Save Me: a Stepbrother Romance (25 page)

“No.”

“Because…?”

“Not going.”

“For God’s sake, Nat.  You don’t have to be so overdramatic.  You’re allowed to live a little, even if your incest husband is in prison.”

“He’s not—”

“Look,” she said, grabbing my hand.  The student council meeting continued on behind us, Nate still ignoring us as we snuck out of the room.  I grabbed my bag and followed her, frowning at the carefree way she flipped her hair.  “I’m just saying.  He would want you to be happy, wouldn’t he?”

“Actually, I think Nate wants me dead.”

“You know I meant Cal,” she said, cutting her eyes at me.

“Jess, I can’t be happy.  Not if I don’t know he’s okay.”

“It isn’t your responsibility to take care of everybody, Nat.”  She leaned against her locker.  “I can see you tearing yourself down again.  You’re allowed to feel sad.  You don’t have to be strong all the time.  You’re not a bad person for not being perfect.”

“That’s not what this is about.  This is about Cal.”

“And he can take care of himself.  Have you seen those muscles?  The boy could beat a bear.  And then the bear would apologize.”

“Jess.”  I could feel a smile creeping onto my lips.  I couldn’t help but feel better when she was around.

“Besides,” she said, perking up at my grin.  “He’s probably having a great time in jail.  Making friends with his own kind and becoming a toilet wine connoisseur?  He’s Cal Gatlin, the tattooed bad boy with a motorcycle and a reserved place on the FBI’s Most Wanted.  Jail is his Disneyworld.”

“Jess,” I groaned.

“You know I’m only trying to cheer you up, Nat.”

“I know.”  I rested my head on her shoulder.  It felt good to have someone to lean on for once instead of carrying it all myself.  “And I appreciate it.  But, God, Jess.  I don’t know what’s happened to him.  I don’t know where he is.  No one will tell me.  It’s … it’s killing me.”

Jess pulled me into a hug.

“This sounds like a job for Ben and Jerry,” she said, patting my hair.  It reminded me of the feel of Cal’s fingers pulling through my blonde locks.  My heart warmed.

“With sprinkles?”

“All of the sprinkles.  And gummi bears.”  She gave me another squeeze and pulled out her car keys.  “Meet me at my house in twenty minutes?”

“Mom will kill me if I sneak out.”

“I’ll call her from the school’s office phone.  I’ll tell her it’s a graduation practice or something.  Very mandatory.”  She put on her serious business face, and I laughed. 

“Thanks, Jess.”

“Go get your bike,” she said, pushing me away.  “You’re so slow, I swear!”

I smiled until the ghost of Cal’s voice rolled over me.

Come on, Pink.  You’re so slow.

I shook the memory out of my mind and raced to the parking lot to collect my bike.  No more Cal, at least as long as I could do nothing about it.  And no more moping.  Moping wasn’t going to save either of us.  Focus on the gummi bears, Nat.  Jess, ice cream, sprinkles.  No more crying.

By the time I found my bike and had wheeled it out to the parking lot, I had almost forgotten about Nate. 

Almost.

“Hey there, Nat.”

I froze in the parking lot, my hand clenched on my bike.

No.  Not again.

“I thought you were at the Student Council meeting?” I said through gritted teeth.

Nate stood before me, his arms crossed and a cocky smile on his face.  I couldn’t see anyone around us.  We were alone, it was starting to get dark, and my psycho ex had cornered me. 

Perfect.

“Saw you leaving, Nat.  Couldn’t let my girlfriend go out at night alone.  You never know how dangerous it could be.”  He gave me wide puppy dog eyes, completely devoid of emotion. 

“Not your girlfriend,” I choked.

“Come on, Nat.  Don’t be like that.”

For some reason—namely that I am an idiot—I guess I had assumed he had given up.  After all, that’s the only reason he would bring police into this, right?  He had ruined my life by taking Cal from me.  He had “taken revenge” on Cal by putting him in jail.  He had gotten back at both of us.  He had ignored me in school.  There was no reason for him to keep stalking me.

But then again, like Cal had said: Nate was crazy. 

And crazy is dangerous.

I turned to him, willing my expression to stay still and hard.  My icy gaze glared a hole into him.  Bitch Nat was back, and she was angry as hell.  If looks could kill, Bitch Nat would be Ted Bundy.  My hands balled into fists. 

“What do you want?” I spat.

Normally, when someone scowls and growls at you like a deranged bitch, the sane person will back off.  But apparently no one had given Nate the memo.  Then again, he wasn’t sane.

He smiled and took a step forward.

“Come on, Nat.  Don’t be like that.  You know how much I’ve missed you, don’t you?”

“Don’t you dare come near me.”

“I’ve missed you, Nat.  We were so good together.”

I glanced back at the school.  There were still a few people milling around in the front lawn, but they were so far away that they were only fuzzy little ants.  I doubted they could see my horrified expression.  And, worse, I doubted anyone would hear me if I screamed. 

Damn this school and their isolated parking lots.  It’s like they
wanted
students to be murdered by their stalkers.

“Nate, I swear to God.”  I took an involuntary step backward as he advanced on me.  “I’ll scream.”

“They won’t hear you.”

“I’ll tell everyone how crazy you are.”

“They won’t believe you.”

He reached for my hand.  I yanked it back so hard I nearly fell on my ass.  Stop, Nat!  Focus!  I couldn’t afford to make mistakes like this. 

“I just want to talk, Nat!”

“Bullshit.” 

He took another step towards me.  I tried to grab my bike, but he tore it out of the way, sending it skidding across the asphalt.  My breath caught.  He was too strong.  It was strength I remembered.  Anger strength.  Strength that brought the stinging back to my skin where he had hit me.

No, no, no.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see a figure dressed in sparkly purple slip through the doors of the school.  Jess.  But she couldn’t hear me yell, not yet.  The more the situation sank in, the more I realized how utterly fucked I was.  If Nate was crazy enough to attack me at school, it meant he was desperate.

And a desperate Nate was dangerous.

My hand darted toward my front pocket, where I kept my mace on a rhinestone keychain. 

Nate grabbed my wrist before I could jerk it away. 

“Come on, Nat,” he growled, forcing me to him.  Jess was still too far away, and it had gotten completely dark by now.  There was no way she could see us.  There was no way she could save me.  “We need to talk, baby.”

Oh God.  His car was there.  The door was open.  And I was being dragged toward it.  A scream erupted from my mouth as I scratched his face.

“Fuck!”

Nate kicked my leg from under me, and I fell helplessly backwards.  His hand covered my mouth, and he yanked my arm behind me. 

“Come on, Nat,” he growled.  “Don’t be like that.”

I bit down on his hand.

Nate let out a strangled growl and pulled his hand back.  Another scream ripped through my throat.  I saw Jess’s head turn from where she stood under the parking lot light.  She had heard it, but she couldn’t see us through the darkness.  Even if she could, there was no way she could get to me in time.

Nate struggled to wrap his arms around me again, but now that I knew how much danger I was in, I was fighting for my life.  I thrashed against his arms, biting and scratching whatever I could.  My teeth sunk into his shoulder, and I tasted blood.

“You little bitch!”

His heel hit my calf, and there was a loud snap.

Oh, fuck.  My leg.  I stumbled backwards and fell on my ass, no longer able to stand.  Years of lacrosse practice had given Nate powerful legs, and years of laziness had made mine weak.  I tried lifting it again, and an agonized whimper escaped my lips.  Splinters of pain shot out from the broken bone.

“Not so fucking tough are you now, Nat?”

His fist connected with my face, harder than it ever had hit me before.  I went blind as the asphalt bit my cheek.  My throat choked and gasped, desperate for the air that had been knocked out of my lungs.  He grabbed me by the arm and forced me up, nearly ripping my arm from its socket.

I gasped through the haze of pain as Nate dragged me to his car.  I couldn’t scratch his eyes out with a twisted arm.  I couldn’t run with a broken leg.  My mace was rolling away from me down the hill of the parking lot.  There was nothing I could do but try to fight through the white hot pain blinding me.

All hope was lost.

Until that moment.

“I told you already,” a voice growled from behind us.  

Nate’s head whipped around.  He recognized the voice too.  Deep.  Gravely.  Protective.  I desperately fought through the haze of pain and darkness, searching for him, unable to believe it.  It couldn’t be him.  It couldn’t.

“Don’t.  Fucking.  Touch her.”

It couldn’t be.

But it was.

My lips parted as Cal emerged from the darkness.

“No.”

Nate’s voice was a harsh whisper.  I desperately searched through the bleary pain that blinded me, hungrily running my gaze over Cal’s furious face.  It was him.  He was back.

And he was furious.

“You’re supposed to be gone,” Nate choked.  “They fucking jailed you.  There were fucking cops there, you’re not supposed to be—”

A sickening cracking sound sounded by my ear.  Nate’s grip released me, and I found myself falling to the asphalt again. 

I rolled, avoiding another bloody scrape down my cheek.  But I was still blinded by the pain and pulsing purple bruise Nate’s fist had given my temple.  My twisted arm was screaming with pain, and my leg was useless.  I laid gasping on the cold ground, the sweat rolling down my forehead in thick droplets.  Cal launched himself at Nate, leaving me helpless on the parking lot’s wet asphalt.