Page 52

“Let them stare,” he whispers, and my heart melts. I twist around and face him. “Where were you all week, Didi?”

His eyelashes are impossibly long. “Helping Mama,” I lie.

He swallows hard and hesitates. “I stopped by FreshMart…I didn’t see you.”

This must have been before I did a shift mid-week to get Mama some cigarettes and bread. Funny, Mrs. Holly neglected to tell me Tommy was looking for me.

“I stopped by your house, too,” he admits.

I blink at him. “You were at my house?” My voice trembles.

He presses his eyes together for a moment, then he softens. “Yeah. I wanted to make sure you were okay. The house was dark, Didi. You scared the shit out of me when you ran out on me.”

He was there…

Mrs. Holly told me Tommy was with Remy in the woods that morning, too. He wasn’t the one that found the body, but he was there, and no one questioned it.

Someone left a message leaving that scarecrow on my lawn…and I received it loud and clear.

He was there…

He runs his hands down my ivory dress. “You shouldn’t have come to my house,” I whisper. “If my mama saw you…”

He shakes his head. “I don’t give a shit about your mama, Didi.”

I sink into his arms as a few more people walk by and stare; Remy being one of them. This time, our eyes meet as he walks by with his leathers and ripped jeans. The memory of being behind him on his bike consumes my thoughts, and my heart jolts.

I’m a lustful girl—even the scarecrow turned me on.

I focus my attention on the boy in front of me, who also makes me feel things. Especially with his cute mustache. “I can’t be around you anymore, Tommy.”

He pulls me to the side of the hallway and lets everyone walk by.

“Why? Why are you so scared of me?” His thumb runs along my cheek, right over the bruise that’s barely healed. “What would your mama do to you if she found out about me?” She’s slipping into insanity. I don’t recognize her anymore, and I don’t know what she is capable of. “Would she be mad if I kissed you? Because I ain’t sorry about it. I’d kill to do it again.”

I dart my gaze to the floor. “Mama got pregnant with me as a teen, and she’s petrified I’ll do the same thing. Kissing you is a sin in my church, Tommy.”

He crinkles his eyebrows. “What church? There’s only one church in town, Didi, and I promise you, kissing ain’t a sin.”

I suppose I’ve never questioned what Church I belong to because, frankly, I’ve never actually stepped foot in a church since we left. My religion was, essentially, “The Church of Mama.” Every Sunday, she’d make me pray, asking for forgiveness for her sins—and for me, because I resulted from those sins. She left her community because of me, which is all I truly understand.

Lust caused her downfall. If it wasn’t for her giving into it, she could have stayed the preacher’s wife and enjoyed a wonderful and spiritual life. And I wouldn’t exist.

I pause for a moment, considering his words. “Kissing leads to lust, and lust leads to sexual temptation—and that is a sin.” How do I explain it any more directly to him?

Tommy interlocks his fingers with mine. Everyone in the hallway is watching now as I let him pull me away, and we walk hand in hand.

My belt squeaks like a rusty wheel, and I silently beg him not to draw attention to it.

“Come for a ride with me,” he says instead.

I lower my eyes and shutter out a breath. “Where are we going to go?”

He slides his knuckles along my face, pushing my hair behind my ear. “I just wanna be near you,” he says. “We don’t have to talk or do anything you don’t want to, alright? Just a drive, and I can play you some more songs.”

I’m powerless against the look in his eyes. He takes my hand, pulling me through the hallway. “Yeah…okay. But no kissing, Tommy. I just can’t.”

He gives me a firm nod. “Deal.”