“No, really …”
“Whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “What do you need?”
“You.”
I loved how her face glowed. She stood up on her tiptoes and gave me a quick peck on the lips. “If I do any more I’ll get paint on you.”
Everything Echo did or said became sexual in my mind, and I fought hard to expel the images of her na**d and covered in paint. “Mrs. Collins snagged me an invitation to Tyler’s birthday party.”
“Really? That’s fabulous!”
“Yeah.” But not why I’m here. “She was browsing through your file and she looked kind of … worried.” Echo’s smile fell. Throughout the week, her spirits had lowered with each passing day, but I let it slide when she’d come to life for me. No more sliding. I wanted answers. “You haven’t been at lunch this week. What’s going on, baby?”
She shrugged. “Nothing.”
I snagged one of her belt loops and brought her body against mine.
“Noah, the paint.”
“Fuck it. I can change clothes.” I tugged on her chin to force her to face me. “I don’t know much about this boyfriend stuff, but I’m not only interested in kissing you.”
“I know, and that means a lot to me. It’s just … I’m buying Grace time.” She tried a half smile, but failed.
When she’d told me earlier in the week about her shitty little friend, my response made her cry. Luckily, I’m a quick learner, so I kept my mouth shut—at least when it came to Grace. “What’s got Mrs. Collins so down?”
“I don’t know.”
I took a deep breath to keep the anger under control. “Echo, if you can’t trust me …”
She raised her voice. “I don’t know! Mrs. Collins has gotten very serious, asking me more questions about Mom and what I think about restraining orders, and Dad and Ashley have taken annoying to a whole other level. They took my car away from me this morning and announced that they will be driving me to and from school. They made up some lame excuse and said they wanted to detail it. Who details a Dodge Neon? I’ll tell you— nobody. Ashley may be brainless, but even she knows that!
“Ashley answers every call at home and my cell phone has lost its service. Dad tells me he’s working on it, but I don’t believe him.”
Mrs. Collins talking to her about restraining orders? Her father taking away her ride and her means of communication? Red flags shot to the sky. Echo’s mother meant danger. “Has your mom contacted you?”
Her head fell back. “Not you, too.”
Well aware that wasn’t an answer, I felt a menacing coil churn inside of me. No one messed with my girl. “Echo?”
“No.” With a defeated sigh, she relaxed into me. “I know it sounds crazy, but sometimes I miss her.”
It did sound crazy, yet at the same time it sounded sane. I kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back. Echo either didn’t see the signs or refused to acknowledge them: her family and Mrs. Collins were worried about her mother making a reappearance in her life. A tug of war raged in my brain between telling Echo my theory and keeping her happily in the dark.
But then again, they could be upset for other reasons. “Is it me? Are they giving you a hard time because you’re with me?”
Echo pressed against my arms for release and I let her go. I rubbed my neck to ease the tension. “It’s okay to tell me.”
“Ashley and my father don’t even know about you. I was going to introduce you this weekend when we went out, but now I’m not so sure.”
That entire statement was loaded. “I’m going to meet your parents this weekend and we’ve got plans?”
Her face reddened. “Sorry. I, um, assumed that, you know, that since you said I was yours, that we would kind of, I guess …” Damn, she was cute when she stammered.
“I planned on taking you to a party tomorrow night, but if you’ve made other plans, I’m flexible. I’m okay with meeting your dad. I can’t promise he’s going to be okay meeting me.”
The blush remained on her cheeks, but I got a smile out of her. “No, the party is fine.” Her forehead wrinkled. “Though I don’t know of anyone throwing one. My dad will be okay. Just don’t curse. You are capable of not cursing, right?”
“I was a Boy Scout.”
She giggled, then returned to the painting of the night sky, all traces of humor disappearing.
“It really is a beautiful painting,” I said.
“Mom constantly painted the constellations. Now, I’m stuck doing the same thing.” She paused. “On the rare occasion my mom decided to be a mom, she would tell me the story of Andromeda and Perseus before I fell asleep. Why was she telling it to me the day I got hurt? I’m so close to the truth.”
My heart hurt to see her in pain and, for one second, I shut down all emotion. One day, she’d figure out she was too good for a loser like me and when she left, I didn’t know how I’d deal with the pain. Echo tapped the paintbrush against her face. Hell, she was worth it. I enfolded her into my body once more, kissing the side of her neck. “Then let’s get serious. Tuesday, we’re getting into your file.”
Echo
“They’re brooding.” I snuck a peek out my bedroom window, searching for any sign of Noah while holding the cordless phone tight to my ear. No cell phone service for twenty-four hours. Living prior to the nineties must have stunk.