My Night Breeze (The Breeze Series) (13 page)

“He’s going to come to study group again.”

“Surprise, surprise,” Stephen gloated.

“Stop it
,” Chris scolded Stephen. “I’m glad that he’s going. I won’t be the only newbie then.”

“It’s almost November
. No one sees you like that anymore,” Stephen commented.

“Point being, that it’ll be good for him to join
us. Don’t you think?” Chris asked.

Audra agreed
, not wanting to go into a deep conversation about it. She could already see that Stephen would be trying to force something onto her shoulders regardless of his own love life. Chris seemed to be nice but level headed, which would be right up her alley to have someone else to keep Stephen tamed.

They finish
ed their drinks and meandered into the living room. Stephen pulled out a classic dance movie but the time left wouldn’t allow her to see the end. Audra knew that she would be finding any excuse to stay to see the end—her favorite part—but it would cause trouble back home. Since she had been doing well, there seemed to be a quiet shift happening within the household. She didn’t want to be the one to upset the calm.

Audra advised that she had to leave and made
the short walk home. The driveway only had Jim’s vehicle parked in it. Mom had been making a point to try to stay home on the weekends since Jim’s incident. Audra hesitated walking up to the front door, unsure of what she’d find, until two male voices were heard shouting. She rolled her eyes as she went into the house.

“You
guys are so loud,” Audra stated.

“Quit complaining or
we won’t let you play,” Jim said.

Audra kicked
off her shoes, heading into the living room to find Jim and Tobias playing video games. She adjusted her hair to cover half her face letting the new bangs obscure her lip. It was scabbed over but was still obvious. She plopped down beside her brother to watch them battle it out in a racing game.

“Empty threat. We both know
I’m terrible at this,” she said.

“I’ll take
it easy on you,” Tobias commented.

“No
, thanks,” she said.

They battle
d it out until Jim’s vehicle lost control, crashed into a barrier and went up in flames. Tobias laughed, making it across the finish line a moment later. Audra couldn’t help laughing at her brother’s frustration, as well. Jim sent a glare at both of them before retreating to the kitchen for something to drink.

“Do you hav
e your costume yet?” Tobias asked.

“For what?”

“Jim pretty much figures you’re coming to my Halloween party,” he stated.

“I don’t think I should.”

“Come on. It’s my senior year,” he complained.

“Tobias…I…” Audra
couldn’t bring herself to tell him the truth about why she didn’t want to go. He was dating the main reason, and if she was going to be assaulted again, she’d do anything to stay far from the girl. There was only one explanation that would get her out of it, one he would believe. The only downfall was that he was the only person she could speak to about it, and he couldn’t help her. He wouldn’t even tell her what happened.

“I hav
e no reason to go,” she finished.

“I’m not enough of a reason?”

“Not when you don’t keep your promises,” she said.

“Audra
—”

“And now I can’t stop the memories from coming. Nothing makes sense
, and I’m scared of what I’m remembering,” she admitted.

“What do you remember?”

“Talking about it only makes it worse.”

Tobias scooted
over to sit beside her. He checked over his shoulder but didn’t see Jim coming back just yet. Audra looked down at her lap, cracking her knuckles.

“You wanted to know. Have you
changed your mind now?” he asked.

“I haven’t changed my mind about wanting to know. I keep reliving it. It’s like a nightmare that I can’t get away from. It’s scary.
”

“You weren’t alone
,” he said.

“I know. Someone was talking to me.”

“Who?” he asked.

Jim came
back, rounding the couch with a glare at Tobias. Tobias moved over, but a curious look stuck to his face. When he looked back to Audra, her response was to shrug her shoulders. They couldn’t discuss it any further, and even if they could, she didn’t know. A thought started to occur to her. Shouldn’t he know who was with her? Shouldn’t he have said ‘I know’? Something didn’t feel right.

*****

The hallways had
quieted with the release of students and seemed to leave an emptiness screaming for attention, to not be left behind. The thought struck her as odd. A hallway shouldn’t be speaking to her; it’s just a way to get from one place to another. It just depended on where you were headed. Audra began a slow walk down the hallway until a figure caught her eye. A tall, dark haired student lingered around the doorway of the library.

There
was no question in her mind of who it was, but it felt strange watching him from afar. He kept pacing in front of the door, putting his backpack down and looking down into his hand, then picking up the backpack and pacing once again. She continued to walk closer until he stopped pacing, turned to face her and sighed. She nodded her head towards her destination, and he followed.

Stephen and Chris sa
t opposite Molly, working on their assignments. Audra didn’t hesitate to sit down next to Chris, leaving Mateo no option other than to sit in his usual seat on Molly’s side. Things didn’t have to get weird; nothing had to be strained. She could let things continue like nothing happened…as long as he stayed on his side of the table. She’d be lying if she said that he no longer scared her, but he was trying, which was better than nothing.

She open
ed up her math assignment and worked through it quickly since she had been able to do half of it in class. As she put her math things away her eyes flicked up, catching Mateo looking at her. She responded with a small, polite smile before digging into her backpack for the next assignment. Her hands skimmed the science book, but she pulled back from it. Not today, not here and definitely not now.

Audra
pulled out her English book instead and began reading the chapter. Even with all her focus on the words printed on the page, she could feel him looking at her. She glanced to the side at her friends, but they didn’t seem to notice anything at all. Maybe she was on high alert? She took a deep breath and released it trying to get back into her book; she was making something out of nothing.

Stephen began
to pack up his backpack first. Audra started to do the same when Molly spoke up.

“Any
parties this weekend?” she asked.

“I haven’t heard of anything good. Nothing
worth going to,” Stephen replied.

“Me neither
,” Chris chimed in.

“Um…Tobias is having one. I was invited. I’m sur
e you guys can come,” Audra said.

“Sounds good to me
,” Stephen said.

Chris and Molly nod
ded their agreement as they walked towards the exit of the library. Stephen had to stop at his locker as did Molly, so the group agreed to meet at Molly’s vehicle in the parking lot. Audra continued down the stairwell towards her own locker, depositing her finished assignments and books. Only two assignments left for the evening, not too bad for a Wednesday night. She tugged on her jacket, zipping it up before shutting the locker.

“You’re going to have to wear something more than a long sleeve shirt. People will start to notice.”

“I’ve got layers on. Worried about me?” Mateo asked with his tiny smirk in place.

Audra shook her head at him. He wa
s ridiculous, joking about such a serious matter. What if someone were to find out? Would he blame her? Come after her? She took a preemptive step backwards from him. He furrowed his brow in question. She couldn’t help thinking about how dangerous he was, how dangerous he could be for everyone. Even if he was telling the truth about not wanting to hurt her, he said it was dangerous if she knew what he was.

“A
re you riding with us?” she asked.

“I’m catching a ride with Ryan.”

“Does he know?” Audra whispered.

Mateo broke
eye contact, finding something interesting to look at on the ceiling. She took that as confirmation. Spinning on her heel, she headed out the door towards Molly’s car. It wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t followed, but she could still feel his eyes. She leaned against the passenger side of the car waiting for her friends to arrive, keeping her head down.

She had
so much going on that taking a chance on an outsider was crazy. Between the memory lapses and attacks, class stress, and family strain, nothing else needed to be added to her plate. But something inside seemed to be screaming for her to try. To give someone a chance, to take the risk on something other than the normal. And it didn’t get more abnormal than him.

R u walking 2nite?

Idk yet.

Need 2 c u
.

He didn’t reply
, but she hoped with all her might that he showed. She tucked the phone into her pocket and leaned back in her chair. This may be one of the stupidest decisions she had made to date, but if he kept his word, she wouldn’t be in any danger from him. She just needed to do what she must to survive; unfortunately, this was something that could help but she’d never know without asking. Hopefully tonight wouldn’t be a waste of time.

She left
her hair down to keep warmth over her ears. She threw on a hoodie before donning her jacket. Audra listened for any noise in the hallway but shuffling still seemed to be going on. There was no way she’d risk getting caught, not when things were oddly calm. She locked the bedroom door, slipped on her boots and opened the window.

With a scan of the outside environment, ev
erything stood still. She carefully reached out to the limb, kicking off the side of the house to cling securely onto the tree. Audra made her way down with careful concentration. Once her feet touched the ground, she sighed in relief. The climb wasn’t as stressful as the first time, luckily.

Audra decided
to keep in the shadows of the trees until she noticed Mateo’s advance on the sidewalk. She scanned the house, taking in the lights, but there was no movement. It appeared everyone had shut down for the evening. She made a hasty path towards him, nodding to continue the walk on the other side of the street. He didn’t hesitate to allow her to take the lead, which gave her a small sense of security. He trusted her. At least to some extent.

The heat on her cheek
s led her to believe he was staring at her, and she couldn’t blame him. This was her idea in the first place. She mentally crossed her fingers, hoping for the best.

“Thanks for meeting me.”

“What’s on your mind?” Mateo asked.

“You said you
can’t tell me certain things. Whether that’s true or not isn’t on the table. What I want to know is why?”

“There is a lot more going on than your government wants anyone to know about. I don’t underestimate what they would do if they found out about my presence here.”

“Area 51? Really?” she asked dubiously.

“No
, nothing like that.”

The darkening of his tone caused
her to look up at him. His face didn’t give anything away, but his eyes appeared guarded. She decided to drop it. That wasn’t her question to start with.

“Why did you befriend me? You could have just blown me off.”

“It wasn’t part of the plan, believe me. I wasn’t prepared for you to be so
friendly
. And even after I tried to stay away from you, you started inviting me to things. It just happened,” he said.

“Oh
,” she started. “I have to ask you something, but I…I need an explanation of some kind.”

“
What?”

“What are your powers?”

As they reached the corner of the street, he stopped walking to face her. The light post illuminated his gray eyes, taking her in slowly like he was studying her. Her stomach clenched uncomfortably, and she bit the inside of her cheek. This could go either way, but she hoped that he could see no deceit in the question.

“Do
I still ‘terrify’ you?” he asked.

She could
n’t respond. Lying to Stephen was one thing, but could she get away with it with Mateo? Could he read her thoughts?

“May
be this was a bad idea,” he said.

His words ra
ng loudly on the quiet street, echoing in her mind. He turned away, walking down the side street, not even bothering to look back at her. A strange urgency gripped her by the throat. She couldn’t let him go away like that. She needed to get it out, and maybe, just maybe he would take her seriously.