“The outside,” he said without flinching. He said it with such certainty that it made Lucy do a double take.
“Yeah, right.”
“You never know.”
Will was so full of surprises. Who knows? Maybe he could pull it off.
“Yeah, but even so, we can’t go out there,” Lucy said. “We might kill someone. We just have to wait until it’s our turn to get out.”
“I bet we could make it to the mountains without getting near any adults. We could get a bunch of gear, hike in, and camp out in the woods.”
“For two and a half years?”
“It’s doable. It’d be better than this hellhole.” Lucy extended her arms, kicked, and floated on her back.
She stared upward. Undulating blue light reflected off the water’s surface and frolicked across the ceiling. Maybe they could hide out at the lake house. No one was there in the winter. Lucy sighed, more relaxed than she’d been in a long time. She moved her hands gently back and forth in the water.
She slowly realized exactly how much of her body was float-ing above the water, exposed to Will. Even though she’d never eaten so sparingly in her life, her body felt fuller than it did a year ago. She could feel his eyes slide across her exposed skin and linger on the places kept hidden. She blushed, and there was no way to hide it. She could sense his desire. The power her body had over guys excited her.
Lucy glanced over at Will and caught him staring. She smiled at him. He looked away. “I’ll be back.” Lucy lifted her head and sank her body back in the water.
Will was swimming for the side of the pool. He tore through the water with long, hard strokes.
“Where are you going?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“Another surprise?”
How many surprises could he have? Will pulled himself out of the pool. His wet boxers clung to him. Will knelt down by his clothes and reached his hand into the pocket of his jeans.
Lucy did a little kick in the water and glided left to get a better view of what he was getting.
Will stood up, his fist closed around something. They locked eyes across the water. Will smiled. Lucy watched his closed hand as he walked back to the pool. What was he holding? It had to be a condom.
Oh, no. She shouldn’t have gotten down to her underwear so fast. Should she not have smiled at him like that? Did she make him think she wanted him? He eased back into the water.
Lucy’s heart fluttered. She took a deep breath to steady herself. Will waded toward her, the water lapping against his chest. He stared at her with purpose. She shouldn’t have let him tickle her. This was happening too fast. Her mind flashed with the question, If Will did try something right then, would she let him? She wasn’t sure. Will’s hands rose out of the water. Draped between them was a glittering gold necklace with a diamond pendant. She wanted to go back underwater.
“What’s this?”
Will didn’t speak. He leaned close, his cheek touched hers as he fastened the clasp of the necklace behind her neck.
“I just like you so much…,” Will said.
Lucy couldn’t breathe. All she wanted was to have a little fun. This was much more serious to Will. He moved his mouth toward hers, his lips beginning to part.
I’ll only hurt him, she thought. Lucy lowered her head just as Will’s nose touched hers. He tried to reach her lips. She turned away. Oh, God. What had she done?
Will stayed frozen, mouth open, as if he didn’t want the moment to be real. She saw the hope in his eyes die. It was replaced with a naked embarrassment. He shrank away from her. The water felt too cold all of a sudden.
“I’m sorry,” Lucy said. She didn’t know what else to say.
24
David loved his gang.
If his messy hookup with Hilary had taught him anything, it was that he was lucky to have so many people around him that he trusted. There definitely weren’t any Loners asking him to murder someone. They were his family, and he was proud. It was time to celebrate them.
David walked down to the lounge where people had gathered for breakfast and a morning screening of a National Geographic video on Will’s flat screen. He passed Gonzalo and the twins sitting on the stairs, eating a black bean breakfast. The twins were mashing their beans into a paste and spreading it onto crackers they pulled from their pockets.
He noticed that the crackers had green fur on them. Gonzalo groaned.
“Damn! How long have those been in your pockets?” Gonzalo said.
“A while,” the girl said.
“They went bad,” Gonzalo said. “Don’t eat that shit.”
“If they was black, they gone bad,” the boy said.
“If it’s black, send it back. If it’s got fuzz, eat it just becuz,” the girl said, then giggled. The boy guffawed through a mouth of beans and crackers and mold.
“Will y’all get the hell outta here?” Gonzalo growled. “You’re ruining my breakfast.”
The twins laughed at Gonzalo even harder this time, then picked up their breakfast and headed upstairs, arm in arm.
David smiled. He liked the twins. They were dirty, rank, and weird as hell, but they stuck together. Half of David’s gang was weird. There was Drew; he would take off running at the drop of a hat, and people would have to chase him down to bring him back. There was Sal, who’d eat anything on a dare.
David had seen him eat belts, drywall, feathers, and one of Ritchie’s scabs. And of course, there was Vincent; he was a compulsive liar. It was harmless stuff, but fun to listen to. He claimed he’d knocked out a cow with one punch. Evidently, his father was the personal drug dealer to the vice president of the United States. And once he’d been run over by a tank.
The Loners were about as far you could get from David’s old football friends, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.
David moved to the center of the crowded landing and put his arms up, “Hey, everybody! Can I get your ears for a minute?” All the chattering went quiet. Someone clicked off the TV just as a grizzly bear snagged a jumping salmon.
“Everybody here has worked really hard to turn the Loners into respectable presence in this school. We’ve made a name for ourselves. We fight like a team, and because of that nobody’s hungry… well, you might be hungry, but nobody’s starving.”
They all laughed eagerly.
“We’ve got a safe place to sleep at night. We can defend ourselves. And every single one of you is going to graduate, because every single one of you is committed to the gang.
You’ve changed my life, and I want to say thank you. We’re going to have to hustle a little harder at the next drop to make up for the expense, but I struck a deal with the Geeks this morning, and… you’re all going to the Geek show tomorrow night.”
Ecstatic cheers cut David off. He raised his hands to try to quiet everyone down.
“And… I’m waiting to hear back from the Nerds on their phone supply, but we should be able to strike a deal this after-noon. There probably won’t be enough for everybody right away, but we’ll get there, okay?”
More shouts of approval.
“So, here’s the only bummer. Tomorrow night, we’re going to have to do shifts for the Geek show. Just like on market days, one group is going to have to stay behind to guard the Stairs, but then we’ll rotate through the
