Conviction (21 page)

“You have no right to accuse me of being with anyone else. No right at all! I’ve never done anything to give you any indication that I’ve ever wanted anyone but you.”

“You mean you never—that Fed?”

“I’ve never loved anyone but you.”

“I—I don’t believe it…” His voice trailed off as he plopped himself on the willow root. I sat down across from him, reluctant only because it seemed like sudden moves might make him flee.

“Why not?”

“Reid said—”

“Reid said
what
?” That flicker of anger I had felt was glimmering bright now, beaming away the black parasites until I was blinded white. I knew Reid didn’t like me, didn’t trust me, but to deliberately sabotage our relationship?

“He said a girl like you didn’t have a future with a guy like me, that you were thinking long-term, you’d be thinking ‘bout kids and houses and backyards and security, ‘bout all the stuff that I couldn’t give you.”

“What?” I dug my fingernails into the bark below me. I didn’t have the words to describe my rage, perhaps in only that it was undoubtedly rage. Although what made me more upset? The fact that I
had
thought about those things, or that Reid was the one to say them? “I’m going to kill him.”

Charlie smiled at me finally, and for the first time in months my heart lit up. “I tried that the first time he said it. But then that thing with the Albanians happened and I read those e-mails…”

My arm reached out for him. “Albanians? Wait, what Albanians?”

Charlie stared at the ground. “That scare we had a couple months back? Turns out it was a cohort of Albanians who cleared us out. We figured it was a dirty cop or somebody we knew—”

“Charlie?”

He looked at me sadly. “With the timing and everything, Reid thought—”

“Charlie…”

“But if it wasn’t you…”

“Charlie, we have to go.”

He looked up, eyes wide in wonder. “We?”

I tugged him by the arm until he was standing. He stared at me, mouth gaped open like I had just said something amazing. I was just grateful he let me lead him.

“Reid is going to steal a car to get you out of here. Are you okay enough to walk?”

“Yeah, but—”

“Charlie, please, don’t let them put you in jail. If you’re doing this to spite me or something, you have to reconsider, no matter what you think I’ve done—”

Finally, he reached up and let the thumb that stuck out from his cast trail along the edge of my face. He smiled, but it was sad, as though I said something he had already predicted. “Normally I like sayin’ yes to you, Vicious, but not this time.”

“What?” I sobbed, torn between wanting to scream and shout into the sky. Didn’t he know what an opportunity this was? “Why in the hell not? Don’t you know what will happen to you?”

His eyes trailed to my lips, the way they always did just before he kissed me, yet I knew he wouldn’t. How he could make me want to kiss in a situation like this was even more infuriating. “I wasn’t the only one Reid had convinced you were talking to the cops and that Fed maybe. Ben told Reid to go to your school, look around, be quiet about it. Course he can’t be quiet ‘bout nothing, so I found out and followed him.” He pulled away and turned his back to me, shuddering at something I couldn’t see.

“Charlie, you have to go. I’m sure Reid is waiting at the gate by now.”

“You wanna get rid of me that bad?”

I pulled him to me by the ends of his shirt. “I would have you with me every second of every day, but if you haven’t noticed, you just escaped prison custody and that isn’t exactly good for one’s health.”

“I’ll only go if you go.”

I shook my head. He wanted to play games? Now? “Charlie, people will assume the worst.”

“I’ll only go where you go, no matter what that means for me.”

“That’s extortion.”

“I like happy shakedown a lot better.”

Every time I tripped over my feet, Charlie caught me but didn’t laugh. When we reached the front gate, my heart’s pulsing panic told me that Reid had taken off, forgotten about Charlie, abandoned him and taken off without any regard for him whatsoever. I hated him more than ever, wished terrible bodily harm to him and squeezed Charlie’s hand tighter. And then I saw the headlights blinking down the street.

We sat in the backseat together, hands still clutched, while Reid took off slowly as any normal driver would.

“It about time, ladies. Were we having tea?”

“Shut up, Reid.”

“You know what? I will shut up. I’ll shut up only because Jackass here is going to be telling me why he didn’t meet us where he said he was going to.”

“I had to make sure she was all right.” He still stared but I looked away.

Reid banged his head against the steering wheel. “Goddamn idiots…”

“As much as I hate to, I agree with Reid.”

Now both sets of eyes were on me.

“I left without telling anyone where I was going. My Dad is probably looking for me by now and if he hasn’t heard about your breakout by now, then it will be second now.”

“Great.” Reid sighed. “
Great
.”

“I don’t care ‘bout that. I need her with me.”

“It’s not safe for you, Charlie.”

“Yeah,
Charlie,
” Reid mocked. “And this car is a domestic. It’s going to be reported by morning.”

“My brother’s car.” The words bubbled out of me with uncontainable excitement. “We can take that.”

“Great idea, brainiac. That’ll be the first thing they come looking for.”

“Not if I call him right now and tell him I borrowed it. I’ll tell him I went to visit my roommate.”

Even Charlie seemed skeptical. “He’ll buy that?”

Frankly, I didn’t know if Robbie would believe me or not. And I didn’t know if I wanted to lie to him, either. “It’ll buy a few hours. And since I’m less threatening, I’m less likely to get pulled over than either of you.”

“No—”

“Yeah.” Charlie pulled me close enough so that I was almost in his lap.

“That isn’t going to work, Jackass.”

“Then you can just drop us off at her Old Man’s, I guess.”

Reid hit his head against the steering wheel again and cursed. “Fine! But only because Ben wants this settled.”

We cruised up in front of the house and stumbled over each other climbing out of the car. Home didn’t look the same in the dark, lonesome and unburdened by people.

“I gotta get rid of this,” Reid said. “Meet at the spot.”

“Yeah, all right.” Charlie slammed the door behind him and followed me inside. His movements were concise and strangely controlled, making it slightly harder for me to concentrate as I plugged the phone line back in and dialed.

“Hi. Robbie.”

“Addie? Hey, what’s up?”

I laughed, where should I begin? “Have you guys gotten in yet?”

“Pulling up now, why?”

“Well, uh, listen—I won’t be there when you come back to the house.”

“Yeah? You find an all night book store?”

I laughed, tried to play it casual. “Well, remember when you said I could borrow your car anytime I wanted?”

“Uh, I never said that.”

“Okay, let’s pretend you did.”

“Addie, what the hell?”

I took a deep breath, better late than never, right? “There’s some trouble with my boyfriend and I—we have to borrow your car.”

“What?”

“I know you’re pissed, but it really is an emergency, so try to relax for a second.”

“If you think I’m pissed, just wait until Dad hears.”

“Cover for me?”

He mumbled something incoherent.

“Robbie? Please? This is important.”

“Addie, you’re like—the smartest person I know, but, whatever you’re really into, I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I looked at Charlie. He hadn’t taken his eyes off me since the atrium. “I do, Robbie. You can trust me on that.”

I was quick to grab clothes, taking a few essentials and throwing them into my lucky sling bag before borrowing a few of Robbie’s things.

Charlie followed me, every move I made, but his moves were careful, pronounced. He also kept his distance with his fingers extended at his side, almost as though he was ready to draw gunfire. I was reaching for Robbie’s keys when I finally addressed it.

“Charlie? A-are you sure you want me to go with you?”

He nodded. Grim but sure.

I reached for a pad of paper and a pen on the kitchen counter. “I’ll leave Dad and Robbie a note, but people will still assume the worst.”

“Even if I didn’t want you, you’d still be going with me.”

I stopped writing mid-sentence and stared back at him. “What do you mean?”

Charlie’s face was darkened by shadows of his own making and the solitary light lit above the sink. The lines in his brow looked deeper than I had ever seen them, and I realized that prison, maybe our time apart, had aged him.

“Reid is sure you betrayed us. If he’s got Ben sure of it, too…I don’t know what they’ll do.”

“I’d never—”

He smiled, but there was no Charlie there. “I know, Vicious. I know.”

Though I shouldn’t have been surprised, I was mildly hurt by this accusation. My feelings hurt that I could be accused of doing something so bluntly spiteful. Then I wanted to laugh at myself. Wouldn’t a normal person be more upset about people being out to kill them?

“D-do you really think I’m capable of that?”

“I don’t know much of anything other than that I love you, and that—that if you wanted someone else other than me, I’d pretend to live with it. I’d do anything to protect you.”

“I know that but—does that have something to do with why you turned yourself in? Is that why you lied about what happened in California?”

He smirked, coming up just close enough to me so that I could smell him. “Pretty smart for a dummy like me, huh?”

“You’re not a ‘dummy.’”

“I figured I’d give the fellas a different problem to focus on. If they thought I’d spill my guts to the cops, they’d go worrying ‘bout getting rid of me instead of you.”

I was awestruck. “What?”

“After I called that Fed the cops and reporters would be ‘round too much for anybody to make a move on you and Ben would be too worried about getting’ Elise and Ty somewhere untouchable.”

I nodded. “I went to the house—the safe in their bedroom was empty, but everything else was still there. T-the bedroom and hallway—”

“They probably left in a hurry.” He nodded. “Especially after what I did in there.”

“Why?”

“You know why.”

I struggled to remain steady. “And my dorm?”

He looked back down, ashamed suddenly, that much was clear. “Reid showed me some e-mails between you and the Fed, showed me those earrings in the bathroom—”

“Earrings?”

“Yeah.” Charlie looked back at me, eyes narrowed, as if trying to read a lie in me. “You never wear that kinda stuff, but Elise said they weren’t hers and I thought—”

“They were a gift from a lover?” I grew hot with my own anger but when he saw it he only nodded.

“I didn’t wanna believe it, so we went there to find proof. I read some of those text messages you sent him, looked for letters…”

“You had no right to do that, no matter what you suspected.”

He said nothing.

I rebalanced myself on my other foot. If nothing else it did explain why the room had been trashed, nothing of substantial value taken. Though another question remained unanswered.

“Why did you take my roommate, Melinda’s laptop?”

He shrugged. “Thought she mighta been helpin’ you cover something up. Didn’t have time to look through everything, so we just took it with.”

I glared at the wall beyond. Charlie’s suspicion had caused a great deal of inconvenience for people in my life who were just trying to be my friends. I, by proxy, was responsible for that as well. But if Adam was right, then maybe I couldn’t take the blame for everything, either.

“You have to return it.”

He nodded.

We stared at each other. There was so much I wanted to ask but couldn’t. And every time his lip trembled I had the same feeling he wanted to ask me something in turn but also couldn’t.

“I still don’t understand,” I admitted. “You had to have known I’d tell the truth eventually. That I would tell everyone you were lying.”

He shrugged. “You’re smart. I thought you’d do the smart thing and let that Fed take you somewhere. Start new.”

I threw the bag at him, my own impatience getting the better of me yet again.

Only surprised, Charlie flinched back, catching the bag with one hand and trying to dodge my lame punches with the other. And while I was by no means trying to hurt him (not that I could even if I wanted to) my frustration had built past the breaking point and I couldn’t stop myself.