Sacrifice

  The machine buzzed, signaling the last pitch. Michael hit hard, sending the ball into flight before it hit the nets and dropped dead.

  She expected him to feed it another token, but he stepped over to the fence and hooked his hand on a link exactly five inches to the left of hers.

  Again, he was too close. Her heart kicked. She stared up at him and stopped breathing.

  “Want to learn?” he said.

  “Learn?” Her voice was squeaking.

  He tapped the fence with the end of the bat. “How to hit.”

  She couldn’t. She’d already spent too much time talking to him. This had danger written all over it.

  But some part of her heart had already told her brain’s insistent thoughts to shove it.

  Because she was already saying yes.

  His brain kept asking him what the hell he was doing, but Michael ignored the doubts and led Emily to the slowest cage. All afternoon, her presence had been little flickers against his skin, not entirely unpleasant. From the moment he’d caught her in the office, blushing and stammering and fighting to turn down her music, he’d been fighting the urge to reach out and touch her, to see if those little flickers were a promise of something more.

  She hadn’t reported him. That had to mean something.

  Right?

  Especially now, when she stood with him in the eight-foot-square cage, listening to him talk about things like stance and hand position and letting the ball come to her.

  God, he needed to shut up. He felt giddy and nervous and it was a miracle he could even form a coherent sentence. He held out the bat. “Here. Let’s just try.”

  She made no move to take it. “I’m probably going to give myself a concussion.”

  “Come on. My brother could hit off this machine when he was eight.”

  She made a face. “Now I feel better.” But she took the bat and attempted to hold it the way he’d shown her.

  She looked ridiculous and adorable and he tried not to laugh.

  Just as quickly, he choked it off.

  What was he thinking?

  Sharp words sat on his tongue, ready to drive her away. He could stop this now. They could go back to being mortal enemies. She’d let one mistake slide. That wasn’t the same as helping him. Or even accepting him.

  She looked over at him, and he was sure she could read the doubts on his face.

  Just like he could read the doubts on hers.

  Michael jammed his hands into his pockets, feeling his shoulders tighten.

  Before he could say anything, she said, “I look like an idiot, don’t I?”

  He let out a breath. “Nah.” Then he paused and almost smiled. “Well. Maybe.”

  “Tell me what to do so I don’t take a ball to the frontal lobe.”

  So he demonstrated again, and she took the stance again, and when she said she was ready, he fed a token to the machine.

  At the first ball, she didn’t even try to swing. She flung herself back and almost dropped the bat. “Holy crap, that’s fast!”

  He caught her shoulders before she could plow into him, intending to set her straight, the way he would one of his brothers.

  She froze, just for an instant, but it was enough. He yanked his hands down.

  She didn’t say anything, so he backed away to lean against the chain link, putting clear distance between them. “You want me to go get a putter?” he said. “You have no trouble swinging those.”

  That earned him a rueful glance over her shoulder.

  But then her expression softened. “You can show me.” She paused. “It’s okay.”

  He hesitated, just long enough for him to hear the machine revving up for the next pitch. So he stepped forward, caught her shoulders again, and pushed her into place. Then, without thinking about it too carefully, he put his arms over hers, his hands on the bat, and guided her into the swing.

  “Don’t run from it,” he said. “Stand strong.”

  She got a piece of this one, and you would have thought she’d scored the winning home run at the World Series. Bat in the air, jumping up and down, silly smile on her face.

  “I hit it! I hit it!”

  It made him smile. This was vastly more satisfying than showing Chris how to hit a curve ball. “Okay, try not to make it a foul ball next time.”

  She made a face. “Killjoy.” She tapped the bat against the ground and got back into position. Like a frigging major league player.

  He laughed.

  And then he shut up real quick when she threw another glance over her shoulder. “You going to show me again or what?”

  CHAPTER 6

  Michael crossed the parking lot with a spring in his step. He told himself to knock it off, that one batting lesson didn’t mean anything.

  Especially not with Emily Morgan.

  But he kept thinking of the feel of her hands under his, of the way her shoulders fit perfectly within the circle of his arms, of the smell of her skin.

  He found himself wondering what other things would feel like. Holding her hand. Touching her hair.

  Kissing her?

  Stop it. You’re an idiot.

  But the curve of her neck had been right there. She hadn’t flinched from his touch. Really, if you took away the baseball bat, the way he’d been holding her had been pretty damn intimate.

  When he inhaled, he could almost still smell her.

  Stop it!

  He’d already told her too much. How baseball let him clear his mind and focus on something not related to his element. How he worried every day would end with a loss of control—like Friday.

  How badly he wanted to leave town.

  He could have kicked himself for revealing that one.

  But then she’d talked about her parents’ fighting. How sometimes she didn’t care about making it in New York; it was just a new place, a new beginning.

  She told him how she was sick of every day being focused on hate.

  And for the first time, he let himself start to wonder if this deal could work out.

  She’d left ten minutes ago, after he’d told her to go so they wouldn’t be seen walking out together. He’d killed ten minutes burning through his last token, remembering the feel of her body with every swing he took.

  Dad’s truck sat alone at the back of the parking lot, dark in the shade of an old elm tree. Michael had the keys in his hand and a bemused smile he couldn’t get off his face.

  He didn’t even hear the attackers until his head was slamming into the concrete.

  They were all on him at once. He couldn’t even get a handle on how many guys had tackled him. One had come from the bed of the truck. They had the chain Dad kept back there to tie down loose loads, and they had it against his throat, pinning him to the parking lot. Someone else trapped an arm, kneeling on his wrist, grinding his skin into the pavement.

  And then, just as he registered the blond hair, someone punched him in the face. A good, solid punch, with power behind it.

  He saw stars for a second, long enough for them to pin his other arm. He struggled, but he had no leverage.

  “Hey, asshole.”

  Tyler. He’d swung the first punch—and he did it again.

  Michael coughed against the chain on his throat. He gritted his teeth. He could pull power from the earth and throw them off, but he doubted they’d give him a free pass like Emily had.

  Keep it together.

  God, he’d been stupid. Every time he came here, he checked the store, and every time he left, he checked the truck. Every time, ready for an ambush.

  Until today.

  Tyler hit him again. Michael tasted blood.

  Keep. It. Together.

  “Do it,” said Tyler. “You know you want to.”

  Someone kicked him in the side, and Michael redoubled his struggles. They were too heavy. He couldn’t get loose.

  They kicked him again.

  Power rushed through the ground, coming to his aid without his asking. He f
orced it back. He could take a few punches.

  Tyler laughed and spit in his face. “Good thing Emily told us where to find you. I didn’t think we’d have this much fun all summer.”

  Michael froze. Tonight at the batting cages—had she been stalling him?

  You going to show me again or what?

  He coughed. “Go to hell, Tyler.”

  “Funny you should mention hell.” Tyler held up a butane lighter. “Since I brought the fire.”

  Then he clicked the trigger. Flame burst from the end.

  Michael tried to recoil. He only succeeded in slamming his head against the concrete again. He was straining against the chain so hard that he almost couldn’t breathe.

  Flame lit Tyler’s features. He brought the lighter close to Michael’s face, until the heat was painful.

  Michael strained away. He had no idea if Tyler would really burn him, but flame against his skin would definitely push his control past the brink.

  “Do it,” said Tyler. He leaned closer, until Michael wanted to clench his eyes shut. “Do it.”

  Michael prayed for another customer to arrive. But he knew how dead this place was.

  Tyler put the flame against the chain. It seared right through the metal. “First we’re going to burn you, and then we’re going to burn your little brothers.”

  The pavement cracked and split. Michael surged against their hands. He slammed someone into the concrete before he could stop himself. The chain went flying.

  But then he heard someone yelling. The guys. They were scattering, stumbling away from him, tripping on the loose pavement.

  No, not stumbling away from him. Away from the girl with the steel bar in her hands.

  Emily, with a putter.

  “Dad is going to kill you,” said Tyler. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Michael,” she called. “Can you drive?”

  It took Michael a second to get it together, but then he realized his keys were on the pavement, where he’d dropped them by the door. His joints didn’t want to work, but he was able to get the keys into his palm. “Yeah.” Stars still danced in his vision. “I think.”

  And then he must have been losing time, because he was starting the ignition of the truck, and Emily was in the passenger seat beside him.

  He took a deep breath, and it seemed they were pulling onto Mountain Road, leaving the sports center behind.

  He rubbed at his eye, surprised when his hand came away with blood. “I should have said no,” he said.

  She gave him a concerned glance. “What?”

  He winced, and suddenly there were two roads in front of him. “I shouldn’t be driving.”

  She unclicked her seat belt and knelt up on the passenger seat, leaning across to brace a hand on his shoulder.

  It was almost enough to make him hit the guardrail. “What are you doing?”

  “Keep your eyes on the road.”

  “Did you set me up?”

  “Shhh. Drive.” She leaned in close and blew on his neck.

  No, that was almost enough to make him hit the guardrail. He pushed her away. “Stop. Tell me the truth. Did you—”

  “No. I didn’t. Let me help you.” She shoved his hand out of the way and knelt up again.

  Her breath on his skin felt awful and amazing at the same time. He fought not to make a sound.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I wish I had more power.”

  “No,” he ground out. “You don’t.”

  “I saw their car,” she said. “Around the corner. Tyler and my dad have been talking about staking out the sports center all week—”

  “Thanks for the heads-up.”

  “I never thought they’d really do it.”

  He gave a humorless laugh. “Of course not.”

  She fell silent for a while, and all he heard was her breath whispering along his skin. Too much had happened in a short span of time. Part of him wanted to push her away again, but a bigger part wanted to pull her closer and beg her to say she was on his side, that she’d had no part in this.

  Finally, he couldn’t take the silence anymore, and he needed a destination. He couldn’t go home, not with her in the truck, and he sure as hell wasn’t driving to her house. “Where am I driving?”

  “Go to the quarry.”

  His head had cleared enough for him to look away from the road. “The quarry?”

  “There’s lots of exposed rock. That’ll help you, right?”

  “Yeah, but there will be other people there.” Given this heat, probably half the senior class would have snuck in to go swimming.

  “Don’t worry. I know a hidden path down to the water. We can stay out of sight.”

  “Why are you helping me?”

  She didn’t say anything for a long moment. When she spoke, her voice was soft. “For years, I’ve been hearing how dangerous you are. How we shouldn’t have made this deal, because you’re out of control, that you’re mean, that you’ll hurt us if we get close to you.”

  Michael snorted. “I’ve been hearing the same thing.”

  “But you’re not! All week, you’ve been nothing but nice—”

  “I wouldn’t go that far.”

  “—when I keep hearing my father talk about how they should just take care of the problem themselves. And then Tyler does this . . . this horrible thing, when you didn’t even provoke it. I don’t think you’re dangerous at all.”

  Michael didn’t say anything. They came to the turnoff for the one-lane road that ran behind the quarry, and he hit the turn signal.

  “Even tonight,” she said. “You didn’t kill them, and I know you could have. On Friday, you could have hurt me, and you didn’t. I’ve heard the way you talk about your brothers. I know you care about your family. I told you already—I’m sick of living with all this hate. But I’ve been blaming you, when I should have been blaming them.”

  He pulled the truck onto the gravel shoulder when there was space and killed the engine.

  Suddenly, the car was only full of the sound of their breathing.

  “Please,” she said. “Say something.”

  He looked over at her. “I wanted to kill them.”

  Her breath hitched, but he wasn’t done.

  “All of them,” he said. “Including your brother.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  He held her eyes. “If he’d kept up with that lighter, I might have.”

  She swallowed, but nodded.

  She looked so tiny in the front seat of his father’s work truck. Michael couldn’t believe she’d faced down her brother and his friends with a putter. “Are you still afraid of me?”

  She shook her head.

  “Good.” And he leaned over and kissed her.

  CHAPTER 7

  Emily sat with Michael near the water’s edge, at the far side of the quarry, hidden among the clumps of trees. He’d been right: Despite the creeping darkness, a dozen kids were swimming at the other side, where the cliffs weren’t as steep and the depths were free of debris.

  Here, though, the trees were silent and the water still, and it was easy to pretend the mess they’d left had never happened.

  Especially with Michael’s fingers wound through hers, the taste of him still on her lips.

  “Are you still hurting?” she said.

  “I’m all right.” He turned to look at her, and the fading sunlight caught his eyes. “I was worried they’d follow us.”

  Emily shook her head. “I don’t think so. I slashed Tyler’s tires.”

  Michael’s eyes widened, and then he laughed. “You’re definitely not predictable.” A pause. “In a lot of ways.”

  “It took me a minute, or I’d have been back sooner.” She reached up to touch his chin, where the skin was darker and a bit blistered. “I’m sorry Tyler did this.”

  He caught her hand and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “He’s definitely predictable.”

  She reveled in the feel of his breath agai
nst her skin. Every time he touched her, his gentleness took her by surprise.

  “Will you tell me what really happened last week?” she asked. “With Tyler?”

  Michael looked back out at the water. “It’s not important.”

  “It is to me.”

  He sighed. “The twins were cutting through the woods to walk home. Tyler and Seth roughed them up.”

  She frowned. “So you went after Tyler to get back at him?”

  “I never went after Tyler.” His sudden fury was palpable. “Believe me, I’d leave you all alone if—” He stopped short. “Forget it.”

  “Tell me.”

  “In the woods, Nick got away. He ran all the way home and got me. By the time we made it back to them, they’d ganged up on Gabriel. Tyler and Seth ran when I got there.”

  Emily frowned. “But Tyler had a black eye—”

  “Yeah. You know who gave it to him? Gabriel.” He shook his head. “Of course he’d say it was me. Can’t be running around telling people he got decked by a twelve-year-old.”

  She wasn’t surprised to hear her brother was a liar and a bully. “I’m sorry.”

  “You didn’t start this fight, Emily.” He looked down at their joined hands. “Even this . . . it won’t work.”

  But he didn’t let go.

  “We could try,” she whispered.

  He stared back at her. “Emily . . .”

  “We could stand up to them. I could tell the others about you, that you’re not—”

  “Wait. Shhh.” He put a hand to her lips, his attention focused up the hill.

  She whispered around his hand. “What?”

  His eyes snapped back to hers. “They did follow us. They must have had another car. Is there a different way back up the hill?”

  Then she heard branches breaking, boys calling to each other in the darkness. Fear punched her in the stomach, hard.

  Michael squeezed her hand. “Come on. Is there another way?”

  She shook her head quickly. “No—we beat down this path last summer.”

  “We know you’re down there!” Tyler’s voice. “We saw the truck.”

  She could almost feel his presence through the air—he was close.

  “Through the water,” said Michael. “We can swim across the quarry.”