Second Nature by Ae Watson Page B

know what Sage had said to Lindsey though. I didn't
know what kind of bull she had spewed in her ear, making her doubt me the way
she had made me doubt Vince.
    My desire to take Sage
down grew into something I would have to admit to myself was unnatural. It had been bordering on unhealthy but had moved directly into
obsession in the last couple of hours.
    “Lainey?” Mazy called to
me. She stopped at the entrance to my room, lifting her eyebrows. “Jake’s here.”
She tilted her head. “Are you going on a date?” The shock on her face suggested
I might look a bit over the top.
    “Yeah,” I lied. It was
easier than explaining that I was going to find Ashton.
    “Mom’s gone so you don't
have to dress pretty or pretend.” She was smarter than she looked.
    “I’m not.”
    “But you like Ashton.”
Her little lips grew into a knowing smile.
    My cheeks flushed as I
lowered my gaze. “I’ll explain later.” I walked from the room, bringing my cell
phone but keeping the volume off.
    When I got to the stairs
my dad and Jake paused their conversation. Jake’s dark eyebrows lifted. “Hey,
Lain.”
    “Hey.” What the heck was
he doing home?
    My dad got a worried look
on his face. He wasn't like my mom. He enjoyed my dressing down and nerdy ways.
“Where are you kids headed?” His voice cracked a bit.
    “I finally got Lainey to
agree to go on a date with me. Thought we might take a walk on the path by the
river, where the trees are really bright.” Jake lied like a pro. His bluffing
skills were Jedi level.
    “Well, don't be late.” He
said it weird, maybe not realizing it was Saturday night.
    “Okay.” I waved and
ignored the look on his face. He was worried about the way I’d talked to my mom
and stared at him. He saw the changes in me that I saw too. I was wearing girly
clothes and my hair was down, and the smoothest guy in town, besides Vincent
Banks, was by my side.
    It was sick and
disturbing, but I liked that my dad was worried.
    If only he knew how I
felt about Jake, he wouldn't be worried then.
    Jake got the door to the
Maserati he was given for his birthday. It was similar to Lindsey’s little
sporty car but dark blue and not a convertible.
    He started it with a roar
and jerked us forward, speeding away from my house. “Your dad looks tense.” He
grinned wickedly.
    “So you want to make him
more tense?”
    “You’re rocking that
blouse, so I assumed we were trying to mess with him. That's why I went for
date instead of you helping me with my schoolwork.”
    “We only had one day of
school. Intro day is always on a Friday, and my dad knows that. He wouldn't buy
schoolwork.” I didn't want to talk about the blouse.
    He chuckled. “Yeah, but
trust me, when you walked down the stairs, he gulped and maybe peed a little.
You got the hair down and—”
    “Anyway, Vince and I went
to Rachel’s last night and then we went to Ashton and Sage’s.”
    “You and Vince?” He gave
me a hostile look as he raced down the winding road.
    “Lindsey was trashed,
like puking trashed. Rita and Sage were drunken hostesses, and Sierra and you
were wrestling in the pool. Did you want me to see if Andrew wanted to come and
find his father’s killer?” The words spit from my lips.
    “Easy tiger, I was just
trying to keep Andrew in good spirits. Sierra and me weren’t wrestling. And
besides, I didn't think you and Vince did much alone.”
    “Well, we both want to
find Ash.”
    “And the killer, I guess,
huh?” he added.
    “Yeah. And the killer.” I
didn't know if I should tell him about Sage, but I did anyway. “I think it’s Sage.”
    He jerked, swerving the
car and skidding to a stop on the side of the road. “What?”
    Swallowing the fear of
saying the words aloud, I told him everything we found and what I had deduced
on my own.
    He sat silent until the
very end of the story. “She set Ashton up? She would do that to her own
brother? I don't believe it.”
    “I know. But think about
it—Tom is