Envy

He’d always liked Katelyn. A lot.

Teagan looked at the chief. “I used to think that maybe, you know, if we were both the same age we’d hook up. Be boyfriend and girlfriend.”

Teagan took a gulp of air.

“When I saw those notes Jake was writing to her—at least I thought it was Jake—it made me so mad. I mean, he already had my mom and then he was going to steal Katelyn away from me too. Forget that.”

“Steal her away?” Mindee said, now touching her son’s shoulder. “She wasn’t interested in you, Teagan.”

Teagan shot his mother a frosty look and removed her hand. “Mom, you don’t know anything about me or Katelyn or anyone. Not even your precious Starla.”

“Don’t drag me into this,” Starla said. Not surprisingly, the first words out of her mouth were meant to preserve her character in a very messy situation.

“Your pregnancy started the whole thing,” he said.

Mindee gasped.

Starla shook her head. “I’m not pregnant.”

Teagan shrugged; it was a dismissive gesture and it brought a smile to his face. It wasn’t often that Starla squirmed.

“Maybe you’re not now,” he said. “But you thought you were.”

Starla looked at her mother before glowering at Teagan.

“You’d better not be,” Mindee finally said.

“Oh, shut up, Mom,” Starla said. “I wasn’t pregnant. And I’m not pregnant.”

A

“What about the pregnancy, Teagan? What did that have to do with anything?” she asked.

Teagan gri

“Don’t talk about Jake like that,” Mindee said.

“Mom, do you ever hear yourself? You put Jake, Starla, anybody ahead of me,” Teagan said.

Mindee, heeding some of her own advice, kept her lips zipped.

A

“That’s interesting, Teagan, but what about the pregnancy test?” A

“I did,” Teagan said. “I thought it was fu

Mindee’s face turned a deeper shade of red. It was a harsh statement and she’d deserved it.

“I know,” she said, stumbling over her monosyllables. “I went a little Mama Grizzly that night.”

She didn’t want to say she was a little drunk on boxed wine when she’d started the e-mailing. That would make her sound even more pathetic than she was.

“Go on, Teagan,” A

Teagan swallowed the rest of his drink and asked for another. His mom would never let him have two cans of pop at home, but this was the police station and she wasn’t in charge.

“My mom spent all her money for Christmas on Jake and Starla, and I was pissed off.”

Mindee unzipped her lips. “That’s not true! I got you several wonderful things.”

Apparently, it was difficult to keep them closed.

“Do you mind, Mindee?” A

“Yeah, Mom,” Teagan said, clearly enjoying the focus on his mother’s child-rearing expertise—or lack thereof.

“What happened next, Teagan?”

“I pretended to be Cullen Anthony and IM’d with Katelyn and told her I wanted to come see her. That I promised to come and I had a surprise Christmas present for her.”

“The pregnancy test kit?” A

“Right. I didn’t tell her that because I didn’t want to ruin the surprise. She said her grandparents were going to leave early and I should come over at about nine. She’d leave the window unlocked. She told me how to climb up the trellis, which I already knew, because I had done it before. She didn’t know it. But I did. I guess that makes me sound like a perv, but I never spied on her. I only looked in her window when she was gone. You know, to see what she was reading or whatever so I could be a better boyfriend.”

“A secret boyfriend,” A

“Yeah, secret until I guess she realized that I cared about her.”

“So you went over there that night …”

chapter 46

TEAGAN LARSEN PUT ON HIS COAT, gloves, and stocking cap (which in his mind was spelled stalking cap). He stashed the pregnancy wand inside his pocket, a little grossed out that his sister had actually peed on it, and said good-bye to his mom. Apparently enthralled by Jake, who was poking the log in the fire, she didn’t seem to care that her son was going out in the darkness on Christmas night.

Teagan told himself repeatedly that Katelyn would revel in the idea that Starla was pregnant, or thought she was, and when he’d pretend that he was the one who had been messaging her, well, he was sure Katelyn would forgive him. She’d see him as more than the boy next door. She’d see him as a true friend, and maybe, he hoped, as something more.

The only cars in the alleyway were Harper’s and Sandra’s; the grandparents had come and gone. A dog barked from the woods, and Teagan could hear one of the neighbors from across the road calling a cat.

“Here, kitty, kitty,” the woman’s voice said in a voice that easily carried over the cold Port Gamble night.

Maybe some coyote found your stupid cat, Teagan thought.

Teagan was grateful for the gloves as he climbed hand over hand up the trellis, hoping that the ancient wood structure would still support his wiry frame. He wasn’t afraid of heights, but he was afraid of falling, making a lot of noise, and looking like an idiot.

He hoisted himself up and worked his way over to Katelyn’s window, the only one of several on the second floor emitting any light. It was ajar. He pushed it, and in a second, was inside.

Her room. Katelyn’s beautiful, almost magical room. He’d never been in there before—except in his imagination when he pictured her typing answers to his IMs and chat messages. That was a fantasy. That was a dream. This was all very, very real. It smelled like Katelyn—pretty, light, sweet. Not like his sister’s room, which always smelled like burning incense.

Her spiritual side, he thought. What a joke!

Not Katelyn. She was spiritual. Like a lot of people who’d suffered great hurt, she never forgot how that felt. She could understand the pain of others because she’d been there herself. She was a fighter, and everything she had was because she was able to dig herself out of it. Starla thought she was on the rise, but Teagan was sure that it was Katelyn who was the true star.

And he was in her bedroom. Her wonderful, freaking awesome, amazing bedroom.

He could hear the water ru

Why else would she have let him come over?

The faucet stopped and the sound of her in the water beckoned.

Before opening the half-closed door, he drew in a breath. Katelyn smelled of jasmine bath salts and scented candles. It was the scent of a young woman. Not like his sister. Not like his mother.