He tugs the chair out for me. Instead of sitting down, I wrap my arms back around him and squeeze. Wishing with everything in me that this was real, that he was really alive and okay…but, deep in my gut, I know this is just a dream.
“I’m sorry, Nessy,” he whispers in my ear, making my heart jump. That was his nickname for me. “But we’ve got to talk about some things.” He hugs me once and then releases me.
Wiping my eyes, I take a seat. He sits across from me and pours us both some orange juice. Then he removes the covers, and my lip trembles. On his plate, there’s bacon and eggs, and on mine there’s waffles with strawberries.
This was our thing when we were dating. We both love-loved eating breakfast for dinner. I’d always act surprised when he presented me with waffles and strawberries on dates. He knows how I feel about fake bacon. Then, for breakfast, we’d eat pizza or spaghetti. Our parents hated it, but it didn’t stop us.
A sob escapes me and I try to fight the rest down.
“This is my favorite place.” He glances out at the crashing waves. “This is where I was planning to take you one summer.”
“It’s beautiful,” I whisper, wiping stray tears away.
“I’ve been lying to y’all,” he admits, finally facing me. The sadness on his face confuses me and makes me want to get back up and hug him again. “I’m sorry,” he adds, face turning gray.
I reach across the table for his hand, “For what?”
“When you wake up, go ask my parents.” He laces our fingers together and smiles. “I loved you more than I loved myself.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
~ Lies, Truths, and…an Apple Turnover? ~
“Nessa,” someone murmurs, shaking me. “Wake up. It’s just a dream.” Opening my eyes, I see Devin staring down at me worriedly. “Wake up, it’s just a dream,” normally would comfort people. But it reminds me that my reality currently sucks. Before he can even say it I wipe at my cheeks.
“We’ve been waiting for you to wake up.” Through the open door, I hear the guys’ laughter. Before, they were gathered in the kitchen/dining room, now they’re cramped together on his couch.
Patting his cheek, I crawl out of bed, and shove him out so I can change. Then I walk out of my temporary room while brushing my hair and trying to slip my shoes on at the same time. A multitasker, I am.
Devin stops in the middle of handing out glasses of juice to face me. “Where are you going?”
“I have things to do,” I say as I do my weird, awkward dance.
“I was hoping we could talk.” Nicks moves in front of me, trying to block my path.
I finally get my shoes on. “Maybe later.”
“Why’re you in such a rush?” He crosses his arms over his chest.
“Because,” I snap. When he used to leave the damn room, I never questioned him. Mainly because he was probably going to do something I didn’t want to know about. Why am I always interrogated?
“Whoa, no need to get a ’tude.” He holds his hands up in surrender.
“So it’s okay for you to get one with me when things don’t go your way?” I poke his chest with my pointer finger. “You’re allowed to treat me like the shit on your shoe, but when I get a little annoyed, I’m the horrible bitch?” His mouth falls open. Sighing, I shake my head. “I know you were upset with losing that guy’s trail, but to bite my head off for something I didn’t know I could do, let alone know how to control? That’s going too far, especially when I nearly died because of these stupid ‘gifts’!”
“I’m sorry,” he whispers, looking like a wounded puppy. Probably being really freaked with the sight of my tears, considering I’ve never cried in front of them.
“Me, too.” I shake my head again, trying to clear it. But I know what I have to do, and nothing is going to get in my way. “I’ll see y’all later. Don’t follow me.”
<<<->>>
Knocking on Antonio’s parents’ door, knowing he’s no longer here, has to be the weirdest experience of my life. Especially seeing the moving van parked right out front. I guess whatever he was apologizing for in my dream thing is big enough to make them not want to be here anymore.
His dad opens the door to peer out suspiciously at me, until he realizes I’m not the boogie monster. Then he gives me a small smile and holds the door open for me. “We were wondering when you’d show up.”
“Way to freak the girl out, Hank,” Antonio’s mom—Mia—scolds. Then she gazes lovingly at me. “Come, have a seat while I make you some hot chocolate.”
“So, you’re moving?” I ask once she’s settled into the loveseat in front of me.
“Yeah.” Like she doesn’t want to give too much away. Something is definitely going on here.
“What was Antonio hiding that has you both so scared?” I get to the point right away. As usual.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, dear.” She sounds surprised and her cheeks pale. Silently, I cast my energy out. Searching her house and around the property. There are little blips everywhere. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like my “radar” is picking up on it. And then it smacks me in the face. Their house is bugged.
“Won’t you come with me to the garden?” she suggests suddenly, holding her hand out for me to take. Is this like taking an old dog out to the woods or something? I don’t know if I like this….
“I’ve always loved your garden.” I follow my instincts. We get up and make our way to the backyard. “So, what’re you going to do with it?” It’s always been a mystery how she keeps her rose bushes and daisies alive and pretty, to me anyway.
“He was being threatened,” she hisses once we’re far enough away from the house. “Whoever created that thing was making him do things.” I’m guessing by “that thing” she means the New Born.
“What kind of things?”
“He never told me, but, some nights, he’d come home covered in blood.” Her face turns paler by the minute. “Whoever it was, threatened you. They said they’d kill you if he didn’t do as they said. They even had a lock of your hair.” I reach back to the strand of hair that’s shorter than all of the others. I just thought it wasn’t growing.
“Why’d they kill him?” I ask carefully.
She pauses for a minute, surrounded by her roses with tears falling down her cheeks. “I guess because they were done with him and didn’t want any witnesses.”
“Who is this ‘they’?” I ask, chewing on my bottom lip.
“We don’t know,” she whispers, and then, wiping her tears away she smiles at me. “I was hoping you would take care of my garden while I’m gone.” She murmurs holding a daisy in her hand.
Before they leave, I cleanse their car, check for hidden bombs, and do everything my mom ever taught me to do to protect people. Then, when they’re just about ready to leave, I hand her my turquoise pendant. The one I’ve always had around my neck.
“Thank you, dear, but you—”
“You’re taking it.” I close her hand around it.
“Fine, then take this.” She murmurs, pressing something in my hands. “You’re looking a little too thin.” Opening the paper towels I see a…apple turnover? What? I can’t help but smile at her. She used to make them every time I stayed the night when I was a kid.
Smiling back, she gives me a tight hug. So does Hank, and I watch them drive down the road.
“If anything happens to them, you’ll die a slow, painful death,” I whisper into the air, wishing whoever the hell’s doing this hears me.
Then I go back into their house and up the stairs, lightly trailing my hand along the railing. This is where we used to play cops and ninjas. The guys would climb the walls and the side of the stairs, just so I wouldn’t reach them.
I go up the rest of the steps, ignoring the now-obvious bugs in the house. There are what look to be cameras “hidden” on the numerous bookshelves, black dots on the walls. Whoever did this was extremely careless. Then I go right into Antonio’s room
where hardly anything’s changed. Why didn’t they take his stuff with them? Maybe they’re coming back for it?
I’ve been in here plenty of times before. Hell, I’ve even spent the night, accidentally. We fell asleep watching movies. I swear, my mom still doesn’t fully believe me about that. So, we also kinda made out a little before, nothing more.
Sitting down on the bed, I lightly run my hand over the comforter. He let me pick this one out. It was just a plain blue one, but, right now, it means so much to me. We were shopping together at the mall. We had to get a new one because he thought it’d be okay to sit a lit candle on his bed. He sometimes didn’t think things through. It was Christmas time, and Santa was sitting on his throne near the food court. I bet him that he wouldn’t go sit on his lap. But, he did, and I still have the photographic evidence tucked in one of my many books. He made me promise to never show it to another living soul.
Suddenly I see us lying in his bed, laughing. I don’t remember what was so funny, but whatever it was, I was snort laughing. Something only he could cause.
Then I see him storming in here, red faced and angry. His phone lights up, and my face pops up on the screen. Instead of answering, he slings it against the wall where it bounces. He got that heavy-duty phone for a reason. I guess this is after I broke up with him. His fangs slide down once the thing doesn’t break into a million pieces like he wanted. Then he’s standing over it. He snatches it up and is about to throw it again. But then his background shows up. A picture of both of us, making funny faces.
He freezes and then slides down the wall to the floor, starting to cry.
I never knew it upset him this much. “I loved you more than I loved myself.” His voice whispers through my head from my dream thing. I’m the reason he’s dead. It’s my freakin’ fault.
Shaking my head from the anger boiling through me I grab a worn T-shirt of his. Then I’m taken back to the other day, when he didn’t come to my circle. I thought it was something to do with me because things were still kinda awkward with us. But now I see that he was meeting a cloaked figure in the cemetery.
The cloaked figure hands him a slip of paper, and he leaves without a word and goes to where the address says. It was to a bar where it seemed like he waited for hours. Then Racheal came in. Realizing right away that I’m not going to like what I’m about to see, I silently brace myself.
He waves at her and she comes to him right away, already knowing him from school.
Then I see them taking things to a hotel room. They’re making out, which I want to turn away from. But I can’t, if I want answers. Then she’s complaining about feeling weird. He moves off her and off of the bed, slowly pulling his shirt back on, acting like her feeling sick didn’t surprise him.
Noticing his blank expression as he watches her stumble around the room, horror rushes through me. He drugged her. Oh my God.
She faints, and then he’s carrying her to another place, where the cloaked figure’s waiting. Antonio carefully sits her down at his feet, and the cloaked figure nods. When he starts to leave, the figure holds his hand out and he freezes in place. “Take care of her,” the figure demands in a deep, raspy voice.
“No,” Antonio grinds out, straining to turn to face the figure.
“I’m not giving you a choice.” The figure laughs, making my face appear, floating above the palm of his hand. “Isn’t she pretty?”
“You’d better not touch her,” he snarls, rushing toward him.
“Then do as I ask,” the figure chuckles, gesturing down to the girl at their feet.
His eyes blaze, and he bends down to the girl….
Gasping, I fall to the floor, just wanting to get away from that vision, heart breaking all over again. I snuggle with my apple turnover and cry.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
~ This Again? ~
“Where have you been?” Nicks asks as soon as I walk through the door. Apparently I dozed off in Antonio’s old room and, when I woke up, it was already dark out. I’m more than a little shocked to find all of the guys sitting in Devin’s living room, watching Easy A.
“Did you walk here, at night?” Devin exclaims.
“Are you okay?” Kyle’s gaze lingering on my red, puffy face. I’ve never seen myself from someone else’s point of view before. I look like shit, but I can’t focus on that right now.
“I’ll play twenty questions with y’all once I get something to eat,” I grumble, walking into the kitchen. That apple turnover didn’t do much to fill me up.
Already knowing where everything is, I pull out the stuff for a peanut butter sandwich. Standing in here gives me time to try and figure out how to break the news about Antonio’s secret to the guys.
We’ve all known each other practically since birth. They’ve never kept secrets from me and I’m pretty sure not from each other. So, this is going to be really hard on them. Even though he was forced into doing what he did.
Argg. Just freakin’ arg.
I tense up when I sense another presence in the room. Something’s not right.
“Find her, end her….”
Turning around with a butter knife in my hand, I see the New Born—Toby—standing in the doorway. Instead of giving a little wave, I narrow my eyes. He’s up to no good. He smirks back, seeming relaxed.
The wounds around his neck have healed up pretty well. Now it’s just a faint scar. In other words, he’s been eating or drinking a lot of blood bags.
Without turning my back on him, I put my pieces of bread together and hold out the peanut butter to him. As an offering, secretly wishing he has some peanut allergy.
Then he rushes toward me, ready to attack.
Oh my God. No, please don’t hurt me, mister…ha. Not really. I throw the peanut butter, and it bounces off his head. He keeps coming and then he’s right in front of me. Grabbing me by my throat and starting to lift me off of my feet.
What is it with my throat?
Sneering, I jab the knife into his ear, and he snarls, too busy yanking the thing out of his ear to continue his attack. I wait until he straightens again before I grab his balls and give a quick, sharp twist.
“I am damn tired of you,” I growl into his ear as he whimpers, clawing at my hand.
“What’s going on in there?” Nicks calls from the living room. Before they can venture on in here, I drag my new friend in to join them in the living room. When they see what’s going on, they all grimace and close their legs tighter together.
“Nessa?” Devin interjects cautiously.
“Bro, bro tried attacking me again,” I explain with a pleasant smile. “Now, turn the movie off and come sit around the kitchen table. We’ve got things we need to talk about.” And that’s all I say before yanking him along to the kitchen table. He sits with another whimper. “Are you going to behave?”
He nods, and I let him go.
Sitting down beside him I continue to sneer. And he holds his wounded…areas, as he bends over the table.
“Toby, what happened?” Devin asks, sitting down beside him.
“I don’t know. I was coming out to get something to drink. I saw her standing there, and something came over me.” He coughs, running his finger through his hair. Without hesitation, I take his face in my hands. His expression is more than a little petrified. Ignoring that, I focus on his mind.
“Thought so,” I mumble and try to mentally clean the dark areas of his mind, if that makes any sense. Then, when I’m done, I hand him a tiny black stone. “Keep this on you at all times.”
“Okay,” he murmurs, face flushing pink. “You smell nice.”
“Thanks, it’s vag spray,” I answer, and Devin chokes on his drink.
“Always about sex,” he grumbles shaking his head once he’s able to breathe again.
“I find it easiest. Once someone gives you a compliment, undermine it with a reply like that. They either won’t do it again, or they’ll have an f-ing dazzling personality and be cool and laugh with you.” I ex
plain easily.
“Is that what happened with you and Ant?” Nicks asks and then coughs.
“I need to talk to y’all about him….” I face Toby. “Did you kill Antonio?”
“No,” he answers, appearing horrified.
“Good.” I turn back to the rest of them. “So, this is me trying to explain something. Trying to break something to you gently and, so, I’m just gonna do what I usually do.” Waiting until everyone’s seated, I go on. “Antonio was being blackmailed into helping the jackass who possibly killed him.”
There’s silence for a moment.
“What?” Jake yells.
“Blackmailed how?” Kyle asks.
“Why didn’t he tell us?” Nicks growls.
“Silence,” Devin’s voice shakes the walls and everyone quiets down. Why do I find that attractive? He places his hands on the table, leaning forward slightly. “How do you know this?”
“I knew there was something off with his mom and dad. So, I went to see them. They’re already out of town by now.” I let that sink in before going on. “Their house is bugged. He was forced into doing—” I stop myself. “Before I tell you, just remember he was being forced into it. And that he’s still—was still—our best friend.” That just freaks them out more. “I didn’t see everything because I couldn’t watch any more. But what I saw…he drugged a girl—Racheal—and took her to the guy who was blackmailing him. Then the guy forced him to…do his dirty work.”
There’s another silence for a moment until—as usual—Nicks talks first. “Who would be so important to him that he’d do something like that?”
“His parents are more than capable of taking care of themselves,” Jake adds. “It’s you, isn’t it?” he asks suddenly, making me look up from the table. Sure enough, he’s staring at me.
Soon all of their eyes are on me.
“Yep,” is my watery reply. “I was the damsel in distress. I’m the one he cared so much about, and in return? I dumped him.”
Freaksville Page 11
