Broken (35 page)

"You're right dear. I shouldn't have doubted
you. I just had a few kids come hiking past this morning talking
about this massive party the entire school was at last night. I
know it's completely irrational, but I kept thinking about you
there with all that alcohol."

I was so nervous about answering her
question, that I didn't realize she was headed over to shut my
window until she was already so close that there was no hope of
intercepting her. Hopefully Alec had kept moving after he'd jumped.
Otherwise mom's questions were about to get a bit more pointed.

"Mom, how could you think that? I've never
even had the slightest desire to do something like that." The lies
were starting to add up, but Alec had acted like it was important
not to be grounded right now. That and I really didn't want to get
into the kind of trouble the truth would bring.

"That's a good point, but you can't blame me
for being worried sweetie. I mean with this new boyfriend of yours.
You know I don't trust boys that drive sports cars. Especially not
the really cute ones who have a way of making every female in sight
go all gooey on the inside."

She slid the window shut with a sigh, rather
than screaming in shock, so Alec wasn't lying on the ground with a
pair of broken legs.

Apparently Brandon's charms were enough to
make mom forget herself while he was around, but not so great as to
keep her from worrying when he wasn't. I shrugged uncomfortably.
"He's not my boyfriend, mom. I mean he wasn't really ever my
boyfriend, but even less so now."

Mom looked away from the skyline, a new batch
of concern painted across her features. "I'm so sorry dear. I
didn't particularly approve of him, but I wasn't going to get
really vocal about it. Not when he was your first boyfriend. What
happened?"

I didn't have to pretend to be hurt and
disappointed. Even knowing that Alec was everything I'd thought
Brandon was, I still felt used and disappointed. "I just wasn't
what he was looking for. He made it very clear the last time I saw
him."

Mom crossed the distance from the window and
wrapped her arms around me. "Teenage boys are so cruel. I'm sorry.
Do you want to go out for ice cream this afternoon?"

My smile came much easier than it would have
if Alec hadn't magically come into my life. "That is the time
honored method for dealing with breakups."

Whatever mom had been planning on saying was
interrupted by the perky jingle of her cell phone. She shot me an
apologetic look as she answered it, but I already knew Mr. Peters
had taken to calling her at unusual times to get updates on where
she was at with her shots for the tourism brochure.

"This is she. Yes, I'm doing well thanks, may
I ask who's calling? Yes, I am a photographer. Why yes, I did have
a couple of pieces that I submitted last year, but they never got
printed. No, I've never heard of...yes, of course. Well that's
really not my area of expertise. I might know of a person or two
who might be interested in helping you out..."

Mom's face was nearly as surprised as the
time Dad had come home from work and announced he'd just taken the
next two days off and we were going up to St. Cloud for a vacation
starting in twenty minutes. I wasn't sure who'd called, or what
exactly they were after, but it was looking like she was going to
have a really good story to tell when she managed to get off of the
phone.

"I appreciate your interest, but as I said,
that really isn't the kind of thing I do. Oh. Well, I have
commitments here, projects I'm working on. For three weeks?"

She looked at me with wide eyes. "I'd have to
confirm that. Can I call you back in half an hour?"

Mom stood there with the phone up against her
ear for several seconds before shaking herself and looking at me.
"That was some kind of promoter. She wants me to go out and shoot a
fashion show in Paris. For a week and a half, and then another one
in Italy. I've never heard of either of the shows, but she's
offering me twenty thousand dollars for just three weeks."

I felt my eyes go wide at the idea of
something so unbelievable happening to us, and then even wider as I
realized this must be what Alec had been referring to. 'Convince
her it's fine for her to leave' indeed. He hadn't been kidding
about getting us out of the country.

"Mom, you have to go! This is the biggest
opportunity ever!"

She looked doubtful. "Sweetie, I know it
seems exciting, and heaven knows we could use the money, but that
just isn't my kind of thing."

I shrugged. "Ya, but once you've had some
paying photography jobs it's sure to help land others. It isn't
your ideal kind of work, but it's still a good start, and you never
know where it might lead."

"I can't leave you here alone. Not only that,
I've still got the brochure to do."

Obviously I was going to have to work harder.
"Mom, I'll be fine. Just think of it as an extended hike. You'll
even have cell phone coverage, so you can check in with me as often
as you want." At least I hoped we'd be able to arrange that
somehow. "As for the brochure, you've got scads of great shots
already. Maybe if you call up Mr. Peters you'll be able to work
something out."

Actually I was positive Mr. Peters would be
amiable to the idea. At least he would be if Alec had remembered to
work whatever magic he'd used on the Mayor the first time. Of
course it was possible he'd forgotten to make the arrangements, but
somehow I doubted it.

Mom looked like she was starting to waver.
"It does seem like a great opportunity, but there just isn't any
good way to know for sure it's legitimate."

That didn't sound like Alec at all. "Are you
sure, mom? They didn't arrange anything you could use to verify
they're for real?"

I suddenly realized why parents got such a
big kick out of catching their kids doing something wrong. Mom
looked so sheepish I almost laughed.

"Well he did say he'd arrange for an
immediate advance to be wired over to our bank, but it's closed on
Saturdays, and it isn't like I can go calling up the bank president
for something trivial like that."

I opened my mouth, still unsure what to say
in response to her latest excuse, only to be interrupted by her
cell phone again.

"Yes, this is she. Mr. Kard? Oh, hello. A
wire? Really? I didn't realize you even had anyone working
today."

Mom listened for several more seconds and
then hung up. "They just sent the money. Apparently it's for real.
The bank president was just calling to tell me the money has been
confirmed, subject to my accepting the job."

Now was the time to strike. "Mom, go call Mr.
Peters, and I'll start pulling your stuff together."

It's amazing how quickly you can pack when
it's for someone else, and they aren't around to tell you what you
can or can't throw into their suitcase. Even with my lack of sleep
starting to catch up with me, I was still essentially done by the
time mom wandered into her room, staring at her phone like she
wasn't sure it was really possible for it to have just told her
what she'd just heard.

"He says it's fine. He'll swing by next week
to pick up the shots I think are the most promising, and then he'll
see if he can't put the brochure together from that."

She seemed to notice the suitcases and the
empty hangers for the first time. "Honey, there isn't any reason to
be in such a hurry. We haven't really decided to take the job yet,
and even if we do, I'm sure we won't be able to arrange a flight
for another day or two."

Right. If Alec really had arranged this
incredible trip, literally overnight, he'd have her on a plane much
faster than anyone else would've believed possible.

"Mom, we've already gone through every single
one of your objections, and they've all been taken care of. I'll be
fine, the brochure will still be completed on schedule, and the job
is as real as it gets. The only thing left to do is call them back
and accept before they decide to offer it to someone else."

It obviously hadn't crossed Mom's mind that
they might decide to go with someone else. Waffling over whether or
not to take the job was one thing when she was sure she'd have it
in the end. It was entirely different when it might cost her the
biggest break she'd ever had. She nodded jerkily as she stepped out
of the room, already dialing.

I felt my eyelids drooping by the time she
came back. "They want me to leave right now. She said she's already
arranged for a charter plane out of St. George. If I leave in the
next ten minutes, we can make the flight out of Salt Lake
International with something like half an hour to spare."

We both sat there in silence for a few
seconds as everything sunk in, and then Mom exploded into motion.
She ran downstairs to repack her photography equipment, all the
while yelling upstairs to verify that I'd packed all of the other
essentials she was going to need.

Almost before I'd even finished assimilating
how quickly Alec had pulled everything together, mom was backing
down the lane as I waved goodbye.

Alec appeared within thirty seconds of mom's
departure, Isaac close behind him. "We need to go. One of Brandon's
people just got close enough to smell us. They left before we could
tell for sure who it was, but the odds of them coming back with
lots of help just went through the roof. If we're still around when
they do, things will get ugly."

Part of me wanted to break down into a
gibbering wreck. The rest of me just nodded calmly, and turned to
head upstairs as Isaac politely passed me, apparently on his way to
the kitchen. Alec gently grasped my shoulder before I'd even
managed to take a step.

"There isn't time. We have to go now."

As soon as we were out the front door, Alec
motioned for me to jump on his back, and then we were off with a
speed I suspected an Olympic athlete couldn't have matched. The
lane between our house and the road flew by faster than I'd ever
driven it in a car.

The wind created by our passage was strong
enough to make my eyes tear up, but I resisted the urge to close
them. I occasionally saw shadowy shapes darting through the trees
ahead or to either side of us, but there wasn't any way to be sure
it was Isaac and Jasmin instead of Brandon and his entire pack.

A faint howl from behind us caused Alec to
put on another terrifying burst of speed as we left the lane and
turned to parallel the road. The sight of branches clawing at us as
we slipped by them with little more than inches to spare was too
much. I finally closed my eyes and ducked down as close to Alec's
neck as I could get.

With one less sense distracting me, the rest
of them seemed to kick into high gear. I could feel every step,
including the occasional slide as the rough gravel we were running
on wasn't up to bearing our combined weight without slipping. The
bitter taste of fear along the back of my tongue was surprisingly
strong, but even so I found my thoughts dwelling on the sheer
pleasure of having my arms wrapped around Alec's rock-hard upper
body.

The high-pitched scream of a performance
engine pulled me away from my absurd musings. James' blue and white
Accord passed us doing the better part of twice the legal speed
limit, and then flipped around with the distinctive squeal of
overworked tires.

Alec veered up onto the road as I looked back
to find that even as fast as he was running, the Accord was still
gaining on us at a prodigious rate.

As the car pulled even with us, Alec smoothly
reached over, pulled the passenger door open, pried me off of his
back, and slid me into the front seat without losing even a single
step.

If everything had happened at something
approaching normal speed, I probably would've started
hyperventilating, but it was all so quick my mind didn't have a
chance to fully register what was going on before I was safely
ensconced next to James.

Jasmin and Isaac appeared alongside the road,
seeming to materialize where there'd only been trees a half second
before. Faster than I would have believed possible, all three of
the shape shifters piled into the moving car, and then James
stomped on the gas hard enough to break triple digits before
slowing slightly for the first turn.

The mirror on my side of the car was
perfectly positioned for me to be able to see three or four flashes
of tawny brown sliding through the trees before the windy road
carried us out of sight.

Alec nodded as I looked back and met his
eyes. "They were pretty close. There weren't that many of them, but
they could've decided to push the issue regardless."

I spent the rest of the trip, expecting
someone to jump out of the trees, but faster than I'd have believed
possible, the wrought iron gates I'd noticed on our trip out last
night were swinging open, and we were turning off onto Alec's
asphalt lane.

A distinguished-looking gentleman in his
fifties was waiting for us as we screeched to a stop. His slightly
disapproving frown hinted at decades of practice letting his
'bosses' know when they'd just crossed some kind of line, all the
while never crossing any himself.

The shape shifters all exited the car, most
before it had even stopped moving, and then Jessica and Dominic
both appeared as I made my comparatively-slow way out of the
vehicle.

"...everyone's ok. I was somewhat worried
about taking so much of our strength away. I'm glad it worked
out."

Alec turned towards the older man as I made
my hesitant way over to the group. "Donovan, this is the young lady
we hosted last night. Adri, this is Donovan."

Feeling even more awkward than normal, I
stuck out my hand, only to feel my eyes widen as he gracefully took
my hand in his own, and bent down to brush his lips across it.