Second Chance Hero (7 page)

She could be right, but there was always the chance she wasn’t. “You might be surprised, Lil. You might be surprised.

He was right. Nothing was different. The band played, the cheerleaders cheered. The fans screamed and dads shook their fists as they yelled at the refs and coaches.

It was like the Hernandez family and several other young girls weren’t missing at all.

David handed her a diet soda and she said, “You were right.”

He smiled. “Thanks Babe. You just made my night.”

She refused to be riled, and he continued. “Watch. Look for incongruities, for patterns or breaks in them. When we get home we’ll talk.”

She didn’t want to wait. “Why not talk now?”

He leaned into her neck, his breath tickling her ear, causing goosebumps to erupt across her skin as he whispered. “Because now would be weird. Why would you be telling me what I can see?”

Well,
duh
. She tried not to blush as she pulled away. “That makes sense.”
 

She focused on his sister cheering on the sidelines, anything to get her mind off the way her body reacted to him.

They might be in public, but she couldn’t handle it. Not now.
 

Not when she had to be focused, intensely focused, on her surroundings. Not her body or his.

So when Nancy Valdez, the teacher from across the hall and her good friend, sat down next to her, she couldn’t help but be relieved. Even when she saw Nancy’s date, Stan Anderson. The kids had named him Creepy Counselor and she tended to agree.

Ten years older than Lil, Nancy had been a sounding board since Lil had started teaching at the high school. But they hadn’t talked about Miguel. Lil wasn’t sure she could say the words now.

Nancy hugged her softly. “I’m sorry, Lil. I know he was special.”

Lil felt the tears well in her eyes, felt her stomach tie itself in knots.
 

“He’s out there somewhere, Nancy. I just know it. He…” What could she say? She couldn’t tell Nancy the truth.

“These kids are always disappearing. Even the good ones.” Stan’s voice sounded as negative as the sneer on his face, and Lil tried to block it out as Nancy patted her shoulder.

“You know Miguel was different, Stan.”
 

Nancy’s reprimand made little impact on Stan’s lack of caring. Instead he brushed the words off and shrugged.

Lil tried to focus on how ridiculous he looked in the mint green Hawaiian shirt rather than on the viciousness of his words.
 

“I know he and his sister are gone and their father was found dead in a Juarez cemetery. He might’ve been different, but we can’t save them all.” He looked down at Lil. “You’ve been here long enough to know that, Lil.”

“Have some respect, Stan.” Nancy’s voice held an icy edge. “Besides, my kids have been talking all day about some man named Degas.” She looked over at David. “You ever heard of Degas, David?”

David shrugged, but Lil didn’t miss the way his eyes slightly narrowed. “Who hasn’t?”

“He’s the boogey man,” Stan answered even though he hadn’t been asked. “The devil. A complete figment of these people’s imaginations, just like their ghosts and
Brujas
.”

She couldn’t just let it go. Lil knew she should, but she couldn’t. “I don’t know. The news is filled with stories of girls disappearing.”

David gripped her hand in his and she understood his silent message. She bit her lip to keep from saying more.

But Stan wasn’t done. “This problem is nothing new. It’s surprising more don’t drop out.”

Drop out. That’s just what Degas wanted people to believe. And it was working.

Beside her Nancy tried to defend Miguel and Lil was glad. Because she couldn’t say anything without risking trouble. She focused on the game, on trying to see what was missing other than Miguel. Other than the hundred girls who’d dropped off the face of the planet only to have people explain their disappearances away as if they were nothing.

“Solidad isn’t a drop out and neither is Miguel,” Nancy said. “Their father is dead.”

Stan shrugged in his silly green shirt. “Probably because of something Solidad did. She was mixed up with some bad people.” He bent forward so he could address Lil. “I know you had high hopes for her brother….”

“Have.” Lil couldn’t let him pretend Miguel was dead. Not yet. Unless…she looked closer at Stan and wondered. Could he be the connection? He seemed awfully sure of himself.

Stan shrugged away her insistence. “
Have
then. But Solidad Hernandez made friends with the wrong kinds of people on both sides of the border.”

Interesting that Stan knew that. Was David listening? What did he think?

Lil looked out onto the field and feigned excitement as the rest of the crowd roared when the team scored their first touchdown.

When Nancy suggested a quick bathroom break, Lil jumped at the opportunity. A few minutes later they were passing long lines at the concession stands. The cotton candy, popcorn and nacho cheese combined scents clenched in Lil’s stomach as Nancy asked her if she wanted a diet soda.

“No,” Lil said. They were in the back of a line filled with younger kids, kids who weren’t in either of their classes yet. Kids who didn’t know Stan. And suddenly Lil couldn’t stand it anymore. She had to know.

“Why do you go out with him? He’s so rude.”

Nancy blew out an exasperated breath as the boy in front of them took out one of his iPod earbuds to order his drink, hotdog and french fries. “He’s not so bad. He wants better for the kids. He’s just realized he can’t change the world and it’s left him a little bitter.”

Bitter. Right. Lil could think of a thousand better words to describe Stan’s attitude. But she didn’t want to hurt Nancy’s feelings. She’d just wait until later. Maybe David knew something more.
 

Nancy ordered her drink and they started back into the stands. On the way they passed Mr. Miller with a distraught looking teenaged boy, one of Miguel’s friends, Lil thought his name was José, and a police officer.

It quickly became apparent Mr. Miller was stopping the policeman from arresting the student for public intoxication. The heavy frown on the policeman’s face spoke volumes, as did the boy’s sighed “Ah man, do you gotta?” when Mr. Miller pulled out a cell phone to call the boy’s parents.

Mr. Miller was like that. Always stepping in to help the kids out. Amazing really. The man was probably the opposite of Creepy Stan. Too bad Nancy didn’t want to go out with their principal. That would be a cute couple. Cute, fun and caring. Someone to go have a good time with. She could just imagine dinner dates, bowling, game nights.
 

But that was stupid. Because Nancy wasn’t ever going to date Mr. Miller. And even if she did, Lil would just be a third wheel because David was a short-term deal. Once Miguel was safe, she was back on her own.

The fist in her stomach knotted a little tighter at the thought and she told herself it was just the nacho cheese smell. It didn’t have anything to do with being lonely and maybe just maybe still a little in love with the man guaranteed to break her heart if she let him.

David opened the apartment door and laughed when Scamp completely ignored him and went straight for Lil instead.

Didn’t take long to figure out the dog’s loyalties.

Lil’d been unusually quiet in the truck. Probably that asinine counselor.

If he didn’t know Stan Anderson, he’d put the man on the top of the wanted for helping Degas list. Once upon a time he’d been a good counselor. But these days he was an ass, and a racist one at that. Not a good combination for working with a ninety percent Hispanic school.

He tossed his keys on the counter, opened the fridge and tried not to be jealous of the way Lil was scratching Scamp’s ears, laughing as the dog slobbered all over her, a complete and total servant. He so understood.

“You want something to drink? Beer? Wine? Dr Pepper?” Lil was a real sucker for Dr Pepper. One frosty mug full and he could talk her out of her clothes and maybe put a smile on that sweet face of hers.

She shook her head. “No. I’m not thirsty. Just tired.”

He looked at her then. Really looked at her. The rings under her eyes had grown. Her face was whiter than normal. He could almost see her freckles, even though he was clear across the room. Damn.

“It hurt you.”

She shrugged his words away but he could see how hard she focused on Scamp. “I’ll be okay.”

“I didn’t mean for the game to hurt you, Lil. It’s where we could get the most information.”

She stood, stretched her arms over her head, her baby blue t-shirt hugging her curves in all the wrong places. He was such a loser for thinking about her like this.

“I don’t know what information you’re looking for.”

He forced his eyes away from the white skin of her belly. Forced his mind to blank when it conjured images of how soft that skin was. How it felt to splay his fingers over her stomach and kiss her neck. How her hair fell across his shoulders just so.

He cleared his throat. “Just tell me what you saw.”

He didn’t mean the words to come out as gruff as they did. She frowned but shrugged and started her list.
The band sat in their normal place. The dads and moms in theirs too. Students in the student section
. She sighed and he blew out a frustrated breath.

“Not a laundry list Lil. Recreate it for me. As if I weren’t there.”

“But you were….”

“Please. I promise this isn’t a waste of time.”

“Whatever.” She sat at the breakfast bar. Closed her eyes. Started again. For the first few minutes it was the same as before but then, finally, it changed.
 

Her frown became more focused as the line between her closed eyes deepened. “There’s a faint sense of fear in the air. More kids with parents. More mothers watching the student section. Police everywhere.”

 
Her eyes snapped open and she leaned forward. “Nancy and I saw Mr. Miller with a policeman downstairs. The cop wanted to arrest a student for public intox. Mr. Miller stopped the arrest. Called the student’s parents. Nancy said that was normal.”

David thought about the principal. About the stories he’d heard. Something about the man bothered him. Was it the way Lil looked up to him or something more? “Probably was.”

“Or maybe he suspected the officer?”

David knew she was reaching. Trying to help. “Unless he’s helping Degas, Miller doesn’t know the cops are involved.”

“I don’t know.” She rubbed her hands over her face. “It’s all so hopeless, David. I hate this. I hate it.”

He could feel her frustration, and he knew she was right. This was hopeless on so many levels. He was going to hurt her. Like a train wreck on the movie screen he could feel it coming, hear the horns blasting like crazy, but he couldn’t get out of the way. Unless…“So go home.”

“Stop it.” Her eyes snapped to his. “You know that’s not going to happen.”

He did know it. He knew and it scared him half to death. He leaned in close enough to get a good whiff of her scent. Ivory soap and Tide laundry detergent combined with pure, sexy as hell Lil. “These people aren’t pretend Lil. If they know the truth about what you’re doing, they will kill you.”

She pushed away from the breakfast bar, away from him. “I know that.” She whirled around, frustrated as she leaned against the pale yellow kitchen wall and brought her arms across her chest. Defensive. Angry. Sad.

Sexy as hell. God, he was a loser of ultimate proportions.

She repeated her words. “I know that. But that’s interesting, you know? I know it’s not pretend. Miguel and his family are missing. His father’s dead. Degas isn’t pretend. But everyone says he is. You heard Stan. And Nancy’s lived here forever. But Degas is like a phantom in the mist. How can a man terrorize both sides of the border and not be caught? It’s crazy.”

David noticed she’d pushed the conversation away from her own mortality and toward Degas’s seeming immortality. And he decided to let it go. Because the truth was, train wreck or not, he didn’t want her to go. “Invisibility comes at a high price. Power. Help. Hopefully with the Hernandez family, he’s finally made a mistake.”

She pushed off the wall, paced his kitchen. “But how? And what’s different?”

Where Degas was concerned answers were few and far between. Who was he? Where did he come from? No one knew. But this question had an answer. “They fought back. And they might have paid a huge price, but there’s a very good chance they’ll help the good guys win this time.”

She stopped pacing and smiled sadly at him. “In the face of such bravery, how could you want me to leave?”

She had him there and she knew it. He forced himself not to stand, not to cross the room, grab her shoulders and show her just how very much he wanted her to stay.

“I don’t want you to leave. Hell, this is my very own episode of Fantasy Island.” And then he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t fight her pull anymore. He stood, walked the five steps to her. Her breath hitched, he heard it, knew she could feel the same electricity burning between them.

He could kiss her. He could. But he wasn’t going to. Not yet. Instead he leaned close, made sure she saw the truth in his eyes. “I don’t want you to leave, Lil. I just don’t want you to die either.”

A few minutes later Lil sat alone in David’s kitchen with Scamp, a piece of lemon pound cake and a severe case of regrets.

David’s boss had called with an assignment and just like that he’d changed from the tender, caring man she wanted to kiss into a man determined to catch some unlucky lady’s husband in the act of infidelity.

She bit into the cake and tossed Scamp a bite.

She should’ve kissed him. It might have shocked him silly but it would’ve eased the tension she couldn’t shake.

Scamp barked and she tossed him another bite of the cake then poured herself a glass of wine. Cake wasn’t going to cut it. Wine probably wouldn’t either. But maybe it would help a little.

How could she possibly think about kissing him?

The man broke her heart into a million pieces. And he’d used her.