Unleashed (27 page)

“Maybe her mama’s in the drugstore,” Ed said, carrying the little girl across the street.

Still crouched on the ground, Justin gazed up at Katelyn. His eyes were even bluer than she remembered. His face, unshaven. She knew how soft his lips were, what they tasted like. What he felt like.

“Kat,” he said huskily.

She stiffened, amazed by her reaction to him. He had a girlfriend, and yet she still wanted to bend down and kiss him.

“Help me up?” he asked, holding out a gloved hand.

She was afraid to touch him, afraid of what she would do, but she stretched out her hand. He got up on his own and she dropped her arm to the side.

“Are you hurt?” she asked, aware of the people walking toward them.

He stood still, holding her wrist. “In a way. I should have told you.” He flushed. “Not even. I shouldn’t have touched you.”

He was talking about kissing her.

She swallowed hard, pulse skittering at the memory. “What you did was wrong.”

“I didn’t mean to do it,” he replied, gazing at her, taking in every inch of her face as if it were water and he had been dying of thirst. “Don’t you feel it? A connection between us?”

Her mouth went dry and all she could do was stare at him. It wasn’t just her. He felt it, too.

“Okay, got the girl taken care of,” Ed announced, jogging over to them. “Her mama was in the store, didn’t realize she was gone. She’s coming out to thank you.”

“I’m glad you have such great reflexes,” Justin said to him as Ed helped him pick up his bike.

“Runs in the family. And Katie here thought she got her speed and grace from her mama,” he joked.

She closed her eyes as her head suddenly began to pound. Maybe it was all the crazy drugs in her system. Maybe it was the exhaustion from not sleeping. Maybe it was the fear culminating in the latest near accident.

Or maybe it was being around Justin.

“A few scratches,” Ed said, looking at the fender of the motorcycle.

“I can polish those out,” Justin said.

Katelyn’s head felt as if it were about to explode. She pressed her fingertips against her forehead.

“I have a headache,” Katelyn said. “A bad one.”

Ed frowned. “I’ll take you back to the clinic.”

“No. If you just have something I could take …” she said. “Something like aspirin.”

He grunted. “I don’t have anything in the truck. I’ll go back into the store and get you something. How about you go sit down?”

“Okay.”

As Ed walked away, Justin frowned anxiously at Katelyn.

“Clinic?” he said.

“Yeah, I had a little accident. Nothing big.”

Then she walked back to the truck and climbed in. Justin stood there looking at her as people milled around. The throbbing in her head had a rhythm, like music. And even when she closed her eyes, she felt as if she could see the sun through her eyelids. A rap on her window startled her, and she opened her eyes to see Justin, peering in at her, looking troubled.

She rolled down the window.

“Hey,” he said. “Are you okay? You’re so pale.”

“Killer headache,” she said, her voice loud to her ears.

“Sorry.” He cleared his throat. “We need to talk.”

“No, we don’t,” she said icily.

“Kat, listen, please. I didn’t come to your house to do … what I did.” Color rose in his cheeks and he winced, then sighed. “I just wanted to see you. I swear it.”

She looked down, angry and embarrassed. He reached in and touched her hair, so gently and softly she wasn’t certain he’d actually done it.

“Lucy and I … we’ve been together a long time.”

She tried to speak but only succeeded in coughing. She didn’t want to hear about Lucy.

“But if I had a choice,” he said, “then I would …” He took a breath and looked at her straight on, all hesitation dropped. “I would do more of what I did. With you.”

She wanted to say something snide. She wanted to douse the heat his words ignited. It frightened her, the passion he aroused in her.

“Kat,” he whispered. “Please say something.”

“You really don’t have to explain this to me,” she finally managed to croak out.

There was a long pause. She looked up at him. He was staring down at her with such longing that she had to catch her breath.

He seemed as if he was about to say something, but then he looked past her. His eyes widened and he muttered something she couldn’t hear. Then he waved. “Hey, buddy. Hey, Jesse,” he called.

Her head still throbbing, Katelyn looked in the direction of the store entrance, to see Justin’s brother walking with a girl she didn’t know. The girl had caramel-colored hair in a tight, thin ponytail and she was wearing a white tailored shirt and super-skinny jeans. Beaming, Jesse was carefully clutching an ice cream cone in his fist. The girl was looking at Justin, nervously touching her hair.

“Pretty lady!” Jesse shouted, jabbing his cone at Katelyn.

The girl cupped her hands around the scoop of ice cream in case it fell. She said something to Jesse and he stared down at his treat, then carefully cupped his free hand around it. He looked back at her, beaming when she smiled and nodded at him.

Together they crossed to the truck, the girl eyeing Katelyn. Justin tensed, and Katelyn nearly did a forehead smack against the dash. She felt anger, jealousy, humiliation, and guilt all in the span of a moment as she realized that this was Lucy.

“Hey, we heard about the commotion,” the girl said in a much twangier voice than Katelyn had heard so far. She gave Justin a kiss, and he kissed her back, but it was clear he was upset about something. “You’re okay, right, sugar?”

“Right as rain,” Justin said, voice wary. “I slid my bike, but nothing’s broken.”

“We were in the back of the pharmacy,” she said, playing with her ponytail. “Didn’t hear a thing.”

“We saw LaRue,” Jesse told Kat. “I have to pet LaRue softly, softly. Don’t wanna squish him! This is Lucy. She’s my sister.”

Lucy smiled. “Not yet, honey. We’re not
that
Southern.”

Katelyn made herself smile at the pretty young woman. “Hi. I’m Kat.”

“A pleasure, Kat,” Lucy said.

“We don’t kiss strangers,” Jesse said, looking from Lucy to Katelyn. “Only family.”

“That’s right, baby.” Lucy patted Jesse on the arm.

“I kissed Kat. Justin wanted to.”

Katelyn felt herself blushing furiously and had no idea what to say.

“Oh?” A hard, appraising glint sparked in Lucy’s hazel eyes and she laced her arm through Justin’s. “Jesse mentioned that someone new had come by the house.”

“My pills were all gone,” Jesse said, interrupting. “We need the pills or it’s bad.” He pushed past Lucy and Justin and stuck his head through the open window to kiss Katelyn on the cheek. “Not a stranger.”

Katelyn smiled at him, but the way her head hurt, his kiss felt almost like a slap.

“Lucy got me ice cream,” Jesse announced.

“I see,” Katelyn said, massaging the back of her neck as Jesse’s ice cream threatened to fall off the cone and splat against the side of the truck.

“Kat’s pretty,” he told Justin.

Justin smiled. “Yes, she is.”

Katelyn bit her lip and looked away, not trusting herself at the moment.

“We didn’t have my pills,” Jesse said again.

“We should have had plenty,” Justin replied edgily, looking at Lucy.

Lucy gave her head a little shake. “I looked everywhere. No one else was home. I had to come to town to get the prescription filled. So I brought him with me.”

Jesse broke into a huge smile. “I got to see LaRue.”

“Hey, buddy,” Justin asked in a very friendly way, “did you hide your pills? So you could see LaRue?”

“I have to go home,” Jesse announced. “I’m supposed to stay home. People might see—”

“I’ll take him,” Justin cut in.

“I’ve got a highlight in an hour and then I’m done. I’m a hairstylist,” Lucy added to Katelyn. “You should come by. I could do wonders with that hair.”

No claws on this one
, Katelyn thought sarcastically. “Thanks,” she said.

Ed emerged from the store and Katelyn had never been so happy to see him. She was ready to go home and escape the awkwardness that was happening around her.

“Hi, man, hi,” Jesse said.

“Hey, there,” Ed said.

“I’m Jesse,” Jesse told him. “This is Lucy. That is Justin. He’s my little brother. You’re a stranger.”

“Mordecai McBride.” Ed touched the brim of an imaginary hat. “And it seems you’ve already met my granddaughter, Katelyn.”

“We call her Kat. Like LaRue,” Jesse said. “LaRue is a cat. You pet him softly, softly. Justin is taking me home now.”

“That’s good, partner,” Ed said warmly. “When you ride that bike, hold on tight.”

“Lucy holds on tight, too,” Jesse said. “Holds on tight to Justin.”

Don’t we all?
Katelyn couldn’t help thinking.

“Is that a fact?” Ed drawled.

“You can’t pet LaRue too hard,” Jesse said. “You don’t want to break his neck.”

“No one’s broken anybody’s neck,” Lucy said quickly.

“Let’s go home, buddy,” Justin added, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

“Goodbye, Kat,” Jesse said. “Softly, softly.”

“See you later,” Ed said as he opened the driver’s-side door and handed Katelyn a small paper sack. She opened it and saw that he’d purchased six or seven different kinds of painkillers. Touched, she selected the Motrin and broke the seal.

“The little girl’s mama come out to say thank you yet?” Ed asked Justin. He took the bottle from Katelyn and popped off the lid. As he handed it back to her, Katelyn and Justin shook their heads in unison.

“Maybe she’s scared to show her face. I really gave her what for.” Ed quirked his mouth into a smile. “I got a temper on me.”

That surprised Katelyn. She’d seen no evidence of that. Yet.

“Well, I’ll let you go,” Justin said.

“It was nice to meet y’all,” Lucy added.

“Nice to meet you, too,” Katelyn replied, practically squirming in her seat.

“Come to our house. Come and play,” Jesse said to Ed and Katelyn.

“I will,” Katelyn told him with a smile. “Thanks for the invitation.”

Ed started the truck and Katelyn gave the group a little wave as they pulled away, then leaned her aching head back against the seat. They drove off, leaving the drama behind them, and Katelyn was grateful.

“Seems Trick might be right to be jealous,” Ed said.

“Did you get any water?” she asked, pretending she hadn’t heard what he’d said.

“Damn,” he said. “Clean forgot.”

“Justin and Lucy are a couple.” Her voice sounded strained even to her own ears.

“They’re not married. And from what I just saw, it’s clear as day that he likes you. Man who risks his life like that could be a fine man. Looks after his brother, too.”

She closed her eyes against waves of pain. “I’m not into teen drama.” She was done talking about Justin. She licked her lips, then changed the subject. “Your friend who died … It, um, wasn’t at the clinic?”

The atmosphere in the truck shifted and Ed grew pensive. “His name was Mason Slater. I took him down to the medical center in Bentonville. It was his heart. He knew he was living on borrowed time.”

His voice was strained, and she felt sad for him. She reached over and patted his hand. “I’m sorry, Grandpa.” It was definitely starting to feel natural to call him that.

His face softened and he gave her hand a little squeeze. “Best name on earth,” he said softly.

When they got back to the cabin, she went up to her room to rest. She awoke several hours later to the most obnoxious odor she’d ever had the misfortune to smell. Bleary-eyed, she staggered down the stairs and into the kitchen.

“What is
that
?” she asked.

He was standing at the stove. “Artichokes. You said they were your favorites.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Maybe they’re a different kind.”

“I’ve never made them before. All you do is boil them, right?”

“Right.” She lifted the lid off the pot, releasing a cloud of steam. Two plump artichokes sat in the simmering water. “That’s how you do it. I’m sure they’ll be great.”

She forced a smile but felt nauseated just thinking about it.

At dinner, she got down a few artichoke leaves and some steamed rice. Both she and Ed chalked up her nausea to the rabies shots. After dinner, they watched one of his old movies and she kept drifting off to sleep. Just as she was thinking of giving up and going to bed, there was a knock on the door. Her grandfather went to answer it. A shadow stood in the doorway and she squinted, trying to make out who it was.

Her grandfather stepped out onto the porch and shut the door behind him. He was out there for a long time and she couldn’t hear his voice above the TV.

Then the door opened and Ed and Trick walked into the house. Trick was wearing a cowboy hat, a sheepherder’s jacket, and jeans. Her heart stuttered, and she hardened it. He had deserted her. And look what had happened.

“Think I’ll be out in the garage if you need me,” Ed said quietly.

Katelyn pointedly looked back at the TV. Her palms were sweaty. Silence was her weapon of choice, and she used it.