Breath of Scandal(14)

"Hutch, will you please let go of my wrists?" Jade asked calmly. "You're hurting me."

"Sorry." He let her go. Likewise, Lamar released her. ,'We're just giving you a ride out to Gary's place, Jade," he said with a short laugh. "Then he can drive you back to Donna Dee's car. His daddy probably has a gas can he uses on his tractor.-

Breath of Scandal



39



She looked at Lamar but didn't return his feeble smile. They lapsed into silence. If this were an ordinary ride, they would be ribbing one another, cracking jokes, discussing tomorrow's chemistry test. The taut silence made Jade even more uncomfortable. If Neal's two best buddies were uneasy, she had every reason to be afraid.

"The turn-off is coming up," Hutch said. Neal didn't downshift. "Fifty yards or so up there on your right, Neal. " The car sped past the narrow country road that came to a dead end at the Parkers' farm.

"What are you doing?" Jade demanded of Neal's handsome profile. "Let me out. I'll walk from the intersection. "Neal, what the hell?" Hutch asked.

"I want to make a stop first."

Jade's heart began to pound in fear. An hour ago she had been celebrating the good news about her scholarship; now her palms were damp and cold with apprehension.

Neal turned left onto the next road, which wasn't much of a road. The dead stalks of tall weeds crowded twin ruts that were unpaved and very bumpy. The headlights rose and fell like the lights on a buoy in high seas.

"Are we going back to the channel?" Lamar asked 'Yep. 11

'WhyT "I forgot something," Neal said.

Mistrustfully, Hutch stared at his friend, but he said nothing. The ground beneath the wheels became marshy as they came closer to the water. Neal brought the car to a halt. He turned off the engine but left the headlights on. "Everybody out. "

He opened his door and stepped to the muddy ground. Hutch hesitated before doing the same. Jade heard him ask, "What're we doing back here, Neal? What'd you forget?"

Lamar nudged her. "Better get out. When Neal gets something in his head, it's best to just go along. Otherwise, he gets mad."

"He can get as mad at me as he wants to. I don't care." Neal moved to the rear of the car, unlocked the hatchback, and raised it. "I said, get out."



40



Sandra Brown

"Go to hell."

"Lamar, give me a hand."

Neal grabbed Jade's arm. She wasn't expecting the move and cried out in pain as he yanked her forward. Lamar gave her bottom a boost. If she hadn't placed her foot on the ground, she would have fallen face down into the mud.

She came upright and glared at Neal, wrenching her arm free. "Keep your hands off me."

"Or what? Your boyfriend will beat me up with two ice cream sundaes again?" He made a derisive sound, then turned his back on her and moved toward an ice chest, partially concealed in the dead grass. "Want a beer?" I'No. 11

"Hutch? Lamar?"

Neal opened the chest, took out three beers, and, without waiting for his friends to reply tossed a can to each of them. He popped the top off his and took a long draft. Like mimics, Hutch and Lamar did the same.

Jade leaned against the rear bumper of the car, studiously ignoring them and rubbing her arms against the damp chill. She hadn't thought to get her coat and books out of Donna Dee's car.

It was an extremely dark night. The low, moisture-laden clouds blocked out the moon. Nearby, she could hear the slow-moving water, but she couldn't see anything beyond the small patch of light the headlights gave off. The wind was light, but it was bone-chilling.

Neal finished his beer. Crumpling the can in his fist, he tossed it into the undergrowth on the bank of the narrow channel. The ground was littered with similar cans.

"Can we go now?" Jade tried to sound imperious despite her shivering.

Neal sauntered toward her. "Not yet." "Why not?"

"Because before we go," he drawled, "the three of us are going to f*ck you."

CHAPTER



F"I -

I hree



Donna Dee Monroe was in a quandary. It didn't feel fight for her to be safe at home while Jade's whereabouts remained uncertain. Surely if Jade were home she would have called.

Donna Dee had waited inside her stranded car only five minutes before a farming family in a station wagon had stopped and offered her a lift into town. Her father had met her at the service station, filled a gas can, and returned her to her car. She was back in Palmetto less than twenty minutes after the three boys had disappeared with Jade.

The thought of being left behind still rankled. How dare they go off and leave her stranded like that? And why hadn't he let Jade out of the car when she made it obvious that she didn't want to go with them alone? Neal Patchett ought to be stood against a wall and shot right between the eyes.

As usual, Hutch had done Neal's bidding without a whimper of protest. It irked Donna Dee that Hutch cared so little for her that he would desert her on a lonely stretch of highway, prey to whatever kind of lowlife might have come along. Of course, the notion of being snatched up and carried off into the night by Hutch Jolly was madly romantic, and one fantasy she'd entertained many times. While it wouldn't be ideal to have Neal and Lamar tagging along when Hutch swept her away, Donna Dee envied Jade the adventure of being "kidnapped."