The Stranger Inside Read Online Free Page B

at him.
    He grinned. “What? You don’t believe me?” His grin grew, letting me know he was only teasing. He cocked his head. “You have no recollection of what we did? None at all?”
    I shook my head, wanting to groan, instead I whispered, “No, nothing.” I hated admitting that. It left me wide open, vulnerable, but my mind wasn’t up for games. “I remember being at the mall—that’s it.”
    Sawyer drew in a breath. “Man, this is weird.”
    “Yeah.” I buried my face back in my hands. “No kidding.”
    Sawyer watched me a moment, silent, then shook his head. “Weird.”
    He was a decent guy. At least there was that. I mean this Kenzie—wild, fun Kenzie—could have picked up a maniac just as easily. The thought made me shudder.
    I couldn’t take any more of this—talking about it. Not tonight anyway. I felt sweaty and dizzy and like I was going to barf any minute. I told Sawyer I had to get back home, and he offered to give me a ride. This time I accepted, and he gave a small smile about it, like, progress .
    For some reason, it was kind of comforting knowing he lived close by. I’m not sure why. Maybe because he seemed sort of nice, and maybe I was still hoping we could be friends.
    “Just let me off here,” I said, a few houses down from mine. I didn’t want Mom to look out the window and see us. She’d probably make a big scene. Seriously, when she wasn’t ignoring me, she was attacking me. Only, weirdly, I knew she thought she was doing it for my own good. To protect me. From getting into trouble and having a kid too young—like what happened to her. “Thanks for the ride.”
    “Sure.” He smiled, taking this way too lightly. It seemed he was still suspicious I was an actress just having fun. “Jodi, right?”
    I gritted my teeth. “You still don’t believe me?”
    He tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel. “It’s pretty hard to swallow.”
    “Why would I lie about something like this?”
    Tap, tap, tap. “I don’t know. Some girls are weird.”
    “Yeah, well, I wish I was lying. I’d rather be weird than crazy.”
    Sawyer steepled his fingers together, bringing them to his lips. He studied me like he was weighing the possibility. “All right,” he said after a moment, “so you’re Jodi. But the girl I was with all day—that was Kenzie?”
    “Apparently.”
    Sawyer grinned. “This is kind of cool.”
    “Yeah.” I rolled my eyes. “Cool.”
    “Oh, no. I’m sorry. I mean, I know this must suck for you. But it’s kind of intriguing, you know?”
    “I guess,” I said. After all, it wasn’t his problem. He just met me—Freak Girl. What did he care? Suddenly, I wasn’t interested in him anymore. He could live on the other side of the planet, I didn’t care. Actually, the further, the better. I sighed. “Look, I need to go. I’m going to be in a lot of trouble.”
    “Yeah, okay, but wait a minute. Don’t forget your applications.” He reached into the backseat to get them for me.
    Kind of a sweet gesture, sorta. Only, at the moment it seemed more likely I’d be checking into a loony-bin than getting a job.
    “Thanks,” I said, taking the stack of applications. I started to get out of his car, but stopped and turned back to him, that “fun, wild” description still running through my head. “Hey, I didn’t do anything illegal today, did I?”
    For a moment Sawyer grinned, like he was going to try tricking me again. But then he gave a little laugh, giving me a break. “Nah. You spent the day with me,” he said. “We went hiking up in the mountains—Dover’s Ridge. Then we went to my house. I thought I was going to get lucky there for a minute, but then you turned into Jodi.”
    I chewed on the inside of my cheek, not sure about this guy. I didn’t really feel I could trust my perceptions though. Not right now. Not tonight. Everything was twisted and crazy. But the thing was, I needed a friend. I did. And at the moment, he was the closest contact I had