Riley's Secret (A Moon's Glow Novel # 1) (8 page)

“I’m sorry, this doesn’t concern you. I’m just trying
to have a conversation with my girlfriend,” Brandon explained, marking his
territory. What was next? Was he going to pee on me?

Nate laughed darkly. “We all know she’s not your
girlfriend. Now move aside and let her go.” His voice was deep and commanding.

I squeezed through Brandon and Shane, but before I
could walk away Shane gripped my arm again. “We’re not through with you yet.”

I glanced down at his hand, about to tell him off.,
but was suddenly at the end of the hall. Nate had pulled me out of Shane’s grip
and I was now standing behind him.

“Leave her alone,” Nate growled to the trio. They
gaped at us, wondering, like I was, how I got to where I was so fast. Nate took
me by my arm and led me to class.

“I’ll pick you up when class is over. It doesn’t
appear that they’re going to give up.”

“What am I supposed to do? If I tell, it might get
worse.”

His eyebrows creased into a worried expression. “I
don’t know. I’ll think about it. But wait for me. I’m going to walk you to
classes and it looks like we’ll be eating together after all.”

“So much for your no socializing rule.”

For the second time today, I saw a genuine smile.
“You’re going to ruin my reputation,” he said softly. My heart raced as I
watched him disappear into the crowded hallway and I felt myself smile,
butterflies dancing in my stomach.
Oh no
. I recognized these symptoms. I
had feelings for Nate Green. And I’d probably had them for years.

Science class went by in a blur; I didn’t even know
what we discussed. All I kept thinking about was Nate walking me to my next
class.

Near the end of the hour I received a text from Mandy.
Are
you coming to cheerleading practice?

I texted her back.
I quit
.

She sent me another one.
What? Why??

To hopefully end this conversation, I texted her one
last time:
Since
your boyfriend and his friends threatened me, I no longer want to hang out with
any of you.

It worked. She didn’t answer, although I knew I would
hear from her eventually.

Class ended and I was thrilled when I saw Nate leaning
against a locker waiting for me. I smiled at him. “Hi.” With the new knowledge
of my feelings, it was hard for me to hide them.

His brow creased in confusion when he saw my
expression. “Hi. You ready?”

“
Mm hmm
.”

“Let’s go,” he said, looking at me strangely.

On our way to class we saw Lauren Riley. She seemed
extremely surprised to see us together. She waved at her friends Allison Avery
and Lily Kendal and then stopped in front of me. “Hi, Megan, how are you?”

It was a little odd that she was talking to me. Our
conversations usually consisted of a smile and a nod, at most, a quick hi. “Hi,
Lauren.” There was a silence as Lauren glanced at Nate with a wide grin.

“Let’s go,” Nate mumbled, leading me away.

I turned around and saw Lauren standing where we had
left her, that grin still on her face. I glanced up at Nate. “What was that
about?”

He shrugged, staring straight ahead. “How should I
know? She was talking to you.”

We entered geography just as Miss Wilkinson was
calling the class to order. Nate took an empty seat two rows away instead of
his usual seat on the other side of the classroom. During the lesson, I peeked
at him a few times, but he was always looking ahead, listening to the teacher.

After school Nate met me at my locker. “I think I’m
fine,” I told him. “You don’t have to escort me everywhere.”

“Yes, I do. They threatened you. You need to take this
seriously.”

I slammed my locker door shut. A metallic clang rang
out that echoed down the hall. “Fine, let’s go then.” I followed him to the
parking lot.

“Are you sure you’re fine?” he asked, pointing to my
car. Mouth open, I circled the vehicle. Every single tire was slashed. I looked
up to see who was around.

Mandy and the rest of them were standing at Shane’s
SUV laughing. Well, Mandy wasn’t. She was watching me with a look of concern on
her face.

Nate glared at them so intensely, I thought I heard
him growl.

“Come on, drive me home.” I pulled him away, not really
knowing where I was going since I didn’t know where he parked. His anger only
grew as we took a few steps away. “Where is your car?”

He pointed to the black convertible I had seen at
Riley House. I dragged him toward it. I knew that if I didn’t get him away from
them, he would start a fight. I had never seen him so enraged.

“Are you volunteering tonight?” I asked him after we
had been driving for a while.

His anger had somewhat diminished, his body was still
rigid and he was quiet, but his eyes no longer held the rage they had earlier.
“No. I was supposed to, but after today I thought I might hang out with you if
that’s okay.”

Nothing would make me happier. “Sure.” I reached down
to change the radio station, hoping to hide the joy that was surely showing on
my face. “Although if you want, we can both volunteer, I enjoy it. I’m really
sorry about what happened Friday night, but I’m glad I got a chance to go to
Riley’s and meet all those people.” He didn’t look at me as I spoke, just
focused on the road ahead. “When I gave those women my old clothes that I never
wear, they were so happy. It made me feel like I belonged somewhere. And I’ve
never felt that way before.”

He finally turned his head and gazed at me. His face
was more relaxed. All the anger had slipped away. “You’re not close with your
family?”

I laughed darkly. “No, I’m not. I’ve never had a real
family. Instead of love and companionship, they give me cars, clothes and all
the latest technology. All I want is to have a real relationship with them, but
it will never happen. I gave up trying years ago. At least if I had brothers or
sisters we could bond in our mutual annoyance of our parents, but my mother
always told me that one child was enough. She was never going to ruin her body
again. Isn’t that a sweet thing to say to her only child?” I glanced out the
window, watching the houses as we drove by. “I don’t want to whine about my
family anymore.”

We were silent for the last few miles, until we
reached my driveway. “Where should I park?” Nate asked, pulling into the long
paved drive.

“Over there, it’s closest to my room. I won’t subject
you to meeting my parents, although they’re probably not home anyway.” We
climbed out of the car and he followed me to my patio door.

“It wasn’t locked?” Nate asked after following me
inside. He sat down on the chair by the door.

“No, but there is always someone here.”

“That doesn’t matter. If one of your so-called friends
came, they could let themselves in and no one would hear.”

“I never thought of that. I’ll lock it from now on.” I
plopped down on my bed, throwing my bag on the floor by my TV. “You never
answered my question. Do you want to go to Riley House?”

He smiled. “Not tonight. I called Julia earlier and
she’s covering for me. I can’t stay too long, though. I should leave by seven.”

“Why, do you have a date?”

“No, I told you I don’t date.”

“No, you said you don’t socialize at school. Who knows
what you do outside of those walls.” I smirked at him, folding my arms in front
of me.

He smiled. “Well, I’ll say it now, I don’t date. I
have too much going on in my life. Like tonight, I have something to do.” He
picked up a picture of Mona and me. We were sitting by the swimming pool eating
lunch. Ben had taken the picture. “Who’s this?”

“Mona. She’s the closest person I have to a mother.
She was my nanny until I was twelve. Now she’s our cook.”

He put the picture back down where it had sat on the
small table beside his chair. “I’m going to call a tow truck and have your car
towed to a body shop I use. The owner is a friend of mine.” He took his phone
out of his pocket and made the arrangements.

“Thank you,” I said once he hung up.

“You’re welcome. Louis said your car will be ready
tomorrow afternoon. If you want I can take you to school and drop you off at
the shop on the way to Riley House.”

“Why are you being so nice to me? Two days ago you
couldn’t look at me without a scowl. Now you’re helping me?”

He shrugged. “Someone’s trying to push you around and
I don’t like bullies.” He stood up and walked around my room, slowly glancing
at pictures and knickknacks scattered on shelves and my nightstand. “I’ll get
Louis to send me the bill.”

“No. I can’t let you pay for new tires.”

He stopped, turned around and smiled. “Oh, I’m not
paying for them. I’m going to get him to divide the bill into three and then
I’m going to send them to Shane’s, Chris’s and Brandon’s fathers.”

I laughed. “Won’t that tick them off even more?”

“I don’t care. Don’t worry; I won’t let them hurt
you.” His voice was filled with emotion; the look on his face was filled with
resolve.

“Are you hungry?” I asked, suddenly feeling awkward.

He nodded.

“Let’s go down and raid the fridge.”

His lips twitched upwards. “Sure. But after that, I
have to leave.”

“Okay.” I took his hand and led him out. To my surprise
he didn’t pull away.

“Hey, Mona, what’s good to eat? I’ve got a starving
guy here and he eats a lot.” I sat down on the bar stool beside Nate. The smell
of onions and butter filled the kitchen. Mona was standing at the counter
grating cheese into a bowl.

A big grin crossed her face when she saw the two of us
in front of her. “Who’s this? He’s new.”

“Mona, this is Nate. Nate, this is Mona.” She smiled,
wiped her hands on the bright purple apron she was wearing and extended one to
take the hand Nate offered. “Nate?” Her eyes creased, deep in thought. “Oh
you’re the boy—”

“Mona!” I yelled. She looked at me with an amused
expression. Nate looked confused.

She pulled her hand back. “Never mind. So, you two are
hungry, are you? Well, today is your lucky day. I just made beef fajitas,
Megan’s favorite. Is that alright with you, Nate?” she asked him.

Nate glanced down at all the dishes on the counter.
“Yes, it sounds delicious. Megan and I will help bring everything out if you’d
like.”

She laughed. “Megan? Doing household chores. That’s a
laugh.”

Nate smiled. “You’d be surprised. She was very helpful
on the weekend. She even did a good job cleaning the toilets.”

As he was speaking Mona was taking a sip of her iced
tea. But when he mentioned what I had done on the weekend, she spit some of her
drink onto the counter. She took some paper towels down from the cupboard to
wipe up her mess. “Ah…did you just say she cleaned toilets?”

He was chuckling. I stared at him, daring him to make
fun of me. “She did a good job,” he said, standing up. He took Mona’s hand and
pulled her to a chair. “Why don’t you take a break while we handle the rest?”

I gathered a few dishes she had prepared and carried
them over to the table.

“No, that’s okay, really, it’s what they pay me for,”
Mona protested, but took the seat at the table Nate gestured to.

“No, Nate’s right. Just relax for a change.”

She stared at me as if she didn’t recognize my face.
“Nate, who is this girl and what have you done with my Megan?”

Nate laughed, a little too long.

“Very funny. Now you better be quiet or I’ll change my
mind.” I carried the pan of sliced beef and set it in the middle of the table
on top of a pot holder. Nate brought over the vegetables and cheese. After I
placed the sour cream and fajita shells on the table, we were ready to eat.

Ben came in just as we each assembled our first
fajita. I stood up and took out a plate for him, placing it beside Mona. He
eyed me curiously and sat down. I made introductions to Ben and Nate and we
enjoyed a friendly dinner.

They joked at my expense and we discussed the classes
Nate and I were taking at school. Mona told silly stories about me growing up,
which earned the occasional glare from me.

This was what I had imagined it would be like to bring
my boyfriend home to meet my parents. The problem was, they weren’t my parents
and he wasn’t my boyfriend. But we had a fun dinner anyway, until my mother
walked in. “There you are. I have been looking for you.” She glared at me, her
soft blue eyes narrowed. “Who’s this?” she asked, leaning against the counter
when she noticed Nate. Her expression changed, adding a flirtatious smile.

“Mom, this is my friend Nate. And this is my mother,
Heather Banks.”

Nate stood up and shook her hand. She smiled, batting
her eyelashes; my mother’s famous move. But thankfully Nate was already turning
around to sit back down, so he didn’t see it.