Heart's Reflection (4 page)

"Damn
Astroturf!" I shouted.

"What is this
about?" Juliette asked. "Why are you so angry at the fake
grass?"

"Fake
grass?" I cried. "That's the least of my worries."

"Okay,"
she said. "But I thought you hated it."

Keagan's words
came back to me:
Liam's ass is
grass—or in this case Astroturf— on Friday.

"Shut up
about the damn Astroturf!" I cried.

"Whatever you
want," she said. "Maybe I should get the guidance counselor."

Something else
Keagan had said shot into my mind:
I'd
have jumped at that offer in a heartbeat.
He was saying he'd miss the game
for a chance to have sex with me.

Why hadn't I
thought of it before? Keagan was the other half of the equation.

If he didn't play
the game on Friday, then he couldn't be there to kill Liam. The fact that
someone else could replace Keagan and make the death-dealing tackle remained a
possibility. Nothing was certain. But that wasn't likely, I told myself. Only
Liam's brother had the heated drive to stop his brother at all costs. The other
team members were just playing a sport. Most likely if I could stop Keagan from
going to the game, I could save Liam.

Suddenly, I did
have a chance to change fate, but only if Keagan had meant what he said. And
even if he meant it, would I be able to carry through? I was too inhibited to
have sex with Liam. Could I cheat on him with his brother? Of course, Liam
would never forgive me. But in the end, which was worse, betraying Liam in a
way that he would never forgive or allowing him to die?

Chapter
Three

Bolting out of the
bathroom stall, I shot past a shocked Juliette and out into the hall. I made it
out of the school without anyone stopping me. As I strode to my Camry, it
occurred to me that this was the first time in my entire school career that I'd
skipped out, leaving school before my last class. I'd be missing cheerleading
practice too but I didn't care if I was thrown off the squad.

"Who cares if
I get in trouble," I muttered. "Where has it gotten me to be
good?"

A parking ticket
rested on the windshield, which I grabbed and promptly tore to pieces before
throwing on the ground. After a few moments fumbling in my purse, I managed to
grab the key ring and unlock the car. I jumped inside, fired the engine, and
peeled out.

 
Keagan's school was to the south of the
downtown and I shattered many a traffic law getting there. Now that I had a
plan, it seemed imperative to put it into operation before I chickened out. Or
before fate conspired to put some other blockade in my way.

When I turned the
corner to approach his school, Keagan and two other guys were lounging next to
the dumpster, smoking.

Rolling down the
window of the old Camry, I shouted to him. "Hey Keagan. Can I give you a
ride home?"

For a
mille-second, surprise widened his eyes and slackened his jaw. He tossed the
cigarette butt to the pavement and ground it under the heel of his boot. Then a
casual smirk replaced surprise. He muttered something to his companions,
causing them to laugh and shoot me a leer as Keagan sauntered my way.

"What are you
doing here, Goody?"

"Don't call
me that." The nickname set my teeth on edge. "Do you want a ride or
not?"
Great. What a way to start a
seduction
.

"Oh
yeah," he said, pulling open the passenger door. "I definitely want a
ride."

His statement was
loud enough for his friends to hear. From their nasty chuckles I knew they were
reading in a double entendre, as Keagan had no doubt meant them to do.

Once he was
inside, I set off but couldn't think what to say. We drove along in silence. My
hands clenched and unclenched on the steering wheel while Keagan sat in his
seat, staring at me with that horrid smile. A glance at him and my stomach
churned as if somebody had installed a roulette wheel inside me.

"Put on your
seatbelt would you?" I said, finally.

"Concerned
about me?" he asked.

"About the
ticket I'll get. Since I'm underage I could lose my license."

He didn't answer,
just snorted and reached for the strap. He jerked it down and buckled himself
in. "Happy?"

So far from happy
that happy wasn't even a speck in the distance.

When I didn't
answer, he spoke again in that too knowing drawl. "What's this about? I
don't imagine you're giving me a ride for my convenience."

I'd have to tell
him sometime but somehow I couldn't force out any words. This had all seemed
like such a good idea in theory but in practice my seduction techniques reeked.

"Well?"
he asked.

"Ummm."

We pulled up in
front of his house and I stopped the car but kept it idling.

"Okay,
then," Keagan said with a fake cheerfulness, as if he knew I was
struggling to come out with something. "Thanks for the ride."

He pulled on the
handle and the passenger door swung open. Keagan had one foot out the door when
I put a hand on his arm.

"Wait,"
I said.

He relaxed back
into the seat and shut the door while I switched off the ignition.

"Youwannagooutwithme?"
The mumbled words tumbled out of my mouth.

"Huh?"

Straightening my
shoulders, I sucked in a deep breath. This ninny act of mine just wouldn't do.
I turned and faced him.

Staring Keagan in
the eye, I said, "A date. You and me. How about it?"

Except for a few
blinks, Keagan's expression didn't register any reaction. Why had I never
noticed before what long lashes he had over those gray eyes?

"You want to
go on a date. With me." He pronounced every word distinctly.

"Yes."

Now his eyebrows
arched and he pointed at himself. "With me?"

I nodded.

Shifting to turn
away and stare at the floorboards of the car, he said, "Sure.
Tonight?"

"No. Tomorrow
night."

"After the
game?" Keagan looked up at me and a smirk twisted his lips. His eyes
twinkled with a cynicism that cut at me. Somehow he already knew what I would
say. I said it anyway.

"No. During
the game."

"Do I get the
same deal you offered Liam," he joked. "You'll go with me to the
reserve?"

"Yes," I
said, swallowing a lump the size of the hope diamond. "If that's what you
want."

"Why?"
He asked.

"Maybe I just
want someone to care enough about me to give up the
big game
. You heard Liam. I'm a manipulative tease."

"That just
doesn't seem like you," he muttered. He shook his head as if trying to
clear it of confusion. "There has to be something else—"

Interrupting him,
I squeezed his arm. "The important thing is you said you'd have taken the
deal."

"You were
joking." His eyes bored into mine with their intensity. "So I was
teasing you."

"I'm not
joking now." My gaze didn't waver from his. "I want to go out with
you. You've been telling me to go wild. Now I have."

"I don't
believe it," he said. " Something is going on and I just don't know
what."

The thoughts in
his head almost screamed out of his furrowed brow, thoughts that would have him
backing out. I had to stop those thoughts.

Acting on impulse,
I lunged forward to plant a hard kiss on his lips. When I pulled back, slightly
breathless myself, his eyes had widened and his mouth had shaped into an
"o".

"Wha—"
He touched a finger to his lips.

"There. I
want your awesome body. I want to go out with you. Satisfied?"

His face relaxed
back into his cynical smirk. "Okay," he finally said. "I'll go
out with you."

"Good—"

"But if we're
going to the reserve, we go tonight."

When I would have
protested he added, "And tomorrow night. Two dates. You spend the night
with me at the reserve tonight and I'll go out with you tomorrow night during
the game."

My mind spun as I
nodded.

"But there's
one more thing you have to do," he said.

Nodding again I
said, "I'll do it."

"Don't you
even want to know what it is before you agree?"

"Whatever it
is, I agree."

 
In for a penny, in for a pound. Even if
it was a pound of my flesh, what choice did I have? How much worse could it be
anyway?

* * * * *

When I arrived at
the Ellsworth house promptly at six, as Keagan had demanded, I switched off the
car engine but couldn't quite bring myself to go in. After about five minutes,
I pushed the handle mechanism, swung the car door open, and got out. I then
grabbed my purse, to sling the strap over my shoulder and across my chest,
before straightening my pink cardigan so the buttons wouldn't bunch.

"Stop
stalling." A thump of my fist to thigh didn't produce movement. "And
stop talking to yourself or somebody will think you're crazy."
What do you mean somebody? You are crazy.

Eventually,
dragging in a deep breath, I set off. The walk up the path to the house was
like the walk to the gallows—
not to
be overly dramatic or anything
. Every step of my clogs on the cement seemed
to echo. I was about to fulfill Keagan's condition for the date and it had been
worse than I thought.

After a couple
tentative knocks so soft that the most attentive elephant couldn't hear them, I
pulled myself up straight and wiped my wet palms against my denim skirt.
"Quit being ridiculous. You can do this," I muttered before
rapping—hard. Pounding was probably a fair characterization.

Keagan's father
jerked the door open. "What the hell is that—Oh, Tara, it's
you."

"Sorry, Mr.
Ellsworth. I didn't mean knock so loud." Trying to force out a smile, my expression
was probably more like a grimace because my lips felt set in a fast drying
cement.

His face relaxed
into a smile in return as he widened the door. "Come on in. But Liam isn't
home right now."

With my purse
hugged to my body, I stepped forward. "Thanks, ummm. That's okay." A
bullfrog in my throat needed clearing before I could get out the next part.
"I'm here for Keagan."

A huge gasp of air
escaped with the last word. There. I'd done as he'd demanded. I'd told his
parents...or at least one of them.

As the thought
occurred to me, his mother stepped around the corner and into the entry.
"Hi, Tara. Liam isn't home. Are you supposed to meet him here?"

"No
I...ummm."

Just then
my date
came out of his room and strode
down the hall to stand at the top of the stairs. The white t-shirt that
evidenced the hard muscles of his chest hung over low-slung jeans. His bicep
flexed as he slipped on a navy blue dress shirt and began to button it.

I found it hard to
swallow again, but not from fear this time. But even acknowledging to myself
how physically drawn I was to him, pangs cut at me with a thousand tiny
razorblades. How could I feel this way, betraying Liam in thought as well as
act? My boyfriend at least deserved emotional fidelity.

For a moment I
registered a hopeful expression on Keagan's face before our eyes met. Maybe not
hopeful as much as anticipating something. But as if he knew my guilty thoughts
about his brother, his expression transformed in an instant to its usual bored
cynicism.

"Liam should
be home any time now," Mrs. Ellsworth continued.

"I'm meeting
Keagan, not Liam," I announced.

"I don't
under—Oh, are you giving Keagan a ride?" Mrs. Ellsworth asked.

"I'll just
call Liam and tell him you're here," Mr. Ellsworth chimed in, moving to
the hall phone.

"Don't call
Liam," I said in a harsher tone than I'd intended. "I'm not giving
Keagan a ride...well ... I am but..."

Keagan grabbed his
off-white hoodie from where it had been draped over the banister and proceeded
down the stairs with a grin rivaling the Grinch's. He was clearly enjoying the
uncomfortable scene.

"That is,
we're going in my car but it's a date," I continued. "I'm going on a
date with your son... with Keagan."

Just as I said his
name, he reached the bottom of the staircase.

His parents' shocked
silence continued for the time it took him to walk down the hall to my side.

His father's shock
was the first to change to anger. "What is this?" Mr. Ellsworth
finally demanded, his gaze darting back-and-forth between his son and me.
"What has Keagan done? What is he threatening you with?"

"Nothing,"
I answered, my entire body shaking as I put my arm through Keagan's. My action
seemed to startle him almost as much as it did his parents.

"He must have
done something," Mr. Ellsworth said.

Keagan shook his
head. "Is it so impossible to think she might
want
to date me?"

"Yes,"
his father yelled. "When she can have your brother, why would she want
you? Tara's always been a good girl. I know you must have done something to
force her. You worthless piece of shi—"

"Stop it!
You're wrong," I interrupted with a sharp shout.

As Mr. Ellsworth's
jaw dropped Mrs. Ellsworth gasped.

I lowered my voice
for the next bit. "Mr. Ellsworth, I don't want to be disrespectful to you
or Mrs. Ellsworth but I'm just not going to listen to you run down Keagan any
more. It's not fair. He hasn't threatened me or done
anything...ungentlemanly." Weird word but I couldn't find anything any
better. "In fact, I had to beg him to go out with me. Keagan is a good
person. You've been forcing him to be bad in order to live up to your
expectations."

"Now listen
here, young lady—" Mr. Ellsworth started.

"No, sir.
This is your home, and you're adults. I can't stop you from verbally abusing
your son when I'm not here, but I don't have to listen to it. I've been a
witness to it for too long without saying something."