From Lies to Promises (4 page)

  As she ties the elastic band into her hair she straightens up and looks at me. “It’s just,” she takes her
hands down from her hair with a deep breath, “I am scared one day you are going to get tired of me being your charity case.”

  I am floored. It’s
not what I was expecting. Did she seriously think I thought of her as a charity case? That’s not what I joined the Big Sisters club for. “Is that seriously what you think of me?”

  “Well, no. but that’s what I am scared is going to happen. Please
, don’t let it.” Jamie says while sticking her bottom lip out so far it is sure to drag the ground. “Hey, what’s that noise?” I look at her like she is crazy till I hear the tires squealing from the road.

  “Don’t worry they are probably just passing by.”
I assure her.

  About that time two trucks co
me barreling up on the other side of the trees where we are.  They get out hooting and hollering like they are the only people in the world. “Come on Jamie. Let’s go ahead and head back.”

  “Ok.” We stand and fold the bla
nket back up. When we head to the car I realize that the men that got out of those trucks don’t plan on staying where they parked. Some of them are headed over here with their fishing poles and cooler. Full of beer no doubt.

  “Well look who we got here
.” I look up, after shutting the trunk of my car, and my blood freezes. It’s Jake. “You know you’re trespassing on my family’s land?”

  Well shit. Not only does that ruin mine and Jamie’s place just by him being here, it ruins it because now I won’t
ever
come back. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize this was family owned. I thought we had gone far enough out to be in National Forrest.” I step away from the back of my car and walk to the driver’s door. “Go ahead and get in the car Jamie. I’m sorry again, we were just leaving.”

  “Jake, quite being an ass man. Let them stay, they aren’t hurting anything!” Cole says as he steps around him.

  “No! I, uh, I mean no thank you. We seriously need to get going anyways. Jamie has school tomorrow, so she can’t be out too late.” When I start to lower myself into my car, I am hypnotized by dark hair and green eyes.

  “What’s the rush? You have plenty of time to get her home before dark. Besides, we were about to do some fishing. Care to join us?” Ryder says as he walks around the front of my car to stand directly on the other side of my open door. Less than a foot separates him from me. I look over at Jake, who is wearing a scowl, and for the first time I notice he has a cut on his
neck just beneath his jaw bone. Oh, no. I did that.

  “We would love to stay. I don’t know how to fish though. Could you teach me?” Jamie
is standing behind Ryder looking at him like he was an angel. How did she get around the car that fast?

  “Jamie! We aren’t going to intrude on these
men’s fishing time.” I grab her by the arm to pull her next to me, which causes me to touch Ryder’s arm in the process. It’s like electricity shooting up my arm and through my whole body. I am so aware of where his skin is touching mine that all my senses focus on that one spot. Like it would save my life if we stayed connected.
Damnit, what the hell is it about him?
I jerk my arm away and put it behind my back.
Great, that’ll make you look normal. Way to go dumbass!

  “OK?” I take a step back and look up at Ryder. He was talking to me, and I hadn’t heard a word. Ugh.

  “Um, ok what?” I ask.

  “You’re telling me you didn’t hear a word he said and he is right in front of you?” Dave says from next to Cole. “I think you found a looney one.”

  “I’m not looney. I just zoned out.” I look over at Dave and try the meanest mug I can manage. I probably look like a complete moron.

  “Do you do that often?”
Ryder implores. I shake my head at him and look down at my feet. Suddenly very interested in the rocks. “Well, no worries about you interrupting our fishing extravaganza, these men could use some women around them. Maybe, they will quit acting like such heathens.”

  “HA! Like that’ll ever happen, lil’ bro!” Dave laughs out as he picks his pole up, where it was propped on a nearby tree and walks to the edge of the water. “Well come on. If we want a chance at catching anything we better get to it, instead of sitting here talking.”

  Ryder puts his arm around Jamie, “Alright, short stuff, let’s get you a pole. The first thing you need to know about fishing is patience.” They turn to walk away and I am standing there dumbfounded. I’m pretty sure I never agreed that we would stay, but obviously we are. I do not want to be anywhere around Jake. I have a feeling he isn’t one to let things go. “Are you coming, Katrina?”

  I look up to see Ryder standing
at the front of my car. Jamie has went ahead without him. “Yeah, I guess you gave me no other choice.

  “Oh, come now. We didn’t leave that bad of an impression on you, did we?” I sneak a glance at Jake. He is next to the river with his hip leaned on a rock, looking at Ryder. “
I’m guessing Jake did leave that bad on one. Is he the reason you flew out of the party last night.” Wow, am I making it that obvious?

  “No
. I told you I felt sick.” I put on my fake smile. I always surprise myself at how well I have trained myself to flip the switch. I walk around him and sit next to Jamie on a log. “Any bites?”

  “Neh, I don’t even know if I am doing it right. Cole said to just leave the line out there. If I got a bite to yank it and start reeling.” She points out to the water where her line disappears beneath the surface. “But I don’t know what a bite would feel like.”

  “Is this really your first time fishing?” Jamie gives me those eyes and just nods her head. I take it her dad hasn’t had a lot of time to take her out. So I don’t push it. “Ok, so when you get a bite, you will feel a little jerk on your pole. When you do, yank and reel. You have to be careful, because if it’s just nibbling on it you could strip off your bait when you yank it.”

  “Sounds like someone has been fishing quite a few times.” Dave says.

  “Where I grew up there wasn’t a whole lot else to do. Plus, it was nice. Peaceful.” I explain. Besides school, it was the only other place I could go that wasn’t home.

 
“Then grab a rod and cast out. Show us men folk how it’s done!” he gestures with his head towards a pile of fishing poles in a pile next to a tackle box. Just because I’m always up for a challenge, I walk over to the mangled pile of poles. They are completely tangled in line and some of them aren’t even threaded. I open the tackle box and get out a knife (because no tackle box would be complete without one) and start cutting the knotted mess in front of me.

  With my rod now threaded and on, I begin to look around for the bait they are using.
When I can’t seem to find it I look over to Cole and ask, “Um, where is the bait?”

  “
Yeah, might need that, huh? It’s on the other side of Rhett.” He points to the right with his thumb. I haven’t even seen that Rhett was with them. When I glance in the direction that Cole had pointed me in I notice that the bait is smack dab in the middle of Rhett and Jake. I take a deep breath to muster some courage.
I can do this.
No big deal. Just don’t look at him. Maybe he won’t say anything.
I stand, with my pole in hand, my new found courage, and walk to the bait. I squat down and grab one of the little bowls that have holes in the lids.

  “Here, let me do it for you. We don’t need you scaring the fish off with you squealing because you have to touch a fucking worm.” Jake
snarls.
Well, that worked great.
Double ugh.

  “I am perfectly capable of putting a dang worm on a hook!”

  “Didn’t seem that way to me last night.”
He snaps back and my anger rushes forth.

  “Last night was different. I wouldn’t touch that disgusting worm with a t
en foot fucking pole.” I growl out the last part. The stare he is throwing at me, has me wanting to back track. His eyes are so furious that I am literally crab crawling backwards for a step until my hand lands on a boot. Jake looks up and smiles at Ryder. I know it’s him, I don’t know how I just do. My intuitions are confirmed when he speaks.

  “Every
thing alright over here, Kat?” Ryder ask.

  I realize I must look ridiculous, still leaning back on my hands and stand. “Yea, Jake here came to the assumption, since I am a female, that I am incapable of baiting my own
hook. Which I’m not.” To show them both I reach down grab the fattest dang worm I see and walk off. When I am finished I cast the pole out and stand it up with forked stick so that I can watch it without disturbing the line. I look at Jaime who is reeling hers in and talking to Dave. She sits her pole down and begins making hand gestures, telling him the story of when we first met.

Just then my pole jerks so hard it almost comes off the stick and into the water. I jump up, yank, and reel. The fish puts up quite a fight, but I manage to get it to shore. It’s a good size fish. Almost a pound.

I grab it behind the fins carefully, because it’s a catfish and they will stab you with them if you don’t do it right. “Looks, like you weren’t kidding when you said you knew a thing or two about catching some fish. Here, you might need this to get the hook out.” Cole says, extending his hand with a pair of pliers.

“Thanks.” I take them from him and release the hook from the fish’s mouth. “Do y’all keep the fish or do you release them?”

“We keep a few, enough to take home and cook. The rest we just let go.” Cole explains. “Since this is the first fish of the day, it’s a keeper. The
stringer is next to the tackle box. You want to do the honors, or do you want me to do it?”

“Neh, I’ll let you do it.”
Handing the catfish over, he takes it and walks away to get the stringer. When he drops it into the water, fish attached, he walks back over to me. “I saw the interaction between Jake and you a little bit ago. He is an ass. That is just the person he has always been. We all grew up together. It’s a small town here and most of the men all work at the lumber mill just over the state line in Georgia. His father is the foreman, and is just as arrogant as his son. We’ve all just decided it runs in the family.”

“That is no excuse to act the way he does.”
I say and Cole gives me a half grin. “I take it that you are on the receiving end of his smart ass comments most of the time.”

  “Once or twice,” A full on grin appears on his face before he continues, “but I can handle it. Just stay away from him if you can help it. Jake also thinks that he is God’s gift to women, and has
had his eyes set on you since the moment you walked into that bar last night.”

“He isn’t my type. Besides, I could never be with a man if he is on the dark side.” Cole laughs, and his beautiful grey eyes sparkle.

  “I guess it’s a good thing I am secretly a Jedi then.” Ryder throws his arm around me and my body grows warm. He looks down at me with those green gems and winks. My knees go week. “I have powers of charm that could make Yoda blush.”

  Cole raises an eyebrow and walks away. Apparently I missed something.
In the distance I notice that the sun is descending in the mountains, which is my queue to leave.

“I got to take off. I really don’t want to take the chance of getting Jamie home too late. Last thing I need is her parents not letting me see her again.”
I say.

“Wait, her parents? Didn’t you say she was
your sister?” Ryder ask.

“Well, I am her big sister, as in the program. I have been for a little over two years now.” I say. He looks over my face before locking his eyes with mine. It is like he is assessing me, trying to figure me out. I don’t like it.
I’ve been assessed enough for one life time. Then his stare turns from searching to admiration. That scares me even more, because if he knew the real me, there would be no admiration. Because deep down I am a coward hiding in a shell of a girl that I want to be. Normal.

 
Later, when Jamie and I get to the car I notice she is in front of the car telling everyone bye. She spends a little extra time with Ryder, but their backs are to me and I can’t see what they are talking about.
Ugh, come on Jamie.
About the time I was going to tell her to get in the car they both turn to me.

“I’ll see you soon.” Ryder states with a grin on his face that spells trouble.

“I doubt it.” I say under my breath. Then flop down in behind the wheel and shut the door.

My window is still down from the drive over, so as I put the car in reverse I hear him shout. “
Oh, there is no doubt about it. I
Promise
.”

              I drop Jamie off at her house by eight, and head home.
Home.
Funny how such a small word can mean so much. It’s just a three bedroom house on the outskirts of Chattanooga, Tennessee. When I first moved here, I lived in small apartment. It was all I needed, I wasn’t planning on staying here permanently. Just passing through, I wanted further away from the town I was born in than this. That was before I was told about a party and ran into the two people that would make me feel normal. Like I belonged. That is why this was home, why I stayed here and moved in with them a few short months later.