Under the Lights (The Field Party #2) - Abbi Glines Page 0,28

damn calm about her being out there in the dark alone. What was he thinking?

“I’ve got to get Ivy home,” he called out after me as if that was an explanation as to why he had let Willa run off alone. I didn’t reply.

I just went after Willa. If she was on the road, I’d find her faster in my truck. Heading toward it, I kept my eyes open for her anywhere in the darkness of the parked vehicles, but there was nothing.

This Place Will Turn on You without Question

CHAPTER 18

WILLA

The red Mustang was fairly new, and the girl with long dark hair driving it seemed safe enough. At least I wasn’t going to have to walk the seven miles or so back to Nonna’s. Although I’d been ready to when the girl pulled up and asked me what I was doing walking in the dark on the deserted road.

I’d told her that my ride was otherwise occupied at the field party. She’d asked me who my ride was, and when I said Gunner Lawton, she rolled her eyes, muttered, “Figures,” and offered to give me a lift to my house. She was about my age, but I hadn’t seen her at school.

“Thanks,” I said as she pulled back onto the road after I got in.

“No problem. It’s not exactly safe to be walking out at night. Where do you live?”

“You know Gunner?” I asked.

She made a grimace and nodded.

“Do you know where his house is?”

She glanced at me before looking back at the road. “Everyone knows where the Lawton mansion is.”

“I live in the cottage to the back west corner.”

She looked at me again. “You live in Ms. Ames’s house?”

So she was from around here. I wondered if she went to my school and I’d somehow missed her. “That’s my grandmother.”

A grin broke across her face. “Willa Ames has returned to Lawton.”

And she knew my name.

“You know who I am?” It was a valid question, but I was still surprised.

She laughed. “I just moved back to town too. Although I’ve only been gone two years. I was here back then, when you, Gunner, and Brady were always together. Every girl in school wanted to be you. Two best friends like that. I was envious of you just like the rest of them. Even if we were just kids.”

None of the other girls remembered me. I was surprised this one did. “I didn’t realize that.” I paused, then glanced back at her. “Thanks for the ride . . .” I left it hanging. Hoping she’d supply me with her name. It almost felt rude to ask.

She grinned, and I felt comfortable with her. It was a smile that wasn’t fake but wasn’t complete, either. Much like my own.

“Riley Young,” she finally said. “The town’s most hated citizen.”

Hated? That was odd. She was my age and looked nice enough. “Why are you hated?” I asked her, wondering again why I hadn’t seen her at school if we’d gone to school together when we were younger.

“No one wants the truth when it doesn’t suit. They prefer to weave lies and live in them. It’s the way of this place. God knows why I came back.”

That wasn’t an answer. But it was true. I knew all about truths and the way they hurt too much. Lies made it easier on the living. So I’d suffered the lies told in order to cover the painful reality.

“It’s not just that way in this town. It’s that way in life,” I replied.

She swung her gaze back to me almost as if she was studying me. Surprised by my response. I wondered how many she’d said those same words to who disagreed or didn’t understand.

“What brought you back, Willa Ames?” she said, adding my full name as if I were famous.

“Lies that covered the truth,” I simply stated.

“That’s a bitch, isn’t it?”

I nodded. Because it was a bitch. A painful, life-altering bitch.

“Gunner gonna go looking for you and worry over where you are?” Riley asked.

I wasn’t sure. Possibly, and I felt guilty for that. Although I’d seen him drink a beer, and I wasn’t comfortable riding with someone who had been drinking. I was still on probation. I couldn’t mess up. That would definitely be messing up.

“I don’t think so,” I said, hoping Brady had told him I’d left.

Brady. My face felt hot as I thought about the kiss. I hadn’t been able to face him after that. I never wanted to face him again. I’d rather