Unauthorized Access (35 page)

He luxuriated in the warmth of her. His breath caught each time she moved against him, whenever she created contact of her own volition. He wanted more, and more still.

Tim was aware that Lesley spoke to him from time to time, but he didn’t hear much of what she said. His head buzzed and swirled with the booze and the passion. He was fully occupied with the promise of skin and hair and warmth and not much else, except his overwhelming need to be accepted by her completely. He had waited for such a long time, hoping against hope this day would eventually arrive, and now it was worth every moment. Oh, so worth it.

“… out here.”

Tim opened his eyes and struggled to pay attention to the sound of her voice. She had one leg draped over his, which made it next to impossible for him to concentrate.

“Huh?”

Lesley grinned and moved her face even closer to his.

“I said this was a good idea,” she said, “coming out here.”

She had amazing eyes. Tim wanted to kiss them so badly.

“Definitely,” he said. His tongue felt sluggish.

Lesley ran one hand up the front of his t-shirt and ended up with her index finger on his lips. Tim’s pulse raced even faster. He gave the finger a clumsy kiss.

She smiled at him. “Are you glad we’re here?”

Oh God yes.

“You have no idea,” he breathed, and then leaned in to kiss her neck.

Lesley drew in a sharp breath at the touch of his lips. Her leg came up so her hip was resting squarely on his. If only she would move that hip over just a few more inches.

She brought her face directly in front of his.

“Me too,” she said in a husky whisper.

Tim’s world shrank to the few inches that separated her smiling face from his own. The line that separated reality from his hopes blurred. Of course she was glad. He had been right. They were going to be great together. Happiness flooded through his body once more. Tim and Lesley against the world. He had never felt such oneness with another human being.

“That’s why,” she said, “isn’t it?”

Tim had no idea what she was talking about. He was going to ignore her and press his face into her neck again, but Lesley planted both of her elbows on his chest and looked down at him with her chin in her hands.

“Come on,” she said playfully, “that’s why you did it, right?”

Tim blinked in confusion. He had no idea what she was talking about, but he wanted more than anything to keep her happy.

“Did what?”

She grinned and moved fully on top of him, giving him a little hip wiggle that made him moan.

“You know,” she said, “like you were telling me before, what you did to the bank’s computer.”

Her eyes twinkled as she looked at him expectantly. Tim couldn’t remember talking about this earlier, but then again he wasn’t exactly thinking straight at the moment. All he knew was that she seemed plenty happy about it, and he was definitely up for anything that would put Lesley in a more agreeable mood.

She put one hand on his cheek and said, “You made it so we could be together.”

A warm feeling of acceptance flushed through Tim.

“Of course,” he said.

“Was it hard to do?”

He rubbed his stubbly cheek against the palm of her hand, luxuriating in the feel of her skin on his. “Hard to do what?”

“You know, coming up with the keyword and everything.”

Tim’s longstanding secretive instincts tried to bust through his internal buzz, but Lesley quieted them by leaning her forehead down to his and saying, “Hmmm?”

A sloppy grin appeared on his face.

“It’s you,” he said, “your name.”

A look of pure delight came over her face.

“You used my name for the keyword?”

“Yeah,” he said happily. “Lesley89. You know, the year you were born.”

Lesley blinked. Suddenly she pushed herself up and away. The warmth of her was gone, replaced by cooler air. Tim was disoriented for a moment, then lifted his head and saw her sitting at the foot of the pull-out bed.

* * *

Lesley’s lips felt numb. Her brain threatened to shut down from the shock.

“My God,” she whispered.

She had never thought about what to do if Rob’s accusations turned out to be true. She was simply doing everything possible to give her relationship with Rob a chance, and that meant testing what he had said about Tim. In truth, Lesley had been almost totally convinced Rob was lying, trying to save face. She figured she would end up apologizing to Tim for deceiving him and then she would move on. Rob would be out of her life, but at least she would have no regrets about not trying.

But now? How could Tim betray his friends like this? The treachery was beyond astounding, so huge she couldn’t wrap her mind around it.

Tim scuttled over and sat on the edge of the mattress next to her.

“Hey,” he said, “are you okay?”

Lesley stared at him. She tried to speak but words failed her. She just shook her head in disbelief.

Then it hit her. What must the past few days have been like for Rob? What must he think of her? A solid lump formed in her gut, a lump that was growing, spinning, churning.

She rushed to the bathroom and was violently sick. Afterward she remained kneeling in front of the toilet, too dejected to even get up and rinse out her mouth.

Tim appeared in the doorway. “Do you need some water or something?”

“Go away.”

“I just want to help.”

Lesley turned her head and glared up at him. She was looking at a monster. Before she knew what she was doing, she sprang to her feet and tried to slap him. He jerked back so only two of her fingernails grazed the side of his face, then he backed up a couple of steps. Lesley stayed right in his face, matching him step for step.

* * *

Tim’s muddled mind reeled in complete shock, trying desperately to catch up with how suddenly his night had disintegrated. Every fiber of the woman in front of him quivered with fury.

“Help?” Lesley said through clenched teeth. “You want to help?”

“Well yeah, but—”

“Don’t you think you’ve done enough?”

She practically spat the words at him. “You do your best to put my uncle’s bank out of business and send my fiancé to prison, and now you want to help?”

Tim’s mouth had gone completely dry. He had to think, find a way to fix this, figure out how to make her happy again.

“No, it’s like you said. I wanted us to be together.”

He hated the pleading tone of his voice but he couldn’t help it.

Lesley wrinkled her nose in disgust.

“How could you?” she said.

“But … you were happy. You know, about the keyword and everything.”

“I was lying you stupid ass,” she screamed. “You manipulating son of a bitch!”

Tim’s face went white. That’s when it sunk in. The dream was over. Finally and totally gone. He and Lesley would never be together. A feeling of utter despair washed through him, cutting through much of the alcoholic haze and helping him look back on the evening with more clarity than he really wanted.

This was the same old story all over again, one more girl rejecting him, telling him he wasn’t good enough. Anger lines appeared between his eyes and his mouth curled into a sneer.

“You tricked me,” he said.

Lesley’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“You hypocritical bastard,” she shouted, and took another swing at him.

This time Tim caught her wrist and held on. When she tried to hit him with her other hand, he grabbed that as well.

Lesley yanked frantically, trying to free her wrists from his grasp. “Let … me …
GO!
”

Suddenly all the frustration Tim had been holding in for years welled up inside him, begging for an excuse to come pouring out. A snarl of rage transformed his face.

* * *

Rob stood looking at his Pathfinder’s damaged fender. Dim light from across the field reflected in the peaks and valleys of crumpled metal. The headlight on that side was smashed. He supposed in the daylight he would be able to see flecks of paint from the car he had pushed aside.

Damaged goods, just like his life. Except his car could be repaired. Order a few new parts, a little bodywork, and there you go, good as new. If only the rest of his problems were so easy to fix.

Rob’s face hardened in the darkness. Since when did he need things to be easy? He looked back at the cabin and something deep down inside clicked into place. He shoved his car keys in his pocket and lurched his way back across the field. The view in the window wasn’t as traumatic this time. The foldout couch was unoccupied. Or perhaps that was worse. Maybe they had finished what they had started.

As he neared the cabin, Rob wondered how to make his entrance. Was the door likely to be locked? They would hardly be expecting—

“Let … me …
GO!
”

Rob felt a surge of adrenaline when he heard the distress in Lesley’s voice. He hobbled the last few steps as quickly as he could and found the door unlocked. Bursting in, he saw Tim struggling to hold Lesley. Her eyes widened when she saw him.

“Rob, help me,” she screamed.

Tim barely had time to half-turn his head before Rob grabbed him by one arm and threw him backwards. Tim struck the kitchen table with the back of his thighs.

The crazed rage on Tim’s face was unlike anything Rob had ever seen. The sight galvanized Rob. At last he had a target for his pent-up fury. He started toward Tim, who pushed off the table and met him halfway. They came together in a frenzy of clutching and swinging, each of them trying to rain as much mayhem as possible on the other. Tim’s open hand clawed its way across Rob’s face. Rob managed to get his elbow up and block the second swipe before countering with a punch of his own. Tim’s head snapped back and Rob felt the satisfaction of solid contact with Tim’s nose.

Seizing the advantage, Rob drove forward and the two of them toppled to the floor. Rob straddled Tim’s chest and started pummeling Tim’s head. Tim did his best to protect himself, but one of his hands was caught beneath Rob’s knee. The lower half of Tim’s face quickly became slick with blood from his lips and nose.

Lesley was suddenly at Rob’s shoulder, trying to pull him away.

“Rob, stop it!”

Rob jerked his shoulder out of her grasp. His need to punish the pitiful looking creature beneath him winked out, though, instantly displaced by a flash of anger toward Lesley. He gave Tim one final disgusted push and struggled to his feet.

He rounded on Lesley.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” he roared at her. “And with him?”

Lesley flinched as if he had taken a swing at her.

“No,” she said. “It’s not—”

“Do you know what I’ve been through trying to find you?” He gestured angrily toward the pull-out couch. “And then I find the two of you like this?”

“It’s not what you think. You don’t understand.”

Tim pushed himself up onto one elbow and wiped blood away from his mouth with one forearm.

“I guess now you know,” he said to Rob.

Rob drew in a quivering breath between clenched teeth and stifled the urge to launch himself at Tim again.

“That’s not true,” Lesley said.

“Dammit, Lesley,” Rob said, “I saw the two you on that couch.”

“You see?” Tim said to Lesley with a smirk on his face. “He saw us.”

“Shut up!” Lesley’s eyes blazed with hatred at Tim. She looked back at Rob.

“Don’t believe a word he says. He’s been lying all along, about everything. Just a few minutes ago he admitted sabotaging the bank accounts, even told me the keyword.”

Rob felt a rush of heat to his face as all the suspicions he had lined up in his mind suddenly fell like dominoes.

Tim managed a surprised look and a tiny smile as he stood up.

“I never said any such thing.”

Rob grabbed a handful of Tim’s bloody T-shirt.

“You lying bastard. How could you set me up like that?”

Tim threw off Rob’s hand with an angry twist of his shoulder. He staggered back a step and flashed a bloody grin.

“You’re going to believe her? Man, she’s just messing with your head. You should hear the stories she told me about you.”

“Rob, I never—”

“I’m not buying your lies anymore,” Rob said to Tim. “I know it was you. The only part I can’t figure out is why.”

“You’re crazy,” Tim said and spat blood on the cabin floor. “She’s been playing you and me for a long time. I can see that now. She’s just like all the rest of them.”

Tim went to walk past Rob, who moved over to block his path.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Rob said.

“What? You want to beat me up some more? I need to get something for my face.”

Tim shouldered his way past Rob and headed for the kitchen where he pulled a dishtowel from one of the drawers. He moved to the sink and started running water over the rag.

Rob turned his attention to Lesley. She had trouble meeting his eyes.

“What you saw in the window,” she said. “It’s not what you think.”

“Yeah right,” Tim said, and then laughed. He pressed the damp towel to his bleeding mouth and wandered into the bedroom.

Rob paid him no attention. He held up his hands, palms facing Lesley.

“What the hell do you want me to say?” he said. “You say he’s lying. He says you’re lying. The whole goddamn world is turned upside down.”

Tears brimmed in Lesley’s eyes. When she spoke her voice quivered with stress.

“I know and I’m so sorry for what you’ve had to go through. I promise everything I said is true. He did tell me the keyword. Oh God can we just get out of here and go call the police? Please?”

Rob wanted to believe her but he was too exhausted to think straight. He just felt heavy all over, like every ounce of energy had been drained from his entire body. He sighed and dejectedly shook his head.

“All right,” he said, “let’s go.”

“I don’t think so,” Tim said as he emerged from the bedroom.

He shoved a shell into the shotgun, snapped the gun shut and leveled it in the direction of Rob and Lesley. His eyes were full of frightened desperation.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

C
HAPTER
T
HIRTY-
S
IX