The Broken Lake (16 page)

I hated this guy. He was such a pest, and he was purposely trying to irritate Wes.

“Thanks.” I said pulling Wes to the side. He obliged, but Chase stepped into our path.

“I bet people tell you that all the time.” He was leaning in, trying to get closer to me, but Wes shifted me behind him.

“Uh, sometimes,” I said trying to step around.

He looked at Wes. “You know, you should put a leash on her because someone just might steal her away and make a pet out of her. A pretty-eyed pet.”

I saw Wes’ jaw flex, but he maintained his composure and effortlessly moved Chase out of our way with a slow but firm swipe of his arm.

“He’s just trying to mess with you, Wes. He gets off on the attention. Ignore him.”

“I am. Let’s go.” He started moving toward the door. We were almost there when I heard a thud. I wasn’t sure where it had come from, but Wes turned around. Chase had tried to sucker shove him from behind, but it ended up just sounding like a hard slap instead.

Chase looked a little stunned that Wes hadn’t been propelled forward but refused to let up. He hustled up to Wes and got right in his face. I was stunned, but Wes’ face was stoic. I couldn’t tell if he was mad, surprised, or scared.

Then he calmly said, “Chase, I don’t know what your problem is, but I’m taking Sophie out of here, and I’m going to act like you didn’t just try to make a fool of yourself. Now, if you’ll excuse us.”

Chase just laughed and stepped even closer.

Wes lifted his arm from around me. “Sophie, go outside.”

“What? No!”

“Sophie…”

“We’re leaving together,” I said.

I glanced at Chase and saw a look in his eyes similar to what I’d seen that night at the fight club. I knew right then that this was not going to end well.

“Come on, Wes,” I urged. I looked at Chase and squeezed between them. “Don’t be stupid, Chase. Leave us alone. I’ll stop being mean at the bookstore. I’m sorry, okay?”

He smirked again, still looking at Wes. In a firm voice, he said, “You think this is about the bookstore? No. This is bigger than that. I know scum when I see it.” By then a crowd had gathered.

“Sophie,” Wes said. His voice was firm now. “Go outside, please.”

“No, I’m leaving with you. Now let’s go.” Now
my
voice was firm.

I pressed against Wes’ chest, trying to back him toward the exit. He started backpedaling, which made me glad. But then I felt my hair being pulled. Chase had grabbed a handful and yanked me to the side. The force was so strong that I stumbled. A bystander grabbed my arms and I instantly heard scuffling. My heart flipped around inside my chest.

I turned back to see Wes grab Chase by the throat, shoving him back swiftly. Within seconds, Chase’s back hit the wall with such force that two large pictures fell, crashing to the floor.

Wes lifted him off the floor and pinned him against the wall. Chase was unable to speak, but he was flexing every muscle as he tried to pry Wes’ hands off his throat. After a moment, he started kicking like he was running in place, but the more he kicked, the harder Wes squeezed.

Chase’s grunts ceased and his fiery stare turned to shock when he realized he couldn’t budge Wes one centimeter.

Wes leaned into his face and spoke slowly, making each word clear. “You are a little boy, with little aspirations. I suggest you find something else to do besides pick on girls and start fights you can’t finish.”

Chase was turning red. Wes lowered him so his feet were on the ground, but held tight to his neck. “I’m going to walk out of here, like I planned, and if you try to stop me or lay your hands on Sophie ever again, I’ll have no choice but to finish what you started.”

Chase was starting to fade, his eyes closed, so Wes finally let him go. He crumpled to the floor and grabbed his neck. Everyone in the room stood wide-eyed and quiet. Wes walked over and put his arm around me, guiding me to the door. We passed a few people, including Steve.

Wes spoke up. “I’m sorry, man. I don’t know what his problem is. I tried to leave.”

Steve, still a little shocked, patted his shoulder. “Are you kidding? I would’ve done the same thing.”

I looked back to see people close the open space we had created and start dancing to the music again, still wearing looks of shock.

W
es walked me to the car without saying anything and worry began to build with every step. I began stressing about how I’d dragged him here. None of this would’ve happened had I’d listened to him. But, once again, I had drawn attention to us.

He opened my door, and I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “Are you mad at me?”

He looked surprised. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

I stepped closer to him. “Then why aren’t you talking?”

“I’m just thinking.” He leaned in to kiss me on my cheek and then signaled for me to get in. I didn’t want to. I wanted to stand there until I knew he was okay, but my stubbornness had already caused enough trouble. I got in and he closed the door.

We drove for a few miles and the silence was killing me. “Wes, please tell me what you’re thinking.”

Still looking straight ahead, he said, “I don’t know what that was back there. I’m trying to figure it out.”

“It was just Chase. I’m telling you, he gets off on challenging people.”

He shook his head. “No, Sophie. He was on something. He was crazy. He was…”

“He was what?”

“He was stronger than a normal person.”

I didn’t understand. “He wasn’t stronger than you.”

“Trust me, he was stronger than normal. He was almost like…”

He stepped on the brakes and pulled over. The abrupt deceleration propelled me forward, and without the restraint of my shoulder strap, I might’ve hit the dash.

“Almost like who?”

He turned to face me. “He was like Andy. I can’t believe I didn’t make the connection.”

My heart stopped. “What? No. Wait. You don’t think—”

“I don’t know what I think right now, but I know you are not leaving my sight for a second. And you are not to go near that bookstore.”

“Okay, wait. Let’s think about this for a second. What’s happening?”

“Sophie, this could be bigger than either of us realize. If Andy was on some sort of serum derived from what was stolen from my labs, then who knows who else is.”

“Andy wouldn’t have spread it around. He wanted it for himself, and for his—Oh, my gosh. His grandson.”

Wes leaned his head against his headrest and closed his eyes. He started massaging his eyelids in a circular motion with his palms.

“Wes, Chase can’t be Andy’s grandson. No way. He’s just on regular drugs.”

He was still rubbing his eyes.

“Wes, you’re scaring me.”

He exhaled. “It all makes sense.” He opened his eyes and turned back to me. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it.”

“See what?” I was getting worked up now.

“The party. The bookstore. Ms. Mary. Chase messing with you all the time. Chase hating me. Chase challenging me.”

“Wait a minute. What about Ms. Mary?”

“Think, Sophie. He approached you at that party you went to in January. Then, after Andy dies, so does Ms. Mary. Then he conveniently has a job at the bookstore. He always provokes you, and now he challenges me in public.” He paused and closed his eyes again. After a minute, he whispered, “He knows.”

“Knows what?” I grabbed his hands.

“He knows about the gator blood. He knows about us.”

I froze. No. It couldn’t be. There was no way. It was just annoying Chase. Or was it?

He was annoying, but he was also insanely inhumane. I had watched him beat that guy to a pulp without a single ounce of mercy. I watched him laughing as he was being punched in the face. I had watched him overpower that man with superhuman strength. And he told me I had secrets. He told me his hatred was bigger than the bookstore. I sank back into my seat. Now I was the one rubbing my eyes and it wasn’t working. I couldn’t settle my nerves with silence or thoughts. I needed facts.

I sat up straight. “Wes, take me home. We need to get to my computer.”

He looked at me, confused. “For what?”

“Research. We need to find out about Chase. We don’t know for sure. We can’t assume. We need details.”

He nodded, respecting my rationale, and put us in motion and back onto the highway. Once we were in my room, I quickly slid into my computer chair. I typed Chase’s first name then realized I didn’t know his last name. I only hoped it wasn’t Walters.
Please, don’t be Walters.

I turned to Wes, who was pacing my floor. “I don’t know his last name.”

He stopped in his tracks and started biting his thumbnail. After a minute, he started pacing again. I sensed his frustration building.

I thought for a moment, my gaze following him. “Wait. I know.”

I hopped up and grabbed my cell phone. Within seconds Dawn picked up. I didn’t even say hello.

“Dawn, this is Sophie. What’s Chase’s last name?”

She was silent for a second. “Chambers. Why?”

“Thanks!”

I hung up the phone, realizing that I’d been rude, but was too concerned to call her back. I went back to my computer and typed “Chase+Chambers” into a search engine. Apparently there were a lot of people named Chase Chambers out there. It would take too long to sort through all of them, so I decided to try Facebook.

I didn’t have an account, but my best friend in Virginia did. Kerry had given me her password because there were a few times she wanted me to go in and peek at some profiles of students at my old school.

Once I logged in, I searched for Chase Chambers. He was easy to find once I narrowed down the city. His thumbnail was a picture of him, shirtless, with a tattoo of a snake slithering down his abs.

I opened his wall and there were a bunch of comments from other guys with buzz cuts.

Nothing stood out linking him to Andy. I was reading through his profile when I realized Wes was now looking over my shoulder, reading intently.

I quickly scanned the posts and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I closed out, trying to think of something else.
Andy,
I thought. As creepy as it sounded, I had heard of people’s pages still being active after they died, so I took a shot.

Sure enough, Andy’s page was still active. Wes quickly knelt beside me, reading the information on the computer screen. We opened Andy’s profile photos and found several pictures of his family, most of his son in military fatigues, but only one of his grandson. The picture was old. It was taken in front of a Christmas tree. In it were Andy’s son, a woman who I took to be the mother, and between them was a boy. He looked to be about ten years old. His hair was dark, unlike Andy’s, and although it was hard to see his face clearly, it was easy to tell he was not Chase.

I relaxed instantly. So did Wes. Both of us exhaled. Wes looked at the floor and then stood up. He walked over to the bed and plopped down silently. I turned back to the picture for further confirmation. I looked closely, feeling relieved, but like I had seen the boy somewhere before. I looked even closer. The names under the picture read: Sally, Johnny, and Timmy.

I started to feel sorry for them. I had remembered Andy telling me that his son died in combat and his daughter-in-law died of cancer. That meant Timmy was the only one still living. I wondered about him. I remembered Andy saying he had wanted to make him the new Wes.
What is he doing now?

I closed out the webpage, trying to block it out. I felt sorry for him in a way, but was so glad it wasn’t Chase. Chase was just a messed up, attention-seeking, wannabe tough guy. I lay down next to Wes. He put his arm around me and gave me a gentle squeeze.

“What do you think?”

He let out a built-up sigh. “I don’t know what to think. I still don’t like how I felt around Chase. I still don’t like you being around him. And I still don’t like not knowing who else is out there.”

I understood that. I felt the same way about everything he said, but I didn’t want it to affect us.

“But you do feel better, right?”

“Much better.” He definitely seemed more relaxed than he had been moments before, but still not completely himself.

I had an idea. “You know what?”

“What?”

“I think things are going nuts around here. My mom is locking me in once this alarm is activated. My job is really not fun any more. And Chase is a weirdo. I think it’s time for us to have another getaway.”

He pulled me closer. “I think you might be right.”

“Good. Now where to?”

He started stroking my hair. “Wherever you want.”

“No. It’s your turn to pick, remember?”

“That’s right. Let me think.”

He was quiet. I tested him about how far he was willing to go. “Maybe the Bahamas? Hawaii?”

“You can’t go that far. Your mom will never go for it.”

“Yes, she will. I’m eighteen. I can do what I want. Okay, well, she will if I tell her it’s a spring break getaway with a friend.”

“You don’t need to lie to your mother.”

I kicked one leg, like a spoiled child. “Oh, come on, Wes. I want to go far away from this place. We need a
real
break.”

“You’re right about that.” He was silent again. “How about Virginia?” he finally suggested.

“Vir
ginia
?”

“Yeah, you’re always talking about visiting Kerry again. That’s pretty far away, and I’m sure your mom would approve.”

I was sure she would too. I went every summer to visit Kerry.

I sat up in the blue glow of my clock, looking at him. “You forgot one thing.” I leaned closer, waiting for him to acknowledge it. He just stared back at me. “It’s
cold
in Virginia,” I said.

It was early March, and that meant it could still get really cold there. In fact, two of the biggest blizzards I remembered had been in March.

“I’m not afraid of the cold, Sophie.”

I rolled my eyes and plopped back down. “Well, it can snow there in March too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

He was quiet.