Bitterroot Crossing (14 page)

    Dylan laughed nervously. “Yep, they’re planning to drive your little girlfriend and her crazy, old grandma out of town.” Now he leaned his face toward mine and sneered at me. “They’re planning to get rid of your family too.”

    I glared back at him. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

    Dylan scrunched his nose and stared down at Jessie’s legs. “She’s not that hot anyhow. In fact, Tina’s right. She’s a freak.” He stormed off.

    Jessie dropped her hold on my arm, the arm she’d caught just before I’d swung around to flatten Dylan. My jaw tightened and I had to convince myself to not go after Dylan even now.  

She sensed my rage. Her small fingers took hold of my hand, and the tingling sensation I always felt when she touched me traveled up my arm.

    My hand tightened around hers. “Let’s get out of here.”

    She nodded without a word, and I pulled her through the crowd and out of the building.

    We were silent most of the way home. The evening had started out great but had gone sour. I looked over at her. She stared down at her hands in her lap. “Jessie, next time we go out, let’s go where there aren’t any people. Dead ones or live ones.”

    Her mouth curled up on the side and all I could think about was kissing that mouth. “Agreed,” she said softly.

    By the time we’d reached her house, the jeep sounded like a dying animal taking its last breaths. “I better not turn it off. I’ll never get it to start again. And I’ve got work real early in the morning.”

    “It’s probably better if you don’t stay on this mountain too late anyway.” She sounded sad and suddenly I was pissed enough to set the whole damn town on fire. I took her hand and kissed her palm. It wasn’t the kiss I’d been thinking about, but if felt good just to press my mouth against her creamy skin.

    “Be careful on the way home.” She slid out of the jeep, and I watched her walk inside.

    My fingers gripped the steering wheel in anger. People around here were way beyond ignorant, including the people I’d always hung out with. To hell with all of them. Jessie was all I needed.

    I wasn’t halfway down the dirt road when two figures jumped in front of my jeep. My foot instinctively jumped on the brake pedal. Then the figures walked to the sides of the jeep and Butcher leaned his hideous face down to look inside. Crow leaned in the other side. “Nice vehicle. I once had a broken down mare that reminded me a lot of this heap of junk. I finally shot her in the head to put her out of her misery; you ought to do the same with this thing.” Butcher’s breath filled the cab of the jeep and I came close to puking.

    “Get out of my way, you vaporous clouds of crap. Like I said, you can beat me and torture me all you like; I’m not giving her up.”

    “Hear that, Crow, he doesn’t mind if we twist him up into a little knot and throw him over a cliff. Now that’s true love.”

    Crow laughed. “True love.”

    Butcher leaned in closer and I swallowed back the bitter taste in my throat. “We’ve already seen that you can take a whole lot of punishment. That’s why we’re switching our attentions elsewhere.” He yanked his face from the window. “Show him what you got there, Crow.”

    Something flew at my head. I snatched it from the air before it sliced into my forehead.

It felt like wood. I turned it over in my palm and stared down at it in the dark. It was a chunk of wood. It was the wooden end of a skateboard, Baxter’s skateboard. I looked down at it speechless for a long time. My stomach tightened into a painful knot and my throat felt as if it was collapsing in on itself. “Damn you assholes to hell.” I slumped back against the seat of the car and closed my eyes thinking about that sweet face I’d just left behind on the hill. And those lips, those incredible lips that I hadn’t had the guts to kiss yet. “You won, Zedekiah, you sonavabitch!” I yelled. “You stay away from Baxter and I’ll stay away from Jessie. And I swear you fucker, if you weren’t already dead, I’d kill you.”

    I slammed the jeep into gear and peeled away from Butcher and Crow who were doubled over with hideous laughter. The rest of the ride home was a blur.

    My dad was slumped in his chair in front of the T.V. “Did you bring the jeep home safely?”

     I threw the keys at his chest. “Nice robe.” I walked straight to my room, slammed the door behind me, and plowed my fist through the wall.

Chapter 18

    Nana was fast asleep in her favorite chair. Anna was snuggled under her chin and Jasper snored at her feet. I covered her with the wool throw from the couch.

    I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a cookie from the jar. I stared absently out the window nibbling the cookie and thinking about the whole evening. Mom had always told me the more excited you are about something, the more likely you are to be disappointed by it. This was only half true tonight. Every minute with Nick had been wonderful. I could have clung to him on the dance floor all night. But the words of his friend were painful. While my mom had spoken often about leaving Bitterroot Crossing, Nana always looked upset by the thought of it. She’d lived her whole life up here on this mountain. We had created our own perfect world up here. It would be difficult to leave. Besides, we had no money and no place else to go.

    A tiny spark of red outside caught my eye. It was the end of a ghostly cigarette. I could see the long, lean silhouette of Zedekiah sitting on the pasture fence. I grabbed my sweater from the hook and went outside.

    I wandered up to him. He lifted his head and looked at me from under the brim of his hat. “You look especially pretty tonight. How was the dance?”

    I put my hands on my hips. “And just how did you know there was a dance? Unless, of course, you were at my school.”

    His shoulders lifted in a nonchalant shrug. ‘Our agreement was that I wouldn’t
appear
in school.”

    “Fine, Mr. Literal. You win.” I breathed in a deep gulp of night air. The fragrance of the mountain changed at night. The musky smells of sun-warmed soil and moss-covered trunks were replaced by the crisp scent of evergreen. “Parts of the night were lovely, parts not so great.” I leaned against the fence and stared down at the lights of Bitterroot Crossing. They were glittering yellow, red and blue like every night. “It’s an ignorant little town down there unfortunately.”

    “Did you dance with Nick?”

    “Boy, oh boy, Zedekiah Crush when you get your craw stuck with something you really get it stuck. Yes, I danced with him. But I’m sure you already knew that.” I turned back around, held onto the fence, and rested my chin on my hands. The mountainside was black with night and only the dimmest reflection from the lights below. “He’s kind, funny, and incredibly handsome.”

    Zedekiah took a long draw on his cigarette. “Guess it runs in the family.”

For a moment I considered telling him what Nick’s horrid friend had told us, but I doubted it would help.

    “Zedekiah, you wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt Nick, would you?”

    “The last time my jealousy got the better of me it caused me to do something I’ve had to relive everyday for eternity. Besides, the boy is kin. Can’t hurt my own flesh and blood.”

    I walked out to the clearing in front of the fence and pretended to dance like a ballerina again, twirling in my own clumsy, lopsided circles. My feet lifted again and I couldn’t suppress a giggle as I spun smoothly around and around. I only wished my arms had still been around Nick as I danced. “You are such a puzzle, Zedekiah. The stories I’ve heard about you have been nothing short of terrifying. Why, there’s even a story that you stabbed your own--”

    “Stabbed my own friend with a fork for eating my pie. That’s one of the better ones. The slob choked to death on pie crust. Bridger found him. He shoved a fork in his throat to make it look like murder so he could pin another death on me. I liked a good pie as much as the next guy, but I never killed anyone for a piece.”

    I stopped in front of him still floating in air. “But you did kill people?”

    He sat quietly for a minute. “We botched up some of our robberies. They ended with gunfire usually.” He lifted his long white hand and stared at it. “No one could outdraw me. So I was always the last man standing. If only Bridger had been faster at the draw. Then I would have been the one dying in the street that day and not my beautiful Rebecca.”

    I pointed to the ground. “Do you mind? I’m getting sort of dizzy.” My feet lowered to the ground. “You truly loved her, didn’t you? Just like the stories say.”

    He nodded beneath his black hat. “Rebecca was everything to me. I would have done anything for her, even given up robbing banks. But she loved Bridger. She proved that to me by jumping in front of him and catching the bullet. My life ended with hers that day, but it didn’t matter. My heart had been blackened. I looked forward to the noose after that.”

    He was only the spirit of what he’d once been but I could sense his anguish. It vibrated in the chilled air surrounding him. A terrible sadness swept through me and I turned my attention to the town below and thought about Nick. He’d left here tonight with my heart in his hands and suddenly I realized that true love was the only ingredient in a perfect recipe for heartbreak.

Chapter 19

    The police had road blocks across several main streets in town. Apparently the gang had been busy after they’d finished blackmailing me. There were big, blue plastic barrels strewn around the town’s sidewalks, which look like they’d contained some kind of yellowish glue. Most likely they came from the label making factory at the far end of town. The barrels were mostly empty now but the streets, signs, and shop windows had been covered with their gooey contents. It was going to be an expensive mess to clean. I really hated those guys.

    I pulled into the lumber yard and shut off my bike. It was still early but lights were on in the office. I had no reason to go in and was happy to avoid seeing anyone. It felt as if I’d been swallowed up in a gray, bottomless hole, and I would never see light again. I had no idea how I was going to stay away from Jessie without going mad.

    The morning air was chilled, proving that fall was definitely on its way. The coldness made my swollen hand hurt more. I tucked it under the opposite arm and hurried past the office window. Berta nearly fell out of the door in her quest to intercept me.

    “The temperature sure drops quickly this time of year.” She pushed her boobs against her tight sweater apparently convinced that I wanted to see them.

    “Yep,” I said and kept walking.

    She ran after me and grabbed my arm to stop me.

    I turned and showed her my best ‘what the hell do you want’ expression.

    “Did you hear what happened in town last night?”

    “I didn’t have to hear.” Now my look said ‘you’re an idiot’. “I have to go through town to get here, remember?” My expressions and tone didn’t seem to faze her.

    “Daddy said the citizens are pissed-off. They want that odd little girl to leave town with her grandma.”

    Forgetting that my hand was in terrible pain, I squeezed it into fist then flinched.

    Berta’s brow furrowed. She glanced at my hand. “You’re hurt.” She reached for it, but I pulled it away.

    “It’s nothing.”

    She moved closer to me, a hair’s breadth from pressing against me. “They’re upset with your family too, you know, being Crush’s relatives and all.” Her breath touched my face. She reached up and fingered my earring. “Daddy has a lot of influence in this town.” Her finger moved to trace my ear. “I could talk to him about making sure they leave your family alone.”