Whispers and Wishes (Untouchable Book 4)

by Heather Long

  “Crowded.”

  “Snow.”

  “Where would you run?”

  “They have parks,” I drawled. “A really big one that takes up several acres as I recall. They have a zoo, too.”

  “What if you guys get in, and I don’t?”

  “What if you open the letters and stop making yourself nuts?” I tied off the braid and moved around so I could face her again. Leaning back against her desk, I folded my arms to keep from tugging the letters out of her hands and opening them myself. “C’mon, Baby Girl. Open them. You don’t have to believe in you if you don’t want to, but I have all the faith in you.”

  Wherever we all decided to go, I would make sure there was no distance between me and Frankie. Between all of us and Frankie. I wanted this to work. That meant making the choices that were right for all of us.

  “You won’t know until you open it,” I reminded her softly.

  “You’re right.” With a roll of her eyes, she tore open the first one and tugged the three pages out. The first line read Congratulations! and I bit back my reaction while she scanned it. Pride was a fist in my chest. She shot me an incredulous look, and I let my smirk out.

  “You just need to remember I’m right more often.”

  After sticking her tongue out at me, she passed the first one to me while she opened the second. I hadn’t been by my place, but I’d swing by later and check my mail. Her little excited gasp had me grinning again. Fordham was in my hand, but she had NYU.

  “They’re offering me an out of state waiver.”

  “A what now?”

  She glanced up. “It’s a grant for out of state students, it means my tuition will be a lot lower than the out of state rates, and there’s a second scholarship offer for Exceptional Futures.”

  “Well, well, my sexy little brainiac,” I murmured as I set the Fordham letter down and tugged her up and into my arms. She hugged me fiercely, and I squeezed her. “Look at you and your badass self with those two acceptances.”

  Scholarship already in the bag. More offers. The injunction giving her temporary emancipation, and now two yes letters. Her laughter came off giddy as I picked her up.

  “This calls for a celebration.”

  She groaned. “We don’t know if the guys got theirs—oh my god, Jake, what if you got yours?”

  “I’ll find out later.”

  From wild disbelief to giddiness to a stern glare, she poked me. “Let’s go, Mister. We need to stop at your place.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” I was not going to argue. I did, however, snag my letterman’s jacket and drape it over her shoulders before we headed out. The guys were meeting us at the Spooky-Spot, the Halloween pop up shop that opened every autumn. They usually had the best costumes and the most variety.

  The drive to my place took us ten minutes out of the way, but I let the guys know we’d be a few minutes late. I’d let Frankie give them the good news herself. For the first time in days, she practically vibrated in the seat next to me. It was probably the most upbeat I’d seen her in the last few days, and for that I could kiss whoever those recruiters were who got the acceptance letters fired off so quick.

  “What are you doing here?” Louisa demanded when Frankie and I came in.

  “I live here, brat,” I reminded her, and she flicked her fingers at me dismissively. Ugh, she’d been spending too much time with her friends. Suddenly, big brothers weren’t cool anymore. Becca and Blake had done the same things at her age.

  “Couldn’t tell by me,” she retorted, then grinned at Frankie. “You live with Frankie now.”

  “Louisa,” Mom’s voice cut through from the other room, and Louisa made a face as I snorted a laugh. “Watch your mouth, young lady. And don’t you have chores to do?”

  With a roll of her eyes, Louisa said, “Yes, Mom. Your long-lost son is home.”

  I caught her pony tail as she tried to dart around me and tugged it gently. Then I managed a few good tickles under her ribs that had her squeal-screaming, and Frankie laughed. Mom walked out from her make-shift office and bedroom. “Hi, Frankie, dear. Please ignore my hellions. Are you two hungry?”

  “Starving, but we’re meeting the guys,” I told her as I let Louisa go. She streaked away but flipped me off when she was safely out of Mom’s sight, and I just grinned. At least I could still make her laugh. Blake was finally coming out of the big brothers suck phase just in time for Louisa to slide in. Fun stuff.

  “Ahh,” Mom crossed over and offered Frankie a gentle hug. She gave her that Mom-inspection look, then said, “Well, I’m glad to see you. Is my boy behaving himself?”

  “Absolutely not,” Frankie promised, and Mom laughed.

  “Good.”

  “I just came to check the mail. Frankie got some news, and she insisted we find out if I did.” I smirked again when Frankie widened her eyes at me impatiently. Oh no, she needed to strut this news, and I wasn’t going to let her bury it. Her mother sucked, mine did not.

  Mine would do what real moms did when their kids got awesome news.

  “Oh?” Mom took up the gauntlet like a pro and looked at Frankie. “Tell me.”

  “I can’t believe you,” Frankie hissed at me, but I just gave her a smile as I went over to where the girls had sorted the mail. I actually did have a few envelopes. Four to be precise.

  Fuck.

  One of them was Harvard. I glanced over my shoulder. “Just tell her. You know you want to.”

  “Your son is annoying,” Frankie informed my mother, and Mom chuckled.

  “True story,” she said with a grin. “Now stop delaying and tell me the news. I could use some good stuff in my life right now.”

  Was something wrong? I frowned but slit the envelope from Harvard open and read the contents swiftly, then tucked it deeper down and hid it. Until Frankie got hers, I would act like I hadn’t received mine. NYU was in my stack too, and the Congratulations!

  Hell yes. One university locked down for two of us, now we needed to get the others in. I didn’t see one for MIT, but it was probably too early. There was no out of state waiver on my letter, but that was fine. Dad’s military benefits were going to help with my tuition. Yay.

  “Frankie, that’s fantastic! Congratulations!” My mom did exactly what I expected her to do, she hugged Frankie carefully but with every ounce of her enthusiasm. “I’m so proud of you.”

  I wandered over and dangled two acceptance letters of my own. “Can I get in on some of this action?”

  Mom’s gaze fixed on me. “You got in?” She and Frankie chorused it as one.

  “Well don’t look too surprised, I’m pretty damn awesome.”

  Where she’d been reticent about celebrating her own, Frankie let out a scream for me, and the joy on her face had me laughing before I got a crushing hug from both her and Mom. The noise pulled the girls out of their rooms, and there was an impromptu bout of yelling and hugging. It actually took effort for me to extract Frankie from there and get her back in the car.

  I promised Mom she could take us out for a celebration dinner soon, but maybe we’d wait until we all decided on the school. The air was electric all the way to the shop, and Frankie damn near bounced out of the SUV when we got there.

  “It’s about damn time,” Archie groused. “Did you two get lost?” He wasn’t remotely ticked, if anything, he gave Frankie’s glowing face and happy smile a speculative look. I knew what he was thinking, and yeah, that would have been fun, too.

  Frankie had her arms around Coop when she looked at me and raised her brows. I spread my arms and bowed my head, motioning for her to take it all from the top.

  “We got in,” Frankie said. “Jake and I both got into NYU and Fordham. The first acceptance letters were in.”

  “Hell yes,” Coop said, squeezing her to him before he let her go to Archie, who also scooped her into a hug. Coop slapped me on the shoulder as did Bubba. When Frankie turned from Archie toward Bubba, I crossed mental fingers as he grinned at her.


  “I’m so happy for you,” Bubba told her. Frankie’s hesitation landed for less than a second before she stepped to him and wrapped her good arm around him. All but sagging in to her, Bubba held her close and pressed his face against her hair. The hug didn’t last long, but it was a hug and that was a good step forward as far as I was concerned.

  Even better, she didn’t move away from Bubba but stayed there next to him. The night was just improving.

  “Let’s shop,” Coop said. “We have people to be.”

  Inside, we meandered together, but Bubba stuck close to Frankie and I paralleled, just keeping an eye on the people who were there. The place was pretty packed, but Halloween was a couple of days away. The party was on the weekend, so we needed to pick out what we wanted.

  “Sexy maid?” Coop suggested.

  “No,” I answered along with Archie. Sexy was fine, but we weren’t making her parade anywhere wearing anything she didn’t want.

  “Well, we have the options of sexy nurse, sexy firefighter, sexy doctor, sexy—”

  “Coop, man, different section.” I thumped him, but Frankie laughed.

  “I’ll totally wear it if you four will.”

  “And on that note,” Coop said. “Next section.”

  She flashed a smile at me, and I grinned.

  We waded through monsters from vampires to werewolves, to Frankenstein and his bride. That had some potential, but Archie pointed out we’d look like some goth metal band if we went as the Frankensteins. Point. Frankie liked the elf ears and the Lord of the Rings costumes, but the cast would prevent her from really using a bow.

  Bubba pulled out dwarf costumes and got Frankie snickering when he offered her a full beard. Dwarf women were bearded after all, and as funny as that sounded, I’d prefer her lips weren’t hidden behind nasty faux hair.

  We made it to superheroes, but Frankie kept walking when Archie pulled out the Catwoman costume and followed her with a teasing if pleading smile. Serial killers and slasher film costumes were right out. I wouldn’t mind one of those, it’d be fine, but I also wanted to be able to kiss her some time that evening.

  Decisions. Decisions.

  Fairy tales and nursery rhyme costumes were in the next section, and Frankie stared at some of those thoughtfully. “The problem,” she admitted as we huddled. “Is you guys wanna theme, and there’s not a lot of options that means all five of us can coordinate.”

  “I don’t care if we’re all wearing the same thing,” Bubba offered.

  “Neither do I.” I gave her braid a little tug, and she slapped my hand. “The trick is to just find one we all like.”

  “What about Sexy Red Riding Hood?” Coop suggested with a wicked grin, and all of us groaned. “C’mon, then we’re all the big bad wolf. All the better to eat you, my dear.” The leer at the end had her groaning even louder, and she pinched him. Absolutely irreverent, he at least circled us back to where we’d started. “If you gave us some guidance here, Frankie, it would definitely help with the decision-making process.”

  “She could go as the Invisible Woman,” a familiar feminine voice offered. “You know, all wrapped up in bandages because she’s so good at not letting you see her if she doesn’t want to be seen.”

  Archie let out a quiet “Fuck” as I pivoted to eye Cheryl. Of all the people to run into tonight, just fucking no. Frankie was having a good night. “Go away,” I told her. “No one invited you to join us.”

  She frowned at me. “It’s a public place, and I want to talk to Frankie.” Glancing past me, she focused on Frankie, who let out a sigh.

  “I don’t really have anything to say to you, Cheryl,” she admitted. “We’re trying to find a costume so…”

  “But I’m so good at shopping,” the ditz pushed forward, but Coop blocked her from getting too close, and Bubba and Archie both had Frankie’s back. There would be no going around them to close that distance. Frankie didn’t want to talk to her, and as long as that was the case, the ditz could keep her distance. “I helped you find the perfect dress for Homecoming, remember?”

  What vague sense of goodwill I tried to muster erased. “Go away, Cheryl, before I pick your ass up and dump you outside with the rest of the trash.”

  She gaped at me, but she didn’t get a word in before Coop said, “There’s air-headed, and then there’s just flat cruel. You are digging a grave here, Cheryl. Now fuck off.”

  “You know, I don’t have to listen to any of you. Frankie and I are friends.” She looked past us to Frankie. “Right? We’re friends.”

  “Did you know what Mitch was going to do when you gave me that bottle of water?”

  All the air evacuated, and I clenched my fists. Cheryl needed to be very careful with her answers here. She shifted her footing, but Frankie pushed up next to me, and I wanted to drag her back and put her behind me, but this was also her fight.

  “If we’re friends,” Frankie said slowly, “then you’ll tell me if you knew what he planned to do when you gave me that bottle of water.”

  It wasn’t a difficult question.

  Cheryl’s face crumbled.

  Son. Of. A. Bitch.

  “He never hurt anyone before…”

  “Before?” Archie shot that word out like a bullet. “How many people did you hurt, Cheryl? How many of your friends?”

  “It’s no big deal, he showed me.” The pleading on her face begged us to believe her, but she just made me sick. “Really, he did… He said it was…it would make things easier. You guys were getting all the girls, and he wanted to be able to keep up but he wasn’t a manslut.”

  “No, he’s just a rapist,” Bubba said dryly. “Big step up.”

  “You drugged your friends,” Frankie said. “You drugged them and set them up. He has sex with them and they can’t remember, and that’s okay with you?”

  “He never hurt anyone,” Cheryl attempted again and took a step toward Frankie, but stopped at the look on Frankie’s face. “He didn’t Frankie, I swear. He never hurt anyone before what happened with you, and if you hadn’t fought him, maybe he wouldn’t have gotten mad.”

  “Are you for fucking real right now?” Archie demanded.

  Tears slid down her face. Were we supposed to feel sorry for her? I wanted to pop her upside her head, but I doubted there was anything rattling around in there. “He got mad over the summer when he thought I’d slept with you guys.”

  “Why the fuck would he think that?” I had to know.

  Cheryl bit her lip and flashed those damp eyes at me. Sorry, not buying the bullshit or the histrionics. She swallowed and took a step back. I didn’t have to look to know I wasn’t the only one glaring at her.

  “Maybe I should just go,” she said, turning away.

  “Why did he think that?” Frankie asked. “What did you tell him?”

  “I wanted to make him jealous because he was hitting on someone else,” she admitted. “I wanted to prove I didn’t need him.”

  “So you told him you slept with the guys?”

  “Just Archie and Jake. I had pictures of everyone. I showed him them on my phone. He assumed it was all of you because he was really mad. He didn’t talk to me for two weeks. I thought I blew it and then…”

  “And then what?” Jake asked. “Then he said, drug some girls so I can screw them, and everything will be all right? What is wrong with you?”

  She pushed toward Frankie, big fat tears rolling down her face. “I just wanted him to be happy. I know he’s not the greatest guy but…he was going to leave me, and it was my fault for lying. None of the others were hurt. You know…”

  “When you fought over the summer,” Frankie asked slowly. “Why did you fight?”

  Cheryl shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.”

  “The hell it doesn’t,” Coop stated bluntly. “What did you fight about?”

  “You wouldn’t do it.” Frankie answered, not Cheryl. “The fight over the summer was when he first asked you to do it, and you wouldn’t.” />
  “I’d done it for him at a party, but I didn’t know anyone there…it was my punishment.”

  Oh fuck me. I grimaced. I knew what she was about to say before the words came out.

  “He made me watch. Said if he had to live with knowing I had sex with all of you, then…I had to see him have sex with someone else. It would be okay ’cause she wouldn’t remember…it was just for me.”

  “Then he wanted you to do it to your friends.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Frankie, I promise I didn’t know he meant that for you. I didn’t know until that night after we’d all been dancing. But…he really hates them and wanted what they have. I figured it would be quick and you wouldn’t know, and it would be all right…”

  I had no words. She was delusional.

  The tears fell hot and heavy on her face, and she stepped toward Frankie like she would hug her, but Frankie withdrew. The disgust on her face waging war with sympathy. Yeah, I didn’t have any sympathy. Mitch was scum of the fucking earth, but Cheryl wasn’t much better.

  She’d willingly served her friends up.

  Willingly served Frankie up.

  “It’s all over now… I mean, Mitch has a broken jaw and he’s been arrested. My parents won’t let me talk to him… I’m so sorry.”

  “Me, too,” Frankie said and turned away. “I can’t do this.”

  “You don’t have to,” Bubba said, and I nodded to him then blocked Cheryl. Archie had his phone out, hopefully calling the police. As far as I was concerned, Cheryl was as guilty as Mitch. When they showed up, that meant another round of statements, and it was late by the time we got out of there. Cheryl’s parents had shown up, and they left with her and the cops.

  We didn’t end up picking out costumes after that. We went back to Frankie’s, and she took pain meds, and we got her to sleep. I didn’t think I’d be sleeping anytime soon though, because one thing kept playing over and over in my head.

  Yeah, Cheryl lied. She told Mitch she’d had sex with us. Stupid lie, but whatever. Mitch had gone after Frankie because of us. Because of all this.

  Sick asshole.

  The next day, we’d deal with Sharon and celebrate Archie’s birthday and the college acceptance letters, but where we should’ve been feeling good, there was only a darkened pall.