Pushing the Limits (13 page)

God damn, this guy had to be at least six and a half feet tall and he looked familiar. He stood toe to toe with Isaiah and me. The stench of alcohol rolled off of him. His eyes shifted nervously and his body flinched.

“He’s tweaking, man,” Isaiah said to me.

Fabulous. This night had shifted from the best to bad to
Saw
in record time. The man turned the ring on his finger. That was no regular ring—that was a damn Super Bowl ring. “Go ahead, call the police. Everybody loves me. I ain’t going to jail.”

“Aren’t you that asshole that got kicked off that loser team a couple hours from here?” I said, trying to keep his eyes off the house.

He blinked a couple of times, like his fucked-up mind understood for three seconds that a two-hundred-and-fifty-pound linebacker shouldn’t be picking fights with a sixteen-year-old girl and her two stoner friends.

“I’m tired of this bullshit, man,” Isaiah whispered to me seconds before he hauled back and hit the bastard in the jaw. The impact would have sent me to the ground, but this guy only turned his head. Dammit all to hell … everything about this was going to suck.

The bastard raised his fist to retaliate, but found himself on the ground when I tackled him right at his knees. I had the fleeting thought that I should thank my gym teacher, Mr. Graves, for the three weeks of football instruction.

I rolled away from him before he could throw a punch. Isaiah came too close and the asshole swept Isaiah’s legs out from
underneath him and pounded him in the gut as he fell to the ground. The sound of Beth’s mom screaming irritated the shit out of me.

The bastard rose, as did I, and I punched him in the kidney before he had a chance to kick Isaiah, who lay on the ground with the wind knocked out of him. Tweaker turned and swung for my head, but I ducked and landed a punch on his stomach. He grunted and swayed, but stayed upright.

I needed to get this loser back on the ground. I attempted to tackle him again, but aimed too high. My sides stung when he threw two good punches into my rib cage. The two of us crashed into his car as Isaiah stood up and cracked the guy in the back with his fist.

A gunshot screamed into the night. Both Isaiah and I froze. I prayed to God that nothing warm or wet left my body, and I wasn’t referring to piss.

“Sky, you and this trash get off my property,” Dale said in a surprisingly calm voice. He stood on the front stoop, hunting rifle cradled in his hands. “You boys okay?”

“Super,” said Isaiah through clenched teeth.

“Never better.” Dammit, my knuckles throbbed.

“Get in the house before Beth goes into hysterics,” said Dale.

I pushed off the Beamer and did my best to not stumble to the house. Isaiah came up beside me. “Think she could have told us we were going to fight the NFL.”

“Would that have stopped you?”

“No.”

“Me neither.” The laughter between the two of us echoed into the night.

BETH CRIED HERSELF TO SLEEP—in Isaiah’s arms.

I lay on the couch, watching some eighties movie on television.
The sound was so low, I had no idea what anyone said for an hour. My ribs ached, my knuckles throbbed, but damn, I felt good. Dale and Shirley had told Sky never to come back and that Shirley was heading to Sky’s tomorrow to collect Beth’s stuff. Dale and Shirley had issues, but they were good people at heart.

Beth whimpered when she shifted in her sleep. Isaiah soothed her with hushed words and ran his hand through her hair. She wrapped her arms tighter around his chest and placed herself practically on top of him. Isaiah continued to rub her back.

“How long have you been into her, bro?” I asked Isaiah.

Isaiah let his head fall back onto the wall. “A while. Terrified to tell her, but now … I can’t keep letting her be with guys that use her or just watch as she goes to her mom when she needs to feel loved. What am I going to do, man?”

“You’re asking the wrong guy.” What did I know about love? All I knew was that I couldn’t get Echo Emerson out of my mind. No doubt, I wanted her. I couldn’t rid my mind of images of her body writhing in pleasure against mine. That siren voice whispering my name. But she appealed to me in more than a physical way. I loved her smile, the light in her eyes when she laughed, and damn if she couldn’t keep up with me. “If you figure it out, let me know.”

Echo

“I’m sorry,” I said for the third time. “I didn’t know you were in such a hurry.”

Luke kept my hand and dragged me through the crowded mall toward the movie theater. When the crowd gave way, he pulled me next to him. “I’m with your dad on this one. It’s a car. I mean, that car’s a beast and all, but still a car. You’d be better off selling it and making some major cash than wasting any more money or time on it.”

The movie started at eight instead of the eight-forty-five he originally told me. I’d made an appointment at six with a mechanic willing to come to the house to look at Aires’ car. I’d taken the ACT again this morning, come home, accidentally fallen asleep (had a day terror—if that’s what you call a night terror that occurs during the day), and then woken up less than twenty minutes before the mechanic arrived. Luke had waited a whole patient ten minutes before he told the mechanic to leave
because we had plans. The mechanic had gone, telling me he’d email the estimate.

“It’s all I have left of Aires.” We entered the carpeted area of the movie theater. I yanked my hand away. “I thought you would understand.”

Going out with Luke was exactly like I remembered—at least the last two months of our relationship, minus the pawing. On our group date last weekend, I asked him if we could take things slow and he agreed—for the first few dates. I had a feeling tonight was going to be the end of Luke’s hands-off promise. So far, dating him the second time around stunk.

Luke placed his hands on his hips. “It’s a good thing Stephen and Lila got here on time to get tickets. It’s sold out.”

Self-absorbed, egotistical jerk … “This isn’t going to work,” I said.

He balled his fist and then forced himself to relax his hands. “Look, I want this to work. You’re just mad because I’m siding with your dad on this stupid car thing. Lila’s dating Stephen. Grace is with Chad. You and I make perfect sense.” He caressed my cheek. That touch used to melt me into a puddle. All I felt now were calluses, a wart and dry skin. “I know it’s rough trying to figure us out again. I think our problem is that we’re taking it too slow. I deserve an award for keeping my hands off of you.”

Luke took a step toward me, slipped a hand around my back, and pressed me into him. Every muscle I had tensed. This didn’t feel natural at all.

“Let’s go see the movie and afterward we can go back to my place. I think you’ll feel a lot better once I help you remember what we’re so good at doing.” His breath fanned over my face
and I swear a few spit particles did, too. Why was I doing this again?

“Echo! There you guys are. The movie theater is already packed.” Lila bounced beside me. Relieved for the interruption, I stepped away from Luke.

Stephen and Luke exchanged some sort of weird male handshake. Stephen pointed at theater three. “Come on. It’s starting. We couldn’t get six seats together, but we saved two for you in the back.” Stephen gave Luke a high five. Boy, Luke would be disappointed when he figured out nothing was going to happen in the back.

The guys walked ahead while Lila and I fell behind. Lila asked, “You okay?”

“I don’t think Luke and I are going to work. He hasn’t changed a bit.” Why, like everything else, did this have to be complicated? Why couldn’t anything be simple, the way it had been freshman year?

Lila took a deep breath and pressed her lips together. “We’ll talk later. Let’s enjoy the movie, okay?”

She caught up with Stephen and Luke grabbed my hand. “You just need to focus on being like you used to be. You know— normal,” he said.

Lila sent me a pleading glance. I sank in the seat next to Luke and let him put his arm around me. All of us prayed for normal. But so far, normal only meant more misery.

IN THE FIRST FIVE MINUTES OF the movie we met a teenager who graduated from high school and joined the Marines. Ten minutes in, we watched him graduate from boot camp. Twenty minutes into the movie, I dry heaved.

Nausea swelled my throat, my tongue felt ten sizes too big
and I couldn’t breathe. No matter how much air I tried to suck in, none of it went into my lungs. I sprang from my seat and tripped down the dark stairs of the theater to the sounds of men screaming in agony to God and their mothers.

I raced for the women’s bathroom, busted past the door and clung to the cold sink. The mirror revealed a nightmare. Red curls clung to the sweat on my forehead. My entire body shook like an earthquake.

The image of the man’s friend stepping on an IED flashed in my mind. The bile inched up my throat. Oh, God—Aires. Was that what happened to him? Did he scream in agony? Did he know he was dying? The face of the blood-drenched actor merged with Aires’ face. My body wrenched forward, my stomach cramped and I coughed with the dry heave.

He was dead and he’d died in misery, terrified.

A stall door opened. A little old lady stared at me with pitying old eyes. “Boy troubles?”

I snatched a paper towel to wipe my eyes and hide my face. Gasping for air, I reminded myself that I’d come here to be normal, not a spectacle. “Yes.”

The old lady smiled at me in the mirror while washing her hands. “A pretty girl like you will find someone new quickly. By the way, I love your gloves. It’s not very often that you see a young person wearing them.” She left.

My cell phone vibrated in my back pocket. Luke texted me: Whr r u?

In the girl’s bathroom losing my mind
. There was no way I could go back: 2 violent 4 me. shpg. Meet u aftr movie.

I waited a few seconds and my phone vibrated again: cool cu then.

Eight-thirty. I had two and a half hours to blow until the end of the movie. Seemed to be a recurring theme in my life.

The food court sat right next to the movie theater. I needed something to drink. But like an idiot, I’d brought no money, not even my purse. Luke insisted that I leave it at home. Blah, blah, blah … our first night to the movies together … blah, blah, blah … he would pay for everything … blah, blah, blah … he took me to see the worst movie ever …

The employees of the food court were cleaning and preparing to close. But some places stayed open to feed the night owls. I headed to one, the burger joint that had stools next to the counter.

I sat on a stool and watched some tall guy flip burgers. Lila would so love that cute butt. “Excuse me?”

The cook turned and I slid off my seat. “Noah?”

He flashed his wicked grin. “‘Sup, Echo. Miss me?”

I sat again. “No.” Kind of.

Noah scooped the burgers off the grill, placed them on some buns and called out a number. A lady came and carried the burgers away. He sauntered to the counter. “What can I do for you?”

The red bandana he wore held back the hair that typically covered his eyes. I loved his eyes. Chocolate-brown, full of mischief and a spark ready to light the world on fire. “Can I have a glass of water, please?” And please let it be free.

“Is that it?”

My stomach growled, loud enough for Noah to hear. “Yep, that’s it.”

He fixed me a glass and handed it to me. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like a burger? A nice thick burger on a toasted bun with salty fries on the side?”

I sucked on my straw, gulping the ice water down. Funny, water didn’t give me that warm, fuzzy, full feeling like a burger and fries would. “I’m fine, thank you.”

“Suit yourself. You see that nice-looking piece of meat right there?” He motioned to the patty frying. The aroma made my mouth water. “That’s mine. When it’s done, my shift for the day is over.”

He returned to the grill and lifted the fabulous patty onto a toasted bun, topping it with various vegetables. He then tossed an ample amount of French fries on the plate. “Hey, Frank. I’m outta here.”

Somebody called from the back, “Thanks, Noah.”

Noah slid his bandana and apron off and threw them into a container. He left his plate next to me on the counter, made himself a Coke and then walked around to take the seat beside me. “Shouldn’t you be on a date with your ape boyfriend?”

He bit into his burger. I watched every delicious movement. “I was. I mean, I am. Luke’s still in the movie theater. But he’s not my boyfriend. Not now. He was—a long time ago, but he’s not now. We’re just, you know, dating. Or something.” Right? And why was I rambling?

Noah chewed his food while he narrowed his eyes. “If you’re on a date, why aren’t you in there with him?”

I stared down at the fries. They looked so golden and crispy.

“Do you have any money?” he asked.

“What?”

He rubbed his fingers together. “Dinero? Cash? Do you have any on you?”

Unsure where this was headed, I shook my head. He reached over the counter and grabbed a knife. He cut the burger in half and slid the plate between us. “Here. Don’t bogart the fries.”

“Are you serious?”

Noah took another bite of his half. “Yeah. Don’t want my tutor to starve to death.”

I smacked my lips like a cartoon character and bit into the succulent burger. When the juicy meat touched my tongue, I closed my eyes and moaned.

“I thought girls only looked like that when they orgasmed.”

The burger caught in my throat and I choked. Noah stifled a laugh while sliding my water toward me. If only drinking it would erase the annoying blush on my cheeks.

“I think I missed your answer to my previous question. If you’re on a date, why are you out here sharing dinner with me while Luke’s in there fondling himself?”

I cleared my throat. “Do you always have to be so crude?”

“No. I’ll rein it in if you answer the question.”

“We were running late and I didn’t know what movie he’d chosen until it started.
Enemies at War
is a little too violent for me.” I stirred my water with my straw, focusing on sounding nonchalant while the images of war tortured my mind.