Change of Possession (10 page)

“We just met and whatever we have wasn’t something I wanted to ruin with this drama shit.” I played with the tail of my shirt, not wanting to look at him.

“Keeley, you’re something else. You know that I know about Steve. Those texts could be serious. You saved them right?”

I nodded.

“You should’ve told me sooner. Besides, you think that would push me away? Have you not noticed I basically stalked you and you’re still here?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I guess. You still want to try me? I mean, I could be some creepy girl with stalker baggage, you might not want that.”

We both laughed. All I wanted was to ignore Steve. We drove to Vahn’s brick wall, where we laid on the hood of his car and watched the lights of planes flying over us. Being close to Salt Lake City meant the planes were lower, coming in to land at the airport. He took my hand and pulled me closer to him.

We talked like we did that night on the phone, but this time the past wasn’t closed. “What about best friends? Who was yours growing up?” he asked.

I knew it was an innocent question but I tensed up anyway. Should I answer honestly? What if he hated me for my mistakes? What if he judged me like every other person back home?

I took a deep swallow. “Her name was Celeste.”

He chuckled. “Was? Did you guys break up or what?”

Here came the hard part. I moved away so no one would know my secret, but I wanted Vahn to know. Something about him made me trust him. I hoped I was right. “She died.” My voice broke.

“I’m sorry. What happened?”

I sat up. “Nothing.”

He sat up and placed his arm around my shoulders. “Keeley, that sounds like more than nothing. She was your best friend, that alone deserves more respect than
nothing
.”

His words were like a punch to my gut. I tensed up and shrugged him off. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. I respect Celeste; it’s just something I don’t want to discuss.”

“I totally get it, but you know the past can only haunt you if you let it, right?”

I tried to keep my anger down. It wasn’t fair to be mad at Vahn, he didn’t know.

“Keeley, I wasn’t trying to upset you. I just know how for the longest time I let my past define how spent my days, and even my thoughts. I wouldn’t want that for you.”

I looked over my shoulder at him. Was I ready to divulge such personal devastation? He leaned back on his elbow and waited. I laid back down beside him and stared at him.

He moved a few strands of loose hair off my face. “You don’t have to say anything. I understand.”

“No, you’re right. I can’t let the past define me. I’m a different person. At least, I’m trying to be.”

He grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You are. I didn’t know you then, but whatever you’ve gone through can only make you stronger.”

I gave a short nod. His words made perfect sense, but I didn’t feel stronger. If anything, I felt weaker. “We were at this party. Some stupid kid from school threw it because his parents were gone. We were juniors, and it was the last week of school.” I moistened my lips and sucked in a long breath. “We both drank way too much. Neither one of us were thinking clearly. I pulled out my keys to drive us home. We had the music cranked up so loud that I never even heard the other car smash into us.

“It was my fault. I didn’t have my eyes on the road and ran a red light. I just kept going without looking. It was a busy highway, but we never made it across.” Tears streamed down my face. “I didn’t mean to kill her.”

Vahn held me tight and kissed the top of my head. “I’m sure she already forgave you.”

“But I can’t forgive myself,” I sobbed.

“I can kind of understand your pain. My parents died on their way to pick me up from a party.”

I sniffed back another sob and twisted to look up at him. “I’m so sorry.”

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t feel guilt. I was at one of Steve’s damn parties trying to learn more, trying to find justice for Christie. I don’t remember ever setting my drink down, but somehow something was slipped into it and they drugged me the same way they did you. I couldn’t find the keys in my pocket, so I called my dad. I’ll never forget why they were out driving that night. Hell, it was a freak accident. Some drunk driver coming home from a bar hit them straight on. So I guess we have more in common than we knew.”

My stomach lurched and I looked away. “I’m so sorry, Vahn. You probably hate me.”

He let go of my hand and turned my face to look into my eyes. “Why would I hate you? It wasn’t you that killed my parents. Besides, you have your own demons to fight over your choices. The only thing I want to do is help you get over them and enjoy life again. I want to enjoy life, maybe even with you, if you’ll let me.”

My heart sped up and that familiar warmth flooded me. I didn’t care that we’d just started dating, that was the most romantic thing anyone ever said to me. I couldn’t look him in the eye any longer, afraid I would give away how I felt.

I told Vahn more about Celeste and he told me about his parents. It was a moment that would be with me forever. We had more in common than our hatred for Steve. We had something that no one else could understand—a mutual feeling of guilt and the loss of people we loved.

I rested my head on his shoulder and inhaled his scent, something musky mixed with a hint of acrylic. His heart thumped rapidly and I swore it matched my own. I couldn’t remember the last time I was so content. Being with Vahn felt right, it felt good. Something about him made my insides flutter and parts of me heat up. My blush swept across my face when I realized how infatuated I was with him, and it wasn’t because he knew my secret and still chose to be with me.

He held my hand up and drew small circles and swirling designs on my palm with the tip of his finger, sending a shiver up my arm.

“You know how they show people in movies getting together and just knowing right off the bat that they were supposed to be?” he asked quietly as he continued to run his fingertip over my palm.

“Yeah. What do they call that? Insta-love? Crazy, huh?”

“Yeah, crazy.” He paused for a moment. “I can’t believe I want to say this, but, I like you, and for not knowing you more than a couple days, I feel like maybe the movies aren’t far off. Maybe not the L word thing yet, but just being with someone who you know you’re meant to be with. Being with you, Keeley, it feels right.” He let out a groan. “Sorry, I might be a little crazy.”

I giggled. “No, you’re not crazy. I was thinking the same thing. Being with you feels natural, as if I’m supposed to be here with you. Like this spot on your shoulder was made just for me to rest on.”

“Girl, now you’re just teasing me.” He dropped my palm, rolled over, and placed a hand on either side of my head, hovering inches above my face. “There’s just something about you.”

“So you keep saying.”

He lowered himself and kissed me. His lips lightly caressed my own, sending chills down my spine. I reached up and ran my fingers through his hair and down his back. The kiss didn’t last long enough for how it made me feel, but I was sure I’d feel his lips even while I dreamed. This moment would be etched into my memory forever.

Eight

The whole next week I floated on cloud nine. Every day was one that I wanted to replay over and over, never wanting them to end. Vahn and I spent almost every minute together we could, after school for me and some days after work for him. Since he was only taking a couple of classes in the mornings, we had to work out our times so we could see each other as much as possible. His work was lenient since he was the owner, but he still had to be there for his employees and responsibilities. My favorite place to hang out was at the wall. I knew there was something between me and Vahn, something more than I thought could ever exist. The movies could call it whatever they wanted; I was sure that some of the instant attraction depicted in fiction held some truth. My stomach still got butterflies every time I saw him, or thought of him.

I couldn’t believe I was so lucky to have someone like him for a boyfriend. He wasn’t only sexy, but he could paint, cook, and make me laugh. He wasn’t the world’s best chef, considering we ate macaroni from a box the one night he did cook for me, but I didn’t complain.

Caty still sat next to me in Professor Priese’s class every day, except she never talked to me. Once, she gave me a sad smile before lowering her head but never looked at me again. Alison scoffed at me when I tried to ask Caty what was wrong.

Alison caught me after class as I walked to the food court. “You must have pissed off someone on the football team. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

I stopped walking. “What?”

“They make the rules here. They say swim, you ask how far. The quarterback says I want your girlfriend, you breakup with her. They say don’t talk to
her
, you don’t talk. It’s been that way for years. Well, for those of us who have had to deal with Steve and his posse in high school it’s been years. Everyone here has already adapted to it too, seeing as how this is Steve’s third year.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. She obviously knew something, probably something more than Vahn and myself. Maybe this was my chance to help and find out more. “What about you? If they said don’t talk, then why are you talking to me?”

She laughed. “I was one of the
girlfriends
, a long time ago. I had my thrill ride with Brick; he wanted to be my boyfriend but I wanted nothing to do with him, or any other jock. I had a guy, his name was John.” Her voice broke.

“Alison, what happened?”

“Look, I’m not supposed to talk about it, but I want to warn you about them.” She sighed and looked around us before speaking more. “John refused to break up with me for Brick, so the whole team came after him. He spent a week in the hospital, but he couldn’t tell anyone who did it because they told him I’d get it worse. I was forced to be around Brick every second I wasn’t sleeping or in school. After he tired of me, my boyfriend didn’t want me anymore because I was
spoiled
.” A tear fell down her face. “I tried to say no, I tried to get away. I really did, but they would’ve killed John if I said anything. I was too scared to go to the cops. ”

I touched her arm, but she pulled away and wiped her tears away with her hands. “If you tell anyone I talked to you, I’ll deny it. I don’t want to die.”

I gulped. This was much worse than just dealing drugs. “Alison, you know that if you report it, things can be done, restraining orders, arrests…”

“No! You don’t get it, if I say anything to anyone… I’ve been warned.” She sucked in another deep breath. “So, what did you do to piss them off?”

I choked back my own tears. Her news was more than upsetting, it was downright horrifying. For anyone to think they
couldn’t
go to the authorities for fear of death was awful. I wanted to go and tell the police, but I didn’t think I had enough to have them arrested. Maybe I could get Alison to talk, to help not only herself but other girls too. There was always a way. “I told Steve no. Repeatedly.”

She sniffed and wiped her tears. “Oh, shit! You’re in for a long road. So did they just ban everyone from speaking to you, or do you know if it’s worse yet?”

“I don’t know. He texted me that I would be sorry.”

She touched my arm. “Keeley, if I knew now what I knew then,” she sighed. “I know how you feel. I was… I
am
too scared to report him, but maybe you aren’t.” Hope glimmered in her eyes. I could only imagine the fear living inside her.

The thought of calling my dad for advice popped in my head, but quickly vanished when I knew how much more I’d be disappointing him by letting him know what I was getting messed up in. I’d have to gather what I needed and turn it over to Vahn to report. I wanted to stay out of the police records for a
long
time.

After a little coaxing, Alison came over to my place when she got out of classes for the day. We ordered a large pizza and found a movie to watch. She kicked her shoes off by the door and bounded over to the couch. “I love this place!” she squealed. It was nice to see her relax a bit and smile. “I share an apartment with three other girls and they all hate me. The team totally has them under their thumbs. I feel bad for Stacey though, she’s one of my roommates, and has had the worst punishment from the team so far.”

I stopped in my tracks on my way to the couch. “I just met a Stacey the other night. Shy, brownish hair, a burn scar on her face…”

“Yeah, that’s her. A house fire that officials blamed on faulty wiring caused that burn, but I know better. I’m sure it was someone on the team.”

I gasped as I plopped down on the couch. “What?”

“Yeah, wait, it gets better. She was the high school hottie, everyone wanted to be her, or with her. Jonah was into her, but she said no. She wasn’t dating anyone, but she wasn’t interested either. After weeks of hounding her, Jonah gave up.”

“But?” I knew there had to be more.

“But, Steve won’t take no for an answer, even if it isn’t directed at him. Jonah’s his best friend, so no one says no to him either.”

My stomach churned. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear more.

“That weekend her house caught fire, her bedroom door wouldn’t open, and she was stuck inside. She screamed from the window. Steve and Jonah were down below in her yard looking up at her, but never moved to help. Firefighters rescued her, but it was almost too late. She barely survived.”

That was definitely not the story Steve gave me about what happened. “And no one reported it? How do they get away with it? Oh my God, I think I might be sick.”

“Yeah, well, you’re just in the beginning stages. My life is miserable, I tried to get into another college, to move away and start over, but my parents can barely afford to help me stay here and I wasn’t accepted by other schools.” She glanced away. “I’ve been close to killing myself more times than I can count just so they couldn’t threaten me anymore. Steve has a way of dragging someone through the darkest pit of despair. Other people’s misery is something he gets off on.”