Above all Else

by Sophia R Heart

  “So, who is this friend of yours?” she asked.

  “His name’s Phoenix, and I’ve known him ever since I was a kid,” I told her.

  “Really? I was always under the impression that you never stayed in touch with anyone after you graduated. I can’t imagine you having a friendship with someone that’s lasted so long.”

  I shrugged because it was true. Most of the people I’d met in my life had been passing acquaintances. They were there one minute, and gone the next. I had cut ties with pretty much everyone I’d hung around with before moving in with the Manstens. The kindness they’d extended towards me... I’d wanted to be worthy of it. And with the fuckups I’d called friends, I’d never have been able to move forward.

  “He’s one of a kind,” I told her with a half–smile. That was one way of putting it. “We lived with the same foster family for a while. We lost touch after I went to juvie for a short while–“

  “You went to juvie?” She jerked her head towards me, a blonde strand of hair falling into her face. I glanced away in case I did something stupid – like reach out to move it away.

  “Yeah,” I admitted, internally kicking myself. I hadn’t meant to divulge that little tidbit, but I’d been distracted and hadn’t given much thought to my words. “Not one of my finest moments. I was there for a few months for petty theft. I’d been young and stupid. It was a lesson learned. I didn’t see Phoenix again for years. We met again – purely by accident – about three years ago.”

  I was revealing a lot about myself tonight. I’d never really talked about myself, or my past. Not with anyone other than Mario. But something made me wanna share.

  Still, it was hard telling Ballerina about my mistakes. I wasn’t proud of the shit I’d gotten myself into when I was growing up. That stint in juvie had pretty much sealed my future. No decent employer wanted someone with a criminal record. Jobs worthy of long-term careers were suddenly out of my reach – not that they’d really been within grasp for me in the first place.

  I’d probably have been working for minimum wage for the rest of my life if Mario hadn’t helped me get my record expunged. He’d wanted me to go to college, but I’d never been too good in school. I’d been more interested in becoming a bounty hunter.

  “Why does he live out here?” she asked, looking around apprehensively. “So far from... civilization?”

  “He’s... eccentric,” I told her, thinking that was the best word to describe him. “But he’s a good guy. The smartest person I know. He’s worked hard and he’s got a lot to show for it.”

  Curiosity shone in her eyes. “What does he do?”

  “Don’t really know. He’s tried explaining it, but it makes no sense to me. Something to do with computers. He’s a wiz at anything tech-based and works for some big firm.”

  “And you’re a bounty hunter,” she said thoughtfully. She glanced up at me. “What would you have done if you’d never taken up bounty hunting?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t really know. I like my job. I like that I’m putting criminals back where they belong. And I’m grateful that Mario helped me to get to where I am. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without him. There was no way I’d have learned all I needed to know without your dad there to show me the way – to open doors for me.”

  “I always wondered about that. He was so against it for so long. What made him cave?”

  “I have no idea. I was so sure he wouldn’t budge. I argued my case for hours every day, and then one day, he just relented.” She stared at me intently as I spoke, pulling the blanket tighter around her, as though talking about her dad was chilling her. “He’s the reason I’m where I am today. I idolized him,” I said softly, winced a little when I realized that I’d spoken in the past tense.

  Doubt reared within me, making me question so much about the man I’d thought I’d known. I squelched it down. Whatever the outcome of all this, whatever we found, he’d still be the best man I’d ever known.

  The trees began to thin out as the path widened and the house came into view. It was dark out, but lights shone out of numerous windows in Phoenix’s place, making it easier for to see.

  The house itself was a very old, three-story building, layered with grey stone on the outside. The inside had been revamped and modernized, as well as insulated to keep out the outside chill. A smaller, more modern-looking building that served as a garage stood near the house, though effort had been made to make it look as authentic as the building next to it.

  “He lives here?” April whispered from beside me, incredulity clear in her words. I chuckled a little, seeing the disbelief on her face from the corner of my eyes. It was a pretty grand house. There was even a small tower on one side of the building, kind of like the ones that you find on castles.

  “Come on.” I placed a hand on her back, everything feeling right for once as she leaned into my touch.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  * * *

  - NOW -

  THE GUY STANDING on the other side of the door was something else.

  He’d opened the door with a big swing, making me squint a little as the bright light from inside shined down on Kellan and me. He looked surprised to see us, his blue eyes widening through the smart-looking spectacles he wore. I recognized him immediately as the guy from the photograph in Kellan’s bedroom.

  He looked to be the same age as Kellan, but that was where the similarities came to an end. He was a few inches shorter than Kellan, and was currently supporting a mess of curly red hair that looked in serious need of a haircut.

  “Dude, where’ve you been these past few weeks?” Phoenix grinned, and I realized that he was actually kind of cute. But with Kellan right there beside me, there really was no comparison between the two of them.

  Phoenix pulled him into a one-armed hug, and they did that typical macho man-slap thing.

  “It’s good to see you, man,” Kellan said, slapping him one more time on the back.

  Phoenix glanced at me, interest lighting up in his eyes. “Who’s the babe?” he asked, and I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. If it were me, I’d be more concerned over what we were doing here, at his place, in the middle of the night. I thought his curiosity was somewhat misplaced.

  “This is April, Mario’s kid,” Kellan said, making my face scrunch up. Mario’s kid? He couldn’t have said daughter, oh, no, he had to use a word that made me feel about two feet tall. I was far from being a kid, and one of these days, he’d finally freaking realize it. “You gonna invite us in, man, or are we standing out here all night?”

  “Oh, right. Sorry.” Phoenix shook his head at himself. He took a step back, and opened the door wider. “Come on in.”

  Kellan gestured for me to walk in ahead of him. I was taken aback as I stepped into the large hallway. The ceiling was three floors high, going all the way up to the top floor of the house. There was a huge chandelier in the middle of the top floor, several feet long, illuminating the floors below. Two wide staircases formed a sort of curved circle as they led up to the second storey of the house, where a large oil painting decorated the wall. The structure of the place was designed in such a way that I could see the second and third floors through the railings that formed wide circles overlooking the entryway.

  It was beautiful.

  Kellan walked past where I stood in the middle of the foyer doing a pretty good impression of a goldfish, and went into a room on the left. Phoenix came to a stop beside me, his hands stuffed casually into the front pockets of his jeans.

  “You… you have a beautiful home,” I told him, snapping my mouth. How the hell did he afford such a place? He was young to have gained such wealth, and Kellan had told me that they’d met in foster care which didn’t make it very like that it was inherited.

  “Thank you,” he said modestly. There was something about his face, a lack of arrogance and pride in his home, that confused me. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly. I tilted my head, st
udying him. He was obviously very wealthy, but he didn’t look it – and not just because of the ripped jeans and Star Trek t-shirt he had on – there was something down-to-earth and friendly about him. All the rich people I’d met before had been snobs – not that I should generalize to everyone.

  “Yes?” he asked, and I realized that I’d pretty much been staring at him.

  “Sorry,” I said, smiling sheepishly. “It’s been a long night, and I think it’s beginning to catch up with me.”

  He eyed me curiously. “It’s okay. Come in and sit down. I promise I don’t bite,” he said with a half-grin.

  Kellan was in front of a large fireplace in the grand living room, his hands out in front of him. They had a blue tinge to them, and I realized, with mounting guilt, that he’d been downplaying how cold he was outside when I’d offered him the blanket.

  The room was warm from the blazing heat of the fire, and beginning to feel a little overheated, I let the blanket still wrapped around me fall off my shoulders.

  Phoenix sat down in an armchair and gestured for me to do the same. I perched down on a sofa, glancing around the room. It was interesting to say the least. There were paintings on the walls, and a Persian rug in front of the fireplace. A large, overflowing bookshelf rested against one wall, and three computers were crammed onto a desk in the corner. The room was big and expensively decorated, but with the amount of stuff in it, it gave off a lived in, cozy vibe.

  Phoenix rubbed at the bridge of his nose. Pulling off his glasses, he set them down on a nearby coffee table. His face was serious as he looked at Kellan. “What’s going on? Something tells me that this isn’t a social call. No offense, my man, but you look like shit,” he said to Kellan.

  I chuckled a little at that, and leaned back into the sofa. I was feeling warm and snug, my muscles finally beginning to relax and uncoil for the first time since I’d climbed out of Kellan’s bedroom window. Exhaustion dulled the mess of worry and fear that had been my constant companion the past few weeks, and I actually felt like I could drift off to sleep.

  “Tonight hasn’t exactly been a walk in the fucking park, Nix,” a disgruntled Kellan threw over his shoulder.

  I didn’t know what I’d expected earlier when Kellan had first mentioned a friend, but he was nothing like I’d expected. I guess I’d expected someone just like Kellan.

  “What’s going on?” Phoenix asked, looking at Kellan. “I haven’t talked to you in weeks. Are you in trouble?”

  “You could say that,” I muttered. Kicking off my shoes, I let my feet sink into the plush carpet.

  “Why do you automatically assume that I’m in trouble?” Kellan asked dryly. Stepping away from the fire, he took a seat next to me on the sofa.

  “You’re not?” Phoenix asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Oh, we are,” I piped up. Trouble was too tame a word.

  Kellan sighed, and leaned forward. He filled Phoenix in on what had occurred the past few days; from the break-in, and finding Dad’s name on the flash drive, to those men breaking down Kellan’s front door today. From the way Kellan spoke, I deduced that Phoenix had already known about Dad’s appearance. When I mentioned it, Phoenix confessed that it had actually been him who’d traced Dad’s phone to where it had been abandoned.

  Kellan had started pacing as he talked. It seemed that retelling tonight’s events had him riled up again. He paced the room, pent-up frustration coming off him in waves.

  “Of course you can stay here, for as long you need. You’re always welcome here, Kellan. You too, April,” Phoenix said. “Besides, it’ll be a nice change to have some company around.”

  Kellan paused in his pacing, looking hesitant. “You doing okay, Nix? The path out there is out of control.”

  Phoenix glanced away, his knee beginning to bounce. “Yeah,” he muttered. “I’ve been busy... haven’t gotten out much these past few weeks.”

  Kellan’s brows furrowed, concern passing over his features. “It looks like you haven’t had anyone over for months, not weeks. Come to think of it, when was the last time I came down? We’ve just been talking over the phone.”

  “Like I said, I was too busy to have you over.”

  Noticing Phoenix’s frown, I spoke. “It’s okay if you can’t host us. You shouldn’t feel obligated to–“

  “No, no.” Phoenix said hurriedly, clearing his face. “You guys can stay for as long as you like. I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.” He stood up, determinedly not looking at Kellan. “Coffee, babe?” he asked, effectively distracting me.

  “You’re a man after my own heart.” I lit up at the prospect of a big mug of caffeine. The fact that it was well past midnight didn’t matter – I’d long since developed a tolerance to the stuff and could fall asleep easily with it still in my system. “I’ll come with you.” I got up. “I’d like to see more of the house.”

  “I can give you a tour of the house after,” he promised.

  I glanced back at Kellan before I followed Phoenix out. “You want anything?” I asked. He didn’t respond, just scowled at the fireplace as though it had had done him serious harm. “Fine, then,” I muttered, shutting the door none too gently behind me.

  Phoenix showed me to the kitchen, bustling around to make the coffee.

  “I don’t really drink coffee,” he told me, heaving a coffee-maker out of one of the cupboards and plugging it in. “I know I have coffee beans around here somewhere…”

  He managed to find the coffee beans and turn the machine on. While the coffee was brewing, he grabbed a plate. There was what looked like a homemade cake on a cooling rack. Phoenix cut a slice of the sponge, revealing a layer of cream and jam in the middle.

  “You did not make that,” I said.

  His smile was bashful. “Baking’s my guilty pleasure – but, shhhh, don’t tell anybody.”

  I laughed, assuring him that his secret was safe with me. I liked him – he’d made me laugh twice tonight when I’d been so sure that I’d never laugh again. I hoped I’d found a new friend.

  I heard a thump from somewhere in the house, almost as though Kellan had thrown something at a wall, and glanced apprehensively at the door.

  “What was that?”

  Phoenix merely shrugged and grabbed a mug for me. Once the coffee was made, and I’d devoured a slice of cake, we made our way back to the living room. Kellan was still pacing, looking deep in thought.

  Taking a sip of the coffee, I noticed a guitar leaning against one wall for the first time.

  “You play?” I asked Phoenix, nodding at the instrument.

  “A little.” He took a sip of his own coffee. “You?”

  “A little,” I echoed with a small smile.

  His smile mirrored mine. “Looks like we have something in common–“

  “If the two of you are done flirting,” Kellan interrupted. Moving away from the fire, he glared at his best friend. “I need to use a computer and carry on searching though this.” He held the flash drive up.

  “They don’t work,” Phoenix said, noticing me glance at the computers in the corner of the room. “Follow me.”

  He led us to a room across the expansive hallway, and I almost choked on my coffee when I entered it.

  It was crazy.

  There were dozens of computer monitors all over the place; on the floor, on table tops, stacked on top of one another. Some were small-screened, some really large. There were also cords and electrical wires littered all over the room, and I nearly tripped over a bundle of them on my way in. Kellan’s steadying hand on my elbow had been the only thing keeping me upright.

  There was a small sofa in the corner of the room with some blankets on it. Empty soda cans and potato chip packets littered the tables, and although I couldn’t see any crumbs on the keyboards, I could imagine them there. It was immediately obvious that Phoenix spent a lot of time in this space. Kellan had said earlier that Phoenix worked with computers, but this w
as like nothing I could have imagined.

  Phoenix walked over to a large monitor after finding a small space to place down his mug – a feat I hadn’t thought possible given the amount of things crammed into the room. He pressed a few buttons on the keyboard, and a number of monitors in the room came to life.

  “You can put the flash drive into this USB port.” Phoenix pointed to a computer box tower.

  Kellan shoved the flash drive into the USB port, his fingers tapping on the touch screen of the computer to bring up the files.

  I sat down on a chair nearby after picking up a tangle of computer mouse devices and their cords, and placing them on the floor. I turned to look at the closest monitor to me as Kellan opened up a folder.

  “There’s so much on here. It’ll take us days to get through it all,” I said, as Kellan dragged a chair towards the large monitor and sat down himself.

  “Gotta start somewhere.” He opened up a different file and a list of convicted criminals immediately filled the screen. Their names, what they’d been convicted for... and the bounty hunters who’d been assigned to their cases once they’d skipped bail were mentioned. My gut tightened, a bad feeling beginning to rise up within me.

  “Go back to the other document, the one that listed cash transactions,” I said, putting my mug down. Kellan did as I asked, and when the file appeared on the screen, I searched through the document, looking for specific names. “Go back to the other document.”

  There was a pause, and I could almost imagine Kellan’s raised eyebrow as I bossed him about. He didn’t push it, thankfully, and brought the file back up.

  “What are we looking for?” Phoenix asked, puzzled.

  I leaned back, the last glance at the file confirming my suspicions. “The bounty hunters on the list... they all got a big fat check right around the time the convicts skipped bail.”

  “They got paid to not turn in the fugitives they were hunting,” Kellan said with understanding, his face darkening considerably.