Conrad Read online

  My eyes scanned toward the entrance of the lunchroom when I noticed movement and that was when I saw Josh, but I wasn’t the only one. All eyes focused on him as he bypassed tables, including his own and headed straight for ours.

  My heart flipped inside my chest and I had the incredible urge to look down at the table, but I kept my gaze on him. Josh never looked at me though.

  He met Noah’s eyes instead and leaned forward, placing his hands on the table before he spoke in an eerily calm voice. “You’re fucking dead. You hear me? Dead,” he said.

  My heart stopped and I shifted my gaze to Noah, half expecting to see some kind of fear there, but he simply held Josh’s stare without so much as a single blink. Lucas seemed to pick up on that tension that had covered our table like a storm cloud and spoke quickly.

  “Josh, this is over. We had nothing to do with your locker, so back the fuck off,” he said.

  The table and lunchroom grew so quiet that you could literally hear a needle drop and I didn’t like it. I could feel every single set of eyes on us and the urge to let the floor swallow me whole became almost unbearable. Josh, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy the attention, because he smiled before shifting his gaze on me. Our eyes locked and despite my temptation to look away from his deadly gaze, I held back.

  “This is your fault. Yours and your freakish fucking family, so let me set you straight right now. I never fucking touched you, but now I won’t hesitate to. Watch your back, Lesley,” he said in a voice that held nothing, but a clear warning.

  That was when Lucas moved. He stood up so fast from his chair that the bench he’d been sitting on tipped back, crashing to the floor and causing a horrible noise that seemed to only echo in the dead silence of the lunchroom. Noah was quicker though. He stood up, grabbing Lucas’ arm and holding him back. Josh stepped away from the table with his hands held up in defense and a wide smile on his face.

  “It’s probably better if you just leave,” Noah said as he continued to hold Lucas in place, even as he continued to give Josh the death glare.

  Josh laughed, but turned around without another word and then vanished out of the lunchroom, letting the doors slam shut behind him.

  It was at that moment that I felt everything. Fear, anxiety, panic, whatever you wanted to call it. I felt it course through my veins as I took in the peering eyes that were all pinpointed on me and I didn’t have to ask them what they were thinking. I could see it clear as day.

  All of them thought I was the reason for all of this. All of them thought I was lying about what Josh did and I was simply doing this for attention.

  And I couldn’t take another moment of their judgmental looks. Before Noah or Lucas could so much as say a single word to me, I shot up from my chair and raced out of the room, ignoring their calls behind me. My heart was racing, and I could feel myself on the verge of tears as I rushed out of the school, not even caring that I had no ride home.

  When the fresh air hit my face, I sucked in a deep breath and took off at a full jog, heading straight for the only place I felt like going right now.

  Lila’s.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Lesley

  I wasn’t sure how long I actually jogged before I slowed down. With my heart racing and my breath coming heavy, I walked down the sidewalk until I reached the alleyway that would take me to Lila’s. It wasn’t until I turned the corner that I spotted a car I had never seen before sitting next to hers. The thing was completely blacked out, from the windows to the paint to the rims. I wasn’t sure what kind of car it was, but I knew it had to be a classic.

  Coming to a stop beside it, I saw my own reflection in the metallic paint, but unless I pressed my forehead against the window like a crazy person, there was no way I could see inside it and that was with it still daylight out. My eyes scanned to the small letters that were attached to the side of the car.

  They read, “Chevelle SS.”

  I couldn’t think of a single person that I knew that owned a Chevelle of any kind, so this one clearly had to belong to someone I hadn’t met yet. I pushed these thoughts aside and made my way to the front door.

  A long time ago, Lila had given me the spare key to her house, so I didn’t even bother knocking as I pulled my keys out of my pocket and unlocked the door, stepping inside without announcing myself first. As I closed the door, I turned around and froze where I stood as I took in the scene in front of me.

  The first thing I noticed was Lila. She sat Indian style on top of Miles’ stomach as he laid flat on his back on the floor with his hands behind his head as if he were using them as a pillow. Lila was the first one to notice me too. She glanced over her shoulder and gave me a questioning look without getting off Miles, who leaned his head up enough to look at me from the ground.

  “Are you okay?” Lila asked.

  Considering what I was looking at, I couldn’t think about what had happened at school, so I ignored her questions and asked my own. “What the heck are you doing to him?”

  Lila barked out a laugh and looked away as she continued to steady herself on Miles’ stomach, who hadn’t said a word yet. “I’m testing him.”

  I blinked. “What?”

  She chuckled again, “I’m testing him. I want to know if he’s gaining any strength back since his injuries.”

  I shook my head. “Ok, but how is sitting on his stomach going to help him? Isn’t that where his injuries are?” I pointed out.

  Lila nodded. “Yup, and that’s the point. I want to know if his strength is back in his stomach, so I’m making him hold my weight for as long as he can before it starts hurting.”

  She was crazy.

  My gaze shifted to Miles, but he wasn’t watching me anymore. Instead, he had closed his eyes and he was releasing a slow breath out of his mouth as if Lila’s weight was starting to affect him, but he never said a word.

  Shaking my head, I walked over to sit on the chair that would let me face Lila and blinked several times at her.

  “What?” she asked with an arched eyebrow.

  A small laugh escaped me, but I stayed silent as I watched her.

  “Actually, it’s perfect that you are here, even if you should be in school right now. I need you,” Lila said before she held her hands out for me to take.

  My heart flipped at the thought of what she was planning, but I stood up and walked over to her anyway, grabbing her hands without stepping over Miles.

  “What am I doing?” I asked as I held Lila’s hands.

  She laughed, but instead of responding to me, she spoke to Miles. “How are you doing? Anything hurting yet?” she asked over her shoulder.

  “No,” he said, maybe a little bit breathless.

  Lila turned back to me before she used my hands to help pull herself off of him and then spoke, “Take my spot. My legs are going numb.”

  I heard Miles take a deep inhale when her weight lifted, but my heart was racing as I thought about taking her place and I stood there like an idiot.

  When my gaze shifted to Miles, I wanted to vanish into thin air, because he was watching, waiting for me to do something, but it was Lila who spoke first.

  “Alexa, play Queen by Loren Gray,” she said.

  A moment later, I heard the female robot voice respond and then the song started playing just as Lila started giving me orders.

  “Ok, I want you to step over Miles, but don’t sit on him,” she said.

  My heart was pounding and I felt my nerves igniting through my body as I slowly, very slowly, put a foot on each side of Miles like I was getting ready to ride him or something. This thought caused my face to go scorching hot and I refused to look down at him as he continued to lay flat on the ground like this was a normal thing for him.

  I, on the other hand, couldn’t believe I was in this position.

  “Ok, now I want Miles to grab your hands, while you balance yourself on his stomach. You might want to take your shoes off first though. I don’t want to kill him,” Lila said
.

  I looked at her and despite what I thought, I could see a wicked smile playing across her lips as if she already knew something that I didn’t. Ignoring this, I kicked my shoes off and took a deep breath before I looked down at Miles, which was the wrong thing to do. He stared up at me with a strange, yet chilling look in his unique eyes. I tried to ignore it as he slowly lifted his hands up, so that I could use them to balance myself on his stomach.

  Despite my temptation to run out the door instead, I took another deep breath and slowly intertwined my fingers with his. Almost instantly, I felt the warmth of his hands as he locked his arms, so I could put my weight on them. Bracing myself on his hands, I lifted one foot and placed it on his stomach where I felt his muscles tense beneath my weight as I shifted the other foot until I was standing directly on him, still using his hands to balance myself. It wasn’t as easy as Lila made it sound either.

  I could feel Miles’ arms as they worked to hold my weight steady all the while I gently swayed back and forth until I finally caught my balance.

  “Great. How does that feel Miles?” Lila said.

  My eyes locked onto his and even if he was refusing to admit it, I could see in his eyes that it wasn’t the most comfortable. Not that I was surprised. He’d been shot and I was currently standing on those areas. I felt his stomach lift and fall in a deep breath before he tried to speak with my weight on top of him.

  “I’m... fine,” he said.

  For whatever reason, this caused me to laugh and nearly lose my balance. At the last second, Miles steadied me and I tried to contain my laughter, so that I wouldn’t fall on top of him entirely.

  “You know, this would be a lot easier if you didn’t laugh… or move,” Miles said breathlessly.

  Lila chuckled at his response, but my gaze caught his once more and a small smile spread across my lips before I responded.

  “Quit being a baby,” I said.

  Miles tilted his head slightly to the side at my response, but never spoke as he continued to hold me steady.

  “Any pain? If so, where?” Lila asked.

  I watched him as he looked at her before he responded, “I feel a bit in my side.”

  Lila nodded as if she expected this, “Ok, see how long you can hold her weight, but if it gets to be too much, stop.”

  Again, I felt him take a deep breath and he steadied me as Lila vanished into the other room for God only knew what, leaving me alone with Miles. I was sure she had all kinds of weird crap planned knowing her and the way she liked to do things. When she was out of earshot, Miles spoke as much as he could with me on top of him.

  “Are you okay?” he asked quietly.

  I blinked and then dropped my gaze from him. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’m not the one with a person standing on top of my barely healed gunshot wounds.”

  To my surprise, he didn’t laugh. “I saw the look you had when you came in and it was pretty damn clear something had happened.”

  My body barely swayed back and forth as he held me, but my gaze lifted and even if he was right, I didn’t want to believe he had seen through me so easily. Before I could answer though, Lila came walking back into the room and interrupted my next statement.

  “Ok, you can stop now,” she said.

  Relief washed over me and I stepped off Miles, releasing his hands when my feet got planted again. I half expected him to jump up, glad to be free of weight, but he continued to lay there instead as if the thought of getting up was too much for him.

  “You okay?” I asked, gazing down at him.

  He met my gaze and nodded before he slowly leaned up like it took everything out of him to do such a simple thing. It wasn’t until he got to full height that I felt the nervousness I always seemed to have around him return with a vengeance. Maybe it was his towering height or maybe it was the simple fact that he was free to move around as he pleased. I wasn’t sure, but I stepped back anyway.

  And he noticed too.

  Miles glanced at my shift in weight before he looked up to meet my eyes. I could tell he wanted to say something, but instead, he kept quiet. Lila, on the other hand, wasn’t wasting any time at all. She marched right up to Miles and without asking for his permission, she lifted his black T-shirt until his entire stomach was in clear view. I couldn’t stop myself from dropping my gaze there, even if I tried.

  And like the one other time I did this, I instantly noticed the hard muscles there along with the scars on one side.

  “Jesus, can’t you give a guy a heads up before you decide to strip them?” he asked sarcastically as he stood there patiently waiting for Lila to finish doing her thing.

  She examined his bandages and responded, “Nope.”

  Miles took a deep breath and I looked away. The urge to ask him about the scars was almost overwhelming, but I knew that whatever had happened couldn’t be good and I wasn’t sure I was ready to know how he got them. I barely knew him, so I decided to keep my mouth shut and look at the ground instead of his bare stomach.

  “Well, your injuries look good, but I’d keep the bandages on them just to make sure they don’t get infected,” Lila said before she went on to speak to me, “Lesley, don’t think I forgot about the fact that you’re supposed to be in school, so fess up woman. What happened?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

  My heart skipped a beat and I looked up to see that she wasn’t watching me, but rather looking over the injury on Miles’ shoulder instead. I had no idea what to tell her, because I knew that if she found out what Josh had said to me during lunch, she would probably go cut his balls off herself. But I also knew Lila would find out one way or another, so I decided to make things easier on myself and tell the truth.

  “You remember the fight Noah got into?” I asked.

  She finally finished with Miles and met my gaze. “Yeah.”

  Taking a deep breath, I tried to keep my eyes off of Miles as I told her everything, “Well, at school today, someone painted a picture of a mask on his locker and wrote, “Tag, you’re it,” and Josh, the guy who grabbed me at the party, thinks I have something to do with it. He came to my table during lunch and basically told me that I should watch my back,” I said, suddenly remembering the similarities I had seen in the mask and handwriting to someone I knew, but couldn’t remember.

  When I said this, a flash of something crossed Lila’s features, but it was so quick that I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was before she spoke. “How has Lucas behaved himself so much with this asshole threatening you the way he is?” she asked with frustration lacing her tone.

  I shrugged and accidentally shifted my gaze to Miles. If I thought there was something on Lila’s face when I told her what happened, it was nothing compared to what I saw in Miles. His hands were clenched into fists at his sides, his jaw ticked, and his gaze had dropped to the floor, but he never said a word.

  That was when I heard Lila sigh heavily before she walked over to me, forcing my eyes back on hers, and then grabbed my shoulders as she spoke evenly. “I know this is hard and I want to drop kick Josh for treating you this way, but you can’t just run out of school. You need to ignore him, go to class, and pretend like none of this is bothering you. If he thinks it’s getting to you, then he’ll only keep doing it,” she said.

  The idea of walking back into school after running out like that sent my anxiety level through the roof, but I knew she was right. I had to ignore him, and I couldn’t just not go to school. I had decent grades and eventually, I wanted to go to college, so letting someone like Josh ruin that for me was just not an option. I had to be brave, even if I was scared shitless of what he might do.

  “I know,” I said weakly.

  Lila gave me a small smile. “I’ll go in with you if that makes you feel better.”

  Before I could respond, Miles spoke. “No, I’ll take her back,” he said.

  My eyes met his and behind the crazy colors that seemed to only belong to him, I could see a burning anger. I wanted to argue,
but the look he was giving me told me that it was better if I just kept my mouth shut and went with the flow.

  “Even better. See? We got you,” Lila said before she released me.

  I took a deep breath and tried not to think about how this was going to look for Lucas and Noah, who I knew would pepper me with questions as soon as he got me alone. ”Ok, I guess you’re right,” I said.

  Lila smiled and then headed toward the back room, “I have some work to do, but try not to be seen, Miles, or kill anyone for that matter,” she said to him before vanishing between the Christmas lights.

  My gaze lifted back to Miles. I kept silent as he walked over to grab his wallet and keys off the counter before heading toward the front door without a single word in my direction. I knew better than to ask questions, so instead, I followed him outside and it was during that moment that I realized who the Chevelle belonged to as Miles unlocked the driver’s side door before he got inside.

  When I got to the passenger side, he reached over to unlock that door and I hopped inside, instantly noticing the interior of the car. Everything was black. The seats, the dash, all of it. It looked like what I’d imagine a vampire or the devil driving and it was a stick shift, something I had only ever driven once in my life.

  Miles turned the key in the ignition and the engine roared to life, dropping to a low vibration beneath me as he shifted into gear, making it look simple as hell. We backed out and then shot down the alleyway quicker than I was used to before he slowed only long enough to check for oncoming traffic before he pulled out onto the main road, heading back toward the high school.

  The ride was silent except for the car’s engine and I couldn’t stop myself from noticing how easily he shifted between gears. Like this was something he did on the daily.

  “Nice car. Where did you get it?” I asked, deciding to break the intense silence.