At Any Price

Page 43

“Yeah, well, when he got here and started at the new high school he apparently was the victim of one of the most notorious bullying cases in the county. ”

I tried to picture any suicidal idiot trying to take down six-foot, exquisitely ripped Adam. I’d touched him—he was solid, athletic, strong. My heart bounced at the memory of his body under my shaking hands. Then I remembered what he’d told me when I’d been teasing him about those muscles…that he’d chosen to bulk up as a deterrent to being bullied.

“What happened?”

“Track team. I guess he was a runner—” He was a runner! “One of the better members of the team, but he was the new guy and some of the older kids singled him out. I found several old newspaper clippings at the library from the OC Register. A whole group of them beat the crap out of him and then duct-taped his hands, legs and mouth and shoved him in a locker overnight. He was in the hospital in critical condition for over a week. There was a lawsuit filed against the district, the perps were arrested and thrown in juvey. “

The air hissed out of my lungs. “That’s horrible. ”

“Yeah. ”

“But that doesn’t mean he’s going to strangle me and throw me into the ocean. ”

“I know. But I’m just saying. It doesn’t matter how rich or powerful a person is, they’ve all got their demons. ”

“Do you know who Sabrina is?”

“Huh?”

“He has a tattoo, just above his heart. It says ‘Sabrina. ’ Was that his girlfriend?”

“Nothing I ever saw written up on him ever mentioned a relationship or girlfriend. I have no idea what the tattoo means. ”

“Maybe it was his dog. ”

“I took him for a cat person, actually. ”

We chatted for a few more minutes before I begged off with exhaustion and hopped into the shower. In spite of that, I did manage to cram in about three hours of studying, interrupted briefly by the usual bang at my door.

“Password,” I shouted from the couch. She heard me through the open window.

“I aim to misbehave,” Alex said and then opened the door and bounced across the room like the Tazmanian Devil on caffeine and landed right beside me with a plop. My old couch groaned down to its wooden frame in protest.

“Studying again?”

I held up my Gray’s Anatomy by way of answering.

She huffed. “Why don’t you just watch the TV show instead of reading that big fat book?”

I feinted throwing it at her and she lurched back, holding up her hands, laughing. “Mom wants to know if you’ll come down and eat dinner with us and I want to know who is that hot man who dropped you off this morning. ”

Yep, her mother had definitely been peeking through the blinds.

“Ah, being a chismosa?” I said, teasing her with the Spanish word for a gossipmonger.

“Always. So give me the chisme,” she said, leaning forward and pinning me down with her large, dark eyes.

“He’s just some guy I know,” I said, shrugging it off and twisting to set the heavy book down on a side table made from a wooden telephone cable spool.

She looked askance. “In a town car with a driver?”

Shit. How was I going to explain that? I took a deep breath, deciding to go on the offensive. “Alejandra Carmen Arias. Are you grilling me?”

“If that’s what it takes. Are you dating him?”

I sliced a glance at her and then away, shrugging. I was keenly aware that I was the worst liar ever. But better she think we were dating than know what was really going on. Alex went to mass with her mom every week and I was pretty sure she wouldn’t approve—feminist ideals or no. “Kind of. ”

“Mom said he was really good looking. ”

I suppressed a grin. “I’m glad she approves. ” Just how long had she been peeking at us through those blinds?

“Come on, Mia! Spill! You are killing me. ”

I stood up and bushed off my jeans. “Not yet. But soon, okay? I don’t want to jinx anything. ” I hoped that threw her off. Alex had a bit of a superstitious streak in her. Before she could ask me another question I went to the door and motioned her out with me. Who was I to turn down a free, guaranteed delicious dinner? “Can you do my hair for Friday night? I have a date and I want to wear it up. ”

Mischief sparkled in her dark eyes. “I’ll do it if you tell me his name. ”

I grabbed her hand and shook it. “Deal. Now let’s go eat. I’m starving. ”