Hush Money by Susan Bischoff Page A

loud as ever, but all eyes were on the two groups facing off
in Kat’s family room. Kat, Maddy, Heather, and Elizabeth vs. Marco,
Dylan, Jeff, and Eric.
    “So? What of it?”
    “I’m just saying that I didn’t know it. I’m
sure it’s been hard on you.”
    “So, what’s this? You’re going to pretend to
feel all sorry for me because my mom ran off and we don’t know
where she is? Don’t bother. We don’t care.”
    “Ran off? You mean ‘was taken away,’ right?
’cause your mom’s at Hellermann’s, right?”
    “Shut up, Kat,” Jeff snapped. “You don’t know
what you’re talking about. His mom’s no mental—”
    Marco jabbed Jeff in the ribs. “Who told you
that?”
    I fell back against the wall, so grateful
that I wasn’t a part of this, and that no one was paying attention
to me right now. And at the same time, I felt guilty because I
could have been in the loop. Maybe I could have stopped this.
Because this was wrong. Even to Marco, it was just wrong. My dad
had spent time at The R.K. Hellermann Center for Mental Health. I
wasn’t ashamed of it, but…damn.
    “After our…conversation the other day, I just
wanted to find out as much about you as I could. So I did.”
    “Who. Told you that. About my mother?”
    Dylan stepped up, “I don’t know what’s going
on between the two of you, but making stuff up like this? It’s
messed up, Kat.”
    When you spend your time watching life, you
read a lot of people, and here’s what I was pretty sure about: what
Kat just said was true, it was news to Jeff and Eric, and Dylan was
pissed off.
    “But I’m not making it up, am I, Marco?”
    “Kat,” Dylan’s voice was more forceful this
time. “You need to back off. This isn’t you.”
    “No, hey, it’s fine.” Marco stepped forward.
I think Kat wanted to step back, but didn’t. “I mean, what does it
really matter what people think? So either my mom’s a dead-beat ho
or she’s a freakin’ lunatic. What’s the difference, right?”
    Kat shrugged. “I guess the difference is
something like: are you so obnoxious that you made your mom run
away, or did you drive her insane?”
    Dylan clapped a hand on Marco’s shoulder.
“Come on, man, let’s go.”
    “Oh no, we’re not leaving. Not when Kat and I
are really getting to know each other.”

    * * *

    Joss

    “Are you okay?”
    I glanced up at Dylan and then immediately
found a focus point on his shoulder. It was lame that I could never
seem to look this boy in the eye. Kat’s mom had called her, which
was nice for her, since it gave her an excuse to quit while she was
sort of ahead. She’d breezed out of the room, her entourage in her
wake. Dylan had led Marco outside for some air, and the rest of his
crew had followed. I was surprised that I hadn’t seen him come
back. I was way too much in my head.
    “Shouldn’t you be asking your friend that
question?”
    “I am,” he replied, completely throwing me.
After he let that sink in for a beat, he kept going. “If you mean
Marco, he’s Marco. He’s either ok or he’s not, and he’s not going
to talk about it here, if anywhere.”
    I nodded.
    “So I was thinking that maybe…I mean, I
noticed that you looked…”
    “What?” Between the guilt and the shoes I was
damned uncomfortable and it came out defensive.
    “Upset, I guess.”
    Why are you noticing how I look, or anything
about me? You are seriously toying with the Laws of the Universe,
you know that, right?
    “Yeah, well, it was an upsetting scene. And
one I didn’t know anything about,” I added quickly.
    “I’m sure you didn’t.”
    Maybe that’s part of what I liked about
Dylan, beyond the shoulders and the blue eyes. He was always trying
to smooth things over, make people feel better, and he usually
seemed sincere about it.
    Still, I found myself babbling, “I mean it. I
mean, I knew there was some bad blood or whatever between Marco and
Kat, and I knew she had some kind of plan to get back at him, but