Mortal Kiss (4 page)

MK was the newest boutique to open in Winter Mill’s little mall, and the girls had been dying to shop there. It stocked the latest lines from all the top designers, which meant that at Christmas it would be bursting with the most incredible gowns. But the owner had also dedicated a section to the town’s younger population, promising to fill it with the latest new designs from labels like Juicy Couture, Bisou Bisou, Rachel Roy and anything else the owner liked the look of. It was, quite simply, Faye and Liz’s idea of heaven.

“Whoa,” muttered Liz, breaking into Faye’s happy shopping reverie as she parked the car. “Look over there.”

Across the parking lot, near the mall entrance, were six large black and silver bikes. There was no sign of their owners.

“I guess they’re inside,” murmured Faye, staring. The bikes were oddly hypnotic—they looked powerful, like huge crouching creatures, ready to pounce at the slightest provocation. In spite of Ms. Finch’s order, Faye still wanted to find out
more about the gang. Sergeant Wilson had said they were camping up in the woods, and Faye wondered if they had homes that they usually lived in, or if they were always on the move. The boy she had seen didn’t seem much older than she was. What would that be like, to live on the road? She sighed, frustrated. She knew there was a really good article there, if only she were allowed to work on it!

Beside her, Liz shivered. “Come on, Faye. You know what my dad said.”

“Yeah,” echoed Faye, attention still on the bikes as they headed for the mall doors. “Yeah, I know.”

#

MK was even more fabulous than the girls had expected. Everywhere they looked were clothes they would have killed to own.

“Oh. My. God!” Liz said as soon as they walked in. “That just might be the cutest knit dress I’ve ever seen.”

“It’s cute,” agreed Faye, running her fingers over the soft fabric. “But I’m not sure it’s really right for a party in the snow!”

Liz stuck out her tongue and wandered on. “So what style do you think I should go for?” she asked over her shoulder. “Young and fun? Or deep and sophisticated?”

“This is to impress Lucas Morrow?”

“Of course.” Liz looked at Faye, narrowing her eyes slightly. “You’re not going to go on about how annoying he is again, are you?”

Faye held up her hands. “I promise. If you like him, Liz, then so do I.”

“OK. That’s good. As long as you don’t … you know … 
like
him, like him …”

Faye sighed, shaking her head with a smile. She gave Liz a gentle shove on the arm. “Just go and shop! I need new clothes too, you know!”

Liz grinned. “I’m going, I’m going.”

Faye headed off, pushing between the racks of clothes. She pulled pieces out and held them against herself, realizing that she really didn’t know what she was looking for.

“Can I help you?” Faye looked up to see a saleswoman smiling at her.

“I don’t know,” admitted Faye. “I’ve got this party to go to … I’d like something new, but I just don’t know what.”

“I’m sure we can find something,” said the saleswoman. “Maybe you’re looking for something a little different than what you usually wear?”

The woman ushered Faye to another rack by the window. “We’ve just gotten these in from a new young designer. No one else stocks them at the moment. I think they’re just divine. The designer uses sheer fabrics and silks, lots of florals and adornments. Dramatic and stylish! Take a look. Try on whatever you want.”

“Thank you,” murmured Faye, already running her fingers along an exquisite top. It was sheer white, striped with angora knit panels and lace trim. It was like nothing Faye had ever seen before. She pulled it from the rack, matching it with some great skinny slashed blue jeans and a pair of dove-colored heels, and hurried to the fitting rooms.

“Faye, are you in there?” came Liz’s voice through the curtain. “I want to see what you’ve got!”

“I’ll be out in a second,” Faye called back. “Have you found something?”

“You would not believe the things I’ve found,” said her friend dramatically. “This place is a-ma-zing!”

Faye laughed. She glanced at herself in the mirror, surprised by what she saw. The top was a perfect fit, and the loose turtleneck highlighted her features exquisitely. The white made her skin paler and her green eyes even greener.

Turning, Faye pulled open the curtain and stepped out as Liz continued to chatter away, her back to her friend.

“Just look at this!” Liz said, pulling out a luxurious striped gray vest with tassels from another rack. “This would look fab with a short skirt and high heels. Like this, maybe.” She pulled out a pale blue skirt with bandagelike strips over the front. “There are just so many possibilities!”

“Well, what do you think of this one?” Faye asked as she came out of the fitting rooms.

Liz turned around, looking her up and down. “Wow,” she said.

“Do you like it?”

“Yeah—the top is fantastic! It’s kind of—”

Something caught Faye’s attention, a movement outside. She looked up and found herself staring into a pair of deep brown eyes. They belonged to a boy who was standing, completely still, on the other side of the shop window. Everything about him was dark. His hair was black and unruly. He wore a heavy black leather jacket and beat-up black jeans with chunky black boots. And …

And he was staring right at her. Faye couldn’t look away. Her heart began to beat harder, and as she watched, she saw the boy raise his hands toward the glass, as if he were reaching for her.

Faye’s heart beat faster and faster, until it was crashing against her rib cage. She felt as if she should look away, but somehow she just couldn’t.

Beside her, Liz whispered loudly, “He’s one of those Black Dogs. It must be the one your aunt was talking about—Finn.”

Suddenly someone started shouting from within the mall, and a man Faye recognized as Mr. Purser from the CD shop ran up to the boy, still shouting. Instinctively, Faye ran out the boutique’s door, eager to see what was happening. Liz followed close behind her, their footsteps clattering on the tiled mall floor.

“I know what you’re doing!” Mr. Purser said angrily. “All of you. You’re looking for what you can steal. You’re waiting until we aren’t looking, and then you’re taking whatever you can! Why don’t you just get out of here?”

From nowhere, the other bikers appeared. They strode past Faye and Liz like a force of nature. It was the first time that Faye had seen them so close. She’d left her camera in her bag in the fitting room, but she tried to get an impression of each of them into her mind. The leader was hugely tall and wore a heavy leather jacket, emblazoned with the gang’s symbol—a dog, or perhaps a wolf, howling at the moon. Two of the other older bikers looked as if they could be brothers. Both had grizzled, scarred faces, and each wore the same leather jacket as the leader, but with the sleeves cut off to show their massive, muscled arms, covered in tattoos. Only one of the group was shorter than Finn—he was shorter, even, than Faye and Liz, but made up for it with a fearsome scowl, framed by long braids of thick gray hair that looked as if it had never once been cut. This one removed his dark glasses as he stalked toward Mr. Purser. One by one, they surrounded Finn and the shop owner; not one of them said a word, but their anger fairly crackled in the air.

Security appeared almost as quickly, demanding to know what Finn had been planning.

“Wait!” Faye heard herself say. “Wait, I don’t think—”

“Faye,” Liz hissed, catching her arm. “What are you doing?”

One of the guards came toward her. “Miss? Do you have something to say about this incident?”

“I didn’t see him steal anything,” Faye said, feeling the boy’s eyes still on her and wondering what on earth she was doing. “I didn’t—I don’t think he was going to steal anything. He was just—he was just standing there.”

The security guard nodded before turning his back on her to talk to the bikers’ leader, the big man with gray hair and fury in his eyes. “All right. Here’s what I’m going to do. We won’t take this any further. This time. But I want you and your gang to leave. Right now.”

It looked for a moment as if the bikers were going to protest. Their leader stepped forward until he was nose to nose with the security guard, who tried, unsuccessfully, to hide his fear. “I—I don’t want any trouble here,” he stuttered.

The biker smiled coldly. “Then here’s some advice. Don’t let your people start any. Because next time, I won’t be so inclined to be peaceable. Understand?”

The security guard nodded quickly. The leader stood still for another minute. Then he lifted his chin in the direction of the mall’s exit. The bikers all began to walk away slowly, passing Faye one by one, smelling of motor oil and gas. Finn hung back.

“Hey,” he muttered as he reached her. “Thanks.”

“You—you’re welcome,” Faye stammered, confused again by the sudden racing of her heart.

“Maybe I’ll see you around?”

“M-maybe.”

He looked her up and down before flashing her a brief smile. “That looks good on you,” he added before sliding on a pair of dark glasses. “You should buy it.”

It was only when Finn had turned and strolled outside to join the others that Faye realized what he meant: she’d run out of MK in clothes she hadn’t even paid for!

“Hey!” came an angry voice from behind her. “What do you think you’re doing?”

She turned to see the clothing boutique’s owner marching toward her, pointing at her chest.

“I’m so sorry!” Faye exclaimed. “I didn’t mean to—I didn’t think! I just had to speak to the security guard.”

“I don’t appreciate customers who walk out without paying,” the owner said. “Where I come from, we call that stealing.”

Faye was shocked. She’d never been accused of trying to steal anything before. “Oh, but I wasn’t—I wouldn’t—”

“Faye wouldn’t steal!” Liz said, leaping to her defense. “She was just trying to help the bikers.”

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t call security back here again, right now,” the owner demanded. “Were you two girls with those men? Were they creating a distraction so you could steal this?”

“No!” both girls said, together, horrified.

“Well, you’re lucky you didn’t keep walking, that’s all I can say,” said the woman, her hands on her hips. “As it is, you’d better not try to hang those things back up. If you were planning on buying them, you’d better pay for them, right now.”

Faye hesitated. She really couldn’t afford the whole outfit.

“Faye,” Liz hissed. “Just buy it!”

Faye forced a smile onto her face. “Of course I’m going to pay for it!”

“Good,” said the owner. “And then both of you can leave. You’re not welcome in this store—not now, not ever. Do you understand?”

#

“What on earth were you thinking?” Liz raged as they left the store. “After everything Barbie Finch said to you. After everything my dad said to you!”

Faye had rarely seen Liz so angry, and never with her. She followed Liz out of MK, trying to think of a way to make it up to her. But though she was worried about Liz’s mood, her thoughts kept going back to Finn. Faye still didn’t know why she’d done it. She didn’t know him. Why did it matter to her what happened to him?

“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “I just … he wasn’t doing anything.”

“And how do you know that? Those bikers might have been doing exactly what Mr. Purser said they were!”

“But you saw for yourself,” Faye protested, “he was just looking through the window. He wasn’t doing anything bad.”

Liz stopped marching and turned on Faye, her eyes full of anger. “Look. I know you wanted to do a piece on them. And maybe it isn’t fair that you can’t. But you know what I think isn’t fair? Me getting kicked out of the best clothes store in town because you tried to steal an outfit on our first visit!”

“I didn’t try to steal it! I just—”

“But that’s what it looked like, isn’t it?” Liz turned her back again, heading for the exit. “All I wanted to do was have something perfect to wear for the party. Doesn’t that matter to you at all?”

“Hey,” Faye protested, hurt. “Liz, I’m sorry about that. Of course it matters to me! Tomorrow I’ll call the store and apologize again. Even if I can’t go back, there’s no reason for them to stop you from shopping there.”

“They’d better not,” Liz snapped as they walked out of the mall’s main doors and walked in the direction of the car.

#

The man watched the argument in the mall with interest. The bikers weren’t really his priority at the moment, but he snapped a couple of quick photographs of the incident all the same. He even managed to get one of the dark-haired girl and Finn together.

He followed the two girls at a safe distance once they finally left the store. It took him a few minutes to notice that they were heading for the exit. He was surprised, as he’d been expecting their shopping trip to last far longer. Then he realized that the one called Liz was angry. She stalked ahead as Faye tried in vain to talk to her.

Outside, the Black Dogs were preparing to leave, pulling on their helmets and kicking their engines into gear. The girls had to walk right past the gathered bikes to reach their own ride.

He watched as Faye turned her head to look for Finn, slowing down, but the other girl caught the sleeve of her coat and dragged her away.

“Last chance, Faye,” he heard Liz say. “You come, or I leave you here. I’m not losing the allowance I only just managed to get. Got it?”

He couldn’t make out Faye’s reply, but she followed her friend, sliding into the car when Liz unlocked it. Faye didn’t look at the group of bikers again, holding a hand against her temple to shield her face. But he saw Finn watch her go.

Stowing his camera, the man hurried to the pickup truck he’d borrowed. It wouldn’t be his usual choice of transport, but in this situation, it at least blended in. The plan worked, too. Neither of the two girls noticed him following them as Liz drove away, decidedly too fast for such a snowy evening.

Glancing in his rearview mirror, he smiled. The young biker was staring after the two girls in the speeding car, clearly intrigued. He stood there so long, in fact, that it took a sharp, annoyed shout from the leader of the gang to get him moving again. In a fury of gas fumes, the Black Dogs rolled out of the Winter Mill Mall parking lot. They followed his truck for a couple of turns before peeling off onto the road out of town.