And why were we so alone in that hallway? So quickly? That crowd had vanished back outside in an awful fast hurry. Maybe they’d been afraid Knoxley would grab more folks for detention.
“You led us through the woods. You found Sissy’s body.” His breath whispered out. “A deputy told my mom all about it—he said he was there and that he saw you lead your dad straight to the body.”
No, no, this was not good. Dad would have to find that deputy and shut him up.
“You knew exactly where the necklace was.” His voice roughed. “How, Anna? How do you know all of these things?”
My lips trembled. I wanted to tell him.
“You can trust me,” he said, eyes intent, face serious. “I’m not the kind of guy who’d ever hurt you.”
No, he wasn’t.
“Trust me with your secrets,” he whispered, so very close to me now. “And I’ll trust you with mine.”
So very tempting.
But would his secrets be as painful as mine?
Chapter Ten
I wanted to tell Brent. Staring into his eyes, he looked so open and honest and I thought, maybe he’d be different. I’d tried to tell a boyfriend back in Chicago the truth about myself once. He’d flipped out. Called me a freak.
Then hadn’t called me ever again.
It would be nice to be able to trust someone. To open up. Brent…
Maybe he was finally the one I could count on.
“Get away from her, Brent.”
Rafe’s voice. Snarling. Low. Vibrating with fury.
I blinked.
Brent lifted his head. I realized it looked like we’d probably been about to kiss. Had we?
Yeah, probably. Maybe.
“Rafe?” Brent’s tone held only surprise. “Man, this really isn’t any of your—”
“I said…get away from her.”
I pushed Brent back. “Look, Rafe, this isn’t about you, okay? You need to leave us alone for a minute.”
Rafe’s eyes looked like chips of blue ice.
And I realized that maybe I should be more careful with him. What with him being a werewolf and all.
I put my hands on my hips. I’d saved his life. He’d had the opportunity to rip me apart if he wanted, but he hadn’t. The way I figured it, he owed me, so that meant he didn’t get to go around acting like a jerk. Werewolf or not.
“I’m making it about me,” he said and stalked toward me. Only, he wasn’t looking at me. He was glaring at Brent. Guys could really be such idiots some days.
“Been running lately?” Rafe asked Brent, a hard edge in his voice.
Brent hesitated and glanced at me.
I just glared back at them both.
Rafe finally looked my way. About time. But then he said, “The last thing you want to be doing is trusting this guy with your secrets.”
That was sure not what I’d expected him to say. Then I had to blurt, “So what? I’m supposed to trust you?” A guy who went all furry and seriously feral in the moonlight.
The bell rang, sounding too loud and far too shrill.
“No.” The ringing almost drowned out Rafe’s words. I wish it had because he said, “You can’t trust either of us.”
***
“That was so hot.” Two and a half hours later, and Jenny was still talking about the scene in the hall. When the bell had rung, she’d hurried inside and caught the tail-end of my latest drama. “I mean, were they about to fight over you or something? Because that would be the ultimate.”
Um, not so much. I didn’t particularly want to be some kind of bone that the guys were battling over. Actually, right then, I didn’t want to be anything to either one of them.
You can’t trust either of us.
I was getting sick of being in the dark.
I jumped in my new VW. I inhaled deeply because it smelled awesome. I’d put the top down, and Jenny hopped in bedside me.
She slid her hands over the leather in a fast caress. “How come you’re the VIP’s most wanted lately?” She wanted to know.
I curled my hands around the steering wheel. “I thought you and Troy had some kind of thing going.” I’d caught them necking in the halls more than once. “Doesn’t that make you a VIP’s ‘most wanted’?”
Her hands fisted. “No. It just makes me the flavor of the moment.” There was a thread of tension in her voice I’d never heard before.
I tried to laugh, wanting to lighten her mood. A tense Jenny was a Jenny that I didn’t know how to deal with. “Guess that’s what I am, too.” But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something more was going on here. Something deeper, darker.
Dangerous.
Brent and Rafe—were they interested in me? Or was it something else entirely different?