Page 71 of Entwined Hearts

“Deal.”

He leans close for a kiss, causing a pulse of heat to spike in my bloodstream. I hug him close and dip my fingers into the back pockets of his jeans. Something in one pokes me, and I jerk my fingers back.

Colby frowns as the something in his pocket lands on the concrete.

“Oh,” I say, scooping it up. I glance at the white card with lettering I easily recognize, and I freeze.

I blink while my mind fizzles with confusion and hurt.

“What’s—” Colby begins, but stops when he reads the name on the card.

Twenty

Anya

Colby’s face goes blank, his mouth stuck half-open.

“What is my mother’s card doing in your pocket, Colby?” I ask.

Cupping the nape of his neck, he stares up at the sky for the longest moment of my life. “I wasn’t going to tell you,” he says.

“Tell mewhat?” I cry, my heart suddenly hammering against my chest.No, no, no, I think.Not this.

“Your mom sort of came on to me.”

I clench my eyes shut.

“It was right before she left. I was outside. I think she made up a story about her sunroof being stuck open.” He shakes his head.

“So she could get you into her car?” I can’t believe I’m even saying this. My mom is a wild card, but this?

“Maybe,” he says. “I closed it, then she tried to give me that.”

“And you refused?” I ask, raising my eyebrows. Nobody refuses Patricia Templeton.

“She slipped the card into my pocket. I meant to get rid of it.”

“But you didn’t.”

“Anya!” Colby groans, his voice firm. “Stop.”

I let out a frustrated breath. “This isn’t like her.”

“Are you sure about that?” he asks. “She seemed very sure of herself.”

“What did she promise you?”

“Nothing,” he says in a defensive voice, though I see a flicker behind his eyes. As if he can read my mind, he adds, “She said ‘if I ever needed anything’ or some other crap line like it, that’s all. I forgot about the card, okay?”

I feel my shoulders sag. “Well, you did tell her we were friends,” I say slowly, remembering. “Maybe that gave her the wrong idea.”

He sighs hard. “Please don’t blame me for this.”

I watch him for a moment, waiting for him to say more, but he crosses his arms and looks at his feet. Whyhadhe called me a friend? Is that all we are? It’s too messed up for me to make sense of, especially tonight.

“I won’t,” I say as the confusion inside me fizzles out, leaving me feeling even more exhausted.

“Has she always been like that?” he asks, grasping my biceps gently as if to call me back from wherever I just drifted off to.

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