CROSS (A Gentry Boys Novella)(37)

Her eyes grew really wide. Her mouth fell open. “You think,” she managed to gasp, “that I’ve been messing around with, with Stone?”

I didn’t answer. I just stared. Now that someone had uttered the words out loud they actually did sound ridiculous. Stone and Erin had never even liked each other. And up until now I wouldn’t have hesitated to trust either one of them with my life. But today everything felt confused and f*cked up. Or maybe it was just me that was f*cked up.

“Conway,” she whispered as her lower lip trembled. “I can’t believe you.”

“Then deny it.”

She shook her head miserably. I could have reached for her. I wanted to. The tears in her eyes were acid to my heart and something deep inside my soul screamed that I was making a fatal error and I shouldn’t say another word until I managed to screw my head back on straight. But Erin didn’t wait around for me to find my sensible side. She turned and ran away. And instead of running after her I just watched her go.





CHAPTER THIRTEEN


ERIN



I ran for probably a mile before my legs started to cramp and my lungs shrieked from the abuse.

There, beside the gutter of one of the nicest streets in Emblem I bent over and tried to breathe, all the while thinking grimly that this was how people wound up in the hospital with heat exhaustion. Since I was standing in direct sunlight any sweat that tried to escape dried up almost instantly. As I’d skidded to a stop in front of a sprawling Santa Fe-style mini mansion I’d also managed to roll my ankle. It wasn’t too bad but it hurt to walk. At least I was only a few blocks from home. If I could just manage to get there I could burrow underneath my bed covers and scream for a while until my throat gave out.

A shiver overcame me as I limped down the empty street. It wasn’t a shiver of cold. More like sickness. The look in Conway’s eyes kept coming back to me. It was one of agony. I’d managed to cause him pain. It was the last thing I’d ever meant to do. This sick realization was quickly followed by anger.

Conway had made his suspicions clear. I didn’t know where the hell he’d come by them but the fact that they’d crossed his mind was enough to get my blood moving.

How could he think, even for a split second, that I’d betray him with his own brother?

How could he believe I’d ever betray him with anyone?

The thought had never even occurred to me, not seriously.

The ground beneath my slow-moving feet was covered with a carpet of yellow; decaying flowers shed from the palo verde trees that stretched overhead. Light and feathery, they would turn brown and dance briefly in the summer storm winds until they came apart. I kicked them savagely aside as I trudged toward home, trying to somehow make sense of this impossible day.

Only one explanation seemed to fit. Stone must have said something to Conway, something awful enough to make Con think we’d been running around behind his back.

But…why??

Lately Stone had proven himself to be a friend when I badly needed one. And I’d always assumed he was loyal to his brother. Yet I’d known Stone Gentry for enough years to recognize that he was also a player, even a liar, when it suited him.

What did you say to him, you bastard?

It simply didn’t make sense that Stone would have covered for my cutting addiction by telling a lie that was a thousand times worse. But maybe all wasn’t as it appeared between the Gentry brothers. Maybe taunting Conway so cruelly was some tool of vengeance that I didn’t understand. No matter how many different ways I examined things, they all came back to Stone.

Still, something else sat heavy on my heart.

Nothing Stone could have said should make Conway believe that I’d cheat on him. He should know better. What the hell had happened to make him forget that?

My ankle was hurting bad. I probably looked like an adolescent female Frankenstein limping down the residential streets of Emblem. Once a car pulled over and I recognized Mrs. Avery, one of my father’s coworkers at the prison. She was concerned and asked me if I needed a ride. I managed to force my dry lips into a smile and told her no thank you.

Mrs. Gentry was getting into her car just as I made it home. She must have been on her way to work at the pharmacy because she wearing her white lab coat. It sported a prominent coffee stain near her left breast. When she saw me she wrinkled her nose like an animal does when it smells something bad. She didn’t like me. Actually it was possible she didn’t like anyone, including her own sons. She seemed to tolerate Stone a little more easily than Conway though, for whatever reason. She didn’t offer any greeting before she climbed into her Toyota and turned on the ignition. The car must have been hot as an oven sitting there in the driveway with the afternoon sun pouring in. She cracked the window and started to back out of the driveway.

“Is Stone home?” I shouted.

Her gray eyes shot to my face and she hit the brakes. “Now it’s Stone you’re into?” she snapped.

“No,” I replied, trying to keep my temper. “I just asked if he was home.”

“Go find out for yourself.” She closed the window, backed into the street and took off with a squeal of tires.

Stone came to the door before I had a chance to even knock. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and he looked unhappy. He nodded to me. “You look like shit.”