I saw her shiver. “What are you talking about? I’ve not heard a single thing about a trust for me.”
“Seriously?”
She shook her head.
“Odd. We can talk about that in a moment. So Jared, Bob and I, we did some research on you. Found out where you were living then, in Florida. I also had a vendetta against you because you never got in touch with Louisa after you left. Some friend, I thought. But you were going through your own shit--I get that now. Anyways, we came up with this plan to get payback on you. We were drunk, and it was crazy.”
Natalie clutched a hand over her neck. “What was the plan?” she muttered.
I took a deep breath, scrubbed a thumb across my stubble, and brought my eyes to her.
“We were going to kidnap you, hold you for ransom, and get your moneybags father to give us a true payout.”
She stood up. “What the--why are you telling me this? Are you fucking serious right now?”
“I’m sorry. I just thought you should know.”
“That’s fucking sick! You’d actually consider doing something like that? Like you weren’t just joking around?!”
“I know people say things all the time. I didn’t think I was serious, but things were said. And now,” I cleared my throat. “Now that you’re back, Jared and Bob have been talking crazy, like they might actually do something to you. The most recent thing they mentioned was nabbing you and putting you down in the mine to teach you a ‘lesson.’ I don’t know if they’re into the money anymore.”
She frowned, her face twitching, and her eyes welled with tears.
“You’re serious?”
I nodded. “Sadly.”
Her lip quivered, and her eyes darted back and forth on the floor until they landed on me.
“Who the fuck are you, Shane North?”
A pang of guilt ate away at my insides. But I knew this was the right thing to do.
“I’m trying to come clean and put all of the cards on the table here.”
Her voice shook now as she spoke. “This isn’t even remotely okay. So you’re telling me, that any moment I’m here, a couple of guys--Jared and Bob, you said?--they might try to fucking take me and do something awful to me for some sort of silly high school revenge plot against my father? What is this, a Liam Neeson movie?”
“When you put it like that, it sounds crazy. But these days, these guys are so drugged out, who knows how far they’d go.”
She put her hands on her hips and stepped toward me. “Jared and Bob…they’re your friends?”
I hesitated. “I’ve known them my whole life.” Friends was a stretch. Especially these days.
“This is not okay. We’re done--whatever this was, for starters. I can’t believe I--God, what was I thinking?! I saw them at the bar! It could have happened then!” She returned my gaze, her eyes disbelieving. “And I felt like a crazy person for following you today. You made me feel crazy. Turns out, my instinct was right. You were hiding something huge. I just didn’t follow you at the right time.”
I clenched my jaw, feeling the muscles in my neck tighten. There was not much I could say to that, aside from yes, you’re right.
As she headed for the stairs, all I could think about was how tragically gorgeous she looked in that red dress which was riding well up her mid-thigh.
I balled and unballed my fists as I stared out into the cold, dark night, fury pumping inside me.
A flashback whirled through me.
The last storm we had like this was the night Louisa had set out to drive home from a party at one of her friends’ houses.
She didn’t make it back.
I remember torturing myself in the months that followed.
Why wasn’t I at that party? I should have stopped her.
I spaced out for a few moments. A powerful sense of regret bubbled up in me that I hadn’t done anything to save Louisa.
Was telling Natalie the whole truth the right thing to do?
It seemed silly in a way, to bring up some high school revenge plot, but Bob and Jared were serious. Whereas I had admitted it was cloud talk, they stuck to their guns.
And there was something about Natalie that made me know deep down I couldn’t keep anything from her. She was generating feelings in me that I’d buried for so long, and I didn’t know how to act around her.
For goodness sake, she’d just offered me her V-card. If it weren’t for that, I might not have been inspired to tell her all this. But she trusted me, and I refused to betray that trust by a huge lie of omission that could potentially impact her future.
Hell, maybe even her life. Who knew how crazy Bob and Jared could get. Sometimes, they got this empty look in their eyes that made me question their full capacity to empathize with another human being.
Natalie came back down the stairs, wearing sweatpants, a hoodie, and carrying her suitcase. I watched as she put on her coat and then her boots.
“I found a motel two hours away that has an open room,” she said. “So I’ll be going. I don’t feel safe here.”
“You don’t feel safe because I told you the truth?” She nodded. “Goodbye, Shane. Pleasure meeting you this weekend.”
My eyes narrowed at the word. Pleasure.
She opened the door to leave and a gust of wind blew in, knocking her off balance.
Striding up to the door, I closed it.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you go,” I gritted out. “It’s too dangerous out there.”
“I’m afraid you’re just going to have to let me go. Excuse me.” She tried to push my arm off the door, but I didn’t budge.
“So just like that? You’re going to walk out of my life and you never want to see me again?”
“That’s right. If you’re making plans to kidnap me, it’s in my best interest.”
I kept my hand on the door, unwavering.
“Fine. But there’s something else you should know?”
“What?”
“You might see your father as this perfect human being, but the fact is, he did have a chance to fix the mineshaft. And he did nothing. Jared and Bob might not have forgiven him for that, but I have. I’m trying, at least. Seeing you has made me rethink things.”
“I don’t believe you.”
I shrugged. “So I’m going to tell you the truth about coming up with a plan to kidnap you, and then make up some lie about your father?”
“I-I don’t even know what to think any more. I’m not thinking straight.”
I stepped in front of her, crossing my arms.
“Damn right you’re not thinking straight. Especially if you think going out there in that fucking storm is a good idea. Twenty-nine inches, Florida. And that’s not an exaggeration. It’s really coming down out there.”
“I’ll live.”
That’s probably what Louisa thought, too.
“I’m afraid I can’t let you take that risk.”
“I’m not a little girl, I’ll make my own decisions. Move.” I didn’t budge.
“If you don’t move, I’m calling the cops.” I balled and unballed my fists. That’d be the worst possible scenario. She’d be on the McTeelys’ radar.
“Please, don’t go out there. I’m asking you nicely.”