Bet Your Life (13 page)

“What’s wrong?”

“Absolutely nothing.” It didn’t take all that long for Ryan to get back to his usual self. “You look gorgeous.”

“Looking good, feeling great.” I jumped down off the last step. I did look all right, even I had to admit. My style advisers had decided against straightening my hair, so it was all loose curls that didn’t quite reach my shoulders. Ella had gone to town on the eye makeup. She was far better at it than me. Left to my own devices, I’d have looked as if I’d punched myself in both eyes, but Ella had managed to make me look like a living anime character. To make sure I fitted in with the Deadly Decadence theme, Darcy had come up with dangly earrings: a chain of pearls ending in a tiny skull. They practically brushed my shoulders. I turned my head to set them swinging.

“Why are you so happy?” Hugo asked.

“Because she’s going out with me. Duh.” Ryan was grinning at me.

“Thanks, Mr. Ego. It’s not just that. I thought I was going to have to go back to London permanently, but I don’t.” I was still buzzing with relief. Mum’s terrifying meeting with Nick had turned out to be a sales pep talk that had gone way over her head, but at least she still had a job. It surprised me how much I had minded about having to leave. Heartbreak or not, I’d fallen for Port Sentinel.

“Good news,” Ryan said.

Hugo, who had already heard all about it, looked bored. “Where’s Ella?”

“She’s coming. She’s just doing her face.”

“How long will that take?”

“Honestly? It could be half an hour.”

“I like her without makeup.”

I laughed. “You’ve never seen her without makeup.”

“Are you serious?”

“I know it’s hard to believe.” I did love boys sometimes. They were so innocent about that kind of thing. It took Ella twenty minutes to look as if she was wearing no makeup, and it involved twelve separate products. “Anyway, it’ll be worth the wait.”

“Do we need to wait too?” Ryan was still looking at me, with a degree of concentration that I found unsettling. “Hugo can find his own way to Harry’s house.”

“I should probably see if Ella wants me to hang around,” I said, edging toward the stairs.

Hugo sighed. “You know she’ll say yes. Come on, Jess. Give me a chance to spend some time with her.”

“Yeah, Jess, give him a chance.” Ryan turned to Hugo. “If I were you I’d take the scenic route round to Harry’s. Spin it out a bit. Take advantage of some time alone.”

“Good thinking.”

“Be honest, Hugo. Have you fallen for her?” I asked.

He looked embarrassed. “Not yet.”

“Sure about that?”

“I’m not sure about anything at the moment. Except that the clock is ticking and you’re missing out on valuable interrogation time.”

Out of the corner of my eye I caught the look of surprise on Ryan’s face. I glowered at Hugo. “Thanks for the reminder.”

“Any time.” He was giving me the same look back. He really didn’t think this was a good idea. Which was no reason to give the game away in front of Ryan, I would have said, but Hugo wasn’t the sort to let an opportunity like that go by.

I grabbed my jacket—well, Mum’s jacket, a fitted leather one she’d had for years that I coveted beyond words. The only good thing about my coat being stolen was that I had a reason to borrow it. “Ready?”

“Definitely.” Ryan followed me out to the porch, where he took the jacket out of my hands and held it for me to put on. I let him, amused by the old-school chivalry. It was cold out, and I was glad of both the jacket and his company as we started walking. The moon was almost full. It cast a silver-blue light that made everything ghostly pale.

“Which way is it?”

“We need to go down Eastville Road and hang a left on Sturbridge Lane. Then up Dartley Hill. I’m not going to lie to you, it’s steep. Should take us fifteen minutes, I reckon.”

“Good thing I wore trainers.”

“You look good in them.”

“That was a factor in the decision, obviously.”

“Obviously.” He sounded distracted and I walked along beside him in silence, leaving him to his thoughts. I had plenty of my own to deal with. It wasn’t a comfortable sort of silence, though, and after a couple of minutes I broke it.

“Thanks for asking me to this.”

“Let’s be honest. You asked me.”

“Not originally.”

“I may have mentioned it at the fireworks, but we’re here because you want to be.” There was a pause before he added, “And I’d like to know why.”

“Oh. I told you. I wanted to see a real Port Sentinel party.”

He stopped, grabbing hold of my arm and spinning me round to face him. His eyes were cold.

“Just so we’re clear, I’d like the truth. What did Hugo mean about interrogating people? What’s going on?”

I wriggled. “You have to promise not to tell anyone.”

“No promises in advance.” He meant it too. His expression was forbidding. It came as something of a shock to me to realize that I liked this version of Ryan much more than the good-time guy who was always joking around.

“Right. OK. The truth.”

“If you don’t mind.”

I explained about Petra and Beth, leaving out Beth’s concerns about what her brother might have done to deserve a beating. “I didn’t want to get involved, but they’re counting on me. They think I can find out what happened.”

“You should leave it to the cops.”

“Who are not interested.”

He frowned. “Seriously?”

“Very much not. Dan Henderson has a bad case of looking-the-other-way-itis.”

“Not for the first time.” Ryan chewed his lower lip, thinking. “I suppose it’s fair enough. I’d have liked to know all this in advance, though.”

“I should have said. I didn’t know if you’d want to help.”

He looked surprised, then irritated. “That’s nice.”

“Hugo thought I should stay out of it. You might have felt the same way.”

“So you thought you’d lie about it instead. You didn’t even give me the chance to say what I thought.”

“When did I lie? You asked me to go with you before. I took you up on your invitation. What’s the problem?”

“The problem is that you don’t really want to be here, and you certainly don’t want to be here with me.”

“That’s not true,” I protested. The wind was blowing straight off the sea and I shivered. “I mean, I’d rather be indoors. Somewhere warm, preferably. But I’m really happy to be going to the party with you.”

“Don’t take me for an even bigger idiot than I’ve been already. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t want to find out about Seb. I just made it easy for you.”

I could hear the hurt in his voice. My guilty feelings came back with reinforcements. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Yeah. It’s good to know you care.” He started walking again, striding so I had to jog to keep up. “Never mind. Who are you planning to interrogate?”

“Anyone who might be able to help. You, even.”

“Me? I don’t think I know anything useful.”

“You know Seb.”

“A bit. We’re not close.”

“I’ve seen you talking to him in school.”

“He’s friends with my friends. He’s on the soccer team. I see him around a lot but I don’t
know
him.”

“Do you know if anyone’s pissed off with him?”

“Enough to beat him up?” Ryan shrugged. “Nope. But he’s not the easiest person to get on with.”

“What do you mean?”

“He likes to get under your skin. It’s all for laughs, but he’ll find the thing that really bothers you and keep going on about it. He gets a kick out of annoying people.”

“I heard he makes up nicknames for people. And plays jokes on them.”

“Who told you that?”

“Claudia and Immy.”

Ryan nodded. “They’d know. They’ve both been on the receiving end.”

“Why does he get away with it?”

“He’s a laugh. It’s funny when it’s not you.”

“Sounds hysterical.”

“Yeah, he can be.” Ryan frowned at me again. “Look, you’re not part of this world. You don’t understand what it’s like. Everyone has a good time, all the time, and no one cares who gets hurt.”

I shivered, cold in my borrowed jacket. “I definitely don’t understand why you’d want to be a part of it. You’re too clever for that, aren’t you?”

“Nice of you to say so.”

“You pretend to be something you’re not.”

He stopped, looking taken aback. It only lasted for a moment, and then he was back on the attack. “And you don’t?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Bull. You act as if you’re the toughest thing going, but it’s all a front.” He ran a finger down my cheek. “You can fool most people, but you can’t fool me.”

I grabbed his hand and pushed it back toward him. “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about your friends and their petty, hurtful games.”

“You’re taking it too seriously.”

“Someone else took it seriously,” I said softly. “And Seb’s the one who got hurt.”

He started walking again, head down. “You’re too quick to judge people, Jess.”

“That’s not fair.”

“Life isn’t black and white. People aren’t all bad or all good. Sometimes they do stupid things and don’t even realize it until it’s too late.”

“I know that.”

“You’re just as bad as Seb. You despise people like Claudia and Immy because you think you’re better than them, but you don’t know them.” He looked at me again. “And you don’t know me.”

“Ryan…”

“Don’t write me off because I’m popular.”

I laughed. “I’ve written you off because you’re a flirt. You only want me because I haven’t been taken in by it.”

“Is that what you think?” He turned away so I couldn’t see his face.

“Why else would you be interested in me?”

When he answered me, his voice was so bitter it made me wince. “If that’s really what you think, I’m not going to try to persuade you you’re wrong.”

“Am I?”

“Very.”

I walked along beside him, miserable. Jess Tennant. Specialities: rushing to judgment and leaping to conclusions. Romantic history: disaster followed by catastrophe. I seemed to have discovered an amazing talent for upsetting people lately.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

“I’ll survive.” He stopped again. “Jess, is that why you haven’t even considered giving me a chance? Because you thought I was just looking for a challenge?”

“I suppose so.” It was a big reason. Not the only one, but big enough that he could think it if he liked.

“Is there anyone else?”

“No.”

“What about Will Henderson?”

“That’s not going to happen,” I said quickly. “Ever. That’s over.”

“You sound pretty definite about that.”

“I am.” No tears this time. It was a fact.

“Then will you think again about us?”

I wanted to say no. I wanted to just end it there and then—make a joke about being celibate and move on with our lives. But he was heartbreakingly handsome in the moonlight, and I was the one who had made him look so sad, and I liked him more and more, as a person. It wasn’t out of the question that I might change my mind one day, and see him as more than a friend. I couldn’t decide if it was worse to give him hope or to tell him to stop trying. All I knew was I didn’t want to hurt him any more.

“I’m not making any promises,” I said.

“But you’re not saying no.”

“I’m not saying no.”

I’d expected triumph, but his expression was grave. “That’ll do.”

I checked my watch. “I think Hugo and Ella are going to get there before we do.”

“No way.” Ryan grabbed my hand. “Not if we run.”

“Run? In this dress? Ryan, I can’t!”

“I bet you can.”

“How much do you bet?”

“A new dress”—he grinned at me—“of my choosing.”

“I think that’s worse.” Before I could say anything else, he’d pulled me off balance and started running. His grip was unbreakable. I had to go with it. And as it turned out, he was right. I
could
run in my dress, and we did, down the road and up the hill to Harry Knowles’s road, and I could not stop laughing all the way, until we turned a corner and saw the house.

I slowed down, panting. “Wow. It looks like a ship.”

The house was aggressively modern and wedge-shaped, all glass and wood paneling. Every window was lit up, and I could see people inside dancing. The music was loud and the thump of the bass was like a heartbeat.

“Wait until you see the inside. Pretty amazing.” Ryan was still holding my hand as if he had no intention of letting go, and he led me through the high gates that stood a little ajar, up a narrow path with white lights on either side of it, toward the front door. A silver Audi TT crouched on the gravel beside the path, parked at an angle, as if the driver had just abandoned it. The front bumper was dented and it had a long scratch along the wing.

“Nice job, Harry,” Ryan said, pausing to look at it.

“Is that his car?”

“Yeah. I don’t know what his dad was thinking, buying that for him.”

It was the car I’d seen at the fireworks, the one that had snagged my tights. Parking didn’t seem to be Harry’s strong point. By the looks of it, driving wasn’t one of his talents either. A very sensible black people carrier was parked by the wall. “Is that his as well?”

“That belongs to the door staff.”

“The what?”

“Look.”

A couple of actual, honest-to-God bouncers in black suits were standing just inside the door, in a small hallway. One of them had a clipboard.

“Ryan Denton, and this is my date.” Ryan leaned over the top of the clipboard, scanning for his name. “That’s me.”

“Got any ID?”

“Somewhere.” With his free hand, Ryan started patting his pockets.

“You can have your hand back, you know,” I whispered.

“Don’t worry. My ID is in here, I know it.”

“No need for that. Come in, buddy.” Harry Knowles, drink in hand, was grinning widely. He seemed completely wired and I couldn’t tell if it was his personality or if he was actually high. He wrapped an arm around Ryan’s neck. “How’s it going?”

“Not bad. How are you holding up?”

“I’ve got stamina, baby. I can party all week, no problem.” He leaned out so he could see past Ryan. “Hello, lovely. You look stunning.”