Oblivion (12 page)

“Loosen up, Lindsay,” he cajoled and smiled secretively. “You really gotta learn to relax. You’re in good hands.”

Lindsay forced her eyes on the dark mountain road, cringing as they flew past. She was berating herself for coming every mile that passed. They were five miles from The Point, a ridge with a rock-shelf observation area for tourists. It had not been used for years now, a haven now for Little Bend high school kids.

“Just slow down please, Cam,” she asked and was pleased when he sighed and eased up on the gas.

“Fine, stick in the mud,” he teased and his large hand slid over to squeeze her knee again.

The temptation to fling his hand off her was strong. She was relieved when his hand slid away to delve under the seat. He withdrew a paper bag with a pint of liquor and handed it to her.

“Thanks,” she said and held it, deciding staying sober was the best course tonight. Cam wasn’t Jace and she didn’t feel safe and protected.  

“I really am sorry you had to find out about all this, Lindsay,” he was saying. “It’s gotta suck to know Jace wasn’t the guy you thought he was.”

Lindsay bit her lip to keep from going off. Jace was a hundred times the person Cam was. She decided to play along and see what else she could trip him up in.

“Yeah, well let’s just say it’s been an eye opener.”

“You ever need somebody to talk to, Lindsay, I’m there for you.”

“You’re a good friend, Cam,” she replied and looked at him with a soft smile. “What are you gonna do if Marnie’s baby turns out to be yours?”

The sudden change in Cam shocked her. He cussed and sped up.

“It isn’t mine, I told you! That slut is lying just to get money out of my family.”

Her smile faded as she saw the harsh look on his face in the dim car. The sudden rage took her by surprise.

“I’m sorry, I just wondered if you thought about it.”

Cam looked ticked off and his expression was scary. “If she knows what’s good for her; she won’t stay here after graduation.”

Lindsay felt a bit alarmed at the venom she sensed in him. She decided to push him a bit more. “She got kicked out of the house, Cam. Where’s she supposed to go?”

“That’s not my problem. She should have thought about it before she got herself knocked up by Jace.”

Lindsay felt her own blood pressure climbing with his assertions Marnie’s kid was Jace’s. A blood test would prove that. Cam refused to accept it might be his even when he was the one dating her the last six months.

His complete lack of accountability was appalling. Why had she never seen what a jerk he was? Jace obviously never saw this side of Cam either. He would have never tolerated him.

“I guess we will all find out when she has it,” Lindsay said and saw Cam’s lips tighten.

“Yeah, I guess, but don’t be surprised if she’s gone by then. When my dad wouldn’t give her the money for the abortion she realized she didn’t have anybody to sponge off of.”

“What about Dooley? I heard she was seeing him too?”

Cam laughed and rolled his eyes. “That idiot is denying he was even seeing Marnie now that he’s up for Sheriff. Trust me, nobody wants her here.”

Lindsay felt a feeling of alarm at Cam’s words, sensing a threat in them against Marnie. She had no reason to stick up for the girl who slept with her boyfriend, but Cam could be dangerous like Wilson said. Either way, she was going to have a talk with Marnie, and soon. The girl needed to stay away from Cam.

“I feel sorry for her,” Lindsay went on to say. “She has a dad like Jace’s. She’s on her own now. Tell me you don’t feel sorry for her, even if the kid isn’t yours?”

Cam realized he was sounding like jerk and his tone softened. “Yeah, but she got me in deep shit with my parents saying it was mine. They were just about to sign this car over to me.”

Lindsay wanted to get away from him after that. Cam was angry because he was denied a car? Marnie was out on the street. After graduation she would have no place to live. Cam was more worried about sucking up to his parents for whatever he could get. She felt nauseated and opened the pint to steady her nerves. She took a swig of the peach schnapps and forced a controlled tone.

“I was going to ask,” Lindsay said casually as she took another drink. “Why did she wait so long to try and get an abortion? Seems to me she should have started trying to get one month’s ago. Mrs. Warren told my mom she’s over three months along.”

Cam shrugged. “She was trying to get money out of me, that’s why! She even hit up Dooley. She asked Jace because she was running out of time. I don’t know what the dumb skank was thinking. Who cares, she’s out of my life. In a couple months I’m on my way to Georgia Tech.”

Lindsay froze at his words, but he went on, talking about how confidant he was of passing the SAT and his plans once he got to Georgia. She was stunned he was planning on going to the same college as her. Panic set in to know it was deliberate.

“I didn’t know you were thinking about Tech. It’s a good school. I guess my going on and on about it all these months grew on you.”

Cam looked over at her and his pale blue eyes gleamed in the dark. “I’d follow you anywhere, Lindsay. I think you know how I feel for you.”

She didn’t know what to say to that. She forced herself to not exhibit the dismay she felt.

“It’ll be nice knowing someone else there.”

They drove into The Point by then. Six other vehicles were already there parked in the field next to it, mostly members of the football team and their girlfriends. It was the usual crowd. Lindsay felt self-conscious getting out of the car, seeing the looks she got from her and Jace’s former click.

Now that he was gone, none of them had gone out of their way to maintain a friendship with her. She wasn’t surprised. Many of them probably wondered what Jace saw in her. She wasn’t popular or a cheerleader. The other girls were all popular and all cheerleaders; most of them snotty and unfriendly when she arrived with Cam.

She never had close girlfriends; she had Jace. For the first time in four years she felt alone. Cam steered her to a group of them, greeting them loudly. She stayed back, smiling and sipping on the schnapps.

A pretty dark-haired girl dressed to the nines approached her with a glint in her eyes. Rosemarie Barber was no friend to her. She’d been after Jace since the tenth grade. She made no secret she couldn’t stand Lindsay and the other girls followed suit.

“I’m surprised to see you out, Lindsay,” she remarked casually as she took a drag on a cigarette. “Jace isn’t even cold yet and you’re out with Cam?”

Lindsay forced a smile. If Rosemarie thought she could get to you it was all over. Jace told her all about these football girlfriends and his advice on how to deal with them was priceless.

“I’m tutoring him and he asked if I wanted to come along. It’s been tough,” Lindsay replied evenly, not allowing the other girl to get to her. “Cam and Jace were such good friends, you know?”

Rosemarie smiled condescendingly. “I suppose you heard about Marnie?”

Lindsay shrugged. “Who hasn’t? This town is too small to keep secrets.”

She seemed annoyed she couldn’t push Lindsay’s buttons. “She’s telling everybody it’s Jace’s. I bet that sure pissed you off to find out he cheated on you?”

“Nah, I guess he had to get it somewhere, right?”

Rosemarie raised a dark eyebrow. “You’re not mad? Come on, Lindsay. You and Jace have been dating since the eighth grade. It has to bother you he was banging Marnie all this time?”

“Actually we broke up the night before he died,” Lindsay surprised her by saying. The girl’s stunned look was priceless. “He was staying here and I was going to Georgia Tech. We both agreed to call it quits. Neither one of us wanted a long-distance thing.”

Rosemarie didn’t have anything to say to that. She returned to her circle of girlfriends and the whispers were rampant. She hid a smile as she sipped the schnapps. Now they would leave her be. She wasn’t the poor, screwed-over girlfriend now. There wouldn’t be any fun in tormenting her further. Cam joined her and she pretended to enjoy his company. All she wanted was to go home.

“Drink up, Lindsay,” he said later as he handed her the pint. His blue eyes were amused.

Lindsay slowed down on the drinking the minute they arrived. Cam seemed to push it on her now. The others were all laughing and drinking, paying her no notice. She felt like she wasn’t a part of this group anymore and lost interest after an hour. After three she just wanted to leave. It was nearly eleven and she was thinking of excuses.

“My mom is going to be waiting for me at the door, Cam,” she reminded him as she handed him back the pint. “I’m going to pace myself.”

Cam smiled that secret smile of his and walked back to the guys. That was when Lindsay started to feel more than a little buzzed. Her vision was foggy and blurred and she shook her head to clear it.

She felt heavy a strange languor stole over her. She stood against a car hood and leaned, gasping as she felt her head swimming. After that, she didn’t remember anything.

~ ~ ~

Lindsay woke groggily, feeling disorientated. Her mouth was incredibly dry and her head hurt. She realized she was in a bed as soon as she realized she had no clothes on. Horror combined with sick dread to see Cameron at her side.

They were in his room. He was snoring loudly, his arm over his eyes. The first thing she realized with relief was that she didn’t feel physically violated. Some sense told her that hadn’t been her fate earlier. Cameron must have passed out before he could take advantage of her.

She eased slowly from his side and looked for her clothes, mortified and wanting to cry in denial. She couldn’t remember anything. She stiffened, recalling she had only a few sips of the schnapps before she forgot everything. The schnapps had to have had something laced in it. She struggled into her bra and found the rest of her clothes at the foot of the bed. Hurriedly she dressed, knowing her mother would be worried sick.

Lindsay tiptoed around looking for her purse. She realized Cameron was really passed out when his cell phone went off and he didn’t move. She breathed a sigh of relief. She turned on the desk lamp to look for her purse.

That was when she found the small black velvet box. It was sitting on his dresser out in the open. She covered her mouth as she picked it up and opened it. There, in a bed of velvet, was the ring Jace bought for her. It was old by the look of it. The gold was faded, but the round ruby surrounded by small diamonds glittered up at her. She put the ring in her pocket and snatched up her purse.

She tiptoed out of the house with her heart pounding so loud it was deafening in her ears. The sliding glass doors opened soundlessly as she slid out and went out the gate. Once she was clear of the driveway, she ran, not looking back. Tears blinded her as she then walked to the main gate.

It was a mile back into town. She walked down the highway with her heart bleeding to know Cam killed Jace. She accepted it like a certainty he planned to rape her in her drugged state. There was no other explanation and the pain of it made her stumble as she walked home. How else could he have the ring in his possession?

Once she got to Merriman’s lot, she breathed a sigh of relief. She took out her keys and let herself in; relieved her mother wasn’t waiting for her. She glanced at the microwave clock. It was nearly two-thirty in the morning. She breathed easier when she slipped into her room.

Sara was sleeping within. Lindsay got her pajamas off the end off her bed and slid out to the bathroom. She passed by her mother’s bedroom and the door was open. Moonlight showed Deborah’s bed was made and she was not in it. Her mother not being home this late was unusual, but her and Jack were now inseparable.

Obviously her mother was more than a little interested in Jack. She could almost bet she waited for Sara to go to bed before she snuck over to her boyfriend’s house. A smile tugged at her lips despite her ordeal tonight.

Tears of relief filled her eyes as she undressed and put on the pajamas. Her hands shook as she undressed, feeling repulsed and violated by the ones that removed her clothes earlier. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to fight off the hysteria creeping close to the surface.

Lindsay was safe now, but her eyes were tortured, red-rimmed and refused to focus too closely in the mirror. Her hair was a matted disaster. She pulled it into a ponytail. She washed her face and brushed her teeth. Sorrow-filled blue eyes avoided themselves. Of all the stupid things she could have ever done? Had the Sheriff not warned her that Cam was dangerous?

She could have been raped tonight. No, Cam had been too wasted to finish what he started. Or he thought better of it at the last minute; she didn’t know.  No, it was better to not think of it. Her mind shut out any further thoughts and questions. One thing was clear, she wasn’t going anywhere near him again.

She took the ring out of her jeans on the floor and put it on. Jace had chosen well. It fit perfect. Her hand shook as she stared down at it in wonder. It was beautiful and exactly what she would have wanted for an engagement ring. Streaming rivulets of hot tears slid down her cheeks to see the ruby and diamonds sparkle in the fluorescent lighting.

Gut-wrenching sobs escaped her lips then as she slid down the door to the floor and stared at it, too overwhelmed by the night to do more than cry. For the first time in three weeks she gave into what was lost. Her heart cried for Jace to hold her now and make the ugliness go away.

Chapter Eight

The deadheads were holed up in an abandoned building on the outskirts of Oblivion. Loud, boisterous laughter and cries of pain were heard from outside. The darkness was a welcome cover to the five men who stood heavily-armed outside.

“Jace, don’t go all Rambo on me when we get in there,” Merrick warned under his breath as he sent the younger man a warning look. “You can’t kill what’s already dead so make every shot count. We get in and out.”

“The demons are getting close,” Raymond said impatiently. “They smell the blood and hear the noise. We need to hurry.”

Jace thought he would feel fear, but knowing he couldn’t be killed took the edge off. The curiosity about the demons passed when he heard the low shrieks in the distance. McNeal looked grim for once, his usually glib tongue stilled in the gloom. Murdoch was agitated and looked uneasy as he looked up and down the deserted road. The low growls in the distance made the hair on the back of Jace’s neck stick up with dread.