Branded (The Branded Series) (10 page)

“And what about
you? How long have you known that you liked me?” I asked, not sure what I was
expecting.

“Truthfully?”
she said. “I’m not sure I do yet.”

I squeezed her
tightly, causing her to cough. “Not funny!”

“I thought it
was,” she laughed. “I don’t know, actually. I guess I realized it when I was
away these last few months and the only person I missed was you. But then
again, there was a couple months last year when I couldn’t get you out of my
mind either.”

“Really?
When?” I said, trying to recall a time when she might have been more awkward
around me.

“The two
months you dated that cheerleader . . .
Erin
.” She shuddered when she
said her name.

I nodded,
remembering how Anna never seemed to be around for those two months. It really
bothered me, and I knew it had something to do with Erin, which is why I ended
up breaking it off with her. I just figured Anna didn’t want to be a third
wheel; I never imagined it had anything to do with her being jealous. Adorable.

“Well, sorry
about that. I promise never to do that again.” I grinned.

Anna didn’t
respond right away. Then finally, she said, “I wonder how long this will last?”

“What do you
mean?” I asked, confused.

“You and me. I
wonder how long it will take for you to get bored of me. And I wonder if we’ll
be able to be friends again after that.”

I pulled her
away from me, turning her so I could study her face. “Are you serious?”

She raised her
eyebrows to suggest she was.

“Why would you
say that?” I felt like she was breaking up with me already. I had never thought
about the idea of us not working out. It hadn’t crossed my mind at all because
of how perfect and whole everything felt when she was near. “Do you not want to
do this?” I asked reluctantly.

“No . . . I
mean, yes!”

“What?”
Clarification,
please.

“I
do
want to do this. I definitely do. I have
no
doubt that I will not be the
one screwing this up.”

“Well,
I
certainly
won’t be.”

“I hope so,”
she said with a sincere smile. “But you do have a reputation.”

“I do not!”

“You haven’t
been in a relationship for longer than three months. You’re always the one to
break up with the girl and leave her heartbroken.”

“I wouldn’t
say heartbroken.”

“Trust me,
Jake—I’m the one that the heartbroken girls call when you won’t take them
back.”

“Yeah, sorry
about that.” I cringed.

“Yeah, so
naturally I’m a little concerned. I don’t want to end up like one of them.”

I took her
face in my hands. “Anna, I have put
a lot
of thought into us over the
last few days. I wanted to make damn sure this was a forever thing, because I
value your friendship too much.”

“That’s sweet,
Jake.”

“It’s true.” I
brought her face closer and touched her lips with mine. Then I pulled her back
into me and we watched the fire together as the lounge gradually emptied of its
remaining guests.

“I can’t
believe how late it is,” Anna sighed as she studied her watch. “Two thirty.”

“I am not
getting up at nine o’clock. I’ll tell you that right
now,” I protested,
remembering Rachel’s threat.

Anna laughed.
“Well, we could always take naps on the chairlift.”

I smiled at
the idea. My eyes were getting heavy, but I forced them open and held Anna
closer. Our bodies fit together perfectly, like two puzzle pieces.

“We should go
to bed, Jake. We’ll look horrible tomorrow.” Anna stretched.

“You could
never look horrible.”

“Ha! You’re
smooth.”

“I guess
there’s always tomorrow.” My body stiffened at the thought of letting her go.

“Always
tomorrow,” Anna agreed as she tilted her head back and met my lips with hers.

We got up and
slowly walked back to our rooms. When we reached her room, I leaned in for
another memorable, slow kiss. Her lips were so smooth. They still tasted like
watermelon lip gloss, even though I thought I had kissed it all off.

“Sweet dreams,
Anna Taylor.”

“Dream of me,”
she whispered as her nose tickled mine.

“Always.”

The next morning
started with a
nine a.m. wake-up call just as Rachel had promised. On any other day I would
have rolled over and ignored it, but I was still on a high from the night
before. I jumped off the couch and grabbed a quick, hot shower. Noah was just waking
up when I was ready to head down for breakfast.

“Ugh,” Noah
groaned.

“Meet you
downstairs, buddy. The girls are waiting.” That woke him up a little.

“Rachel?” Noah
asked as he stretched.

“Yeah, you
slept through her wake-up call. She’s downstairs already waiting. I’ll keep her
company ‘till you get there,” I teased as he stumbled out of bed toward the
shower.

I stepped out
into the hall and noticed Anna leaving her room. I waited for her to catch up
and greeted her with a big smile. She was so beautiful—even with just a few
hours of sleep and her hair pulled up in a messy ponytail.

“You’re
gorgeous,” I pointed out as I took her hand.

“You’re full
of it.” She laughed as she nudged me on my side.

We walked
hand-in-hand down to the breakfast lounge. It felt like my smile was permanently
tattooed on my face. Rachel waved us over to the table where everyone was already
seated and eating.

“Looks like we
weren’t the only ones to be graced by Rachel’s early morning wake-up call,” I
said as we approached the table.

“I’ll be right
back. I’ve got to go to the washroom,” Anna whispered.

“Did you want
me to order you something?”

“Ham and eggs
and milk to drink, please.” She winked and left for the washroom.

I turned to
sit down. Rachel slid over to sit next to me and then whispered so no one else
could hear, “We need to talk.”

“About?” I
pulled the menu up and studied it.

“You and
Anna.”

“Didn’t I
already tell you to mind your own business?”

“You don’t
understand, Jake. There’s more to it.”

“Then tell me,
Rachel. What is the big deal?” I raised my eyebrows in anticipation of a big
revelation. She had my one hundred percent attention.

“Nothing.
Never mind.” She looked away and bit her lip.

I snickered.
“You’re something else, Rachel.” I shook my head and looked back at the menu.

We placed our
orders a few minutes later. Then Noah sat down between Rachel and me. “Did I
miss anything?”

“Slide down.
That’s Anna’s seat,” I told him.

“Relax, dude.
I just passed her in the hall. She’s talking to Eric.”

I stiffened as
I turned to face Noah. I tried hard to fight the emotion that overcame me at
that moment. My heartbeat quickened as nausea settled in.

“Jealous?”
Rachel mused.

That must be
it.

“Whatever.” I
shoved the thought into the back of my mind and tried to focus on the menu
again.

A few minutes
later Anna came back into the room and sat down. She was smiling at something
she obviously found amusing.

“What’s so
funny?” I asked as I handed her the glass of milk she had ordered.

“Oh, nothing.
I just . . . Eric. He’s a character.”

Rachel and
Noah turned to gauge my reaction.

I tried to
maintain my cool. “Yeah, Eric sure is a character.”

Silence.

“Uh . . . why?
What did . . . what did Eric do?” I chuckled as if I already thought what she
was about to say was pretty funny.

I could see a
smile play at the corners of Rachel’s mouth. Noah lowered his head into the
menu.

Anna sipped
her milk from a straw and laughed again. “Nothing, really. He was just being a
goof. Making fun of Tyler. It was funny.” She looked up at my blank expression
and then to Noah who had obviously not caught the humour either, and said, “I
guess you had to be there?”

“Yeah. No, I’m
sure it was funny.” That strange feeling of jealousy returned.

“Anyway,”
Rachel interrupted coolly, “let’s eat and get this show on the go.”

“That sounds
good to me,” Noah agreed.

Suddenly Rachel
gasped. I looked at her, puzzled. She was staring straight ahead, wide-eyed, at
. . . what? Before I had a chance to ask, her eyes refocused and she was back.

“I was thinking,”
Rachel began calmly as she slowly turned to face us with a fake smile, “that we
should head home. What do you guys think?”

“Already? We
didn’t even get any runs in yet,” Anna protested.

I knew enough
to know that Rachel had a vision. And by the looks of it, it wasn’t good.

“I know, but
the whole resort is going to be taking off right after lunch and we don't want
to be caught in all that traffic. Besides, my body’s had enough—haven’t you
guys?” Rachel faked a yawn and looked at Noah for encouragement.

Noah said, “I
was thinking the same thing. Let's go.”

“Yeah, yeah,
sounds good to me,” I added with a smile.

Anna looked
confused but I could tell she wasn't overly disappointed. She shrugged. “Okay, I
guess that makes sense. I didn't get much sleep last night so I wouldn't have
lasted very long today anyway.” She winked at me and blushed a little.

“So it's
settled,” Rachel said. “I'll spread the word to everyone else in case they want
to follow suit.”

We were on
our way home,
about a half an hour from the resort, when several emergency vehicles, travelling
in the opposite direction, passed us: ambulances, police cars and fire trucks.
We all fell silent as we watched from the shoulder of the road as they flew by.

“Wow, it looks
pretty serious. I wonder what happened?” Anna's sympathetic voice trailed off.

“Yeah, it
does.” I noticed a slight tremble in Rachel's voice. I think Noah did too
because he turned to gather more information from Rachel's expression. It was
blank. She was deep in thought.

“Why don't you
scan the radio stations, Rachel? See if there's anything on the news yet,” Noah
suggested.

Rachel scanned
the stations. Nothing. Then my phone started to ring. I fumbled through the
pockets in my jacket, located my phone, and answered it.

“Eric, what's
up?” I glanced at Anna with a confused look. Anna mimicked my expression as she
studied my face.

“Dude, are you
guys okay? Where are you?” Eric was panicked.

“Yeah, we're
fine. We're almost to Truro. Why? Where are you?” I had a sinking, bad feeling
about this. I wanted to see what Rachel had seen. To know what Rachel knew. I
turned to study her face. She was pale, waiting for answers too. I turned on
the speakerphone and held it out for everyone to hear.

“We're still
here. We were packing up to leave and we heard all this gunfire and screaming.
It's crazy, man. I don't know what's going on down there.” Eric's voice was
shaking. “I hear sirens now. Dude, this isn't good.”

Noah spun the
Jeep around and started speeding back towards the resort.

“We're on our
way back, Eric. Where are you now?”

“Me and Tyler
are in my room, but Lexie and Monica were downstairs in the lobby waiting for
us. There's no answer on their cell phones. Dude, this really isn't good.”

Rachel took
the phone from me. “Eric, it's Rachel. Listen, don't go anywhere. Stay in your
room. The shooter is likely still in the resort. Don't call Monica or Lexie
again. They've shut their phones off. Put your phone on vibrate in case we have
to call you back. Lock the door and don't make a sound. We saw emergency crews
heading toward the resort, but just stay there until we come and get you.”

There was
silence as we all stared dumbfounded at Rachel. She shrugged and handed the
phone back to me. “I just heard it on the radio,” she said, an obvious cover
for Anna’s sake.

I hung up the
phone with Eric so we could keep the line clear in case Monica or Lexie tried
to call. We all sat in silence as Noah sped back to the lodge. What should have
been a thirty minute drive only took us about fifteen. Anna was now sitting so
close to me that I could feel her breathe. She squeezed my hand to her chest. I
looked at her and saw that her eyes were pressed closed and her lips were
fluttering quickly. She was praying. This was something I had seen Anna do
periodically over the last three years. She prayed for the baby bird that fell
out of the tree in her backyard. She prayed when her parents went away to third
world countries. She prayed before every exam. She prayed for everyone and everything.
Her parents were never harmed, and she always aced her exams; her success rate
was quite good, so I thought it couldn't hurt to give it a try. I closed my
eyes and had a silent talk with the Man upstairs.