Page 14 of Liar & Champion
“You’ve been taking some interesting treatments,” I said as he closed the door and turned on the car.
“I’m sorry about your friend. I didn’t mean to hurt him, but he did smash his skateboard on my head.” He touched his hair. “I think that he mussed it.” He shot me another smile that gave me the creeps. “Where shall I take you?”
“Home.”
“Where is home?”
Right. There was a reason I lived in a little non-descript bungalow with my aunt. His name was Michael. “I actually left some things at school, so you can drop me off there.”
“Miss Wilson, I’m going to take you home. You’re right, I did smash your board, so clumsily. I could give you my car, youknow the money means nothing to me, but someone might think that you’d stolen it and report you to the authorities.”
“It’s too precious for me, anyway.”
He caught my hand, holding it gently, but still too firmly. “Nothing is too precious for you. I want to tell you about my treatments. They can help you.”
“I can’t afford them.”
“I could pay for them.”
I smiled brightly at him. “Is this where you ask me to be your mistress? I’m too cute for that kind of role.”
“Wife, of course. You would belong to me forever.”
He’d actually said that out loud. Was he joking? I couldn’t tell. “That does sound fun. I’ll have to think about it. My address is…” I gave him the address of the house two down from mine. He’d seemed like a nice guy, but he was a martial arts instructor. I needed a champion. Michael was completely unstable. Right now, he was playing the part of gentleman delivering a lady to her castle, but at some point, he’d force me listen to him tell me all about how amazing he was. It was the worst kind of torture. Pain was normal for me, but that kind of psychological trauma I couldn’t take.
“Here we are,” he said, pulling up in front of Nix’s house. “I’ll have to see you again to replace your board, naturally. Tomorrow night, dinner? I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“I’m really picky about what kind of board I like, so you could just give me cash, also enough for Bosko’s.”
His lips curled and he studied me, not unlocking my door. It was the kind you couldn’t unlock unless you were the driver, which was ridiculous. What kind of child-safety was necessary in this kind of man-child car?
“You were really about to kiss him,” he murmured, those lips pursing just so. A long, very long time ago, I’d fantasized about kissing him. Then he’d talked to me, and the fantasy was over.
“That’s what you thought it was? He was trying to get a bug out of my eye. Skateboarding is amazing, but it’s not all puffy clouds and rainbows.”
He caught my chin and forced my face to hold still as he leaned closer to me. “Then it must still be there. Allow me to assist you.” He brushed back a strand of hair and then leaned closer, eyes on my lips.
I blocked his mouth with my arm before he closed the distance. “I told you, I have a boyfriend. I’m not interested in cheating on him.”
He pressed me against the seat and leaned over me, eyes over-bright with excitement. He was really enjoying this. “I will buy him off.”
“He loves me too much to take your money.” I struggled to keep him back, but he was very strong, and I’d already used up most of my energy in the bowl.
“No one loves you that much, except for me. I love you. I will give you the position and name that were stolen from you by your father when he seduced your innocent mother.”
I elbowed him hard in the throat and managed to get past him to the driver’s side. I got the door open and was halfway out when he grabbed my hips and hauled me back. Bruises. Dislocations. I wouldn’t be able to go to school tomorrow and maybe the rest of the week. That made me angry.
“I have a boyfriend!” I shrieked and scrabbled for purchase on the slick car, but in another second he had me inside, pinned against the seat, his arm over my chest holding me down while he smiled at me tenderly.
“You are the same beautiful sola, crackling like fire, even as your life burns short.”
I flinched up and squeezed my eyes closed as he went for the kiss I’d been avoiding for years. The kiss never happened. Instead, someone cleared their throat, and then Michael wasgone, yanked off of me and out through the driver’s side door that he’d left open.
I was only stunned for a moment before I scrambled out, staring when I saw Nix standing behind Michael, holding him down with his arm hyperextended.
“Hey, honey,” Nix said, looking up at me with a soft smile that didn’t go with the violence. “You were out late. I was starting to worry about you.” He levered Michael’s arm back further.
“You don’t know who you’re dealing with,” Michael hissed.
