Bleeding Hearts - 15. Chapter 15

I was waiting nervously in the living room for Mom to arrive, pacing back and forth like one of the big cats at the zoo. Mom wouldn’t tell me on the phone why she wanted to see me. All she would say was that it was the kind of thing we needed to talk about in person. I could tell something was wrong.

Finally, I heard her pull up outside. I was at the front door before she even got out of the car. Her appearance confirmed my fears. Something was definitely wrong. Her clothes were rumpled and wrinkled, as if she’d slept in them. When she straightened up, the wind caught her hair and blew it back from her face. I felt my knees buckle under me, and I had to grab the doorjamb to keep from falling. One whole side of her face was an angry purple bruise, and her left eye was swollen shut. As she came toward me, I noticed she was walking with a slight limp.

I tried to swallow around the lump that had formed in my throat, tried to say something—anything—but I couldn’t find my voice. I wanted to run to her and take her in my arms, but I seemed rooted to the spot.

She stopped midway across the yard and attempted to give me a smile. “I make a pretty sight, huh, kiddo?”

Her voice released me from my state of shock, and I leapt from the porch and ran to her, catching her in an embrace.

“Oh!” she gasped as I squeezed her. “Be careful, honey. I have a few cracked ribs.”

I backed away quickly, actively fighting tears, and looked at her again. She was in even worse shape up close.

“He did this to you, didn’t he?” I finally managed to whisper hoarsely.

She looked at me for a minute, then linked her arm with mine and started toward the door. “Come on, let’s go on inside.”

We made our way to the living room—I wasn’t sure who was leading whom—and settled on the couch. I suddenly felt like a little boy again, frightened and confused and just wanting my mommy to comfort me. I laid my head gently against her shoulder. She heaved a long heavy sigh and began to stroke my hair.

“What happened?” I finally asked.

“We fought.”

“Obviously. But what about?”

“That hardly matters.”

“It was about me, wasn’t it?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What will you do now?”

“I’m going to live with Kate in Pennsylvania.”

I sat up and turned so I could look into her eyes. “What?”

“I can’t stay here, Killian. That became very clear last night. I’m going to move in with Kate and help take care of the kids for a while.”

Kate was my mom’s sister, but I didn’t know her very well since she and my dad didn’t get along at all. Her husband had died about a year before, leaving her with a bunch of kids to raise alone. I didn’t know any of my cousins, wasn’t even sure how many there were. She was up to at least six or seven, last I’d heard. I hadn’t seen any of them since I was four or five, and I only had the vaguest memories of that visit. There’d only been three then—a boy a year or two older than me, a girl a year younger, and a toddler—but I could clearly picture my aunt who was enormously pregnant at the time with kid number four. I had a fuzzy memory of playing with the oldest boy, but I couldn’t even recall his name. Hayden? Caiden? Something like that.

“You’re just leaving? You can’t let him get away with this again, Mom.”

“Trust me, I’m not. I’m done being a doormat. After I drove myself to the hospital last night, I told the doctor everything that happened. She called the police, who came and took a formal statement. I pressed charges. Adam was right. We should have pressed charges after he beat you. I was just afraid of the repercussions.”

“What’s going to happen now?”

“That’s a good question.” She stood up and limped slowly to the window looking out over the beach and the ocean. “I haven’t been home. I spent the night in the hospital and all day talking to my lawyer. I haven’t seen or spoken to your father since he...did this. I’m not supposed to go to the house without a police escort. Knowing your father, he’ll squirm out of this somehow. No matter what happens, though, he’s going to be very angry. He knows a lot of people around here. I don’t think it’s safe for me to stay in town.”

I nodded with a frown. “You’ll definitely be safer at Aunt Kate’s, but that’s so far away. I won’t get to see you very often.”

Mom turned to look at me in surprise. “You’re going with me.”

“What?”

“I want you to go with me.”

“But I don’t even know Aunt Kate.”

“You’ll love her. I talked to her last night. She can’t wait for us to get there.”

“You made these plans without even asking me?”

“I just assumed you’d want to be with me. I think you’ll like it there. She lives in a nice town with good schools. You’ll have all your cousins around to keep you company.”

“I’ve never even met them!”

“So you’ll get to know them.”

I stood up and started pacing. “But...but...”

“But what, Killian?” Exasperation filled her voice.

“I don’t want to go.”

“You...don’t want to go?” I could tell she was hurt.

“I don’t want to leave. I like living with Adam. I’m happy here. I don’t want to move away right now. I —”

I almost said that I couldn’t leave until I’d found out who killed Seth, but I stopped myself just in time. Somehow, I doubted Mom would think that was an acceptable reason for staying.

Her face crumpled. “I don’t understand.”

“I just can’t drop everything and go. I’m happy now. Maybe you can move in with me and Adam.”

“No.” She was starting to get angry now. “That’s not far enough. I need to leave. I have to get as far away from him as possible. You of all people should understand that. Do you see what he did to me?” She pointed to her face. “And I want you away from him, too.”

I bit my lip. “He’s left me alone since I moved in here.”

“So far. What happens if he decides his gay son is becoming too much of an embarrassment? What if he decides you’re a handicap to his campaign? You’re no safer here than I am. I wouldn’t put it past him to try and use you against me.”

“I’m willing to take that risk.”

“Well, I’m not, damn it! You’re all I’ve got now. This is your life we’re talking about. Do you want to end up dead like your friend Seth?”

My breath caught in my throat, and I stared at her in horror. She glared back at me, her eyes flashing with anger—but beyond that, I realized, fear.

Then suddenly her eyes changed. All the anger drained out as if someone had pulled a plug, leaving only the fear. She swayed in the center of the room, and for a moment, I thought she was going to collapse. I rushed to her side, but she waved me off. She walked to the nearest chair and lowered herself gingerly into it.

“I’m sorry, Killian. That was uncalled for. You’re right. There’s no sense in dragging you out of school and away from your friends. You’re as safe here with Adam as you’d be anywhere. If your father wants to find us, Kate’s is the first place he’ll look. She never liked him, and she’s the only family I have. We’ll talk to Adam. If it’s okay with him, you can stay here.” She rubbed at her good eye and sagged back farther into the chair.

“It’s fine with me,” Adam said from the doorway, making us both jump. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Or eavesdrop either, for that matter. I came in, and I guess you didn’t hear me, but I couldn’t help hearing you.”

Mom looked at him silently, then turned and looked at me. I nodded. She sighed again and stood up.

“Then it’s settled. Killian, you’ll stay with Adam—at least until school is out. Maybe after that you can come up and spend the summer with me.”

“Mom, I’m sorry—” I started.

“Killian, it’s okay. Really. Now that I think about it, it makes a lot more sense this way. Kate has enough kids in the house without adding yet another. Plus, you’d be in a new place with no friends. At least here you have Asher.” I tried not to flinch at that. “Besides, Adam’s proven he’s responsible. He’s been good to you, better than your own father.”

“Meg, I said it was okay with me and it is. I’ve grown to think of Killian as another one of my sons. I just want to make certain you’re sure about this.”

“I don’t have time to be sure,” she said wearily. “I need to go. I have to call the police and go pick up my things from the house, then drive to my sister’s tonight. I’m already emotionally and physically drained. I just want to leave now before I get any more tired.”

“Can I do anything to help?” Adam’s voice was filled with concern. “Why don’t you stay here tonight and drive up tomorrow?”

Mom shook her head. “You’ve already done more than anyone could ever have expected.”

“If you’re sure...”

“I am.”

“I know you’re tired, and we don’t have to figure all this out tonight, but if you’re going to be so far away, we should probably consider some sort of legal guardianship situation. If something happens and I can’t get up with you...”

She nodded. “Yes, of course. You’re right. I... I can’t think about that right now though.”

“I have a really wonderful family lawyer that I’m already working with on another matter. I could ask her to draw up something for us, if you like.”

“That would be wonderful. Thank you, Adam. Honestly, just...thank you. It feels inadequate, but it’s all I have right now.”

“It’s more than enough.”

She turned toward me, holding out her arms, and I took her gently into mine. She seemed so frail. We stood quietly like that for a few minutes before she pulled away.

I looked into her tear-streaked face and realized how much I loved her. I knew I would miss her, but I also knew I had made the right decision. I had unfinished business I needed to deal with. There was peace inside of me, and I could see it reflected in her eyes.

“I love you, Mom,” I whispered.

“I love you, too. This isn’t forever. I’ll be back and forth. I have doctors’ appointments I’ll need to keep, and Adam and I will have to work out all the details of the guardianship. And I can’t be away from my baby on Thanksgiving, so I’ll definitely be back in a month.”

We hugged again, and then she turned to Adam. “Take care of my boy, Mr. Connelly. If anything happens to him, you’ll see what I’m capable of.” She said the last part with a smile, but I had the feeling she was deadly serious.

“I will,” Adam promised solemnly. “I’ll take care of him as if he were my own. As for Thanksgiving, we’ll expect you to stay here and have dinner with us.”

Mom nodded and looked at me one more time before she started to leave. I walked her out to the car. Adam followed as far as the front door, where he stood watching us.

She opened the car door, then paused and gave me a shaky smile. “Are you sure you won’t come with me?”

“I can’t.”

She reached out a hand and rested it on my cheek for just the briefest second, then turned to get into the car.

“Mom—”

She stopped and faced me again. I leaned in for one last hug, kissing her on the cheek before stepping back. She reached up to the spot where my lips had brushed her, and I saw a tear slip out of the corner of her eye. Then she quickly ducked into the car, backed out onto the street, and sat there looking at me for a moment. Finally, she waved one last time before pulling away.

I watched until she made the turn at the end of the street and drove out of sight. Even then, I stood staring at nothing until I felt Adam’s arm settle around my shoulders. He pulled me back toward the house and into the living room.

“It’s not forever, Killian.” He said as we sat on the couch. “She’ll be back in a few weeks.”

“I know. It won’t even be that much different from the way it’s been since I moved in with you. It’s just weird to know your whole family is out of reach in one way or another. You’re the only family I have now.”

“As I told your mom, I consider you one of my sons.”

“Well, then I guess I have a brother now, too. Any news on Kane?”

“Ilana called today. She said things are going well. Eve’s lawyer has been very cooperative so far, although they have in no way even suggested that I’ll get so much as visitation rights, let alone custody.”

“When will you know more?”

“I’m not sure. These things are complicated. Without Eve’s cooperation, this could be a long, drawn-out process. With Seth, it was easy—she didn’t want him. He was too much like me, in all the wrong ways.”

My eyes widened, and I had trouble controlling the smile that was fighting to spread across my face. If I’d been a cartoon character, a light bulb would have just appeared above my head. Nothing distracts me from a bad mood like a good project, and I’d just thought of a great one.

Adam could tell something was up. “What?” he asked me suspiciously. “I’m not sure I like that look you just got on your face. You’re up to something.”

“It’s nothing. I just remembered I have homework.”

“I’ve never seen you get so excited about homework before.” If his tone were any drier, it might have spontaneously combusted.

“First time for everything.” I jumped to my feet and headed for my room.

“You’d better not be up to something, Killian,” he called after me.

“Who, me?” I gave him my best innocent look, grabbed my backpack, and bounded up the stairs.

I shut the door and whipped out my phone to text Kane. It only took a few minutes to explain my brilliant plan.

Kane loved it and thought it just might work.

With that out of the way, I turned to my homework, just so my little fib to Adam wouldn’t be a total lie, but then groaned as I remembered I actually did have quite a bit. I probably deserved it for lying. I dumped my books out and got to work.

 

 

Jake called later that night after dinner. I’d finished the dinner dishes and was still working on a paper for history, so I was thrilled with the distraction...and even more so by who was providing the distraction.

“Hey,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound too excited that he’d called.

“Hey, Killian. I was thinking about our conversation, and I’ve decided to tell you about the other person that I saw talking to Seth. I haven’t said anything to them yet, but I will before tomorrow afternoon. How about you come over to my house around three? I mean, as long as you don’t already have plans. I know it’s a Saturday and all—”

“I’ll be there at three,” I cut him off.

“Great, I’ll see you then.”

I hung up, my mind going a hundred miles an hour trying to figure out who Jake was protecting. It had to be someone he liked or he wouldn’t care. I didn’t really know Jake all that well. I knew who he hung out with in general, but I didn’t really know who his actual friends were. Could the person in question be part of that group? I couldn’t picture a homophobic killer among them since they tended to be pretty chill and generally more tolerant than the general student body. Hadn’t Jake even said he was out to some of them?

Then again, I reminded myself, just because someone was having a conversation with Seth didn’t mean they were the killer. In fact, the killer might never have had any direct contact with Seth before the night of the murder. That was a depressing thought.

Suddenly, this seemed like a bigger project than I could handle alone. The more I turned everything over in my mind, the more muddled it all became.

In movies and books, they always make lists when they are trying to figure stuff out, so I decided to give it a try. I pulled a notebook out of my backpack and turned to a blank page, where I wrote a heading at the top: People Who Talked to Seth. Under that, I listed Asher, Zack, Jesse, Becca, and Marcus. That was all I had so far. I looked at the list and sighed. It wasn’t very much. I added a check next to Marcus’s name since I’d already spoken to him—for all the good it did—and then drew a big question mark to represent Jake’s mystery person.

I stared at the page for a few more minutes, but for the life of me, I couldn’t see anything useful. It sure didn’t make the killer pop off the page the way it always did in the movies. Frustrated, I threw the notebook across the room.

What was I doing? I wasn’t a detective. I could barely do my calculus homework. How was I supposed to find a killer? By making a list? I laughed bitterly at myself.

I was too tired to think about it anymore. I swept everything off my bed, got undressed and crawled under the covers. I’d worry about it in the morning.

 

 

I was watching a group of people from a slight distance away. I could see them clearly, but none of them seemed to notice me. It was almost as if there was a pane of one-way glass between us. I looked closely and realized I knew almost everyone in the group: Zack, Jesse, Asher, Marcus, Jake, Kane, Becca Rosinski, and someone else I couldn’t quite make out. Seth stood off to one side, not included in their little huddle. They were talking casually among themselves when suddenly the shadows around them began to undulate and swirl as if coming to life. Several wisps of darkness separated themselves and formed into a familiar person, the faceless man.

No one else seemed to notice him as he drew closer to the group. I wanted to scream and warn them, but I couldn’t make a sound. He paused a few feet away from Seth and turned his head in my direction. Even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew he was looking right at me. I felt as if he was smiling cruelly at my futile attempt to cry out to Seth.

Without warning, he reached out and grabbed Seth. There was a knife in his other hand, and with one smooth, effortless motion, he drew it across Seth’s throat. Seth crumpled to the ground, where he lay motionless in a growing pool of crimson. I tried to scream once more, but still nothing came out.

The faceless man’s cold laughter rang in my ears. Why could no one else hear it? The others hadn’t even noticed that Seth was dead. The killer closed in on them. I tried to throw myself forward to stop him, but I couldn’t move. I was helpless to do anything but watch in horror as he deliberately reached for Asher. He turned to look at me again, mocking my inability to stop him, then raised his knife in preparation to kill once more.

“Killian!” someone screamed my name, but I didn’t answer. I had to stop the faceless man. “Killian!” the voice screamed again, louder this time.

I turned to see who it was and found myself looking up at Adam leaning over my bed, one hand on my shoulder. I was still shaking from the dream. Residual images skated around the edges of my consciousness.

“Are you okay? You were having a nightmare.”

“It was awful,” I told him groggily.

“It sounded like it.” He sat down on the edge of my bed, a concerned look on his face. “I talked to that therapist yesterday, but with everything going on with your mom, it slipped my mind when I got home. I don’t have an appointment set up for you yet—I still don’t have your medical and insurance information and, since I’m not your legal guardian yet, he needs to speak to your mother—but at least I got the ball rolling. I’ll call her tomorrow—or today I suppose.”

I nodded absently. I was only half listening, my mind still on the dream.

“Do you think you can go back to sleep?” he asked me.

I nodded again, and he stood up, ruffling my hair before leaving the room.

Even with the nightmare fresh in my mind, I was asleep again in minutes. My body was just too exhausted to fight it anymore.

If I had any more dreams that night, I mercifully didn’t remember it in the morning.

 

 

I kept myself busy the next day to keep from dwelling on the latest twist in my nightmares.

I got up, showered, and ate breakfast while watching a few Saturday-morning cartoons. Then I decided to clean my room, which had become amazingly messy in the short time I’d lived there.

I was half under the bed trying to reach a stray sock when something caught my eye. Someone had shoved a slim, blue-bound book between the slats and the mattress. My weird dream of Seth crawling under the bed to fetch a book flooded back into my mind, and my entire body prickled with goosebumps.

For a long time, I just laid there and stared at the book, not even daring to reach out and touch it. My mind just couldn’t accept what I was seeing. This was Seth’s bedroom. He had to have hidden the book. Who else could it have been? But then, how did I dream about it? How was that even possible? I was certain I’d never looked under the bed, so I couldn’t have noticed it even subconsciously only for it to resurface later in my dreams.

Then I remembered Judy saying I had Gifts. I’d mostly shrugged her off as a kook, but could she be right? Could this be somehow related to that? Did I have some sort of vision?

Only one way to find out.

I reached out, my hand trembling, and reverently slid the book out of its hiding spot. I backed myself from beneath the bed and sat up to inspect my find. It looked like a journal of some sort, about five by eight inches, and bound in soft blue leather.

Part of me wanted to open it and start reading right then and there, but another part wanted to respect Seth’s privacy. If I kept a journal, I wouldn’t want anyone else to read it, even if I were gone.

But what if Seth had wanted me to find it? Maybe he came to me in a dream just to show it to me.

That sounded preposterous even in my head. Those kinds of things didn’t happen in real life. I was just trying to justify my morbid curiosity.

I sat on the floor staring at the book in my hand trying to decide what I should do. I finally decided not to decide—at least not right then. I’d put it back where I found it and think about what I should do.

Not long after I’d returned the journal, I found the notebook I’d thrown across the room the night before. Any distraction from cleaning and the journal was welcome, so I sat on my bed and looked at the list again. I still didn’t know what I was doing, but maybe if I talked to everyone on it, I might find out something more. I’d already questioned Marcus and all I’d gotten from him was that crack about Asher, which I’d almost convinced myself was just Marcus being a jerk. At any rate, I still wasn’t quite ready to talk to Asher.

I moved to the next names on the list, Zack and Jesse. I didn’t have to think long about that one. I did not want to ask them about Seth. I’d have to find someone else to do it for me. Maybe Gilly?

The last name was Becca. She was one of the popular girls, which meant I didn’t know her very well—but Gilly might. Maybe she’d even have her number. I texted Gilly, and, sure enough, she had Becca’s number and gave it to me once I explained why I needed it. She also agreed to try and talk to Zack and Jesse without raising too much suspicion.

I took a deep breath and sent Becca a text.

“Hi Becca. This is Killian.”

“Killian who?”

“Killian Kendall. We go to school together. Gilly gave me your number.”

“Oh right. You’re Gilly’s new boyfriend. Cool. Why are you texting me?”

What an ego boost. I had officially been relegated to accessory status. Just what I’d always wanted.

Oh well, if it meant I had an in with the people I needed to interview, I could deal with it.

“I have a somewhat weird question. Can I call you?”

“Um...I guess. This better not be some weird sex thing. I’m not having a threesome with y’all.”

“WHAT? NO! It’s not like that, I swear. Hang on. I’ll just call.”

Becca answered on the first ring. “What’s this about?”

“I just have some questions about someone at school.”

“Okay.” Becca somehow managed to stretch those two syllables as if she were pulling taffy. She had an annoying way of speaking so slowly that you sometimes felt you needed to put a chain on her words and drag them from her mouth. I wished I’d just kept texting her.

“Did you ever talk to Seth?”

“Seth was, like, that gay guy who died, right?”

“Right.” I held my breath.

“Yeah, I used to talk to him all the time. He was in my art class. He was really cool. That was so sad what happened to him.”

“Did you ever speak to him outside of class?”

“Maybe. I dunno.”

“Do you remember what you talked about?”

“Um, probably just about art stuff, you know? He was helping me with a project. I got an A on it. It was really awesome. It was this painting of—”

“That’s great, Becca,” I interrupted. If I let her go off on a tangent, we’d be there all day. I tried to gently steer her back to the conversation at hand. “Did you ever see him talking to anyone else?”

She thought for a minute, or at least I assumed she was thinking. She got quiet, but maybe she was just filing her nails or something. I was about to ask if she was still there when she spoke again. “You know, I did see him talking to some guy a couple times, but I can’t remember his name.”

I immediately thought of Asher. “What did he look like?”

I heard someone talking to her in the background, and then her voice answering, kind of muffled.

“I don’t know. I have to go,” she finally replied.

“Wait! What did the guy look like? You have to have some idea.”

“Why is it so important? Were you hot for him or something? He’s like a surfer or something, maybe a skater. Who gives a damn? I have to go. My boyfriend is waiting.” And with that, she ended the call.

I snarled with frustration.

Everyone I talked to turned out to be a dead end. The only information I’d managed to glean from Becca was that Seth might or might not have spoken to someone who might or might not have been a surfer...or maybe a skater. We lived in a beach town. That described half the guys in my school. Could she have been any more ambiguous? Then again, it tied back to my suspicions about the person Jake was protecting. His crowd was the surfers and skaters.

I glanced at my watch. It was only a little after two, and I wasn’t supposed to be at Jake’s until three o’clock, but what the hell. I was tired of sitting around my half-cleaned bedroom. I decided to leave a little early.

By the time I arrived and parked, it was already two-thirty, only half an hour before he was expecting me.

I knocked on the door, and Todd answered.

“Are you here for Gilly or Jake?” he asked, then before I could answer, “Because Gilly’s gone shopping and Jake went surfing, although he might be back by now. He took the boat. You can check out back.” With that, he closed the door in my face.

I shrugged and headed around to the backyard. Gilly had shown me the old boathouse and dock the night I’d had dinner there, so I knew where to find it—good thing since it was hidden from view.

I followed the path through the woods and, just as I was about to step into the open, I saw Jake coming out of the boathouse. For some reason, I stopped.

He hadn’t seen me yet, so I observed him unnoticed. His hair was damp and tousled, and he was wearing a full wetsuit with a backpack slung over his shoulder. He paused outside the boathouse and dropped the backpack, then bent over to rummage through it. He pulled out a big towel and hung it over the door handle. He then proceeded to unzip his wetsuit and peel it down to his waist.

I caught my breath at the sight of his naked chest. I watched in mesmerized silence as he grabbed the towel and began to dry off his upper torso. He wasn’t overly buff, but like most surfers, he had a well-defined swimmer’s body. He was an even golden tan all over—at least what I could see. He finished drying off and hung the towel again before reaching back into the bag to pull out a T-shirt, which he slipped over his head.

Then he unzipped the wetsuit the rest of the way and pulled it off. I almost passed out. I had a completely unobstructed view of his perfect, pert butt.

All of a sudden, it hit me that I was spying on him without his knowledge. A wave of guilt washed over me, and I took a quick step backwards...and bumped into something warm and solid. I let out a yelp as I spun around to find Todd watching me with narrowed eyes.

“Like what you see?” he said in a low, dangerous-sounding voice.

“Todd! No!” I gasped. I would have been gasping even if he hadn’t just scared two years off my life since I was still catching my breath after seeing Jake naked, but his sudden appearance didn’t help. What was it with the members of this family always popping up when you least expected them? “I was just... I mean, I... I just didn’t want to interrupt...”

“Killian? Is that you?” Jake was still down by the boathouse.

“Yeah,” I called back, without taking my eyes off Todd.

“Come on down, I’m just putting everything away and locking up. I went surfing this afternoon. The waves were awesome, but it was a little chilly.”

I watched Todd for a hint as to what I should do, but his expression gave nothing away. We stared each other down until I started to feel like a little rodent cornered by a snake in a nature documentary.

“Go,” Todd said finally, his voice low, “but see to me before you leave. We need to talk. Oh, and if you hurt Gilly, I’ll make you regret it.”

I didn’t need to be told twice, though I had no intention of talking to him before I left if I could help it. I turned and shakily walked down to the boathouse as quickly as possible without looking back. My heart was racing at my close call.

Jake, now fully clothed, was locking the boathouse door. “Hey, Killer,” he greeted me.

I froze in my tracks. “What did you say?” I snapped, my voice sharper than I’d intended.

He looked up at me in surprise. “I just said hey.”

“No, what did you call me?”

“Killer? I’m sorry. You don’t like that?” He straightened up, leaving the lock hanging open in the hasp.

“No. I mean... It’s fine. You just caught me off guard. Seth called me that. No one else ever has.”

“Really? You’d think it would be a natural nickname for Killian, especially with that killer smile of yours.” He added the last part with that incredible grin of his.

Those dimples got me every time.

I forced a laugh and tried to relax.

He turned around and bent to pick up his backpack. I couldn’t help picturing his bare butt once again. I must have had a funny expression on my face when he faced me again, because he gave me a smirk. “What?”

“What what?” I responded wittily.

“You just had a weird look on your face.”

“Did I?”

“Yes. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I managed.

“Are you sure?” His eyes sparkled, letting me know he was teasing me now.

“Yeah.”

“Positive?”

“Yes!” I said with exaggerated exasperation.

“Oh, good. Because I was just wondering...” His smirk grew into a full-fledged grin. “How long were you watching me from the trees?”