The Shelf (Dead-End Ave) Page 14

  Her brain seemed to be working with all the speed and consistency of pudding. Information she should know easily was stuck in the back recesses of her brain, and she couldn’t bring it to the surface. ‘I know his age. Is he fif-,’

  Gerald kissed her. All of her thoughts whooshed away in that very moment at the feel of their lips touching. There was nothing else that she could think about. Gerald was here and now, warm and passionate, taking her breath away with one simple kiss.

  And Bri was surprised to discover that she was enjoying it.

  The lights around them flickered a few times, and from the center of the party, a collective groan rose from the seniors.

  Reluctant to let go of Gerald, Bri turned to see what was going on. Mrs. Hill, a senior counselor, stood at the entrance to the deck. “Welcome party’s over, seniors. Clear the deck. The pool closes in five minutes and housekeeping is waiting to clean up.”

  “Twenty minutes,” someone shouted and Mrs. Hill scowled.

  “Five! Now, move your butts!”

  Disappointment settled over Bri. She had enjoyed kissing Gerald in their little private corner. “That sucks.”

  Taking her hand, Gerald smiled down at her and pulled her along with the exiting group. “That’s all right. It was fun while it lasted.”

  “It was,” she agreed.

  This time, they took special care to avoid the dangerous duo of Deanna and Rob. Instead, they rode the elevator with a few kids from Bri’s homeroom, swapping hilarious stories for the entire ride up.

  “Bye, guys,” she called as they reached the room.

  “See ya in the morning, Bri!”

  “I’m beat.” Bri unlocked the door and pushed it open. Silently, they moved inside without a word. As soon as the door shut, they just stared at each other. Gerald’s smile grew a bit and Bri matched it, though her heart was pumping crazily. Was she ready for this? What was in his head, like exactly what was he thinking was about to happen? She wished so badly that she knew. Of all her friends, she was the most inexperienced of all. It was pitiful that she had no clue what to do with a guy in her room.

  One step brought Gerald closer and Bri forced herself not to take a step of her own, backward. His head began tilting down and Bri remembered that intoxicating kiss that they’d shared earlier on the dance floor. Once their lips had touched, it was as if control had spun out of her hands, and all she could think about was them kissing.

  Now she did take that step away, fast. She didn’t want to lose control just yet, not until she could clear her head and figure out what was happening between her and Gerald. “Do you mind being a sweetie and getting me a sandwich from the kitchen? I’ve really got the munchies.”

  Disappointment flashed across his face quickly and then was gone. “Sure, Bri. Anything for you. We’re here together, right?” But he still stepped right up to her and kissed her anyway, a long, enticing kiss.

  Then he was gone through the door in search of a sandwich, and she moved to lock the door behind him.

  Bri staggered back to sit on the bed, mind reeling. What was the matter with her? Why couldn’t she seem to clear her head? Then with a brisk shake, she stood and changed into her pajamas quickly. That way, she could already be in bed when Gerald returned.

  A sound, as if someone had jiggled the doorknob, cut through her thoughts.

  CHAPTER

  21

  The muffled sound continued outside the door, and she stiffened when it stopped. Then the sound came again. Bri trembled, wondering at the source of the noise. Could it be the shadow again? She hoped not. ‘Maybe the dogs….’

  “Oh, please, not here,” she mumbled, trying to pick up her purse as quietly as possible. She slipped next to the door and listened. Any false move by an intruder and that purse would be swinging.

  Yep, that was definitely her doorknob being jiggled. Watching with horror as it began to turn, she raised her hand. She had locked the door, she was sure of it!

  The door slowly swung open.

  Bri backed up and got ready to swing. A head popped into view. Suddenly frozen with fright, Bri let out a gasp that slipped through her defenses.

  “Bri?” came the soft whisper.

  “Korey?!”

  His face stared at her in the near dark. “Next time, just tell me if you feel the need to leave for the Senior Trip while we’re together.”

  She winced inwardly. Guilty. “What are you doing here?” she asked. “When did you drive up?” ‘Strange how the first emotion I’m feeling is excitement, when actually I should be feeling angry. He’s got a lot of explaining to do.’

  “Shh,” he whispered. “I just got here a little while ago.” He eased the door closed and Bri watched the movement. Gazing at him up and down, she decided that he looked good, even for someone she was currently pissed with. Faded jeans and a polo shirt were all enough to make him look as if he were ready to go hanging out. How had she forgotten what an attractive person he was? In just a few hours?

  With a brisk headshake, she forced herself to stay on track. “And my room? How did you get in here?” She gestured at the doorknob. “The door was locked.”

  Eyes dark, he gave a slight nod. “I guess I forgot to tell you that I can pick locks.”

  “Humph. You forgot to say a lot of things.” She folded her arms over her chest, suddenly self-conscious. On top of her fear, she remembered that she wearing her pajamas. How embarrassing! Hadn’t it been as recent as yesterday that she’d been excited to discover Korey was attracted to her? Now tonight, he was in her room and she was wearing teddy-bear printed pajamas, which was all she could find in her hurried stop downtown to shop for the trip.

  “I didn’t expect company.” It came out more defiantly than she wanted, and he looked puzzled at first, then he saw the direction of her gaze.

  “Well, I have to tell you that those pajamas will definitely ensure that nothing happens in here tonight.” An unexpected, mischievous grin flashed across his face, and heat crept up all the way to Bri’s roots.

  Offended, she gave him the evil eye. “Creep.”

  “Hey, just kidding.” He held up his hands innocently. “Really, I didn’t break in here to scare you, I just want to make sure you’re okay.” He stretched his hand toward her. “Let me see the demon brands. Have they gotten bigger?”

  Bri slid her hands behind her back. Truthfully, she hadn’t even checked the brands in several hours, but that was beside the point. She didn’t need Korey to run her life.

  “Let me see,” he repeated.

  “Get away from me.” She backed away from him quickly. “Don’t touch me. I’m pretty sure you can tell that I’m pissed with you, Korey. Well, it’s not an act. You’re a jerk-faced piece of slime.”

  Eyes narrowed, he took a single step forward, clearly deciding to ignore her hands-off demeanor. That would be to his detriment; Bri had already decided that if he made the wrong move, his head would so be hitting the floor, courtesy of her fist.

  “Why’d you run away from me earlier?” His eyes were searching as he took another step forward.

  She tried to flatten herself even more against the wall, even while pretending his advancing didn’t affect her.

  “You knew Aeryal.” It wasn’t a question, just an angry fact. No sense in pretending any longer.

  She had at least thought that he would try to lie, or deny it, or get angry, but Korey didn’t do any of those things. He simply nodded his head, eyes still locked on hers.

  “You’re not going to offer an explanation or anything? Nothing?” Irritation rose in her and she welcomed it eagerly. If she was mad at him, it would be much easier than being distracted by the fear that was rising rapidly in her. Fast. She narrowed her eyes, trying to ignore his coffee-brown ones drinking her in. “Aeryal told me about you. The boy she loved, but that never called her again. How could you do that to someone as sweet as her?”

  Still he said nothing, though a barely audible sigh escaped his lips. Bri didn’
t miss it. Squelching her fear, she lashed out. “What?! It was too much effort to give her a call back? She died thinking about you, you know.”

  “Bri!” She hadn’t noticed when Korey had slid closer, but suddenly he was there, gripping both of her arms tightly. Her heart pounded. “Stop! You don’t know the full story.”

  They were face to face, her defiant eyes glaring up into his stormy ones. Her breathing hitched slightly, made irregular by his closeness. If he wanted to, he didn’t have to wait for the demon to take her; he could kill her right now and no one would be the wiser. She bit her lip. He wouldn’t fool her again. “Then tell me the full story. The truth. Not the lie you made up when you tried to kiss me, knowing that Aeryal was your girl all this time.”

  “Wait, hold up, let’s talk about us for a second. Everything I said to you, I meant.”

  “Oh, yeah? If that’s the truth, then maybe you’re just using me for a booty call, huh? Because you already have a girl.”

  “Come on, Bri,” he protested.

  “No, give me the truth. Why are you interested in me? Trying to be different?” Forgetting about Aeryal AND the fact that he might kill her, she waited to hear what excuse he was going to pull out.

  “Like I told you before, you’re cute.”

  She glared at him. “Oh, really? And what else?”

  “And-,” he pulled her even closer. “I like you.” His head slanted as if he were going in for a kiss, and Bri’s heart jumped double, triple, quadruple time. But she shoved him away, heart pounding.

  “Don’t try that on me. You’re a liar. What’s that box that I found in your knapsack? The one that the pendant fits into?”

  A myriad of emotions flit across Korey’s face, and she ignored the one that impacted her the most: hurt. He stepped back. “Bri, I can’t-. Why can’t I just tell you that I’m happy to see you? Because I am. Really I-,”

  His gaze suddenly focused down and she followed it to see what had caught his attention. Suddenly, she could feel her stomach tightening into knots.

  ‘Oh no, oh no, oh no! Why did he have to look over there?’

  Because Korey was staring at Gerald’s luggage, jean from the earlier drive slung over the top, clearly identifying its owner as male. It was a moment frozen in time, complete with hot emotion and long stares. The only thing was, those stares were more angry glares than not, and that emotion was borderlining on tense.

  She opened her mouth to say something, anything really, maybe to explain that Gerald was a nice guy and how he’d just needed to get his book back from Chas and he’d had no place to stay….

  “You must be planning a great night…with someone.” Korey’s words interrupted her mental ramble. He took one step back from her as his face closed, shutting off the flow of emotions that had been reflected there before. One long, lean arm raised and Bri flinched, crazily thinking that he was going to grab her, but instead he just tossed something on the bed.

  “Here, you left this in the library.”

  As she glanced to discover her notebook lying there, Korey was already heading for the door. Guilt hit her like a sledge as she realized he was leaving without another word. “Korey, wait-,”

  An explosion rocked the entire room, filling it with smoke and rubble. The force flung her to the ground, ears ringing. Instinctively, she covered her head and curled into a little ball. Rubble and debris rained down on her head, pelting her arms, legs, torso, basically any exposed part of her body. The last thing Bri had seen clearly was the hotel wall crumbling in on itself. Now all she saw was smoke.

  Someone coughed to her right and she shifted in the direction of the sound. It had to be Korey. He had been walking toward the door when everything had gone to pieces around them. Crawling over the rubble through a haze of dust, Bri did her best to keep her eyes tightly shut as she felt her way around the sections of crumbled wall.

  The coughing started up again and she stretched her arms in the direction of the sound. ‘I wish I could at least see something.’ Finally, her fingers grazed what seemed to be moving flesh. Sliding her hands up and down what she thought was his arm, Bri heaved a mental sigh that at least he was alive. In turn, he gripped her fingers tightly as if he was afraid that she would slip away. He was still coughing and she realized that they needed to get out of there before they were buried alive. Risking a peek, she edged opened one eye and was instantly rewarded with a shower of stinging dust. But it had been enough to tell her where the door was. It was a couple of feet away, close enough since that’s where they’d been headed when the mysterious explosion had hit.

  Hoping Korey was looking, she jabbed her hand in the direction of the door and began to pick her way over there. Suddenly, she felt herself being lifted out of the rubble as Korey stood, taking her along with him. The ride was rough as he stumbled his way to the door, but worth it as they emerged from the devastated room in one piece.

  Korey immediately dropped to his knees and bent over, spitting and gagging. Bri first looked away as nausea threatened to rise in her own throat, then took a few steps. She hated vomit. “Are you okay?” she called, from a ways away.

  His strained voice floated toward her. “Almost. I was starting to say something when everything blew up. A lot of that stuff landed in my mouth and throat.”

  ‘Poor baby. I wish I could help you,’ drifted into her brain, but she gave herself a stern reminder that they were in the middle of a disaster. “So, what do we do-,”

  Her words were interrupted by a long rumble that set the entire hall shaking. An earthquake. Her brain took it in, but couldn’t fully process. What was going on? “Korey? Korey!” she screamed, as she glanced over her shoulder and noticed that he was no longer there.

  Something slammed against her head and she crumpled to the ground, another pain shooting through her leg as blackness engulfing her.

  ****

  A cold, wet object dragged over her face. Bri’s mind snapped awake faster than her body did, and luckily, firmly instructed her to keep her eyes shut. Whatever the thing licking her was, it was huge. A nose as hard and cold as ice nudged her, gussets of air shooting across her skin from the heavy breathing. This doglike thing was in no way as cute and cuddly as Mr. Pups was when he was sniffing around. Whatever it was, was really annoying, but the terrifying memory of the slavering demon dogs was still with her. Her blood ran cold as she prayed that it wasn’t one of those.

  ‘Jeez, what if this thing decides to eat me, and I’m just lying here like an easy meal?’

  ‘Get up and run. Now!’

  ‘No! They always say to play dead if a bear is attacking you.’

  ‘This isn’t a bear!’

  Hysteria argued with reason in her head, while Bri fought the growing urge to leap up and run shrieking away, tearing at her hair in the process. She was about to be eaten; she just knew it.

  Her leg throbbed. Though she was too afraid to open her eyes at the moment, she could tell from the pressure that something heavy was pinning it down.

  Dampness moved up to and lingered at her neck, pushing at the neckline of her shirt, snuffling. ‘Is it looking for something?’ she wondered. Finally, the beast satisfied itself and moved away. Counting slowly to one hundred, Bri released a long, slow breath, said one last prayer, and then opened her eyes.

  The hall was empty. Now she could see that several pieces of timber lay over her, partially burying her right leg. Ignoring the shooting pain that resulted, Bri wriggled and kicked with the other leg until she was free. A jagged gash ran from her knee to just above the ankle. ‘Moving around with my leg like this could make the cut worse.’ She only took a few seconds to stare at the injury before forcing it to the back of her mind. Self-preservation took precedence over any worries she had about her future ability to dance. Better be limping and alive than dead….with a former dream of dancing.

  Crawling to her feet, she started down the hall, limping as best she could. She kept running, no clue of where she was heading, with onl
y the single-minded goal of escape from this horrible place. The thing licking her earlier wasn’t the only creature; there were many things, horrible things, roaming around that she couldn’t identify. She had absolutely no doubts whatsoever that they were looking for her. So she kept hidden as much as she could.

  Apparently, whatever the explosion had been, had taken out the power with it. So that made her search for an escape that much harder. She could barely see the shadowy outlines of rubble piles on the ground, and she kept banging her feet painfully into them.

  But at least some of the rubble was large enough to squeeze behind and hide whenever she heard the terrible demon creatures coming. Most of the piles were fallen sections of roof, wooden rafters and plasterboard. As she picked her way through, Bri idly wondered how much her school had paid to rent out the hotel.