“I’m left handed, so it wouldn’t be a problem for me.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. “So what’s new with you? Saved anyone else from rape, drunk driving and a deadly car accident?”
“Sierra—”
“Please let me say this, okay?”
He nodded.
“Thank you for all you did for me that night. I vaguely remember you letting me squeeze your hand when the pain was too much as we waited for the ambulance. You made me talk to you and wouldn’t let me fall asleep.”
“You’re welcome. But I figure we’re even now in the life saving department.”
“I heard my dad accused you of some stuff in the hospital and he got a little violent. I’m sorry you had to deal with it after…” She cleared her throat. “I know he’s apologized to you and tried to make amends—”
“Hey. I don’t want anything from either of you, understand?” His fingers traced the bruise on her cheek and the bigger one on her neck. “You have no idea what I…” He refocused on her eyes and stopped touching her. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re all right.”
“I’m getting there.” Her cheeks grew hot. “Also…thanks for not telling my dad everything that happened before the accident. At the party. Especially that thing with Tyler…I can’t believe I was so stupid.”
“We all do stupid shit.” A strange expression crossed his face and vanished. “Did you get in trouble for drinking?”
Sierra pleated the folds of the blanket. “Yes. I’m not supposed to drive for a while but it doesn’t matter since my car is totaled. I’m back to where I was just before Christmas. Carless.” Friendless. “So entertain me. Any good gossip at school?”
He frowned. “Hasn’t Marin told you?”
“Marin hasn’t come out to see me.” And Sierra wasn’t about to call her first. She hadn’t heard from anyone, not even Angie and Kara. So much for all the great friends she’d made in the last month.
“Actually, you and I are in the hot seat of gossip.”
“Really? Because of the accident?”
“Mostly. There are interesting rumors going around. Like…we’ve been secretly dating since school started. We had a fight while you were gone over Christmas break and you broke up with me. But we made up at Tyler’s party with loud, raunchy sex. Everyone at the party heard us.”
Sierra blushed.
“Then there’s the rumor I purposely crashed your car so I could save you. But that backfired because your father forbid you from ever seeing me again. He took a swing at me and it became a West versus McKay brawl in the hospital waiting room.”
“You are denying it all, right?”
Boone grinned. “Nope. I’m thinking of adding fuel to the fire by spending a few hours at India’s Ink. Then the rumors will fly I got your name tattooed on my butt.”
“Omigod. Boone West! You can’t do that.”
“Watch me. Anyway, there’s another reason I’m here.”
“I’m not fixing you lunch.”
“Glad to see you haven’t lost that bizarre sense of humor, McKay. I’m volunteering to be your study buddy.” He poked her shoulder. “Your right hand man.”
She groaned at his pun but immediately grew suspicious. “Hey, wait a minute. Did my dad hire you to do this?”
He raised an eyebrow. “Like I need payment to hang out with you? That hurts.”
“Sorry. So tell me why you’re volunteering.”
“Because you’re my girlfriend and you need me.” He made loud kissing noises. “I live to serve you.”
Sierra glared at him. “The truth, Boone.”
“Fine. It’s a selfish reason. I know you’re working on a big project about McKay history. I thought if I helped you, I’d find out some West history. After all the bullshit and rumors going around, I got to thinking about the feud. Has anyone ever told you how it started?”
“No. Do you know?”
“No. But I’d like to.”
“Well, you’re in luck. When my Aunt Carolyn—”
“Our Aunt Carolyn,” he corrected with a grin.
“When our Aunt Carolyn told me I could access the McKay archives, I asked if she’d let me scan all the old family documents. She claims there are letters and stuff from the late eighteen hundreds. Even she’s not sure what’s in there. As far as she knows, no one has looked at the old stuff in sixty or seventy years. She just keeps adding boxes of updated McKay history.”
“What’d she say about you copying them?”
“No problem as long as I pass along an electronic copy of all the files in case something happened to the originals.”
“Do you have a scanner?”
Her look said, doesn’t everyone? “Yes.”
“Do you know I don’t even have a computer? I have to use the ones at the library.”
She had a computer and a laptop, which had never made her feel spoiled until now. “If you’re over here helping me with homework, you can use mine.”
“Thanks.”
“So are you busy today?”
“I work the graveyard shift tonight. Besides that, no.”
“Good. Because my dad retrieved the archives.”
Those beautiful brown eyes lit up. “Really? Where are they?”
Sierra pointed to the far wall.
He turned to look. “Holy shit. There’s got to be thirty boxes there.”
“Twenty-seven.”
He groaned. “That’ll take weeks to scan.”
God, I hope so.
Boone faced her. “What did you say?”
“That we’d better get cracking.”
When Marin called the following week, asking if she could come over, Sierra almost said no. Being in pain was a legitimate excuse for denying visitors, but Marin probably knew most of the McKay family had been by, so she said yes.
Rielle escorted Marin upstairs. Sierra sensed Ree wanted to hang around. During their knitting sessions before Christmas, Sierra had mentioned her frustration with Marin constantly ditching her for Mitch.
Despite her closeness to her dad, he didn’t understand girl drama. His advice was to ignore Marin, stop complaining about her and find new friends. God. That made her want to scream. So she should just walk up to a group of girls in her class and say, hey, you wanna be my friend? like she had in preschool? No one did that. She’d rather eat lunch by herself every day and have no friends than come off that weird and desperate.