If I Tell - By Janet Gurtler Page 0,17

Grandma would kill me, but I’d rather go home shoeless than face anyone inside the house.

I stumbled, my fuzzy head struggling to focus in the cool of the night air.

I concentrated on walking forward, shivering and wrapping my arms around myself. The pavement was a cold reminder of what a bad idea running away in my bare feet was. I had more than two miles to walk. In a T-shirt and jeans and no shoes.

Stupid. I didn’t even have my cell. I’d left it in my backpack in Nathan’s car. The lights from an oncoming car shone behind me. I hunched my shoulders, trying to be invisible and willing the driver not to notice me.

The headlights glowed bright. A surge of panic raced through me. The car slowed as it approached.

chapter five

The car pulled up beside me. I picked up my pace until I was on the verge of breaking into a run.

“Hey. Slow down. You’re going to freeze to death,” a voice yelled.

“Get lost,” I snapped without looking up. Great. To top off my night, I’d be killed on the side of the road by a serial killer or something. I tried to remember if there’d been any reports of killers in the news.

“Hello? I’m trying to save you from freezing to death.”

I recognized the voice.

“Jackson?” I stopped walking and peered into the driver’s seat of the car. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m a regular knight,” he said. “Come on, get in.” He put the car in park.

I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered, but I didn’t move.

Jackson stuck his head out the open window and peered at my feet. “You don’t have shoes on. Come on. Get in the car.”

“Congratulations,” I told him. “You win the award as the most observant person on the planet.”

My feet stayed firmly on the ground even though my mouth was flapping in the cold Washington wind. We hadn’t had any snow in a while, and it was a pretty warm year, but the air was still cold.

He swore softly under his breath and then opened his car door, shot out to the road, and stood in front of me.

He put a hand gently on my back. “I’ll take you home, okay?” He pushed, but I dug my toes into the cement, resisting him, and shook my head back and forth.

“You’re not a very agreeable drunk,” he said. “You’re shoeless and freezing, so come on. Let’s go.” He guided me toward the passenger door. The warmth in the car tempted me. He opened the door for me and I scooted inside, wisely keeping my mouth shut, and stayed put.

He went around and slid inside the driver’s door. When he got in, he pulled off his hoodie and handed it to me.

“Here,” he said as he started the engine. “You look frozen.”

I took the hoodie, hugging it close for warmth but not putting it on. It smelled clean. Not like Nathan and his cheap cologne. I hugged it tighter.

“I’m not drunk,” I told Jackson and sneaked a look sideways at him. “Well, not anymore.” My foggy brain felt sluggish but coherent.

He twirled his earring. “Your boyfriend is an idiot for letting you run around in the cold like this. And you must be drunk. I haven’t heard you talk this much since I’ve known you.”

I lowered my head, not bothering to inform him that Nathan was so not my boyfriend.

“You two have a fight?” he asked.

I shrugged, my teeth shivering from the cold. He reached down and blasted the heat, and I fought the urge to spill my guts. Babble to him about what I’d done. And why.

“How’d you find me?” I asked instead of answering.

Jackson shoulder-checked, but the road was empty, so he pulled the car out onto the road and drove on. “I saw you sneaking out the back door in your bare feet. And stumbling a little. So I followed you.”

I leaned my head back and snuggled with his hoodie. I wanted to cry, but I knew that if I started, I wouldn’t be able to stop. I pushed my teeth into my bottom lip and blinked quickly. “I didn’t even know you were there,” I mumbled.

“I just got off work and heard about the party so thought I’d pop by before I went home.” He pointed to the floor in front of me.

I looked down. My black-and-white-checked running shoes were tucked at the back of the floor mat.

“How’d you know they were mine?”

“Lacey saw me searching the shoes and