Radium Halos: Part 2

by May, W. J.

  He whistled as he strolled by me to the fridge and pulled out a gallon of milk. “Our white wine.” He grinned.

  “Awesome.” I poured the sauce and carried the two plates to the table. Kieran grabbed the platter of bread. He set the table so we sat beside each other at a corner, facing each other.

  He sat down and rubbed his hands. “This smells unbelievable!” He held up his wine glass of milk. “Cheers.”

  I clinked his glass with mine. “Cheers.”

  Kieran twirled his fork and took a bite. He popped a meatball in his mouth and groaned. “Oh, my freakin’ goodness. This is so good!” He took another bite.

  It was fun watching him enjoy the meal. Using the last piece of bread to mop up his plate, he grinned. “You’ll have to tell your mom the meatball spice is the bomb.”

  “You can have the little container I brought along. And, there’s leftovers.”

  His eyes lit up. “Seriously? For me?”

  I shrugged, loving how he acted like I’d made his day. “I figured you could use it. With your dad gone… it probably sucks.”

  He picked at the bread crumbs. “He didn’t really cook.” He met my gaze. “Is it bad that I don’t really miss him? I like the quiet.”

  It was my turn to pick at the paper napkin. “I don’t think I blame you. I mean, I don’t really know your dad. I’ve only met him once.” What should I say? He seemed like a jerk and a bad guy who beat his son? “You seem… more relaxed.”

  “That happens when you get to sleep through the night.”

  “I get that. Never knew sleep was so important.” I coughed, realizing I had just steered the conversation away from him and toward me. “In a different way, of course.”

  “It helps.”

  I felt like a jerk. He was trying to talk and it sounded like I was trying to steal the show. I felt like Rylee. “Sorry.”

  “Why?” He put his hand on my knee. “You want to know something? I’m starting to feel happy. For the first time in forever.”

  The warmth of his skin made its way through my jeans. It seemed to spread up my leg to my inner thigh. I ran my tongue over my lips. “I’m glad. But Kieran, what are you going to do if he doesn’t come back?”

  “What?” He blinked.

  “How are you going to pay the bills? Or take care of the house? You’re seventeen.”

  “Oh, the bills.” He scratched behind his ear. “There’s money. He sends it. I’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t think it’s that easy.”

  “I’ll figure it out as I go.”

  “It takes a lot of money to run a house, pay taxes, do all that stuff. I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

  Kieran eyes grew big. “I-I have no idea either.” He shook his head and then shrugged. “My dad said he’d take care of it from Scotland.” He grinned. “No worries.” He began clearing the dishes.

  I sat a moment before jumping up to help. His heart rate had sped up and again I wished I’d kept my mouth shut. He was probably in a panic, worrying about whether his dad would actually take care of things.

  “Do you want to wash or dry?”

  I smiled. His heart rate had settled down to a regular rhythm, showing me he’d relaxed. “How about I wash? Then you can put the stuff away where it goes as you dry?”

  “Perfect.”

  We worked a few minutes without talking. “What do you think of school compared to back in Scotland?”

  “It’s different. Some of it is harder, some is easier. Math is easy. We’re doing what I learned last year. I don’t get history class. North American history is not something we studied in detail.” He paused, but I could hear his hesitation loud and clear so I waited. “I like art.”

  I handed him a dinner plate. “I suck at art. Me and drawing don’t see eye to eye.”

  He tilted his head and watched me. “I had the feeling you didn’t suck at anything.”

  Heat flushed my cheeks. The compliment made me giggle. “I can’t draw. Even my stickmen are barely recognizable.”

  “I like drawing.” He said it so quietly, no normal person would have heard it.

  I had the feeling drawing, painting, or anything along those lines didn’t measure up in his dad’s eyes. Something my mom always said to me as a kid popped into my head. “Can you make me something and sign it? One day it might be worth millions.” Mom usually added millions of kisses, but when you’re five years old that sounded priceless. Saying it to Kieran would – just not be right.

  He smiled. “Sure. I’ll have to think of something you’d like.”

  “Anything.” As long as it’s done by you.

  His smile widened. “No, you deserve something that’s totally yours.”

  I pulled the plug on the drain, paranoid he might see the excitement on my face.

  A pulsation echoed against my ears. “Your phone’s about to—”

  Kieran’s cell phone, lying on the kitchen table, began ringing. He walked over and picked it up. “Hullo?”

  I heard Rylee’s voice clearly through the line. “Hi, Kieran. I hope I’m not bothering you.”

  “It’s fine.”

  “Cool. I’m just sitting in my bedroom…” I tried not to roll my eyes at Rylee’s dramatic pause. “I’m doing homework. I don’t get what we did in math today. Could you help me?”

  “I don’t have me stuff here. I can try an’ help over the phone.”

  I dried my hands and put the Tupperware container I’d filled earlier into the fridge. It was next to impossible to avoid hearing Rylee’s voice. She did struggle in math but, seriously, did she have to call Kieran now? It wasn’t like she knew I was over here. I hadn’t said anything and she wasn’t trying to make this into a competition. I sighed and walked around into the living room to put my coat on.

  “Rylee,” Kieran said from the kitchen, “can you hold on a moment?” He leaned against the doorframe between the two rooms. “Zoe, are you leaving?”

  I zipped my coat up and smiled, determined not to show my annoyance at Rylee. “I have homework to do too.”

  “You could do it here.”

  Now that I’d put my jacket on, it didn’t seem right to change my mind. It would be totally obvious I’d tried to run because of Rylee. “I left my bag at home.”

  “Do you want to go get it and come back?”

  Tempting… except, “My mom won’t go for it. If she knew I came here and your dad’s out of the country, she’ll ground me till I’m thirty.”

  He stared intently at me. Those beautiful eyes could be my undoing. He swallowed hard and then whispered, barely audible, knowing I’d pick it up no problem. “Let me get rid of Rylee. Give me a sec.”

  I nodded and slipped back into the kitchen while he dropped onto the living room couch. I needed to grab the few things to take back home.

  He was talking about going over one of the algebra problems and breaking it down to the basics.

  I slipped down the hall to the bathroom. Just by the door, I paused to take my coat off. I looked at Kieran’s room. The lock on his door had been unscrewed. He’d even fixed and painted so you couldn’t tell it had even been there. Thank goodness.

  When I came back to the living room, he had his jacket on and runners. “I put your groceries on your passenger seat and started your car. Hope you don’t mind. It’s getting cold out.” He grinned sheepishly.

  “How was Rylee?” I asked as I put my shoes back on.

  “Fine. Flirty. The usual.” He checked his watch. “She’s not getting math from today. At all.”

  “Is she coming over now?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

  “Rylee?” He stared at me again with those eyes that seemed to be able to read more into me than I wanted to share. “Would you stay if I said she was coming?”

  I shook my head, afraid to speak.

  “She’s not coming. I didn’t invite her.”

  Was he trying to say something more? Like he had invited me but not
her? If I had the courage I’d ask, but when it came to Kieran I seemed to only have insecurities.

  “I can walk you to your car if you’d like.” He stood by the door, his hand on the doorknob.

  “Sure.” My hands went instantly sweaty and I licked my lips. The moment suddenly seemed a build up to a kiss. Half of me couldn’t wait, the other half wanted to run and hide from the nervousness. I shoved my hands into my coat pockets and walked toward the door.

  Kieran held it open for me and followed close behind. He slipped beside me on the path from the porch to the driveway. “Thanks again for dinner.”

  We reached the Bug. “You’re welcome.”

  “I can make you dinner sometime. Something Scottish… if you want.”

  “I’d like that.” I turned and leaned against the car. The coldness of the metal seeped through my jeans and against my skin. I shivered.

  Kieran stepped closer, his shoes brushing against mine.

  We both looked down at the same time and our foreheads touched. I shivered again, but not from the cold.

  “Zoezey?” he whispered.

  I slowly brought my head up and my nose brushed lightly against his. My eyes closed instinctly but not before I saw Kieran do the same. His lips pressed against mine a moment before he moved them back slightly. Cool air blew across the warm wetness his lips had left on mine. I moved my mouth to cover the small distance he had created and kissed him with an urgency I didn’t know I had.

  Kieran’s fingers found their way to my chin and cheeks. One hand moved to bury itself into my hair and the other stroked my cheek before trailing down and tugging lightly on my collar to pull me closer. My hands found their way inside his jacket and around his waist. I’d never felt muscles that tight or delicious. How would it feel to run my fingers against his skin? I moaned, thinking back to his near naked body earlier today. I had no idea what to do and letting Kieran take the lead seemed the natural thing to do. I just went with the flow.

  He opened his mouth a little wider and gently pressed his tongue against mine. Kieran lightly touched the tip of my tongue and a new kind of excitement exploded inside my head and throughout my body. His tongue disappeared into his mouth as he kissed me again. A moment later his tongue slipped back into my mouth. It felt like the most intimate moment I had ever experienced. I moved my head slightly to catch my breath.

  Kieran did the same and then smiled as his eyes met mine. “I’ll see you tomorrow at school.” He slowly stepped back, his hands finding mine and curling over them. “Text me when you get home?”

  I nodded, not trusting my voice.

  He let go of my hands and opened the car door for me. I settled in and he leaned in, stealing on quick kiss on my lips before closing the door. He jogged back to the house as I put the Bug into reverse and pulled out on to the road.

  Driving home, I kept replaying the image and feeling of his lips against mine. I’m no expert on kissing, but that was a great kiss. There had definitely been magic in the moment we had just shared.

  Chapter 11

  Brent

  As I slammed the car door shut my stomach growled, reminding me I hadn’t eaten since lunch. Usually after last class I scarfed down a sandwich or burger or something to get me through till after training. Since we weren’t meeting up in the gym today, I hadn’t bothered to grab anything. I was hungry now.

  Actually, I was pretty much starving all the time. Probably from training, and the fact I’d put on muscle. I wasn’t muscle-man like Seth, but I definitely had some strength building starting to happen. I jogged up the steps and around the porch to the front door.

  It annoyed me that I even wanted to compare myself to Seth. Whatever his problem was – it was his – not mine. None of us got to choose which sense became heightened, just like I didn’t have a choice on who my parents were, or that my family had money. After his stupid outburst earlier this week, he acted like nothing had happened the next day at school so I let it go. If he wanted to be an ass again, I wouldn’t let it slide.

  “Hello?” I called out. Dad’s car was parked in his usual spot but Mom’s was out. The alarm system beeped to let me know it hadn’t been turned off. No one was in the house. Weird. I hit the code to turn the alarm off and headed to the kitchen.

  Making three sandwiches, I skimmed through the newspaper as I ate them. I never read the paper but thought there might be something about the John Doe. It seemed crazy they hadn’t found anything yet, but there was no mention in the paper about him. Only interesting article was about a string of break-ins the police were starting to think were related. And it was still boring.

  I grabbed a Gatorade from the fridge and reread the article. One policeman was quoted that he thought there were more related robberies, but people were either too stupid to notice things were missing, or they were the kind of people who couldn’t claim the things were gone.

  What a dickhead cop. I tossed the paper in the recycle bin and brought my plate to the sink.

  The house seemed oddly quiet without anyone in it. I checked the grandfather clock in the hallway. Half past five and no one home but me? I grabbed my phone and dialed Mom’s cell.

  She picked it up on the fourth ring. “Hello, Sweetie.”

  “Hey, Mom. Sorry to bug you, I was just wondering where you were.”

  “I’m on my way home. I had a hair appointment and just grabbed some Thai food for dinner.”

  “Is Dad with you?”

  “No.” She paused. “Why do you ask?”

  “His car’s in the driveway but he’s not here.”

  “He should be home. He called a few hours ago to say he had stuff to do at the house. Maybe he’s in the garage.”

  “I don’t think so. The house alarm was on when I got back.” Dad was no mechanic. The only stuff in the garage was the lawn equipment the maintenance guys used.

  “He probably had a meeting and had one of the office drivers pick him up.”

  “Yeah.” She was probably right. He wouldn’t be in the gym. He never went there unless he wanted to have a meeting. “Thai sounds good. I’ll see you in a bit.”

  “Bye, Sweetie.”

  After I stuffed my cell back into my jeans pocket, I tied my shoes back up. I figured I’d go and check the gym. Stepping outside, I ran back in to grab my coat. The temperature had dropped drastically in the past hour. Winter was coming and I had the feeling it was going to be a cold one this year.

  Zipping up my jacket I jogged around the house and down the lane to the gymnasium behind. Maybe I’d do some stuff on the equipment before Mom got back. I had workout stuff in the locker room. A little extra wouldn’t hurt.

  I slowed to a walk when I reached the sidewalk and tried the door. It was open and oddly, the alarm wasn’t on when I stepped inside. I remembered setting it last night before leaving. “Dad?” I called out down the hall.

  No response.

  I shrugged and headed into the gym, flipping the lights on. The hum as they warmed reminded me of Zoe and I wondered what she was up to this evening. I pulled my phone out as I headed to the lockers to change. Hopefully she wasn’t hanging out with Kieran. Three years in high school and when I finally realize I like her, a new guy shows up to steal her away? I had no problem with Kieran, it just sucked he happened to like the same girl I did.

  I started to text but stopped and hit her number to call her instead.

  She picked up after the third ring. “Hey, Brent!”

  I grinned. She sounded excited. “Hi!”

  “You at the gym?”

  “Yeah.” I scratched my head. “How’d you know?”

  She laughed. A sexy, husky sounding laugh. How had I never noticed how cool it sounded before? “I can hear the echo against the walls as you talk and… the lights warming up inside the gym.”

  I held my breath, wondering if she could hear anything else.

  “Who’s with you?”

  “No one. I’m on my own.”

  She said nothing for
a moment. “Are you sure? Forget it. It’s probably your heartbeat echoing against the walls. It just sounded like I heard two.”

  “It’s just me.” I swallowed, then added quietly. “Unless you want to join me.” Would she get what I meant? I stopped walking and leaned my hand against the wall, shaking my head. I’d probably just screw up our friendship.

  My fingers reacted against the brick and the room behind it came into view. “Holy sh—” I nearly dropped the phone. “Zoe, I gotta go.”

  “Wait! What’s going on? Why’s your heart racing? I can hear it. What happened that’s got you so scared? I’m coming over.”

  “No! Don’t!” I dropped my voice barely above a whisper knowing she’d hear it no problem. I inched my way to the door. My hand shook as I pressed it against the wood of the door of the conference room. Someone was in there, bent over by the desk. “Zoe. Someone’s here. I don’t know if they’re trying to rob the place or what’s going on. Call the cops. Don’t come here on your own. I need to check the room again. The room’s turned upside down and someone’s in there. I don’t think they know I’m here.”

  “Don’t hang up,” she begged. “I’ll call the police on our home phone.”

  I closed my eyes and held my breath as I focussed on the room. Whoever was in there had torn the room apart. I focussed on the desk and, even with my eyes closed, squinted trying to see the person better. A guy. I couldn’t see his head but he hadn’t moved. Then I saw the briefcase flung open on the table.

  My dad’s.

  I dropped my phone and threw my shoulder into the door. It was unlocked and swung open hard – so fast I nearly fell from the momentum. I ran around the desk shouting, “Dad! Dad!”

  Zoe had said she heard two heartbeats.

  He had to be alive.

  His suit was crumpled, his nose bloody, and blood also oozed from a cut by his temple. I place my index and middle finger on his neck like they did in the movies. He had a pulse. Thank goodness.

  He flinched against my hand and moaned.

  I dropped down so my head was at the same level as his. “Dad! What happened?”

  His eyes fluttered and closed. He groaned and moved so he lay on his back on top of the desk. “Brent?” His voice croaked. He grimaced as he tried to swallow. “I’m okay.” His hand came up and he grabbed at the air, trying to find me.