Pete stepped back to study the effect. “I think that’s the best we can do under the circumstances.” A pushy hand on my back prodded me forward, and a bunch of orders followed behind. “Go to the restroom and get cleaned up, then grab a bottle of water and a nutrition bar—wouldn’t hurt to put some food into your system.” He tried handing me a wad of bills, which I refused.
“I’m not so sure we should feed the animal,” Ranger quipped.
Pete suppressed another smile at my expense before continuing on in an authoritative tone like he was my boss. “Then ask to use the phone. Explain that you had car trouble tonight and had to walk to a phone. But now you’re with a friend from school, who’s going to—”
“I think I can handle myself just fine, thank-you-very-much,” I snapped.
A rude, sinusy sound erupted from Ranger but wasn’t followed up with a sardonic remark. Instead, he climbed on back into the driver’s seat and commenced to looking bored.
Head held high, I stalked through the automatic doors. Oppressive florescent lights immediately made me blink, and it was an instant awakening from the dream/nightmare I’d been living for the past couple of hours. After my eyes adjusted, I scanned the aisles for a restroom sign and was about to head to the back when I noticed Pete staring at me. Again.
I felt another flash of anger. Really? I narrowed my eyes at him as he scrutinized my face. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really tell what he was thinking because the mirrored lens only reflected back my own distorted face. Embarrassed, I swiped at a black smudge beneath my eye then saw myself go wide-eyed as Pete casually threw an arm over my shoulder and walked me to the back of the store.
“What’s with the escort service?” I asked in my most acerbic tone while trying to ignore the thrill I felt with his arm wrapped around me. “Afraid I’m gonna get lost?”
Wordlessly, he released me outside the restroom, where I stood facing him like a huffed-up hen. Taking me by surprise, he reached out to cup my face in his palm, his thumb caressing over the tender spot where Ranger backhanded me. My breath hitched in my throat, and my former anger evaporated as suddenly as a fine mist. Whatever caustic remark I was about to make left my brain like it was plucked-out by tweezers.
His other hand joined my face to draw me forward. It felt like we were moving in slow motion, still part of the dream. He leaned down, and my face tilted up, a flower starving for sun. During that infinitesimal space in time, my heart thudded to a halt, and a sly, almost subversive smile curved his lips. It was the last thing I saw before closing my eyes and parting my lips. I felt teasing lips brush over mine, skimming the corner of my mouth before moving up to find my ear instead.
“Don’t look directly at Ranger,” Pete breathed, light as a feather, before abruptly pivoting to head to the pharmacy.
I just stood there watching him leave, quivering with unmet expectations. Blink-blinked my eyes a couple of times like he was a mirage. Wound myself around to walk robotically through the door. Stared at my shocked face in the mirror and realized my mouth was hanging open. Snapped it shut to turn on the faucet. Splashed water on my face—enough times to wash the dirty streaks off, but not enough to cool my overheated system.
Don’t look Ranger directly in the eye, that’s what he said; I was sure of it. But why? A vicious bully he was to be sure, but was he also some kind of mythical creature that would turn me into stone if I stared too long into his ice-cold eyes? Or, like a cobra, would he strike me dead if I dared look him in the eye? Neither one made sense to me since I’d already glared at him on more than one occasion. I was mystified.
Something occurred to me as I sifted through the events of tonight looking for lost meaning. I distinctly remembered Pete reaching up to snap off the interior light right before Ranger began raking me over with his eyes. He had explained the light bothered his eye, but I felt like that was an excuse. Now I wondered if it wasn’t to keep Ranger and I from having eye contact. Why?
I dried my face with some paper towels and stared at my reflection. All I could see was red-rimmed, bright eyes and flushed skin—I was more than a little titillated by the idea of Pete kissing me. And mortified that I’d practically begged him to meet my lips . . . when all he wanted to do was whisper in my ear. Ugh! And what was worse—he knew it! I hurled the soggy wad into the trash. I mean, I barely knew the guy and here I was ready to snog him right in the middle of the floodlit pharmacy.
No better than the cheap floozy Ranger took me for!
Of course, he didn’t want to kiss me! I yanked a brush through my tangled mass of hair. I was well aware of how out of my league he thought he was. He was just trying to . . . warn me? But why? Weren’t he and Ranger friends? No, not friends, I dismissed the idea immediately. There was way too much animosity between them for that. More like cohorts.
A shiver of fear shook me as I recalled how they showed up tonight— Poof!—like figments of my imagination. What’s going on? Whatever it was, it wasn’t any good, and they didn’t want me to know about it. My thoughts circled back to Pete’s warning. Why not look at Ranger directly? I thought through more possibilities, focusing on the most plausible one. Maybe he was suffering from some kind of anger disorder? Like if I glared at him one too many times, it would set him off and he would snap and beat me senseless? I could feel the intense physical violence running like a current right below his skin.
So I would heed the advice. My gut was telling me not to ask any questions either, and that was implicit in the way in which Pete delivered the message. There was a reason he whispered it in my ear, and it obviously had nothing to do with him feeling physically attracted to me. An odd pain twisted my insides.
My eyes drew to the mirror once more. That’s when I noticed one silky tie had escaped and was stained scarlet. I tucked it back in, re-zipped the jacket, and was preparing to head out when I saw a logo on the left side I hadn’t noticed earlier. Hmmm. I leaned closer to inspect, smoothing out the wrinkles to read what was hidden in the baggy folds. Something about it looked familiar to me. I read the backward letters: International Elite Academy encircled a roaring lion.
I gasped as the bottom fell out of the floor. No wonder my gut reaction had been to run tonight. They were associated with that military academy that was after my brother! Something shady was going on that involved them, their organization, and somehow me. Other than that, I was clueless.
Why didn’t they just tell me who they were?
I headed out to find Pete and some answers. When I didn’t immediately see him at the pharmacy area, I warily scanned the wall mirrors but couldn’t find any tall, golden matinee idols standing in the aisles. Instead, I found the eyes of a male employee, following the line of my legs up to my face with a barely veiled look of lust on his face. Ew.
“Can I help you?” he eagerly asked.
“Yes, can I please use your phone?”
“Um . . .” He hesitated between wanting to help me and not wanting to get into trouble. “I’m actually not supposed to do that.”
Desperate times called for desperate measures, so I began to slink toward him while batting my eyelashes. “It’s just that . . . I got in a fight with my boyfriend,” I said, hardly having to pretend to blink back tears, “and now I don’t have a ride home.”