by Lisa M Basso
“Ouch,” He pressed a hand against his chest in a gesture of mock pain. “Teenage angst cuts the deepest.” The dryness in his voice was palpable. “But I’m not the one being stood up.”
I reached for my bag and slid out of the booth. It was after the time I usually met Lee anyway, and I was going to be late for school.
“Rayna, don’t go. I was just having some fun with you. Teasing. Isn’t that what humans do?”
“I doubt that. And you’re not human.” I kept my voice tight and low while remaining on my feet. “Tell me more about Az.”
“Sit down and have breakfast with me.”
“I thought you didn’t eat.”
“I don’t, but you should. You’re too skinny.”
I looked down at my stomach, my belt cinched to the point I’d had to pierce an extra hole into it, and remembered the blonde he’d soul-sucked in the back alley. “I thought you liked skinny girls.”
“No, I like thin women. Now sit down and order something.”
Eat breakfast and try to get information out of Kade, or sit awkwardly next to Cam in first period trying to figure out what the hell I felt for him?
“Would this be the payment for our agreement yesterday?”
“No, this would be breakfast.”
I hauled my bag to my shoulder and moved for the door.
“With information,” he added.
I stopped. He was playing with me, like I was a shiny new toy, but it didn’t matter. What he had, I needed. It was as simple as that.
Irked, I scooted my bag over and plunked down in the booth. “I eat, you talk.”
***
I made it to school at the tail end of lunch. Lee wasn’t at our usual table. I glanced around for another familiar face. Luke sat with Gina Garson and a few of his buddies. The billowy top Gina was wearing didn’t do anything to help with the rumors. At least Az hadn’t gotten to Luke yet.
The lunch bell rang, and I fumbled my way through the rest of the day. Cam and I didn’t have a chance to talk during History thanks to a pop quiz that spanned the entire period.
After school, I hung around outside for a few extra minutes, waiting, hoping Lee would show up. He didn’t.
Worry bit at me like a pesky mosquito. Lee was the only person in this world I could trust—with everything but the angel thing; no one would believe that. Except, well, the angels. And to repay his kindness, I’d gone and twisted myself up with Cam and Kade, leaving him high and dry. What a spectacular friend I was turning out to be. No wonder he’d missed school; he was probably avoiding me.
Although, missing school just because he was pissed at me didn’t sound like something he’d do. Lee could be mad at me at school, and he could avoid me at school. He knew that I’d never push him into talking to me if he needed a few days to blow off steam.
Now I was beginning to think Lee wasn’t just angry at me, but so fed up with my craziness that he didn’t want to be my friend anymore. I should have seen something like this coming. Sure, we’d had fun together before the angels showed up, but I’d been a walled-off nut-job since then.
Maybe he’d even caught a glance at my secret-notebook ramblings. Or seen the drawing. Wind blew dirt and small yellow leaves up from the ground, swirling them around. I swallowed and headed back inside, needing a moment to think without the chatter of students waiting to board the yellow school busses.
I turned the corner to bypass the stairs and slammed into someone. Not just someone. Cam.
Annoyance furrowed his features. He steadied me and held me at arm’s length, his anger dissolving when he realized I was his collision partner. “I’ve been looking for you.” A few boys in gym clothes trickled down the stairs. Cam took the sleeve of my sweater and towed me toward the first floor hallway, which was empty.
He dropped my sleeve. That annoyed look returned to his face. “I can’t believe after what happened Friday you’d actually go back to work at the diner. I didn’t think I’d have to tell you to stay away from there. What were you thinking?” The growing worry inside me must have shown in my face. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Lee wasn’t in school today. He hasn’t been answering my calls or meeting me for breakfast. I don’t know. I think he’s … this is stupid, I know.”
“Do you think he’s in trouble?”
“Trouble? Like … like the Az kind of trouble?” I stared at him, desperate to know if that’s where he was going. In the window behind him, darker clouds rolled over the fog.
A group of girls passed us, and he lowered his voice. “I don’t know. It’s a possibility, I suppose.”
I ran a hand through my hair, taking in the casual way he’d just told me my best friend could be in serious angel trouble. “He hasn’t been himself lately. Not since all this angel stuff started. Not since Allison’s death. He’s never ignored me this way before.” I shook my head. “Now I’m really worried.” I yanked my cell phone from my back pocket and called Lee again. I bit my lower lip harder with each ring. “He didn’t answer. Should I be worried? I mean, what guarantee do you have that Luke’s going to be the next victim?”
“There are never any guarantees in these situations, but if they sent me here to watch Luke, then there’s a reason.”
“I have to go check on him.”
“You can’t go alone. If Azriel, or whoever is taking lives here, finds out you can see us …”
He didn’t need to finish that sentence. Suffice it to say, if that happened, I was in deep crap.
“Then come with me.”
Cam glanced down at his watch. “Now? I can’t. I finally found an in with Luke. He’s probably waiting for me outside right now.”
The more I thought about the possibility of a soul-sucking, suicide-inducing angel anywhere near Lee, the faster my fear rose.
“Lee’s my best friend—my only friend. And something isn’t right.” My voice lifted high above the remaining students.
Cam led me farther back into the hall, away from the front door and main stairwell. “It’s going to be okay.”
“You can’t guarantee that, you said it yourself.” I slapped his hand away. “These people, every single one of us except for Luke, we mean nothing to you. You’ll go on whether you save us or not when you’re called away to your next mission. But Lee means something to me!”
Cam fired back at me so fast I didn’t have time to brace myself for it. “Don’t ever say that. They mean everything to me.” My heart beat faster against my ribcage. The tension in my fists slackened.
They mean everything to him, not you.
I swallowed back the rejection I hadn’t expected to feel. Determined to go before I said—or did—something I’d regret, I stepped around him, ignoring the brush of his wings against my shoulder.
“Rayna,” Cam called out calmly, but I didn’t hear him come after me. Good. That would make things easier.
Before I reached the stairs, my phone vibrated against my thigh. I pulled it from my pocket and pushed the green button to answer before thinking to check the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“Ms. Evans, Detective Rhodes.”
I stopped.
“Ms. Evans, are you there?”
“Uh, yeah. Sorry. I thought you’d be my dad.” I worked hard to keep a tremble from my voice.
“He and I just spoke. He was kind enough to pass along your cell number.” In the background, I could hear him tapping on computer keys. “The reason I’m calling is to give you an update on Allison Woodward’s case. Your art teacher corroborated your story from last Tuesday.” A man’s voice called for the detective. “Ms. Evans, can you hold on?”
“Sure, I guess.”
At first the detective’s words were too muffled to make out, but the longer he kept me on hold, the clearer his conversation became. I turned the volume on my phone up all the way. Eventually, I could make out entire sentences.
“The medical examiner placed the time of death within the tim
e Allison Woodward left class and when the nine-one-one call was made.”
I swallowed and listened harder.
“Now here’s where the discrepancy comes in. According to the medical examiner, the twenty to twenty-five minutes Allison was unaccounted for and the cuts on her wrists don’t line up. Jim said she shouldn’t have bled out before the paramedics arrived.”
I reeled, placing my hand on the locker door beside me. Cam circled in front of me, though I had no idea how long he’d been there. He was too distracting to look at, so I turned, leaning my backpack against the row of lockers instead.
“Under normal circumstances …” His voice died off for half a second before I could hear him again. “… Should have taken closer to forty minutes to bleed out from those particular cuts.”
The other man asked something I couldn’t make out.
“No. Negative for drugs or alcohol. Jim confirmed there’s no medical explanation that he can find… I know, and he’s the expert. When you’re done writing that up, get me a burger, will ya?”
“Miss Evans? You still there?” His voice blared in my ear. I jerked the phone away and lowered the volume.
“Hello?” I tried to pretend I hadn’t just heard his very his-ears-only conversation, or that I forgot I was on the phone at all. I probably failed at both.
“Sorry about that. I was just calling to let you know we’ve been looking into the Allison Woodward case, and due to the nature of her death, we’re labeling it an official homicide investigation. Just thought I’d let you know, since we may need to call you in to ask you some more questions. Thanks for your time.” His end of the line clicked as he hung up on me.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Cam caught me as I sank to the floor. He didn’t ask what was wrong; instead he helped me shed my backpack and sat on the ground beside me while I processed Detective Rhode’s conversation.
“The police think Allison’s death wasn’t a suicide. They’re opening an investigation.” A nuclear blast went off in my stomach. “I found her, so I’m probably near the top of the suspect list.” Plus I just left a mental hospital three months ago, so rocket me up to suspect number one.
This couldn’t be happening. I wanted to stand, to pace, but I stayed where I was, hiding my shaking hands behind my back. What was going to happen when the evidence led the police to a Fallen angel? Nothing, because that wouldn’t happen. More likely, I’d become the scapegoat.
“I—” I started. “I don’t know what to do.”
Cam pulled me into a hug. “It’s okay. We’ll figure something out.” His fresh-cut grass scent was softer today, but oh so present.
The warmth from his arms calmed me. Either that or he’d used some of that angel mojo again. Could he do that without looking into my eyes?
Only moments ago, shock fired in every cell of my body, but not now. Now all I felt was his arms around me. His chest pressed against me, calming the storm inside. I squeezed my eyes closed to keep this moment from passing by, from fading away. Butterflies wiggled around in my stomach. Cam was the vacuum that took the bad away, the one person whose embrace felt right.
I held my breath and slid my arms around him, avoiding his wings. His trademark earthy scent made me feel like I was home again. Safe. Slowly, I splayed my hand out across the soft fabric of his shirt and wound the material around my fingers. Shivers forged from desire unblocked the butterflies, and they swarmed me.
He rubbed the back of my neck, his fingertips brushing through the ends of my ponytail.
He drew me closer and pressed his cheek against my temple. The world stopped. Even the air stilled. The muscles in his jaw clenched against the side of my head, but the resistance dissipated a moment later. Soft lips pressed against my temple.
His lips retreated, but his closeness didn’t, until he trailed another kiss to my cheek. My entire body burned with expectation. I drew closer, needing to feel more of him.
I sighed, my breath shaking. He pulled back. I could hear my own heartbeat echo through the hall.
He edged closer. There had never been another being on this earth like Cam, of that I was sure. But he wasn’t mine to keep. He belonged up there. I belonged, well, I wasn’t sure where I belonged—maybe the loony bin—but my place sure as hell wasn’t with the angels.
When his lips pressed against mine, I couldn’t have stopped them if I wanted to—and I didn’t.
His lips tasted of pure, raw sunshine. The sunshine I’d been missing ever since leaving Arizona. I reveled in it, pulled myself tighter to him. His hand moved up to cup my cheek, and my head soared in the clouds. Yet I could still feel him, every inch of him, ethereal wings and all.
“Ray?” Luke’s voice shattered the moment.
Cam and I parted, separating like oil and water. The sudden absence of his touch left me hollow.
Luke shook his head in disbelief and thundered down the hall toward the front door.
“What was that?” I asked Cam.
Cam ignored me and ran to the stairs, where he shouted, “Luke, wait!” With his hand still around the corner, he turned back to me. “He likes you, Ray. You must know that.” Cam closed his eyes. For an instant, regret showed all over his face. “This is a nightmare. I have to go. I have to keep him safe.”
My cheeks were on fire as Cam darted after him, abandoning me for his assignment. He’d called our first kiss—my first kiss—a nightmare.
I lowered my head in my hands and groaned. Why would Cam …?
My chest ached like it was being ripped in two. He’d left me. Luke was more important. Luke was his job. I sank back against the lockers.
A mistake.
His words repeated over and over in my head. My chin trembled. I pressed my lips together to keep them from doing the same. Cam was gone. He’d never wanted me.
And why would he? Why would anyone want to be stuck with someone so flawed, so … crazy?
I tucked my elbows in to my sides and tried to forget this had ever happened. To force myself to think about something else.
Lee. I needed to forget about myself and help Lee.
Twenty minutes later, I was still doing a sloppy job of convincing myself the kiss hadn’t mattered, that it didn’t rip me apart when Cam abandoned me, and that I didn’t desperately want to do it again. Yep, I told myself those three things over and over again. All the way to Lee’s house, and during the five minutes I spent banging my knuckles raw at his front door. He obviously wasn’t home. I cursed loud enough to draw the attention of his nosy neighbors. If Lee was here he would have corrected my foul language with some obscure Dr. Who reference.
Instead of crying in defeat, I caught the first bus to the Korean Consulate—technically it was the temporary location since the main office on Van Ness was still being remodeled. I’d be sure to tell Lee I’d found it all by myself when this was all over.
Fifteen minutes later, I got off the bus and walked to Clay Street. The area was filled with upscale apartment buildings and older, well-maintained homes. The gardens in front of the yellow mansion of the temporary Korean Consulate were purple and blue and yellow. Breathtaking. I strived for my window box and the few pots on the front steps to look half as vibrant, but this late in the season, it became difficult to keep the chill from claiming the petals.
From what Lee had told me about his mom, she was old-school Korean. Stern and very traditional. Offending her with my craziness wasn’t in the plan, but with any luck Lee would be there to act as the buffer.
I swallowed back a lump and pressed the bell. The gate’s buzzer sounded. I jerked it and the dark door open and made my way inside, where I checked the building directory. Then I made my way up the stairs to office 203.
“Mrs. Kyon?” I rapped softly on her door.
“What can I do for you, young lady?” She stood up from her cushy office chair and gestured to the seat across from her walnut desk. As soon as I took it, she straightened her navy suit jacket and settled back into her chair. Her
dark hair was short, as was her stature, but she in no way looked fragile. The firm set of her mouth took care of that. And there was no Lee in sight, but she did have a beautifully trimmed Bonsai behind her.
Focus. I gathered my nerve, but had no idea what to say. “Mrs. Kyon, I’m Rayna Evans, a friend of Leland’s. Is he here, by any chance?”
She looked puzzled. I hesitated, wondering if I was overreacting. Maybe Lee was cutting school to avoid me and I was about to get him in trouble, which would make him doubly pissed. But what if I was right to worry, and he was in danger. No, I’d come this far. I was doing this.
“He didn’t make it to school today, and he hasn’t been answering my calls. I’m so sorry to bother you at work, but I was wondering if you could tell me …”
Her puzzled look deepened into tight frown lines. “Rayna?” She sounded like she’d never heard the name before. Oh, God. His mom had never heard of me. Maybe this whole time I’d been making up how close we were. Maybe he wasn’t in trouble at all, but ignoring me. It was a mistake to come here, to assume …
“You mean Ray?”
I nodded, so relieved I could almost throw up. “Yes, ma’am.”
She made a disapproving sound through her nose. “I always thought Ray was a boy.”
This is going well.
A long silence dragged out. “But you are Ray. And you’ve come to ask me how Leland is feeling?”
I nodded, feeling foolish and a little crazy under her scrutiny. “I was worried and—”
She leveled me with a considering look, then nodded. “I won’t pretend I like the idea of my son’s best friend being female, but you are good to come ask about him.” The toughness fled her face. “Unfortunately, he has a bad case of the flu.”
“The flu?” I asked, disbelief raising my voice an octave too high. “That’s all?”
“He’s been in bed for days.”
“Oh, of course, I mean, he’s sick. I just meant … I was concerned is all.” I tapped my nails together. Too sick to answer the door? “Would you please tell him I stopped by today, the house and here?”
She tipped her chin down. “I will.”
