Take Me Tomorrow

by Shannon A. Thompson

  No one had mentioned Noah’s cousin. No one explained why he had been arrested. No one clarified why he worked for Phelps, but I doubted anyone could. Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one who was oblivious.

  “What do you mean, ‘he’s back?’” Noah’s voice tore against his throat as he questioned Broden. “The kid is supposed to be dead.”

  “Well, he’s not,” Broden said, watching Noah as he paced. “He’s here, and he’s convinced you are, too.”

  “Fantastic.” Noah cursed. When he grabbed his hair, I expected him to pull it out. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” After all, Anthony had beaten Broden, and he hadn’t said anything. Even Broden kept secrets.

  “I wasn’t positive,” Broden muttered, explaining how the fight had happened. He was attacked from behind. He only heard the voice, the questions about Noah’s return. Miles had found him on his front lawn. “We’re going to kill him, right?” Broden asked.

  My stomach practically dropped through me. “What?”

  Noah remained quiet. His cheeks were pale, but his eyes were empty. He was considering it.

  “What are you boys thinking?” Lyn asked as she crossed her arms. She had listened to the entire story with her back pressed against the wall. “You can’t kill someone. A body isn’t going to do anyone good.”

  “I didn’t say we were,” Noah snapped. Lyn quieted, and he blew air out of his lips. “I don’t know what we’re going to do.” For once, he didn’t have a plan.

  “You can’t do anything until you have to do something,” Lyn said.

  “That’s not helping,” Broden said. “Where did you get that, anyway?” he asked. “A fortune cookie?”

  Lyn’s eyes turned to slits. “Don’t come to me next time you need stitches.”

  “Sorry,” he grumbled.

  “That’s more like it,” she retorted, placing her hands on her hips. Her black scrubs turned her tattoos into shadows. “What you do need is to be concerned about your next step. Anthony—”

  “Tony,” Broden corrected. Noah shuddered.

  “Whatever.” Lyn shook her head. “Tony will be too busy with the ramifications of the dance to come after you right now, but you need a plan for when he will. Which he will,” she added it even though she didn’t have to, “and you have to make sure he doesn’t do it through my Sophia.”

  “He won’t,” Noah said immediately.

  “He targeted her,” Broden argued.

  Noah didn’t look at me. “He has no reason to.”

  “You didn’t either,” Broden bit back.

  I slammed my hand against the table to break their tension. “Stop,” I said, glaring back at their bewilderment. “I can handle myself. If the guy comes around, I’ll be fine.”

  Broden didn’t listen to me. He was too focused on Noah. “He’s only doing this because of you.”

  “I know that,” Noah didn’t argue, but his hand shook like he wanted to. “I just—” he paused. “We need a meeting. Now.”

  Broden sprang up from his chair. “I’ll get everyone I can.”

  Noah’s eyes flickered to his watch. “Three hours. At the trees.”

  Broden nodded as I spoke, “But—”

  “Not now, Sophie,” Noah interrupted me before I could even fathom whatever words I was about to let out. “If you want to help, then stay here and wait for Lils.” Apparently, he had a nickname for everyone.

  I wanted to scream.

  “I got you in enough trouble,” he muttered.

  My desperate need to scream dissipated.

  “That’s how you should’ve been thinking from the beginning,” Lyn said, nodding. “I swear. Using children is the dumbest thing your father ever did.”

  Noah turned away. No one could see his expression but me. From my position on the stairs, I watched as his face hardened. Nothing twitched, not even his eyes. It was the first time I had seen it happen.

  “If he didn’t use us,” Noah started, “we would’ve ended up in Phoenix like Tony.”

  The laws. His father was using minors to carry out crimes, knowing that they wouldn’t be held responsible. His uncle, apparently, hadn’t thought of that.

  “But that’s that,” Noah continued, his fingers flicking over the blade on his belt. “I’ll be back.”

  “Don’t try to find us tonight,” Broden clarified as he rushed toward the door.

  “I won’t,” I promised, and for once, I meant it.

  Broden opened the front door before his silhouette disappeared against the sunset. In silence, we waited.

  “I’m leaving in thirty minutes,” Noah said to no one in particular. Lyn left the room as if she knew he was speaking to me. He sighed as he sank onto the stairs next to me. His shoulder pressed against mine, but I wasn’t sure which one of us was shaking.

  “Are you okay?” I managed.

  “I’ve seen you before,” he said.

  “I know that,” I responded, thinking about our conversation we had outside of my school. “You were at the hospital.”

  “Not this last time,” he clarified.

  His words stopped me. He might as well have slapped a hand over my mouth. There was only one other time.

  When he didn’t elaborate, I dug my nails into his arm. “What do you mean, Noah?”

  His hoarse breath escaped him. “When Broden got hurt,” he paused. “two years ago.” He didn’t have to remind me of the time. Broden was fighting. That was it. He almost died.

  “I’m the one who dropped him off,” Noah said.

  Broden hadn’t been dropped off. He was left on the pavement.

  Now, I knew I was the one shaking. I stood up and grabbed the rail to keep my balance. “Why?” I managed. “Why would you leave him there?”

  His eyes shot up to mine, but they were soft. “I was running,” Noah said, explaining something I hadn’t considered. The day Broden almost died was the same day Noah’s brother had died.

  He never looked away. “Liam was lucky enough to get him out of Phelps’ hands.”

  My heart dropped. “Phelps?”

  “Who else do you think beat him up?” Noah asked. When he looked at my face, he chuckled. “He wasn’t in a fight over drugs. Tomo dealers don’t care about money. They want freedom.” He was more aware of the excuse Broden had used than I was. “Phelps needed my family, and he knew Broden was the only way he’d find us.”

  “And he got you,” I finished.

  Noah nodded. “Liam slipped up when he got him out of the station,” he said. “That’s why we had to run early. That’s why our plan—” he paused. “It’s my fault it didn’t work, and now, Tony got his hands on him, too.”

  His cousin had beat Broden this previous time, but Phelps hurt him the first time. I knew that now. Noah hadn’t inflicted pain on anyone. Not directly.

  “Broden never gives in,” he managed, leaning his face against the railing. “I’d be dead if he did. My entire family would be.” His eyes moved over me. “But you’re the only person who could be there for him,” he said as he pulled something out of his jacket. “I watched you sit with him all night.” He pointed to his head, but his hand remained curled. “The hair. I told you I should’ve recognized it.”

  When he lifted his hand to his mouth, he muttered, “Ibuprofen.”

  I ignored him. “I thought you fled,” I said. “How could you have watched us?”

  “I didn’t see you,” he sighed. “I saw you.” He emphasized the word, and I knew he was talking about the tomo he was on, even as a preteen. “I saw my future coming, and I did nothing to stop it,” he said. “I let it happen.”

  “But—”

  “But,” he repeated, flicking his hand in the air, “I will now. I can stop this now.”

  I didn’t like his tone. It was the way it hung in the air. It was the way his lips moved to the side. It was the way his body didn’t move. He was planning an attack.

  “What are you going to do?” I asked.

  “That’s
the million-dollar question,” he responded, avoiding a direct response. “That’s what I’m going to do.”

  “You aren’t making any sense.”

  “I don’t have to,” he said, and then, his eyes flashed.

  He didn’t take Ibuprofen. He consumed tomo, and he wasn’t trying to hide it anymore.

  I shot forward, but he saw it coming. He moved to the side, grabbed my arm, and swung me into an embrace.

  “Noah—”

  “I’m going to fix this,” he said, sounding delighted as his hand threaded through my hair. “You have nothing to worry about.”

  I pushed myself away, hopping down the stairs to keep myself from falling backwards. He watched me without any sense of concern. He knew I wouldn’t fall. He knew more than that. He knew what would happen tonight.

  “Why do you take it?” I asked, trying not to scream at him. “Why do you have to take it?”

  “I don’t have to,” he said, hopping down the stairs. He was inches in front of me. “I want to. I like to,” he paused as he moved toward the door. “You wouldn’t understand.” He hesitated to open the door. “Someone like me has to take it.”

  “Someone like you?” I repeated.

  “Someone like me,” he continued as he opened the door. The night air rushed inside. It smelled like the oak trees after they roasted beneath the summer sun all day. They smelled like they were waiting for winter. “Someone who doesn’t know if tomorrow will come would rather live every day twice than live it once.”

  “No one knows if tomorrow is coming,” I argued, but he stepped outside.

  He stretched his arms above his head, and his back rose as he sucked in a deep breath. “Tomorrow can take me,” he said. “I don’t need today, anyway.”

  I Told You to Run

  I didn’t stop him.

  He left, and I slammed the door behind him. I even locked it, but I forced myself to unlock it in case Lily arrived. She was expecting Miles at any moment, and I was expecting them to come here as soon as he returned.

  “Is he gone?” Lyn asked as she entered the room.

  “Yep.” I leaned my back against the opaque door. The glass was cold against my shoulders. “He didn’t say when he’d be back.”

  Lyn raised her right eyebrow. This was the one she raised when she knew I was lying – or doing something worse.

  “What?” I asked, waiting, but she said nothing. Literally.

  She turned away and disappeared into the kitchen. I followed. Steam rose up from a boiling pot and filled the small room with a lingering warmth. Argos hovered nearby, and I sat down at the table.

  “You didn’t tell me that he was on drugs,” she spoke her mind.

  She had heard every word.

  “I didn’t know,” I admitted, but Lyn’s dark eyes moved across my face. “Honestly,” I promised. “I thought it was aspirin.”

  “He’s an addict, Sophia.”

  I knew it before she said it, but hearing it was another experience. I bit my lip, only to force myself to grumble from an almost-closed mouth, “So, why are we helping him?”

  “We aren’t,” she said, “We’re helping the entire country. He’s just a pawn in this, and he will end up dead.”

  My fingers curled into fists on my lap, but my palms were already moist with sweat. “Why would you say that?”

  “Because,” she started, her eyes turning into burning holes, “I don’t want to see you go out with him, and I’m not referring to dating.” Her lip yanked up at the last part, like she had made a joke, but she hadn’t. She was talking about life.

  “He saved my life,” I said.

  She leaned on the island in the middle of the kitchen. “How?” She didn’t sound impressed. “By forcing you to escape through a river?”

  Lyn always knew everything. I blamed it on the fact that she was a mother.

  “He helped you avoid your arrest,” she said. “He didn’t save you from dying,” she continued as her nails tapped across the countertop. “Now, don’t get me wrong, Sophia. I care. I do. I just don’t care enough about him to lose you in the process.”

  “I’m here, aren’t I?” I snapped. “I stayed home—”

  “This time,” she argued, snatching up the teapot. She poured the hot liquid into two mugs, but she didn’t bring me one.

  I stood up, crossed the room, and reached out for it. She grabbed my hand, and her slender fingers moved over the back of my hand. “Just be cautious,” she said, her voice softening. She had only spoken to me once before. It was when she handed me my mother’s necklace.

  “Why you?” I managed, unable to pull away from my sister-figure. “Why did my mom pick you?”

  Lyn never dropped my hand. When she breathed, her entire body grew. “That’s something I can’t answer,” she exhaled.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I don’t know,” she responded before I ever finished the question. “Your mother,” she sighed, “Your mother wasn’t able to come. She wasn’t well.”

  My stomach flipped over. “Noah said she’s fine.”

  “Noah’s a good liar.”

  “Sophia!” a girlish scream erupted from the front porch.

  Argos leapt to his feet and growled. I hushed him as Lyn rushed toward the front of the house. The door was already opening. I ran after her, only to stop when I saw a tall girl with white hair.

  “Help,” Lily gasped, barely holding up a boy as they stumbled inside.

  I lunged across the room and grabbed Miles’ other arm. We dragged him in, and he coughed. Blood splattered across the floor. He tried to speak, but all I heard was mumbling.

  “Don’t talk,” I ordered as Lyn directed us to the couch. We laid him down before I relaxed. The blood had only come from a split lip. He was beaten, but he was going to be fine.

  “He was laying on the front yard when I got home,” Lily explained. “I think he’s drunk.”

  It was then that I smelled the whiskey.

  “Drunk?” I questioned. “He doesn’t drink.”

  “Of course he doesn’t,” Lily said, answering all of my unasked questions with one glare. The police had made him drink. They were hoping he’d slip up and talk. That was obvious now.

  Lily crossed her arms. “He even threw up on me.” When I looked her over, her shoulders rose. “I had to change.” Her concern dissipated with mine.

  “She’s right. He’s just intoxicated,” Lyn said, laying a hand on his forehead. “I’ll get him some water.”

  When Lyn left, Lily sat down to speak, “I drove us here with Miles’ car,” she said, wiggling the keys out of her pocket. “I couldn’t let our mother see.”

  Ms. Beckett was a prude woman. She definitely wasn’t in on the plans. She was probably still at the station, waiting. I doubted she even knew her kids were friends with someone like Noah. I knew enough about her to understand that.

  “How did you two get involved in this, anyway?” I asked.

  Lily rolled her eyes, “We met Broden the same way we met you.”

  Her mother was our nanny. Apparently, she had watched Broden, too.

  “She stopped watching Broden when he was put in middle school, but Miles stayed in touch,” she continued. “Things just sort of happened from there.”

  “And you?”

  “I never got involved,” Lily said. “They wouldn’t let me, but I watched. I listened. I figured it out.”

  Lyn returned with a glass of water. She placed it down before helping Miles up. When she handed it to him, he almost dropped it. “Come on,” she coaxed his grip around the slipping glass. “You can hold it.”

  He gripped it and drank it like she controlled him. “Thank you,” he muttered, putting the glass down. A little bit of blood clung onto the rim.

  “No talking,” Lyn scorned him. “Let me see your lip.”

  He moved the glass to his lap, and she grabbed his chin, turning his face to the side. “You don’t need stitches.”

  “But the bloo
d—”

  “The face bleeds heavier than the rest of your body,” she said, tapping his head. “It has to get to your brain, after all.”

  Miles grinned, only to wince. Then, he hiccupped, and another groan escaped him. His cheeks were red, and his dark eyes rolled around. He may have been drunk, but he was coherent.

  “You can tell us what happened when you feel better,” Lyn spoke more to Lily and me than to him. She didn’t have to tell us not to question him yet. He looked miserable.

  Minutes ticked by, and Argos paced, his nails clicking on the hardwood. Falo started crying, and Lyn went to grab him from his room. When she returned, she joined Argos in his pacing. They couldn’t stay still.

  “Where are the troublemakers?” Lily finally asked.

  “Who?”

  “Broden and Noah.” Her tone was sharp. “They were supposed to be here.”

  “They had a meeting,” I repeated the only information I knew, “with others, apparently.”

  She didn’t seem the least bit surprised. “When will they be back?”

  I shrugged, but I leaned forward. “Who are the others?”

  She tilted her head toward her twin. “He probably knows.”

  Miles coughed, “Not me, though.”

  He didn’t make any sense.

  Lyn tapped her tattooed arm. “Lily, do you want any tea?”

  She nodded, but her face was red. She was mad.

  “I’ll get yours, too, Sophia,” Lyn said, leaving. I was starting to believe Lyn couldn’t stay in one room for very long.

  “You look like a mess, Lils,” Miles joked, pulling at his own hair as if to point out how frizzy hers had gotten.

  She glared initially, but her lips broke into a smirk. “Look who’s talking.”

  “I’m okay, sis.”

  “Are you?” I asked, gaining his attention.

  He looked over his right shoulder, his brown eyes widening. “I—” his gaze went to the ceiling, and he attempted to shrug. “I don’t know what happened,” but it sounded more like, “I donut want happened.”

  Before I realized that I had stood, I had walked over to the couch and leaned down to hug him. He smelled like dirt. “I’m glad you’re okay,” I choked.