Spies and Prejudice (9 page)

I leap to my feet when the ten minutes are up.

“Are you okay?” Jason asks.

“Yeah.” A total lie.

Jason nods, and Drew pats me reassuringly on the leg. I step around Tanner and fly down the hallway in the direction of the bathroom. I round a corner and stop to catch my breath.

Okay, so Tanner has a sense of humor. A lame one if this movie is any indication.

I need to focus. I set the phone to vibrate and tuck it in my back pocket.

Mr. Moss’s office is at the end of the hall. Mr. and Mrs. Moss should still be in the living room drinking mochaccinos and watching a baseball game. I have at least an hour before the game ends. I only need a few minutes.

I move quickly, ducking into the darkness and closing the door about halfway. Enough to give me some cover, but not enough that I can’t claim I wandered in by mistake. I wait for my eyes to adjust to the dark and move over to a credenza on the far wall. Mr. Moss has a lot of papers scattered about, but it’s easy to skim when I know what I’m looking for. My mother’s letterhead.

I work my way through two stacks of paper and am starting a third when my phone starts to vibrate.

Not now.

I reach back and shut it off. Whoever Drew saw get up is probably just going to the bathroom anyway.

I keep flipping through the stack of papers but stop when I hear footsteps coming down the hall.

I look around for hiding places in case I need one in a hurry.

I set the papers back on the credenza and move over to the large wooden desk. I can duck underneath it if I need to.

I don’t get the chance.

Tanner’s large frame fills the space between the door and the hallway. “What are you doing in here?”

Tanner doesn’t bother turning on the light as he enters the room. He just crosses the dark and strides toward me like he’s going to escort me right back outside.

I shouldn’t have to answer to him, but something about his purposeful walk tells me I better. I try to laugh, but it comes out sounding like a squeak. “You caught me.”

“Caught you what?” Even in the dark, I can feel his icy stare.

I try to think. “Waiting for someone.”

He steps closer. “Who? That Drew guy?” He says Drew’s name like it’s a bad word.

I try to back up, but the solid mahogany desk stops my progress. “Maybe.”

“How long have you even known him?”

The judgmental tone in his voice gives me the strength I need
to stand up to him. I push against the desk and close the rest of the distance between us. “What difference does it make? He’s my friend. Which is more than I can say about you.”

Tanner doesn’t back up. If anything he leans closer, so that the heat radiating off his chest warms my skin. “Why did he want to meet you here?” His voice is almost a whisper. I feel it more than I hear it.

I look up at him, suddenly very aware that we’re alone. In the dark. “Why do you think?”

“You don’t know anything about him.”

“You’re absolutely right. I mean, he’s so friendly and fun to be around. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

“Berry, I’m serious.”

I bark out a laugh. “This from the guy who just followed me like some kind of crazy stalker. And so what if Drew is a total freak? Maybe that’s what I go for.”

“It’s not.” The knowing look in his eyes is enough to make me want to puke. The guy’s ego doesn’t know when to quit.

“Obviously, or I would’ve gone for you when I had the chance.”

He sighs, and I thrill at the fact that I’ve finally gotten a reaction from him.

Then he steps forward so that I have no choice but to back up against the desk to avoid colliding with his chest. He puts his hands on the desk, so I’m trapped between them, his face just inches from mine. “I’m not sure what I’ve done to make you so angry.” His breath floats along my neck as he talks. “I’ve tried to be your friend.” His perfect lips move closer to mine. “I’ve tried to leave you alone.”

I melt, my insides dissolving into a warm gooey mass. I’m pulled along on an invisible string, stretching toward him. His lips part and I hear his soft intake of breath.

“I’m on your side.” The low thrum of his voice fills me completely. His fingertips dance along the side of my cheek, a whisper on my skin.

I lean away from him, focusing on keeping my voice even. “You’re not.”

He drops his hand and stands up straight, leaving me hanging by a thread that unravels faster than I can gather it. There’s a chill where his body heat had been. Even the air rebels at the absence of him.

He runs a hand along the back of his neck. “Fine. Do what you want. Just promise you’ll be careful. I don’t trust that guy.”

The door to the office opens all the way and Mr. Moss’s voice carries across the room. “Is someone in here?”

I launch myself at Tanner, throwing my arms around his neck and pulling him the rest of the way to me.

I
crush my lips against Tanner’s. He tenses at first, but it takes less than a second for his arms to come around my waist and pull me all the way against him. His chest is even more solid than it looks. He parts his lips, and before I even realize what’s happening, our tongues tangle in a jumble of fire and liquid that has me pressing toward him, wanting to be closer.

The light comes on and we leap apart as quickly as we came together. I have to remind my thundering heart that none of it is real. It’s all for Moss’s benefit.

Mr. Moss takes one look at the two of us and shakes his head. “I expected better from you.”

I cover my mouth with my hand. My lips are bruised. I don’t have to pretend to be embarrassed. “Sorry.” But Mr. Moss doesn’t look at me. He’s watching Tanner.

Tanner glances at me before he steps forward. “I should be the one apologizing.”

Mr. Moss does not look like the concerned father of my best
friend. He looks angry. Dangerous. “This will not happen under my roof, got it?” His voice is reassuring, but his eyes look wild. He holds the door open.

We both nod and stare at the ground.

“And no one is allowed in my office. You know that, Berry.”

I nod again. “Right.” Did I know that? Mary Chris and I never really played in here, but I always thought it was because there were so many other cool places to hang out, not because there was any rule against coming in here.

Mr. Moss waits for us to walk out into the hallway. He shuts and locks the office door behind him, scuttling my search.

Tanner waits for Mr. Moss to get out of sight. “Are you going to tell me what that was about?”

“What? A girl’s not allowed to kiss a guy? Welcome to the twenty-first century. Girls aren’t afraid to ask for what they want anymore.”

“You didn’t ask.” He studies my face for a few seconds before he shakes his head. “You don’t want me.”

Tell that to the part of me that is still reeling from the feel of his mouth over mine. The part that wants to fling myself into his arms. Again. Heat rises in my cheeks. “Call it an experiment.”

“What?”

I put on a fake smile that I hope resembles one I’ve seen Kennedy use a thousand times. “I wanted to know what it would be like to kiss you. You know, see if the great Tanner Halston lived up to all the hype.”

“Mr. Moss was already on his way in.”

“So it was my last chance. And I took it.”

“And?”

I twist a strand of hair around my finger. “And now I know.” I wish I didn’t. I don’t want to know that kissing Tanner Halston is the kind of thing that can make you forget that your best friend’s father is
already
in the room. I don’t want to know that kissing Tanner Halston can make you forget that you don’t even like him. I certainly don’t want to know that kissing Tanner Halson can make you forget why it even matters.

I step around him and walk back to the family room. I don’t know how I know that he watches me, but I feel his gaze on my back.

I settle in between Jason and Drew.

Drew looks at me sideways and mouths, “How’d it go?”

I shake my head. It’s all I can manage. I try to focus on the movie, and for a few minutes the blur of explosions and bad dialogue is enough to take my mind off of Tanner. The reprieve is too short. The second that Tanner walks in the room every nerve in my body stands at full attention, remembering.

Tanner lies back against the beanbag chair, but he doesn’t look as relaxed as he did earlier. He doesn’t laugh again either. Is he remembering too?

I run my fingers across my lips, but the bruised feeling is gone. The moment is already disappearing. I should be grateful. In time, that kiss will be just another two-dimensional shadow, like the faded images of my mother.

Some people don’t even remember their first kiss after enough time passes. I hope I turn out to be one of those people.

When the movie finally ends, Drew walks me out to my car. I give
him a brief summary of my failed search of Mr. Moss’s office, although I leave out the part where I literally throw myself at Tanner Halston.

Drew looks thoughtful. “Can you pick locks?”

Yes, but that’s not exactly something I want to brag about. “I’m an investigator, not a thief.”

“That’s not exactly a no.”

Busted. “You’d be surprised what you can learn on Wikipedia.”

“So we’ll try again.” Drew kicks the pavement with his toe. “I have an idea. There’s a catch though.”

“You mean besides breaking and entering?”

“When you put it that way, my idea doesn’t sound so bad.”

“What?”

“Let me be your date for Homecoming. Mary Chris was talking about having everyone over after the dance. Her parents will be out, and we’ll have a perfect opportunity to sneak into the office. If we go together, people will assume that we just want to be alone.”

“Are you asking me to Homecoming?”

“That depends. You’re not going to beat me up or anything?”

“I wasn’t. But I might now.”

Drew ducks behind my car. “So this is going to sound weird, but I can’t actually take you to the dance. I’ll have to meet you there later. I can get there by ten or so.”

“Wait. You’re asking me to a dance that you’re not actually going to? This might be the lamest Homecoming invitation in the history of McHenry.”

“Sorry. My grandmother’s coming to visit and I promised I’d be at the dinner. It didn’t seem like such a big deal a week ago.”

I should know better. Drew is just trying to help me. “I get it. It’s not like it’s a real date anyway.”

Drew swallows. “It could be.”

I look at the ground, anywhere but at Drew. “If you were actually taking me to the dance. Which you’re not.”

Drew lifts my chin, forcing me to look at him. “Is that a yes?”

“To a question you never asked, for a date you’re not going to attend?”

“But it’s a yes, right?”

I can’t help laughing. “Yes.”

Drew’s hand stays on my chin. The seconds click by in slow motion before he drops his hand and puts it in his pocket.

I can’t decide whether to be disappointed or relieved.

T
he dog park is quiet for a Saturday morning. Lulu barks at a chocolate Lab, trying to distract him from the ball he chases. I turn my attention to the baseball field next door. The game has been under way for forty minutes, but my mark still sits on the bench in the dugout, spitting sunflower seeds on the dirt.

I finger the video camera that hangs around my neck. Come on, guy. Give me something. The mark has been off work for a shoulder injury since last March. His employer is paying us to find out if he’s really as injured as he claims. I thought for sure I’d get something when he signed back up for his old softball league, but so far all he does is sit on the bench, pop seeds in his mouth, and spit out shells.

One of his teammates hits a home run and the mark stands up to cheer with his buddies. Number ten slaps him on the back, and he flinches. Maybe the guy really is hurting. It happens.

Lulu gets bored with chasing the Lab and ambles over to me. She leans against my leg for a pat, her tongue hanging out. “You want to go sit down for a while?”

Lulu just pants, which I take as a yes.

I walk her over to a tree-lined lawn on the western side of the baseball field. Lulu lies on the grass and flops her head down. I sit in the grass and wait for the game to end, so I can at least verify that the guy never plays.

I don’t know what diverts my attention to the fountain at the center of the park. There’s no noise, no unusual movement. I scan the people walking nearby, but I don’t see him. That’s my first clue that I’m looking for Tanner. I recognize the prickles on the back of my neck. It’s the same thing I felt last night when he walked back into the family room. Some primitive instinct barking out a warning. I should run far away.

Lulu lets out a snuffle that’s a cross between a snore and a sigh. I pat her absently, but I can’t shake the nervous energy that urges me forward. He’s here. I know it. I stand up, waking Lulu from her thirty-second nap. She sits up and yawns, watching the leash in my hand with sleepy eyes.

“Sorry, Lu. Looks like we’re going for a walk.”

Lulu has one speed when she’s not trying to throw retrievers off their game. It’s more of a meander than a walk. It takes us twenty minutes to circle the park once. I’m just about to give up when I see him.

Tanner leans back against a large eucalyptus tree with his arms folded across his chest. Ryan stands beside him, staring at the ground. Neither one of them looks happy.

I don’t know whether to be glad that I’m not completely insane, or upset that Tanner might actually be stalking me. I guide Lulu through the trees, trying to get closer without being seen. Staying out
of sight when you’re walking with a one-hundred-and-fifty-pound dog isn’t easy, but if you do it right, Lulu actually provides pretty good cover.

We stop behind a tree about fifteen yards away. Lulu lies back down in the grass while I press up against the tree. I can’t hear anything, so I reach for the receiver in my messenger bag and put the buds in my ears. I play with the volume until I can just make out Ryan’s voice.

“You need to chill. It’s no big deal, okay?”