

James picked up a pair of socks and threw it at his head. “Shut up!”

He rushed me out of the house and into the car.

We sped home and pulled up at ten forty-seven. Dad stood in the driveway with his arms folded and a deep scowl. James scurried out of the car, opened my door for me, and hurried over to Dad. “Safe and sound, as promised.”

I hurried up beside James and grabbed his hand.

Dad looked James over slowly. “You’re two minutes late.”

“I know, I’m sorry.”

Dad rested his hand on my shoulder closest to James, and pulled me away. “Good night, boy.”

“Wait!” James grabbed my hand. “I just want to kiss her goodnight.”

Dad rolled his eyes. “You have ten seconds.”

James planted a kiss on my lips as he cupped my face, but then Dad pushed him back. “Time’s up. Cadence has school in the morning.”

I smiled at James and mouthed my goodbye as Dad led me inside. As I shut the door behind us, he stood in the driveway, watching me.

TWENTY-NINE

Geri huffed as she flicked through the pages of the enormous book. I stared over her shoulder at the diagrams of cells. The teacher drew the structure on the board as he lectured us in great detail. I knew all of it, so my mind wandered.

James had started university a few weeks earlier, and he loved every second of it. It was right up his alley, with all the hands-on experiments and online notes. Unfortunately, between a full-time class schedule and working, I hadn’t been able to see him much, and only on the weekends. I missed him terribly, and his texts between classes only seemed to make it worse.

“Here are the assignments,” the teacher said loudly.

I snapped myself out of my daze as he handed them out.

“Your assigned partner is written on the second page.”

Oh no! Twelfth grade bio assignment? In the last timeline, I’d been paired with Melanie. Could I be assigned to her again?

He set my assignment sheet in front of me and gave Geri hers. Geri flipped her page over and grinned. “Not so bad. I got Cody.” She looked across the room and waved at him.

He smiled and waved back. That’s right! They started dating during this assignment. I looked him over. He was slender and an average height, with dark hair and hazel eyes. He hung out in a different group than us, so we didn’t interact with him much, but he was a nice guy. She could definitely do worse.

“Who have you got?” She whipped my assignment sheet open and moaned. “I’m sorry, Cay.”

I looked down and read,
Melanie Gordon
. I sighed. At least I expected it. I looked across the room at her and she turned away.

“I guess we should make some plans,” I said.

“You should ask the teacher to change,” Geri responded under her breath.

“No. I need to show Melanie it’s not just about James.”

“But it is.” Geri shrugged.

I scowled, but stood and walked across the room. I sat beside Melanie who clenched her pen.

“So . . .” I said, watching her closely. “I was thinking we could―”

“Of course we’re going to use
your
idea,” she responded. “Because it will be
so
brilliant, and inspired, and perfect.”

I huffed. “I was just going to make a suggestion. What’s your idea?”

“It’s biology, isn’t it?” She glared at me. “Why don’t you just set up a camera in James’ room and film yourselves going at it?”

“For heaven’s sake,” I said with a grunt.

“You’re disgusting.”

I rubbed my eyes. “Okay, let’s try to be civil to get this done. I wanna get a good grade and I’m sure you want to as well. So, let’s just try to focus on getting our work done.”

“Fine.”

“Good. So, give me a
real
suggestion.”

She made a strange throaty noise before she grunted and explained her idea.

After class, Geri met me and we headed to our group. “So, was she awful?”

I shook my head. “I think it will be okay. How about Cody?”

She shrugged. “He’s nice, and actually seems to know what he’s doing, which is a bonus.”

Since I hadn’t been friends with her when she dated him before, I was curious to see how the whole thing played out.

“Do you think he’s cute?” I asked.

She scoffed. “Not really, no.”

So it wasn’t an instant thing.

“Why would you even ask me that?”

I shrugged. “I’m just curious. You haven’t mentioned any hotties lately.”

“I’m not feeling it. Guys are kinda depressing me. I figure I’ll wait until I’m surrounded by a sea of them at uni.”

I giggled. She elbowed me and smiled.

I sat in the public library wondering where Melanie had gotten to. In the other timeline, she’d been held up because James was arrested, and I grew concerned something happened to him.

I pulled out my phone and saw a text from him. My stomach flipped and I bit my lip as I opened it.

Hey Beautiful. Just checking in and letting u know I love u. Cya Saturday. J.

I let out a breath of relief, but still wondered what happened to Melanie. I sat for another hour before I stood to borrow my books and head home. Just as I headed toward the door, she hurried into the entry and glanced around.

I paused, watching her as she darted to the bathrooms. I slipped my books in my bag and hurried after her.

Inside, she’d locked herself in a stall, sobbing. I froze, not sure what to do. I had to do something. I took a deep breath and gently said, “Melanie?”

She took a sharp breath and cut her sobs short. “What do you want?”

“Mel, come out here and talk to me.”

She swore at me and kicked the door.

“Melanie, don’t make me climb in there with you,” I said in a voice that sounded like when I’d snap at Melody for eating something she shouldn’t.

“You sound like my mother.”

I sighed and leaned against the door. “What happened?”

“Get lost, Cadence.”

“Okay.” I slipped some notes I’d copied out of my bag. “I made these for you. I hope they help.” I slid them through the crack in the door.

She sniffed, and pulled them from my hand. “Thank you.”

“Do you need a ride somewhere?”

A long pause followed. I thought she had ignored me, so I pushed off the door to leave. It opened behind me. She had red eyes and blotchy skin, with mascara running down her cheeks and her hair draped over her face. “I need to go home.”

“Okay. Why don’t you clean up a bit first?” Grabbing some paper towels, I ran them under water. I gently wiped the tear stains from her cheeks as she sniffed. I pulled out a tissue so she could blow her nose.

When she finished, we walked out to my car. Once I’d pulled out of the parking lot, she said softly, “Why are you nice to me?”

“Because I want to be. I know you think it’s just about James, but I liked you before I started dating him.”

She scoffed. “No, you didn’t.”

“I did. I was just stupid and didn’t want to look
uncool
.”

“And Cadence must always be cool.” I glanced across and saw it wasn’t a contemptuous statement. She stared out the window with a long face. “How come everyone likes you and not me?”

“I . . .” I had no idea how to answer that without offending her, so I carefully considered my words. “You do shut people out a lot. People liked you when you opened up.”

She dropped her face into her hands. “James said that too. I miss him so much.”

“Don’t you talk to him?” I asked, surprised.

She shook her head. “I’ve been . . . he would . . .”

“Why don’t we go see him now while he’s at work?”

“No!” Her head shot up and she looked at me with wide, alarmed eyes.

“Melanie! Why?”

“He . . . I . . .” She huffed and her face fell back into her hands. “I’m pregnant.”

For the first time in my life, I swore. I pulled over and turned to her. “What?”

“Oh, yes, something else to make you look more wonderful than me.” She looked up and met my gaze as fresh tears streamed down her face.

“But . . . what . . . who . . . ?”

Her lip quivered as her gaze fell. “Robbie Cluff.”

I swore again.

“Geez, Cadence.” A small smile curled her lips. “Twice in a few minutes. How unlike little perfect you.”

“But . . . when?”

She shrugged as she stared at her hands. “We dated for a few months. It turned out he was using me . . . like everyone else. He wanted to get back at James by banging his sister. I was such an idiot to believe that he cared about me.”

“You
dated
? As in, not anymore?” I struggled to comprehend everything she was telling me.

She shook her head, touching her abdomen. “He dumped me when I told him.”

I leaned against my seat, grabbing my forehead. “What are you going to do?”

She looked down at herself. “I’m going to keep it. It’s not due until after exams, and since I had no intention of going to uni, being a mum seems fitting.”

I bit my lip as she stared down at herself. “Does anyone else know?”

She shook her head.

“You need to tell your parents.”

Her gaze shot to me. “No, I don’t. I’ll . . . I’ll run away, find a place of my own.”

“Melanie, you’re only seventeen.”

Her tears burst out again. “I can’t tell them! They’ll be devastated! They gave James a huge lecture about knocking you up and they like
you
. Could you imagine what they’d do if they found out I . . . and with Robbie?”

I sighed. “Melanie, they love you. They’ll want to take care of you.”

She shook her head and bit her lip.

My phone rang.

“Just hold that thought.” I reached over and answered it.

“Hi, beautiful.”

Melanie let out a loud gasp at the sound of James’ voice. She swore, then covered her mouth.

“Hey, are you with Mel?” he asked.

“Ah, yeah,” I answered.

“No!” She cowered back. “Don’t tell him!”

“Tell her I can hear her,” he said. “Hand her the phone.”

I offered her the phone and she shook her head.

“Cadence, put me on speaker,” I heard him say. I pressed the button and his voice came through loud and clear. “Mel, I’m sorry about how I spoke to you last time we talked, and I wish you’d take my calls. Look, I’ve just finished work, so why don’t you and Cadence come over to my place?”

She shook her head.

I nodded and mouthed,
You should at least tell
him
.

She shook her head more desperately.

I huffed. “We’re on our way over.”

“No, Cadence!”

“Melanie!” James sounded frustrated. “I’m sorry, okay? Geez, I didn’t realize I’d upset you so badly.”

“James, we’ll talk to you when we get there,” I said.

“All right. I love you . . . both of you.”

“I love you too, James. We’ll see ya soon.”

Melanie pouted as she stared out the window the whole way there. I had a sick feeling in my stomach as we drove. What she’d revealed worried me. It was serious,
so
serious, a teenage girl’s worst nightmare, and the parents of teenage girls, too.

But what was worse, it belonged to Robbie. How had he managed to convince her to date him in the first place? I understood how easily he could use her like that, but I hated that he did.

We pulled up in front of the townhouse and parked in the driveway. James came out to meet us as Melanie sank down in her seat.

James opened her door. “Mel . . .” He stared at her. “I’m sorry, Mel, really.”

She burst into tears all over again.

I jumped out and came around, pushing James out of the way to help her out. We stumbled into the house while James followed with his hand in his hair, completely confused.

I sat her on the couch and glared at Tom until he scurried upstairs. When I turned back around, James sat with his arm around Melanie as she cried.

“Mel, come on, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know―”

“She’s not crying because of you,” I said softly as I knelt in front of her. “Melanie?”

She shook her head.

“You need to tell him.”

Her head slowly turned and she told him everything from the beginning: how Robbie had come across her in the street and took her out, how he convinced her to be his girlfriend, and last of all, that he got her pregnant and dumped her.

I couldn’t read James’ face as he sat back and stared into her eyes through the whole story. His expression fell stone cold with no emotion whatsoever. When she finished, he sat motionless for several minutes, just staring at her.

Finally, he stood. “I’m going to kill him.”