Читать книгу The Librarian's Secret Scandal - Jennifer Morey - Страница 8

“You’ve got one of the best pair of blue eyes I’ve ever seen.” Levi Garrison came into step beside her. “Has anyone ever told you that?”

May Masterson rolled those blue eyes that were so like her mother’s and didn’t slow down on her way to her next class. Levi easily kept up with her. He was tall and had a long stride.

“I’m serious. I meant to tell you that the other day.”

“When you were making fun of my mother?” Jerk.

“Yeah, well, about that …”

“Say anything smart and I’ll knock your front teeth out,” she said without looking at him. He was one of the most popular boys in eleventh grade. He was a football player and active on committees. He was smart, too, but not as smart as her. May knew her GPA was higher than this yokel’s.

“I’ve been meaning to apologize for that. You took it all wrong anyway.”

“How else am I supposed to take it when someone asks me if I’m as good as my mother?”

“That wasn’t me. I didn’t say that.”

“No, you said I was prettier.”

“You are.”

She sent him a glare.

“You took it wrong. I wasn’t after you that way.”

“You said I had a nicer tail.”

“I was just havin’ fun. Who cares if your mom was easy when she was in high school? That was a long time ago.”

May stopped and curled her hand into a fist. She raised it and brought it back for good momentum.

Levi caught it as she began to swing. Her fist fit into his hand.

His green eyes flared with something hot. “I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

“What do you care?”

He made the mistake of letting his gaze fall to her chest before meeting her eyes again.

She pushed him with her free hand. “Leave me alone, you jerk!”

“Hey.” He let go of her fist. “I’m trying to be friends here.”

“I don’t want any friends.” Not here anyway. She missed her friends in Sacramento. No one called her a slut there.

She pivoted and marched down the hall again, dodging other students, bumping someone’s shoulder. A girl narrowed her eyes at her as they passed each other. May flipped her off.

Levi took hold of her wrist and pulled her to the side of the hall, twirling her smoothly. Her back came against a locker, but not hard at all. Levi was agile in the way he handled her. She didn’t want to like that about him.

He put his hand on the locker above and beside her head and leaned closer. “I said I was sorry.”

Her breath got stuck in her throat.

He leaned back and offered his hand. She looked down at it and back up at his cute face.

“What do you want?”

“Your friendship.”

“That sounds like a line.” Except he seemed sincere. Wouldn’t it be great if one of the most popular boys in school liked her? “What do you really want?”

“To take you out. But that can wait. I’ll settle for being friends for now.”

“And once we’re friends? Then what? You try to get into my panties?”

“No. I’m not after you like that, I told you.”

“I don’t believe you.” But she wanted to.

“Just start by taking my hand. If all you can offer is hello in the halls, that’s fine by me.”

She eyed his hand again. What harm would it be to accept his apology? She could be reasonable. It felt good to have someone on her side for a change.

But what if he wasn’t? What if he was just playing her? What if this was some kind of joke?

“Come on. I won’t do anything drastic. I promise.”

Deciding to give him a chance, she gave him her hand. He grinned as he shook her hand.

“You’re gonna be late to class,” he said, still smiling as he strolled down the emptying hall.

She watched until he disappeared into a classroom and then started to turn to head for hers.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

May stopped and saw Sherilynn McTeague and one of her friends standing nearby. Sherilynn had long, blond hair and light brown eyes. She was a pretty girl in a prissy sort of way, and, like Levi, one of the most popular kids in school. But not so bright academically.

She was also Levi’s girlfriend.

“Last I checked this was a public school,” May said. She wasn’t afraid of this prom queen.

“You stay away from Levi.”

“Yeah,” chimed in her friend, a slightly chunky, short-haired girl with big cheeks. “Go find your own boyfriend.”

“Levi isn’t my boyfriend. We were just talking. Not that it’s any of your business.” May turned to walk to her classroom.

“Careful how you talk to me, ho,” Sherilynn called to her back.

Anger fired up in May like wind over a brush fire. Ho? Slowly, she pivoted, tensing as she moved closer to the two.

“If you’re looking to get laid, do it with somebody else,” the girl continued. “There are plenty of other boys who’d love to oblige you.”

“Yeah,” her chubby friend said. “Like mother like daughter. Isn’t that what they say about people like you?”

Stopping, May’s temper flared hotter. She was sick of holding her head high and not reacting to these unwarranted barbs like her mom always told her to do. She’d hold her head high all right. After she kicked both of these girly-girls’ behinds.

Fisting her hand, she slugged the chubby girl right on the mouth. The girl’s head jerked to the side and she stumbled backward, nearly losing her balance. See if she talked nasty ever again.

Sherilynn shoved May against one shoulder. May had to take a step back, but now she turned her attention to this girl. She swung her fist again, catching the side of her head. Then she hit lower, aiming for the soft part of her stomach. Sherilynn grunted and pulled May’s hair. May yelled and slapped her hard across her cheek. Sherilynn stumbled and bumped into the chubby girl, tripping over her feet and falling. May stepped over her, meaning to straddle her and keep hitting, but the chubby girl pulled her by the arm. May yanked free and backhanded the girl on her nose. The girl retreated with a screech and held her bleeding nose.

Sherilynn was starting to sit up and climb to her feet. May lifted her foot and planted it against her chest, shoving her back to the floor. Then she straddled her and started slugging. See if she smiled pretty for any guy for a while….

The chubby girl pulled her off just as May spotted a teacher charging toward them.

“All right, in the principal’s office. Now!” the teacher yelled. “All three of you!”

Sherilynn got to her feet, holding her side with one hand and her face with the other. “She started it!”

“Yeah, she hit me first,” the chubby girl said.

“Is that true?” the teacher asked.

“Yeah. They were calling me names! I’m not a whore!”

“You’re just like your slutty mother,” Sherilynn said.

May lunged for her again.

The teacher stepped in her way, though, so all May could do was glare at the girl around her shoulder. “Wait ‘til after school. I’ll finish you off.”

“May Masterson.” The teacher grabbed both her shoulders. “You will stop this right now!”

“Make them stop. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Fighting isn’t the answer.”

“Her mom fought all the time,” the chubby girl said snidely.

“How would you know, you weren’t here,” May retorted.

“No, but my mom was. She told me everything.”

“My mom isn’t like that anymore. You need to mind your own damn business.”

“May, you don’t swear in this school.”

She zeroed in on the teacher’s gaze. “Tell them to back off then.”

“Why don’t you tell the principal to do that.” Moving one of her hands to May’s elbow, she held tight and walked her down the hall, saying over her shoulder, “You girls are coming, too. Follow me.”

Three days after seeing Lily, Wes walked into the West End Café in Deer Lodge, Montana. He’d searched for Karla Harrison, the victims’ officer who’d come out of the prison after Lily had wrecked his SUV and had finally gotten hold of her. Once he told her who he was, she’d agreed to meet him here. She remembered him, but more importantly, she remembered Lily. He could tell she genuinely cared about her and was sure that was the only reason she was meeting him.

A few other tables were filled and talking joined the sound of dishes clanking and workers busy in the kitchen. The wood tables and chairs were scratched with age and the blue linoleum floor needed updating, and he was sure some women liked the lacy white valances above the front windows but he thought they could go with the floor.

The entry door opened and Karla walked into the small café. When he’d called her he’d asked if she’d meet him here rather than the prison. He didn’t want anyone to know what he was doing, least of all Lily.

When she saw him, recognition showed on her face and she headed for his table.

“Sheriff Colton?” she asked.

He stood and took her hand in a shake. “Thanks for meeting me.”

She sat down. “I have to admit, you have me curious. You didn’t really say why you wanted to talk about Lily.”

He sat across from her. “She’s grown important to me since the accident.”

Karla smiled softly. “I could tell there was something going on there.” Then she sobered. “She seemed like such a strong woman when I first met her. I thought she’d do all right going to that parole hearing all by herself, but I could tell it was hard on her afterward.”

There it was, the missing piece. “What parole hearing?”

“Oh … I thought you knew.” Her expression turned worried. The waitress came and he ordered coffee. So did Karla, but in an absentminded way.

“Lily told me she went to the prison to see a friend,” he reminded her when the waitress left.

“Oh,” Karla hedged. “Yes, I remember.”

“I could tell that wasn’t the truth.”

“I see.” She poured sugar into her coffee and stirred. “I thought she’d have told you by now.”

“She hasn’t. I think it’s too difficult for her. I was hoping you could tell me the real reason she was there.”

Stopping her spoon, Karla stared at him, her hesitance etched over her expression. “I’m not sure how much I should tell you. What if she doesn’t want me to?”

“Like I said, she’s grown important to me. I want to help if I can.”

Slowly Karla’s expression smoothed. “That’s very kind of you, Sheriff.”

“If you aren’t comfortable talking to me, you can give me the name of the inmate case manager.”

He watched her process that. He was a sheriff. He had his ways of finding out what he needed with or without her help. Now that he knew Lily had gone to a parole hearing, and what day, he wouldn’t have much trouble tracking down the case manager.

“No, no need for that. Lily’s one of those special victims to me. A real fighter when all’s said and done. I care about what happens to her, and I would love to know that she’s happy. You want to know why she was there that day? She testified at Brandon Gates’s parole hearing. She was the only victim who had the nerve to come forward out of all those women who testified at his trial.”

Wes didn’t like where this was heading. Out of all those women …

“Who is Brandon Gates? What was he in for?” he asked, fearing he already knew.

“Sexual assault.”

“He raped her?” He supposed he shouldn’t be surprised, as wary as Lily was around him, and as reluctant as she was to go out with him. Being with men had to be hard for her. Trusting them even harder.