Part 30 (1/2)
”I thought I did. I wanted to go with her, but even with the scholars.h.i.+p they offered me, my mom couldn't afford it. She was already working a second job to pay for here.”
”So, you're smart. I figured that,” she said.
”Yeah,” he said. ”But I'll bet you didn't do too bad in school, either.”
”I'm not USC smart,” she said. She paused, then asked, ”So you two just broke up when she left?”
”No, we were going to try to make it work. You know, wait on each other. Fly out to see each other when we could. But just a few weeks in, she met someone else.”
”I'm sorry.”
”I'm not,” he said. ”Getting turned would have ended it anyway.”
”Yeah, it kind of puts a damper on things, doesn't it?” Emotion rose up in Natasha's chest and Della realized Natasha's feelings were much like the ones she felt about being turned. Her life had been ripped away from her.
”Please don't tell me you've got someone,” Liam said. ”Because I'm not going to like that.”
”I don't,” she said. ”Like you, there was someone, but I had to walk away when ... when I got turned.”
”Did you fake your own death?” he asked.
”They guy at the funeral home told me I had to. He said that I'd end up killing my parents or something.”
”That's a lie, you know.” He pressed a kiss on Natasha's brow.
”I don't know, it was pretty crazy at first.”
”I know, but I'm not a killer, and I don't think you are, either.” He put his arm around her. She buried her face in his shoulder.
”That's what they want us to be. Or wanted. Why do you think they didn't come back?”
”I don't know.”
Della tried to figure out what they meant, but didn't have enough information.
A sound rumbled above, like some kind of big equipment digging. Natasha looked up. ”Did you fake your death?” she asked Liam.
”No, I never had a chance. That group of weres found me like the second day. I was wandering the streets, hurting like h.e.l.l. They caught me and put me with the others.” He paused and then reached down and tilted up her chin and looked at her. ”I didn't care if I lived or died. I was about to end it, then I saw you. You were so scared, and all I could think about was making you feel better. You saved my life.”
”No, you saved mine. And nearly got yourself killed doing it.” She lifted her hand and touched his brow and eye.
”Nah, I just got beat up a little. It was worth it.”
A few minutes of silence pa.s.sed. Natasha's stomach rumbled from hunger and her thoughts took her back. ”I miss them,” she said.
”Not that boyfriend, I hope,” he replied.
”No, he was just ... we weren't serious. I miss my parents. My friends, Amy and Jennifer. I had two of the best friends in the world. And I know they're all hurting. Especially my mom. She loved me so much.” She started to cry.
Liam picked her up and sat her on his lap. ”We'll get out of here, then you can go see them.”
”How? They think I'm dead.” She pressed her face to his chest.
”We'll make up a story. Say that you were kidnapped or something. We'll say that they got the wrong body. Hey ... I'll make it happen. Somehow, Natasha, I'll fix it.”
Della felt despair swell inside Natasha's chest. ”Who are we kidding?” She grabbed a handful of Liam's s.h.i.+rt. ”We're not getting out of here, Liam. We're going to die.”
”d.a.m.n it! Don't say that. We're getting out of here, then we'll find out how others like us live. There has to be a way.”
Natasha cried a few more minutes, then finally exhausted, she just leaned against him. He knew just how to hold her to make her feel ... loved.
And she loved him, she realized. She hadn't felt this way toward anyone before. Almost as if he sensed her thoughts, he leaned down and kissed her brow again. ”Oh, and if you get some scholars.h.i.+p to some school, I'm coming with you. I'm not losing you. Okay?”
”You won't,” she said. And while she wanted to believe him, that they would get out of this alive, that they would actually get a chance to make a life together, she didn't. She didn't believe.
But at least they had now. She lifted her face and kissed him. Kissed him with desire and pa.s.sion. ”Wanna make that four times?”
”I asked you a question!” the voice came from somewhere else. And now it wasn't Liam's voice, or Chase's.
Della snapped open her eyes and the sun nearly blinded her.
”I'm sorry,” Chase said.
Della turned and looked at Chase, he wore the same stunned expression on his face that she must have. Then she saw the officer standing outside the driver's door, and she met his brown-eyed gaze. Unhappy gaze. Unhappy man. He looked like a bulldog-one that needed a little less time at his food bowl. He even had flabby cheeks like a bulldog, one of those kinds that drooled.
”We're nervous,” she spit out. ”I mean, I'm nervous. I've never been pulled over before.”
”That's probably because you haven't been hanging out with Speedy Gonzales here for that long.”
Chase lost his usual look of superiority and his expression was one of apology. ”I was trying to show off for my new girlfriend,” Chase said to the officer. ”I know I was wrong. Ticket me if you have to. But at least I brought her out here so I wouldn't risk an accident.”
”You mean so you wouldn't risk getting caught.” The cop frowned, his jowls jiggled. ”Let me see your license, son,” he barked.
Chase handed it to him.
He walked off, or rather wobbled off. He even walked like a bulldog. He got into his car again, where his blue lights still flashed.
Chase looked at her. She didn't say anything, but he must have read the pain in her eyes.
”We'll find them.”
”We have to,” Della said.
Her phone chimed. She yanked it out of her pocket and looked at it. Probably her mom. She still hadn't returned Della's call.
She glanced at the number. ”It's Burnett. You don't think he already knows we've been-?”