Pawn (Nightmares Trilogy #1) (38 page)

“You are absolutely beautiful,
Endora,” Mom told me as she hugged me goodbye. “Have fun tonight,
and please call on your way to the sports complex.”

The school-sanctioned after-party was
being held at the indoor sports complex on the outskirts of
Westwood. My friends and I weren’t actually going to that party –
we were going to Elizabeth’s – but Mom was paranoid about me
becoming a statistic, and had only agreed to let me stay out if I
agreed to go to the adequately chaperoned, school-sponsored
after-party.

“I will,” I promised her. At least, I
would call on the way to Elizabeth’s.

“Kannon, it was nice to see you
again.” She offered Kannon her hand and he shook it, managing to
meet her eyes for the first time all evening.

While he’d found my embarrassment the
other night funny, his cheeks had turned red every time my mother
looked at him tonight. Apparently, he wasn’t accustomed to being
caught in his girlfriend’s bedroom by her mother. I found this
endearing and was secretly relieved that it wasn’t a common
occurrence for him. In some ways I knew him better than anyone else
in my life. But I knew nothing about his dating history; with all
of the bizarre stuff surrounding us, the topic had never come up. I
was willing to bet he had a lot more experience than I did,
though.

“You too, Mrs. Andrews,” he
responded.

After hugging each of the Holloways,
the Byrds, and Helen, we finally piled into the white limo and were
off to dinner at the Rustic Tavern.

The limo came stocked with sodas,
bottled water, assorted juices, and bags of pretzels and chips. Of
course, Cooper and Jared each had a flask tucked inside their
jackets, and Elizabeth had nabbed several bottles of champagne from
her mother’s mini-bar.

“Let’s get this party started!” Cooper
declared, uncorking a bottle of Dom.

The cork shot across the limo,
narrowly missing Mandy and Matthew, who were cuddled on one of the
bench seats. Cooper poured the overpriced bubbly into plastic cups
and passed one to each of us.

“To the best night of our lives!”
Elizabeth declared, raising her glass in toast.

“To my gorgeous date,” Kannon said in
a low voice, tapping his cup against mine.

I blushed at his compliment. “To my
incredibly dapper-looking date,” I said.

During dinner I kept my attention
focused on Devon. She’d been extremely quiet, both at my house and
in the limo. The lavender gown she wore had thin spaghetti straps,
and she kept fiddling with them nervously. Every five minutes she
dug a silver compact from her evening bag and checked her makeup,
frequently reapplying lip gloss. When I suggested that she relax,
she nearly bit my head off.

“I don’t want to disappoint Bryson,”
she snapped after I told her she looked amazing and that fact
hadn’t changed since the last time she checked.

“Who is Bryson?” Kannon
whispered.

“This guy she met on Main Street. She
was so enamored with him that she asked him to be her date
tonight.”

“You don’t know him?”

I shook my head. “Nope. She says he’s
friends with some of the junior girls from the team, but I’ve never
met him.”

Kannon studied Devon with newfound
interest. He squinted his eyes in concentration as if looking for
something not immediately apparent, his expression pensive. When he
noticed me watching him, he offered me a lopsided grin.

“You’re worried about her aren’t
you?”

“That obvious?”

“Devon can take care of herself,
Endora.” Kannon’s voice was low, gentle. “You’re a good friend to
worry, though.” He ran his forefinger over the back of my hand,
sending a pleasant tingling sensation crawling up my arm and
warming my entire body.

“Would you two lovebirds please stop
whispering sweet nothings to each other?” Cooper teased. “Kannon,
dude, you’re making me look bad. First you get Eel a bigger corsage
than I got Liz and now you spend dinner staring into her eyes. I
can’t compete, man.”

Elizabeth leaned over and kissed
Cooper’s clean-shaven cheek. “There’s no competition, Coop. You
already got me.”

All the champagne, combined with
Elizabeth’s love of romance, made her particularly over-the-top
this evening. Ordinarily this was something Devon and I teased her
about. But when I tried to catch Devon’s eye to share a grin, she
wouldn’t look at me. Instead she was staring at Elizabeth and, if I
didn’t know better, I would have said that her blue eyes flamed
green with envy.

A receiving line that included
Principal Beam, Mrs. Randolf (our class advisor), Vice Principal
Lovejoy, and several members of the PTA, greeted us at the entrance
to Turf Valley Country Club. I hadn’t partaken in any more
libations since the first glass of champagne, but Elizabeth and
Cooper had long since crossed the line that separated sobriety and
inebriation. Elizabeth teetered on her heels, and Cooper giggled
every time she stumbled on the hem of her dress. Kannon artfully
steered the two of them around the adults while the rest of us
distracted them.

The ballroom was gorgeous, decorated
with blue and white balloons and streamers. A large dance floor was
in the center of the room, surrounded by round tables covered in
pressed linens and centerpieces with floating blue and white tea
lights. Carving stations staffed by waiters in white tuxedo jackets
lined one wall. And bartenders mixing non-alcoholic beverages were
situated along the other.

“Should we grab a table?” Mandy
asked.

She and Matthew, who had barely spoken
to anyone besides each other all evening, were holding hands and
standing so close together they sort of resembled conjoined twins.
Mandy wore an expression of complete adoration, which was mirrored
on Matthew’s face. I’d never seen my friend so comfortable or
happy. I liked it.

“Sounds good,” I agreed.

We found a table near the dance floor
and set our stuff down on the chairs. After Jared shed his jacket
and Anna Beth ditched her shawl, they joined the throng of students
gyrating to the music the DJ was playing. Cooper and Elizabeth
followed suit, both relying on the other to stand up
straight.

“Care to dance?” Kannon asked, giving
me a mock bow.

I giggled stupidly and wrinkled my
nose. “I’m not very coordinated.”

Kannon pulled out a chair for me to
sit. “Don’t be modest, Endora. I’ve seen you play lacrosse; you’re
incredibly coordinated.”

I shrugged. Truthfully, I wasn’t a
horrible dancer, but I was still worried about Devon. The nagging
sensation that there was something wrong with my best friend
wouldn’t go away. I glanced across the table to where she sat,
checking her phone.

“Why don’t you grab us something to
drink? Then I promise we can dance.” I grinned up at him, but he
wasn’t fooled.

He leaned down and kissed my cheek,
his lips administering a tiny shock that made me shiver. “She’s
fine,” he whispered in my ear. “I’ll go get drinks, but then I’m
holding you to that promise about dancing.”

I waited until Kannon was out of
earshot.

“When is Bryson going to be here?” I
called to Devon across the table.

She looked up from her phone and
beamed. The sound of her date’s name caused her entire face to
light up and that dreamy expression to cloud her eyes. She opened
her mouth as if to respond, but the display on her cell drew her
attention once again. Her smile widened.

“He’s here!” Devon exclaimed, and
jumped to her feet like a jack-in-the-box. “Be back in a
minute.”

“Dev, wait.” My words fell on deaf
ears; Devon was already hurrying towards the entrance.

Kannon is right, I told myself. Devon
is capable of taking care of herself. Besides, the fact she was
excited about any guy who wasn’t Rick should make me jump for
joy.

The song ended; the DJ came over the
microphone and announced that he would be taking a ten-minute
break, but to enjoy the sounds of Barry Manilow. I wasn’t sure if
he really thought teenagers liked the 1970s crooner or if he
thought playing elevator music was funny.

“Where’s Dev?” Elizabeth asked,
claiming the chair next to mine.

“Bryson finally arrived. She went out
front to meet him.” I rolled my eyes.

“Only Devon would meet a guy in the
morning and manage to convince him to be her date to prom that
night,” Cooper laughed.

Kannon returned and handed me a
Shirley Temple complete with two cherries and a cocktail
straw.

“Thanks,” I said, accepting the
drink.

Kannon took the seat on my
other side and sipped his own faux cocktail. My friends continued
to talk around me, but my attention was on the door. I wanted to
see Devon the moment she walked in. Maybe I’d seen too many
Lifetime
movies, but
images of Devon being dragged into a car kicking and screaming kept
playing in my mind.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Principal Beam
has just informed me that we will be announcing your Westwood High
king and queen in the next hour. Polls will close shortly, though,
so make sure to cast your votes,” the DJ announced over the
microphone. “For now, let’s get this dance floor filled back
up!”

A Bruno Mars song started
to play. Elizabeth clapped her hands and declared, “I
love
this song,” before
dragging Cooper back to the dance floor.

“Time to make good on that promise,”
Kannon leaned close and whispered in my ear.

I smiled and took his hand, and
together we joined my classmates. Next to us, Cooper and Elizabeth
were doing a poor impression of ballroom dancing. When Cooper
dipped Elizabeth backward, her long hair swept the ground. There
was something oddly familiar about the scene. A feeling of déjà vu
swept over me, making my stomach queasy and my head
spin.

“Have I told you how amazing you look
tonight?” Kannon murmured, pressing his cheek to my
forehead.

I swallowed the lump in my throat.
He’d told me several times already, and each time the words had
thrilled me. But now, the effect was different. Instead of heat
rushing to my cheeks, the temperature in the room seemed to
drop.

“Thanks,” I replied in a hollow
voice.

While we moved in time to
the music, I continued to watch the entrance like a hawk. The
ominous, foreboding sensation intensified. I knew any moment Devon
would walk through the front door and she wouldn’t be alone. Bryson
Daniels would be with her, with frosted blonde hair that made him
look like a boy band member from the 90s and all. Whether Bryson
actually was friends with Abby and Kilbi, I had no idea. But
I
had
met him
before; he’d been at my birthday party. The dreams were coming back
to me, one detail at a time.

A much faster song replaced the Bruno
Mars love ballad and Kannon released me, quickly picking up the new
rhythm. I remained where I was, gold heels rooted to the ground.
Just as I’d known they would be, Devon and Bryson were holding
hands as they entered the ballroom.

“Endora, what’s wrong?” Kannon asked,
grabbing my hand and attempting to get me to dance with him. When I
failed to respond, Kannon followed my gaze. The grip on my fingers
became painful almost instantly.

I turned, and looked up at him. His
jaw was clenched tightly, causing small lines to appear around his
mouth. His eyes were narrowed, and the small tingles running up my
arm from his touch became jolts. My arm shook and my teeth
chattered as if I’d been tasered.

“Kannon.” I whimpered his
name.

He released my hand quickly like I’d
been the one to shock him and not the other way around. I cradled
my arm over my chest, and waited for the aftershocks to die
down.

“Do you know him?” I asked.

Kannon shook his head but didn’t meet
my gaze. He was lying.

“Who is he, Kannon?”

No answer.

“Kannon, please. Devon is my best
friend. If she’s in danger, you need to tell me.”

He finally turned and met my gaze,
green eyes giving away nothing. His face was now relaxed,
expression neutral. The slight trembling of his fingers when he
tucked a stray curl behind my ear was all that betrayed his true
feelings. He was scared.

“She’s not in danger. Not
exactly. That kid is a real jackass, though. I don’t
know
him, know him. But
I’ve seen him around and I’ve heard the rumors. He has a reputation
for sleeping with a girl and then never calling her
again.”

I studied Kannon, searching for some
indication that he was lying. His face was a mask - a beautiful,
unreadable mask.

“I see…” I said slowly. “I should warn
her.” Not that Devon was going to take my advice, not with the way
she became all googly-eyed when someone mentioned
Bryson.

I weaved through my classmates,
careful not to get the hem of my dress caught under anyone’s heels.
Kannon called my name, but I didn’t turn around. There was more to
the story than he was telling me. I had no doubt that Bryson
Daniels, if that was even his real name, had a playboy reputation.
But that alone didn’t explain the anger or the fear Kannon was
hiding.